Utah
Salvadorans in Utah casting ballots in Central American nation’s presidential election
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KEARNS — Sofia Zelaya, now living in Utah, is thousands of miles away from her native El Salvador.
That doesn’t mean she’s left the tiny Central American country behind.
With presidential elections in El Salvador set for Sunday, she and many other Salvadorans and Salvadoran-Americans in Utah are paying close attention to what’s happening in the country and aim to have a say in the process. The government has created new openings for voting by expatriates, with Salt Lake City to host one of many remote polling sites around the United States and beyond on Sunday to accommodate the global Salvadoran diaspora.
“We still have loved ones at home. We want our loved ones to live in a peaceful environment,” said Zelaya, a naturalized U.S. citizen and dual national who was offering voting information to Salvadorans at a table set up inside the Kearns Library in Kearns. Some 13,000 to 20,000 Salvadorans and Salvadoran-Americans live in Utah, according to varied estimates, and the money they and others around the world send back to relatives is a pillar of the Salvadoran economy.
Indeed, becoming a U.S. citizen, Zelaya went on, “doesn’t mean we don’t have cultural and family ties to where we came from.” The pride is still there and she and many more Salvadorans in Utah have already voted online — which started for eligible expatriates on Jan. 6 — or will do so in person on Sunday at the Salt Lake polling site, 850 E. South Temple, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Fernando Pérez, consul general of the Salvadoran Consulate in Salt Lake City, called the expatriate community “a fundamental part of our nation,” noting the money those living and working abroad send to family members in El Salvador. According to the Salvadoran newspaper El Mundo, expatriate Salvadorans sent $8.2 billion to El Salvador in 2023 — more money than generated by exports — benefitting 25% of households in the country.
The laws allowing expatriates to vote “aim to make sure that the voices of our compatriots are heard, that their opinions are taken into account and that their rights are respected in the electoral process,” Pérez said in a message to KSL.com.
Laura Morales, originally from El Salvador but now living in Kaysville, already cast her ballot online, a new option this election cycle open to Salvadorans who have registered their foreign addresses with Salvadoran election authorities. Now she’s keeping tabs on what’s happening in El Salvador in the lead up to next Sunday.
“It’s my first time voting in 24 years, and for my kids it’s the first time in their lives,” except for balloting in U.S. elections, she said. “It’s been a month of civic joy.”
The Salvadoran elections come at a critical time, observers and others say. Incumbent President Nayib Bukele, elected to his first term in 2019 and widely expected to win his second term handily, has spearheaded a massive crackdown on the gangs that once dominated life in the country. He warns the country could slide backward if he’s not reelected, according to Reuters. But he’s not without critics, who charge his administration with employing repressive tactics and blast changes to election laws enabling his reelection bid.
Among the other hopefuls are Manuel Flores, a leftist former mayor and Salvadoran Legislative Assembly deputy, and Joel Sanchez, a conservative aspirant, according to CNN en Español.
Whatever the case, Zelaya and Morales are enthusiastic Bukele supporters, both crediting the leader with turning the country’s fortunes around. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the country was wracked by civil war, violence that pushed many out of the country. Mara Salvatrucha and other gangs dominated the urban landscape after that, also pushing many from the nation.
“Mara Salvatrucha — that’s all we were known for, crime and nothing more,” said Zelaya, who fled El Salvador in 1981 during the nation’s civil conflict and now lives in Herriman. She was operating the information desk at the Kearns Library Friday with Gladis Rodríguez, another Salvadoran now living in Utah, as part of their volunteer efforts with Comunidad Salvadoreña de Utah, a cultural group.
Street crime, kidnappings and gang violence pushed Morales and her family from the country to the United States in 2000. “The last 20 years has been difficult for our country,” she said.
Changes implemented by Bukele, though, have inspired a renewed sense of pride in El Salvador, prompting much of the excitement among expatriates in Utah like Morales in the presidential contest. What’s more, Bukele has pointedly reached out to Salvadorans living abroad, opening more consulates, including the Salt Lake consulate, and streamlining the voting process for expatriates, she said.
“It’s a peaceful environment,” she said, describing the changed atmosphere in El Salvador thanks to the crackdown on gangs and street crime. “All the Salvadorans living abroad support the president so we can keep cleaning up the country.”
Francisco Raymundo, a Salvadoran expatriate now living in Taylorsville, is an unabashed supporter of Bukele and his New Ideas political party, promoting the incumbent’s candidacy among Salvadorans here in Utah. He left El Salvador with his wife and four kids in 2002, worried about crime and violence and fearful of getting caught up in it.
“We really didn’t want to go but we left to keep my family safe,” he said. “It was personally painful to see people dying every day, people being extorted.”
Accordingly, seeing the change in the country and being able to vote and have a say in the nation’s future is exciting for him. “We are excited and engaged,” he said.
