Utah
Sen. Mitt Romney lists the 10 things he's most proud of from his time in the U.S. Senate
Sen. Mitt Romney is nearing the end of his first and only term in the U.S. Senate, after deciding against a second run. Romney, who earlier served as governor of Massachusetts and was a Republican presidential nominee, said it was time for the “next generation” of leaders to step forward.
Romney served during a tumultuous six years, starting his service in January 2019, midway through Donald Trump’s first term as president, and a year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. was also roiled during the summer of 2020 by demonstrations — sometimes violent — that spread across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
And then there was Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters at the U.S. Capitol tried to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden as winner of the presidential election. Romney called the events of that day an “insurrection” and said Trump “incited” his supporters to action.
He also traveled to Israel after the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and fought for funding for Ukraine after Russia invaded in February 2022.
Romney saw some of his most productive legislative years after President Biden took office in 2021, when Democrats had control of the House and Senate, but were well short of the 60 votes needed to pass legislation in the Senate.
Romney and a group of like-minded senators, including then-Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — who both later left their party to become independents — worked with other Republicans, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, to help negotiate and pass legislation like the infrastructure bill and the CHIPS Act.
During these negotiations, Romney also focused on securing funding for projects in Utah, including for Hill Air Force Base, the Great Salt Lake and for a new passport office.
He admits there are many things left undone.
When Romney decided to run for Senate in 2018, he said he wanted to tackle the national debt — and it’s only grown since then, despite his and others’ efforts.
Romney sponsored and championed a bill, the Fiscal Stability Act, that aimed to force lawmakers to face the growing national debt. Despite the bill receiving bipartisan support, he couldn’t get it across the finish line.
During his last visit to Utah, he listed five of his biggest worries — the debt, growing authoritarianism in the world, AI, climate change and performative politics.
But on Tuesday, Romney took a moment to look back at his record in the Senate and celebrate the wins he feels he was able to accomplish.
“In just one month, I will reach the end of my Senate term — time has flown by,” Romney said in the intro to the report. “Over the last six years, we have faced many challenges. Yet, we’ve been able to accomplish important things for the Beehive State and our country. I’m also grateful for the tireless efforts of my team to improve the lives of Utahns.”
Romney released a video to accompany the report on what he considers his top ten accomplishments.
Here is what Romney sees as his 10 greatest accomplishments during his six years in the Senate:
1. Bipartisan infrastructure bill
In 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, with Romney and nine other U.S. senators present for the signing. Romney was one of 10 senators — five Republicans and five Democrats — who worked closely on the legislation. Romney said at the time the bill “represents the largest investment in infrastructure in our nation’s history.”
Part of a $1.2 trillion package, including $550 in new spending, the bill included billions of dollars for road, public transit and water projects across the U.S., including in Utah.
The bill — which saw about $3 billion go towards Utah infrastructure repair — was rejected by Utah’s four Republican congressmen and Sen. Mike Lee at the time. Still, Romney said he was “proud” to have worked on the bill, “which includes historic investments that will benefit Utah and rebuild our nation’s physical infrastructure,” he said. “This legislation shows that Congress can deliver for the American people when members from both sides of the aisle are willing to work together to address our country’s critical needs.”
2. Drought and wildfire work
Representing a state with a plethora of breathtaking landscapes, Romney contributed to numerous initiatives to preserve Utah’s outdoors as a beloved space for both locals and tourists to enjoy. The legislation he sponsored included:
- Enhancing Mitigation and Building Effective Resilience (EMBER) Act: Introduced in June, Romney and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) worked on the legislation to modernize wildfire Prevention and management across the country.
- MATCH Act: A bipartisan bill between Utah, California and Colorado to accelerate aid and cleanup for communities affected by wildfire disasters.
- Central Utah Project: Ensured $160 million “to provide water for municipal use, mitigation, hydroelectric power, fish and wildlife and conservation” for the state of Utah.
3. The Great Salt Lake
In 2022, when the lake was reaching record lows, Romney introduced the Great Salt Lake Recovery Act to allow “engineers to study the hydrology of saline lake ecosystems in the Great Basin,” as well as in the Great Salt Lake “to investigate the feasibility of a project for ecosystem restoration and drought solutions in the Great Salt Lake.”
“It is incumbent on us to take action now which will preserve and protect this critical body of water for many generations to come,” Romney said when the legislation was initially passed.
4. Combatting international threats
Romney has been outspoken on the threat he believes authoritarian countries pose to the United States. In 2021, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and included a measure from Romney on the U.S.’s growing dependence on products from China related to its national security.
“This bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation we have taken up this year, and I’m proud that it includes my measure to require the United States to develop a unified, strategic approach to China,” Romney said. “We must take decisive action now to confront China’s growing aggression and dissuade them from pursuing a predatory path around the world, and this year’s defense bill will help us accomplish that end.”
