Utah
Utah governor reveals secret to scoring best state ranking two years in a row
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Utah Gov. Spencer Cox says his state’s “unique” qualities helped it come in at the top spot on U.S. News & World Report’s “Best States” survey for the second year in a row.
Utah repeated as the No. 1 state in America in U.S. News & World Report’s Best States rankings for 2024, thanks in part to its consistency.
“The American Dream is alive and well,” Cox said in response to the report at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, where he also spotlighted his “Disagree Better” initiative encouraging bipartisanship among the nation’s governors.
“One of the things that makes Utah special is that we lead the nation in upward mobility and social capital, connectedness, that we lead the nation every year in service and charitable giving, and that we don’t rely on government to solve all of our problems,” Cox told Fox News Digital. “I think that the conservative policies that we’ve championed have made us not just the best economy in the country, but also, you know, we’re No. 2 in education.”
WHY ARE AMERICANS FLEEING THE WEST COAST FOR THIS DEEP RED STATE? FREEDOM AND FRIENDLINESS
Gov. Spencer Cox applauds after signing two social media regulation bills during a ceremony at the Capitol building in Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 23, 2023. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)
The U.S. News project analyzed more than 70 metrics across eight categories, including fiscal stability, health care, infrastructure and crime and corrections. Utah performed the best in education (No. 2), economy (No. 3) and infrastructure (No. 3). The Beehive State also moved up year over year in several categories, including crime and corrections (+6) and opportunity (+2).
Natural environment was the only category where Utah – known for its geographical diversity, national parks and skiing and snowboarding resorts – finished in the bottom half of the list, at No. 46. The report said the category reflected metrics like pollution threats and air and water quality.
In January 2023, Cox signed the Utah Fits All Scholarship, a multi-use scholarship program for K-12 students in which participants can receive an education spending account of up to $8,000 to pay for education-related items, including textbooks, tutors and private school tuition.
“We’ve been able to get more funding for education, but also, we passed school choice to empower parents,” Cox said. “We’ve given our teachers the largest raises in our state’s history and given families more choices to be able to use taxpayer dollars to send their kids wherever they want to go. And so, again, not having it be a zero-sum game, finding solutions that benefit everyone and smaller government… I think those are the things that keep Utah No. 1.”
Utah has come out on top in other recent stats. Provo, Utah, claimed the top spot among 20 cities where young adults make up the largest percentage of homeowners, according to research from MoneyGeek. In the city, home to Brigham Young University, people under 25 make up roughly 39% of homeowners. And young adults own more homes than those ages 25-44, 44-65 or over 65, according to the report.
“We’re the youngest state in the nation,” Cox said. “We believe in families, and we think having kids is a great thing and really important. But also, we’re working hard. The price of housing has been going up, and we want kids to be able to own homes. And I’m grateful we have places like Provo that are leading there.”
But, he said, they “still have work to do,” noting the state passed “the most aggressive starter home package in the country.”
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute on May 9, 2024. (Fox News Digital)
LIBERALS FUME AS UTAH GOVERNOR HONORS BLACK HISTORY MONTH DAYS AFTER SIGNING ANTI-DEI BILL
“We need to build 35,000 starter homes over the course of the next five years to keep the American Dream alive,” Cox said. “And so we’re dedicated to that. I believe it’s immoral to not have homeownership and the American Dream, the ability to buy a home and start a family as part of, again, the fabric of our society.”
Californians, in particular, have been migrating to Utah in recent years — nearly 19,000 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“I think there’s lots of reasons,” Cox said of Californians coming to Utah. “Again, I think we have a very strong economy. For sure. I think we’re much less regulated. I do think that these are the laboratories of democracy. California’s chosen a very different path, you know, a very progressive path. And, and I think it shows it’s not working as more and more people are leaving California. And I think what we’re doing in Utah is working, and that’s attracting people from California and elsewhere.”
Cox said Utah’s issues now were “growth related” from people flooding into the state.
“People always ask me, how are you going to stop that from happening? Well, I can’t. I want us to be the No. 1 state,” he said.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity confronted California Gov. Gavin Newsom last June about his state’s population exodus. California lost 117,552 people between Jan. 1, 2021 and Jan. 1, 2022, according to the state’s Department of Finance, dropping its population down to where it was in 2016.
Welcome to Utah sign on Utah-Arizona border. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Newsom highlighted his state’s economic outlook and pointed to red states that lost residents.
“Look at the facts,” Newsom said. “We’re the fourth-largest economy in the world. This belies all of that rhetoric, everything you just said. You didn’t talk about all those red states that have opposite policies that you embrace. Something is clearly not working right in those states… Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia that all had higher population loss.”
California’s population increased by 67,000 people last year to 39,128,162, according to recent data released by the California Department of Finance (DOF), marking the first year since 2020 that the state has seen a net increase.
To keep up with the influx of people and retain a high quality of life, Cox said Utah has to invest in infrastructure.
“I hope that other states will copy what we’re doing so that their residents don’t feel like they need to leave, that they’ll want to stay because they’re doing, they’re deregulating and adopting these conservative values that have made Utah such an attractive place,” he said.
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Fox News’ Alicia Warren contributed to this report.
Utah
Utah man dies of injuries sustained in avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A man died after he was caught in an avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon over the weekend.