Salvadorans in Utah who wanted to vote in the 2019 elections had to travel to the Salvadoran consulate in Las Vegas, the closest one before the Salt Lake office opened, or cast a ballot by mail. Raymundo had hoped to vote by mail, but his ballot arrived from El Salvador after voting ended.
Morales, too, is charged by the new atmosphere in El Salvador. She already cast her ballot online and recalled the strong emotion as she clicked the screen prompt on her computer so her vote could be tallied.
“You cry. When you click and it says, ‘You voted,’ you cry,” she said.
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It’s on nights like these that I’m reminded of the ravine that divides the NBA from all other levels of basketball. This Summer League tilt was sloppy on both sides, and not many fringe players earned an NBA contract tonight, by the looks of it.
This matchup has always been about the number-one pick AJ Dybantsa and the number-two pick Darryn Peterson. Rivals since high school, these two are in an eternal struggle for the designation of being “number-one”. They wanted to be the best in their high school class. They wanted to be the first off the board in the NBA Draft. Rest assured, these two will be battling for Rookie of the Year honors by the season’s end.
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Both stars were fully aware of the magnitude of this game, and both wanted to be the first to strike in the Thomas and Mack Center.
Dybantsa took his first touch all the way to the basket and forced up an off-kilter shot that missed everything.
Peterson took the ball the other way and forced up a top-of-the-key three-pointer that missed badly.
Dybantsa quickly picked up the slack, flipping an under-and-around lay-in and following that up with a good leading bounce pass through traffic to find a cutting teammate.
From there, the 1-2 combo settled in and let the game flow around them.
For the first time in a Utah Jazz uniform, Darryn Peterson walked among mortal men as a commoner. He had a very slow start in his Las Vegas debut, opening the night 0-for-3 from the floor and even whiffing on his first all-or-nothing foul shot. His steps were hurried, and he stood unstable before his first trip to the bench. Not quite so infallible outside of the mountain air in Salt Lake City.
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AJ claimed the first quarter, dicing up the defense with fadeaways, dribble chains, and this vicious, inhumane slam that will dominate your social media feed for the next day or so.
Washington set the tone for some — should we say physical — defense out on the perimeter, and the officials gave the Wizards liberty to reside in Peterson’s chest for the majority of the game. The number-two pick couldn’t get himself into a rhythm as he’d step out of bounds, dribble off his foot, and sputter under the heat of the Wizards’ aggressive double-team scheme.
They were incredibly handsy from end to end, frustrating Jazz ball handlers as the whistles piled up at the other end.
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AJ Dybantsa lives at the foul stripe — that’s his superpower — and he has since his days at BYU, where he led the nation in foul shots taken per game. Perfectly within his idiom, Dybantsa was 6-of-7 from the foul stripe — keeping in mind the experimental do-or-die free throw rule. Considering how much more physical the Wizards played at the defensive end, it’s a mystery how the Wizards managed to reside in the comfort of the bonus for the entire first half.
Neither player was efficient from the floor, but Dybantsa won the first half of this marquee matchup.
Dybantsa finished the first half with 19 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
Peterson lagged behind with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting and a pair of dimes.
The lead shrank to single digits, and what appeared to be a blowout in the first half — Washington led by as much as 20 — rapidly drew tighter in the second half. It had become a two-possession game before the clock hit 0:00 in the third quarter.
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Both stars lived up to the bill in this one, clearly displaying their individual talents despite their efficiency not leaping off the box score.
Peterson’s tendency to cough up possession has to get straightened out. He’ll be a target for his whole career, so learning to handle and exploit on-ball pressure will be critical to maximize his effectiveness and keep his teammates involved.
Cody Williams stole the show a bit for the Jazz, despite a rocky opening to the night. Though he struggled to stop Dybantsa on the defensive end, he notched 16 points on great efficiency (6-11, 2-3 3PT) plus 5 rebounds. He’s not a ball-handler, despite the Jazz’s wishes, but thrived on a newly added stepback mid-range jumper tonight.
Dybantsa had a strong night, finishing with 27 points on 7-for-18 shooting, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals.
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The Wizards ultimately won this game behind the strength of their NBA guys, Tre Johnson and Will Reily, who combined for 41 to pair with Dybantsa’s 27. They also strongly benefited from Jamir Watkins, Darryn Peterson’s assignment fouling a grand total of 9 times (not a typo).
Peterson likewise fouled 9 times in this one, an ugly blemish on what was an unsteady night for the rookie. He finished with 24 points on 6-18 shooting and 2-7 from three-point land (thanks to a bank-shot heave at the final horn). Dybantsa will be crowned the winner of this head-to-head with Peterson thanks to better highlights and the team win, but neither player dominated, despite what X will likely tell you.
Washington defeats Utah with a final score of 92-88.