5. Passport agency in Salt Lake City
After three years of effort, Romney and Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced earlier this year that a new passport office would open in Salt Lake City. The closest passport office to Salt Lake is currently 500 miles away in Denver, but after work by Romney and other members of Utah’s congressional delegation, an office will soon be open in Utah.
Utah will be the home of one of six new passport offices, with the Salt Lake City passport agency expected to open in 2026.
6. Combatting teen vaping
In an effort to reduce youth vaping, Romney supported multiple laws to limit access to these products, including prohibiting the sale of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21 and banning the online sell of tobacco products to children.
While serving on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, he also introduced the Resources to Prevent Youth Vaping Act and the ENND Act.
7. Prioritizing the family
To combat child poverty in America, Romney introduced the Family Security Act again in September as “pro-family, pro-life and pro-marriage legislation that would modernize and streamline antiquated federal policies into an expanded Child Tax Credit for working families.”
The act would provide a “monthly child allowance of $250 for school-aged children and $350 for younger children, with a yearly maximum of $1,250,” Deseret News previously reported. “Billed as deficit-neutral,” Romney said it would be paid for “by killing or streamlining existing programs and ditching federal deductions for state and local taxes.”
He also co-sponsored two bills related to abortion — one prohibiting abortions past the 20-week mark and another that gives a child who survives an abortion the right to medical care.
8. Bipartisan COVID relief act
Romney helped lead a bipartisan, bicameral effort to negotiate the December 2020 COVID-19 relief package — a $908 billion proposal that included $560 billion in unused CARES funds, lengthened the benefit timeframe for federal unemployed workers, and provided emergency aid for small businesses.
9. Strengthening Utah’s role in national defense
While in the Senate, Romney worked to secure funds for Utah’s Hill Air Force Base, including over $30 billion for the Air Force’s F-35 program and about $7 billion for the Sentinel program since 2018. Nearly $100 million was also secured for infrastructure updates at the Ogden Air Force base.
“With the growing threats we face, it is paramount that our military has the resources, equipment and capabilities it needs to keep our nation safe. This bipartisan and bicameral legislation strengthens our national security and supports our service members at this critical time,” Romney said after Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024.
“It also includes measures which will bolster Utah’s role in our national defense and help address the current military recruitment crisis — which has real and immediate impacts on our national security — by enhancing military recruiter access to high school and college students,” he added.
10. Working across the aisle
Many of what Romney sees as his achievements while in office were the result of bipartisan efforts, including:
- Reforms to the Electoral Count Act.
- Bipartisan gun safety legislation.
- Securing religious liberty protections in the Respect for Marriage Act.
“We still face big issues. The rise in authoritarianism around the world, our growing national debt, and the threats posed by AI will demand that elected officials come together, in a bipartisan manner, to find effective strategies and solutions to these great challenges,” Romney said in the report.
SANDY — Vibes were as high as the temperature in some cases as thousands gathered at Real Salt Lake’s home stadium to cheer on the United States’ 2-0 win over Australia in the second match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Fernando Sanchez took it all in, between belts of his drum standing in front of more than 4,000 people at the Sandy stadium.
“I was born and raised in Mexico City,” said Sanchez, who hosts a podcast called the “Fercho Show” from his current home in Utah. “But I’m from the U.S. now.”
Four years after scoring just two goals in three group games before a 3-1 exit to the Netherlands in the Round of 16, the United States is flying under Mauricio Pochettino, exciting fans across the country — from the sellout crowd at 69,000-seat Lumen Field in Seattle to watch parties around the world, including Friday in Sandy.
“The vibe is amazing,” Sanchez told KSL.com. “You can see all of the people who came out, everybody is happy because this World Cup means so much for Utah, for everybody. It’s the best of the best from each country fighting on the field. That’s what it feels like, and it’s so good to be part of this game.”
Less than 24 hours after some 9,200 fans showed up at America First Field for Mexico’s 1-0 win over South Korea, Real Salt Lake employees braced to host as many as 6,000 American fans who submitted an RSVP to spend a portion of the Juneteenth holiday in 94-degree weather.
In-game hydration breaks became as much of a necessity for fans as the players in Seattle, with hundreds flooding the open hydration stations, concessions area, and a few food trucks at each “quarter break” installed by FIFA for the first time at a men’s World Cup.
While final attendance dropped to around 4,500 fans in Sandy, the spirits remained high as Folarin Balogun, who scored two goals in a 4-1 win over Paraguay in the World Cup opener, forced the opening goal off Australia’s Cameron Burgess.
Alex Freeman, the son of former Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman who at 21 is the youngest player on the roster, doubled the advantage in the 43rd minute off a set piece that was initially ruled offside.
But after a lengthy video review where fans refused to sit down, pandemonium ensued as the U.S. fans in Sandy recognized their national team was moments away from clinching passage out of the group in the first men’s World Cup on home soil since 1994.
