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'Together we can': Hundreds gather at Utah State Capitol for Overdose Awareness Day

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'Together we can': Hundreds gather at Utah State Capitol for Overdose Awareness Day


SALT LAKE CITY — Hundreds of people crowded the south steps of the Utah State Capitol on Saturday for International Overdose Awareness Day.

The day is recognized on a global scale every year on Aug. 31. It is the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose and remember loved ones who died due to overdose.

Beginning in 2021, Overdose Awareness Day was officially recognized in Utah.

FOX 13 News spoke with Richard Beeman on Saturday. He lost his son, Jesse, to an overdose on May 14, 2011.

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“He was a wonderful kid, a real wonderful kid. Did a lot for people, cared about everybody but himself, he did,” said Beeman.

Beeman said his son’s death happened just shy of his 20th birthday.

“I wish I could have saved him,” said Beeman. “He OD’ed the third time and passed away.”

It’s a feeling Terry Olsen knows all too well.

“It’ll be 10 years that I lost my 25-year-old son Dane to a heroin overdose,” said Olsen.

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Olsen is a board member of Changes Parent Support Network, which she describes as a support group for families who have a loved one causing conflict in their home.

“The whole experience when we went through our loss, the support I received from other people … saved my sanity, helped me work through something that wasn’t in the script for our life,” said Olsen.

The theme of the event at the capitol on Saturday was “Together We Can.”

Names of loved ones lost to an overdose were read. Several speakers also stepped up to the microphone to tell their story, like Tiffany Naccarato.

“I want to say thank you to the people who helped save my life. A lot of them aren’t here today, they were not able to stand here, and it makes me happy that they chose to save my life,” said Naccarato, who serves as the community impact manager for Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness. “I’m actually a 12 survivor of overdose.”

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Olsen told FOX 13 News on Saturday that she is grateful every year to see the response, the people that show up to support this event and the people who are there to honor those who have been lost.

She also wants to help find solutions.

“And help for the people who are still here that we want to see not on a poster at the next overdose awareness,” said Olsen.

Provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate there were an estimated 107,543 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. during 2023. That is a 3% decrease from the estimated numbers in 2022.

This marked the first annual decrease since 2018.

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On Friday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox issued an order for the U.S. flags and Utah flags to be flown at half-staff on all state facilities in recognition of Overdose Awareness Day.





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Utah

Here’s who will lead Utah Valley University as its next president

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Here’s who will lead Utah Valley University as its next president


Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.



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Beaver County residents set up thousands of sandbags ahead of flashfloods

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Beaver County residents set up thousands of sandbags ahead of flashfloods


BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.

After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.

Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.

“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.

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An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.

Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.





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Utah man arrested again for allegedly abusing dog twice in three months

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Utah man arrested again for allegedly abusing dog twice in three months


EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.

Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.

Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.

“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”

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When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.

An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.

In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.

Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.

Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.

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In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.

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.



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