Calvin Barrett is the Associate Editor for SLC Dunk. Originally from Springville, Utah, he currently lives in Japan and has covered the NBA and college athletics since 2024.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The man arrested for murder in the 2006 death of his wife at a Utah national park left behind a suicide note in his Las Vegas jail cell, according to a police report.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police released a public report on the death of David Vander Meer, 49, who was in custody on an out-of-state warrant.
The Washington County District Attorney’s Office said in an affidavit that Vander Meer, a former youth pastor, was a suspect in the death of his then-wife, 28-year-old Bernadette Vander Meer, 20 years ago.
Bernadette fell to her death at Angels Landing in Zion National Park. Prosecutors said in their affidavit that they received new information implicating David, alleing that he began having a close relationship with a young girl when she was 14 and he was her youth pastor.
A fugitive task force took Vander Meer into custody in Summerlin, according to an arrest report, and he was booked into Clark County Detention Center on June 22.
In the report on his death, LVMPD said a corrections officer was conducting visual checks at about 9:30 p.m. June 24 when he noticed Vander Meer lying face down on the ground and unresponsive.
Several sections are redacted, but police wrote that the officer performed chest compressions until medical personnel arrived. Vander Meer was taken to UMC, where he was pronounced dead just after 2:36 a.m. June 25.
Investigators wrote that because of “the nature of his case,” Vander Meer was placed into protective custody. He was seen sitting upright and awake at 9 p.m., and he had no known medical conditions. He also did not mention being suicidal during a mental health screening.
Inside the cell, police wrote that Vander Meer “left a hand written suicide letter and a hand written will in his cell which has been photographed and impounded.” The following paragraph of the report was redacted, and no further details on Vander Meer’s death were disclosed.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office has not yet released its official rulings on his cause and manner of death.
Bernadette’s parents, Richard and Laura Gudenkauf, told News 3 they long suspected Vander Meer played a role in her death.
“Because of the girlfriend,” said Laura. “I found insurance policies months later that he had, lots of them.”
It has been a long time since the Jazz last played a meaningful game I desperately wanted them to win, and it is unhealthy how excited I am for this matchup. After a solid three games in the SLC Summer League, the Jazz head south to Las Vegas, and as hot as the desert sun is sure to be outside, on the court, the Thursday night primetime game featuring the top two picks in the draft will be much hotter.
How to Watch the Las Vegas Summer League?
Who: Utah Jazz vs Washington Wizards
When: Thursday, July 9, 2026 | 7:00 MT
Where: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV
How to watch: ESPN, Jazz+
Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa
Summer league games do not matter in the record books, but this game is a statement-making opportunity for both AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson. Given the historical nature of this draft class, especially at the top, there is some real juice to this game that is atypical of most Summer League games. AJ has the chance to silence the noise that has swelled after Darryn’s remarkable performances in the SLC Summer League. Meanwhile, Darryn has the chance to ratchet up the noise and take the NBA world by storm with another solid performance against the Wizards. Can you imagine the narratives if Darryn were to come out and dominate AJ as he has through high school and college? In the words of the great Charles Barkley, I have two words for you… Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, must-see TV.
Ace Bailey looked really impressive in his 2.5 quarters of play in Salt Lake before missing games with back spasms. It is unknown whether or not he will be ready to go for the Vegas opener, but if he is available, he will probably be the one checking AJ Dybantsa on defense. His combination of length and athleticism could not only make things difficult for AJ on the defensive end but also expose his lackadaisical defense on the offensive end. If Ace is able to go, he will be looking to show the Jazz and the NBA that he is ready to take a leap in year two.
Which Jazz Big Man Will Stand Out?
Which big man will step up this game? In Game 1, we saw a lot of Kylor Kelley, who was a little less than impressive. Against Memphis, Jaxon Kohler, the Utah native, showed up and showed out against Cam Boozer. In game three, although the number of NBA-level players was few and far between, Jonas Aidoo stole the show with his rebounding and ability to play his role. Will we see one of those same three guys seize their opportunity, or will another guy like Micah Handlogten or Eric Dixon steal the show? We saw how vital a big that can roll and catch passes is for Darryn Peterson as a lead guard, playmaking-wise. It will be interesting to see who steps up to the plate to relieve pressure when he is blitzed and double-teamed.
SIDE NOTE: Adam Silver is LAME
No one should ASPIRE to be as boring as Adam Silver. After much excitement was made about Keyonte George making his unofficial coaching debut on Thursday night, according to Sarah Todd, the league has nixed that excitement and won’t allow Keyonte to be coaching on the sideline because who knows why…? I guess they were worried about the Jazz circumventing the salary cap to pay Keyonte or something. Anyways, I guess Will Hardy’s coaching TREE will have to wait for more branches to grow. Adam Silver remains evil in my book.
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