It’s the first time the United States men’s national team has won consecutive games at a World Cup tournament since 1930.
Yet it’s not just the wins, but how the Yanks are winning that has Americans excited about a sport that has made significant strides domestically in three decades since the founding of Major League Soccer.
The U.S. is winning with an exciting brand of attacking soccer led by Balogun, who grew up in England but chose to represent the country of his birth over his parents’ native Nigeria in 2023, and Christian Pulisic, the AC Milan winger with 33 goals in 87 international appearances from Pennsylvania who did not play Friday due to a calf injury.
“There’s a lot of American pride,” said St. George youth soccer player Tate Hurst, who showed up to the watch party with a half-dozen club teammates at Fire SC during Western Presidents Cup regional this weekend. “The American dream.”
Sunburn, heat and hydration aside, the moment created a memory for thousands of soccer fans and casuals alike. That included RSL season ticket holders, waiting until the end of the month-long international break for the club’s MLS season to resume in July.
But for one afternoon — and perhaps another, as the club plans to host a similar watch party next Thursday when the United States hosts Türkiye in Los Angeles (8 p.m. MT, FS1) — each soccer fan was pulling for the same team.
Except, perhaps, for the dozen or so Australia fans in the corner of the east lawn who represented their own Socceroos for the entire 90 minutes.
“Soccer brings everybody together,” one RSL staff member said over the public-address system as fans headed for the parking lot while James Brown’s “Living in America” blasted over the sound system after the full-time whistle. “That’s what today was all about.”
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah athletics is making a notable change to the Huntsman Center gameday setup, but the move is about more than where the team sits.
The Runnin’ Utes are moving the team bench from the east side of the Jon M. Huntsman Center to the west side, returning the bench to the side it occupied during the Rick Majerus era. The change will also move the MUSS and band from the west side to the east side.
The shift is part of a larger effort by Utah Athletics to improve the student-section experience, create a more consistent setup inside the Huntsman Center and better connect the arena to the university’s growing College Town Magic initiative.
Enhancing The MUSS And Fan Experience
Nowlin said the primary motivation behind the change is improving the MUSS and the overall fan experience.
“The reason we’re doing this is we want to enhance the MUSS,” Utah’s Deputy Athletics Director & Chief Revenue Officer, Patrick Nowlin said. “As an ongoing effort, we’ve been working on for the past two years, how do we enhance the fan experience?”
One issue Utah identified was that the MUSS had been located in different areas for different events. Moving the student section and band to the east side gives the department a more consistent location to build around.
“We wanted to create a better fan experience,” Nowlin said. “We wanted to be able to have one spot that we can build on, which means we can brand. We can enhance everything about it.”
The move also ties directly into College Town Magic. Nowlin said the area around the Huntsman Center will include more than 2,900 total beds, including more than 1,400 new beds, giving students a direct path from nearby housing to the student-section entrance.
“There’s over 2,900 new beds that are right there, which will be right at the branded entrance, right where the student section is,” Nowlin said. “They don’t have to go far at all. So it’s just a walk straight down from the dorm, right in the door.”
And according to Utah’s Patrick Nowlin, the move is not limited to men’s basketball.
“It’s not just men’s basketball. It’s all Huntsman Center events,” Nowlin said.
A Nod To Utah Basketball History
While the move is primarily about fan experience, there is also a clear basketball-history component.
The west-side bench location is where Utah sat during the Majerus era, when the Runnin’ Utes were one of the top programs in the country and the Huntsman Center had a different level of edge. Alex Jensen was part of that era as a player, and now, as Utah’s head coach, the move reconnects the current program with one of its most successful periods.
Nowlin said the historical connection was part of the conversation, even if it was not solely Jensen’s decision.
“Yeah, it’s a nod to history,” Nowlin said. “I think Alex, him being here, he’s a steward of the program. There’s a lot of history to having it on that side.”
Still, Nowlin made clear the change was not simply pushed through by Jensen.
“It wasn’t a push from him,” Nowlin said. “It was a concerted effort from everybody to where, how do we create an area that the MUSS can have, but also how do we lean into our history, but still move forward in a way that we can honor that, but create an unbelievable environment.”
That is the heart of the move. Utah is trying to bring back a piece of its basketball identity while also reworking the building for the future.
How Fans Will Be Impacted
The change will affect some season-ticket holders, donors and fans seated near the current bench, MUSS and band areas, but Utah tried to limit the disruption.
Nowlin said the department spent months working through the seating impact and expects fewer than 200 accounts to be directly affected. Those accounts are in sections T, U and V.
“This wasn’t something that just came about,” Nowlin said. “We’ve been working on this for a few months now, and we wanted to find a way that we could minimize the accounts that were directly impacted, but still create the fan experience change we were after.”