A spokesperson for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office confirmed on Thursday that Kevin Williams, 57, had died.
He, along with one other person, was hospitalized in critical condition after Saturday’s avalanche in the backcountry.
MORE | Big Cottonwood Canyon Avalanche
In an interview with 2News earlier this week, one of Williams’ close friends, Nate Burbidge, described him as a loving family man.
“Kevin’s an amazing guy. He’s always serving, looking for ways that he can connect with others,” Burbidge said.
A GoFundMe was set up to help support Williams’ family.
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Utah
911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas
CONTENT WARNING: This report discusses suicide and includes descriptions of audio from 911 calls that some viewers may find disturbing.
LAS VEGAS — Exclusively obtained 911 recordings detail the hours leading up to the discovery of an 11-year-old Utah girl and her mother dead inside a Las Vegas hotel room in an apparent murder-suicide.
Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, lived in West Jordan and had traveled to Nevada for the JAMZ cheerleading competition.
The calls show a growing sense of urgency from family members and coaches, and several hours passing before relatives learned what happened.
MORE | Murder-Suicide
Below is a timeline of the key moments, according to dispatch records. All times are Pacific Time.
10:33 a.m. — Call 1
After Addi and her mother failed to appear at the cheerleading competition, Addi’s father and stepmother called dispatch for a welfare check.
Addi and her mother were staying at the Rio hotel. The father told dispatch that hotel security had already attempted contact.
“Security went up and knocked on the door. There’s no answer or response it doesn’t look like they checked out or anything…”
11:18 a.m. and 11:27 a.m. — Calls 2 and 3
As concern grew, Addi’s coach contacted the police two times within minutes.
“We think the child possibly is in imminent danger…”
11:26 a.m. — Call 4
Addi’s stepmother placed another call to dispatch, expressing escalating concern.
“We are extremely concerned we believe that something might have seriously happened.”
She said that Tawnia’s car was still at the hotel.
Police indicated officers were on the way.
2:26 p.m. — Call 5
Nearly three hours after the initial welfare check request, fire personnel were en route to the scene. It appeared they had been in contact with hotel security.
Fire told police that they were responding to a possible suicide.
“They found a note on the door.”
2:35 p.m. — Call 6
Emergency medical personnel at the scene told police they had located two victims.
“It’s going to be gunshot wound to the head for both patients with notes”
A dispatcher responded:
“Oh my goodness that’s not okay.”
2:36 p.m. — Call 7
Moments later, fire personnel relayed their assessment to law enforcement:
“It’s going to be a murder suicide, a juvenile and a mother.”
2:39 p.m. — Call 8
Unaware of what had been discovered, Addi’s father called dispatch again.
“I’m trying to file a missing persons report for my daughter.”
He repeats the details he knows for the second time.
3:13 p.m. — Call 9
Father and stepmother call again seeking information and continue to press for answers.
“We just need some information. There was a room check done around 3:00 we really don’t know where to start with all of this Can we have them call us back immediately?”
Dispatch responded:
“As soon as there’s a free officer, we’ll have them reach out to you.”
4:05 p.m. — Call 10
More than an hour later, Addi’s father was put in contact with the police on the scene. He pleaded for immediate action.
“I need someone there I need someone there looking in that room”
The officer confirmed that they had officers currently in the room.
Addi’s father asks again what they found, if Addi and her mother are there, and if their things were missing.
The officer, who was not on scene, said he had received limited information.
5:23 p.m. — Call 11
Nearly seven hours after the first welfare check request, Addi’s grandmother contacted police, describing conflicting information circulating within the family.
“Some people are telling us that they were able to get in, and they were not in the hotel room, and other people saying they were not able to get in the hotel room, and we need to know”
She repeated the details of the case. Dispatch said officers will call her back once they have more information.
Around 8:00 p.m. — Press Conference
Later that evening, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police held a news conference confirming that Addi and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead inside the hotel room.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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Utah
Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — AI glasses could allow you to get answers, snap photos, access audio and take phone calls—and now a proposal moving through the legislature would ban the glasses from Utah school classrooms.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Kizzy Guyton Murphy, a mother who accompanied her child’s class on a field trip to the state Capitol on Wednesday. “You can’t see inside what the student is looking at, and it’s just grounds for cheating.”
Mom Tristan Davies Seamons also sees trouble with AI glasses.
“I don’t think they should have any more technology in schools than they currently have,” she said.
Her twin daughters, fourth graders Finley and Grayson, don’t have cell phones yet.
“Not until we’re like 14,” said Grayson, adding they do have Chromebooks in school.
2News sent questions to the Utah State Board of Education:
- Does it have reports of students using AI glasses?
- Does it see cheating and privacy as major concerns?
- Does it support a ban from classrooms?
Matt Winters, USBE AI specialist, said the board has not received reports from school districts of students with AI glasses.
“Local Education Agencies (school districts) have local control over these decisions based on current law and code,” said Winters. “The Board has not taken a position on AI glasses.
MORE | Utah State Legislature:
Some districts across the country have reportedly put restrictions on the glasses in schools.
“I think it should be up to the teachers,” said Briauna Later, another mother who is all for preventing cheating, but senses a ban could leave administrators with tired eyes.
“It’s one more thing for the administration to have to keep track of,” said Later.
The proposal, HB 42, passed the House and cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday.
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