Utah’s plan is to work individually with affected fans and mirror their seat location as closely as possible on the other end of the court.
“If you’re on one end and now you’re going on the other end, we will work with you to get you in the seat that is similar to where you were and allow you to have the same experience you’ve had, just on the other end of the court,” Nowlin said.
Utah will also hold a virtual seat-selection process from July 7-17, allowing fans who want to move to choose from available options.
“We’re going to take care of everybody, but we’re also going to allow people the choice and the freedom to be able to make the changes they want to make,” Nowlin said. “We want to create every opportunity we can to give our fans opportunities to choose their own experience.”
Not Part Of The Huntsman Renovation
The bench and MUSS move is not directly tied to the larger Huntsman Center renovation discussions. Nowlin said the change is instead connected to College Town Magic and Utah’s effort to improve the student and fan experience inside the building.
“It does not have to do with the renovation, but it does have to do with College Town Magic,” Nowlin said.
The move could create some new seating and premium opportunities, particularly around courtside and floor seating. Nowlin said Utah is still evaluating those possibilities.
“By doing this, this will create additional opportunities for us on courtside and floor,” Nowlin said. “We’re also looking to how do we enhance our premium experience across the board. So this is a step in a process that will continue.”
The Bottom Line
Utah’s bench move is not just a nostalgic callback to the Rick Majerus era, and it is not just a seating chart adjustment. It is part of a broader effort to reshape the Huntsman Center experience.
The team bench is moving back to the west side, where Utah sat during some of the program’s most successful years. The MUSS and band are moving to the east side, where Utah believes it can build a stronger, more consistent student-section identity tied to College Town Magic.
For Utah Athletics, it is another step toward rethinking how the Huntsman Center looks, sounds and feels on game day. For Jensen, the move reconnects the program to its winning past.
The symbolism will matter to longtime Utah basketball fans. The logistics will matter to students, band members and season-ticket holders. But the larger goal is simple: make the building feel more intentional, more connected and more like home again.
Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.
Take us with you, wherever you go. Download the new & improved KSL Sports app from Utah’s sports leader. You can stream live radio, video and stay up to date on all of your favorite teams.
SALT LAKE CITY – The San Juan County assessor has resigned partway through his second term, following a recommendation that he be removed from office.
Rick Meyer’s resignation became effective on Monday, according to San Juan County Commissioner Lori Maughan. A copy of Meyer’s resignation letter was not immediately available.
This comes after the Utah State Tax Commission determined that Meyer had failed to follow the law and was “unfit to perform his duties.” In a letter last week to San Juan County commissioners, the tax commission recommended “the immediate removal of the San Juan County assessor from office to protect the public interest and restore the integrity of the property tax system in San Juan County.”
Among other things, Meyer was accused of failing to tax agricultural buildings, misclassifying property, and giving property tax exemptions to certain parcels, including vacant land, when he shouldn’t have.
The recommendation to remove Meyer from office was the first under a recent state law giving the Utah State Tax Commission more power to take corrective action against county assessors who aren’t doing their jobs properly. Assessors play a major role in the property tax process by determining the value of property throughout their counties.
Yet, it was unclear whether the San Juan County Commission could have actually removed Meyer from office had he not stepped down.
With Meyer’s resignation, the San Juan County Assessor’s Office has just one employee left. Deputy assessor Nathan Pitts will run the office until the San Juan County Republican Party recommends a replacement and the County Commission appoints one.
“It’s me holding down the fort here,” Pitts told KSL on Thursday, noting that he has spoken with the Utah Association of Counties and the state tax commission about plans for this interim period. “Everybody’s on board to assist and try to make it the best as we can, (but) I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me.”
Pitts said he does not plan to run for county assessor to replace his old boss.
“That is not my intention at all,” he said. “I’m quite content as a deputy assessor.”
Meyer was first elected as San Juan County assessor in 2020 and won reelection in 2024. His current term was set to conclude in 2029.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
-
Florida9 seconds ago7 of our favorite Florida restaurants in Vero Beach and Fellsmere
-
Georgia5 minutes ago2 Georgia lake towns named among the South’s best places to live
-
Hawaii12 minutes agoHawaii County Surf Forecast for June 20, 2026 | Big Island Now
-
Idaho15 minutes ago‘Land back’ gift to Boise Valley tribes celebrated during annual Return of the Boise Valley People
-
Illinois20 minutes agoIllinois Tollway proposing increased tolls in 2027 to fund $26.5 billion in road construction
-
Indiana27 minutes agoJuneteenth event in Martinsville sparks conversation about city’s history
-
Iowa30 minutes ago
Iowa Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 Midday results for June 19, 2026
-
Kansas35 minutes ago1 man killed, 5 others wounded in mass shooting Friday night near East 19th and Vine streets in KCMO
