Utah
Utah Legislature approves allowing more children at unlicensed day care facilities
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Legislature has given the green light to a controversial proposal boosting the number of children allowed at unlicensed day care facilities.
HB153 cleared its final hurdle Wednesday and now heads to Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk.
The bill, which generated a lot of emotion and debate, allows unlicensed providers to care for up to eight children instead of six.
“What I hope it does is encourage more people to be child care providers to help get the capacity that we need,” said Rep. Susan Pulsipher, R-South Jordan, the bill sponsor.
KSL TV recently reported on the child care crisis in Utah as many families struggle to find affordable child care options for their children.
Christina Robles owns two day care facilities – including one at her home in Kearns – and has been watching the issue on Capitol Hill closely. Her facilities are licensed, which she said impacts how she operates.
“I’ll wake up in the morning with a list of things to do to ensure the safety of the kids, to ensure that I can pass any of these unannounced inspections that come through,” Robles said. “That helps keep the kids safe. It helps us make sure that we are abiding by the law.”
Robles is disappointed the Legislature passed the bill increasing the child limit for unlicensed day cares.
“When you say that you can now watch eight children, what incentive does anyone have to become licensed?” Robles said.
Pulsipher added two guardrails to her bill to try to alleviate concerns. First, unlicensed providers will be required to get a background check. They will also be prohibited from caring for more than two children under the age of three at a time.
“I think the people who choose to do child care for the most part are people who love children,” Pulsipher said, “and they care about them, and they’re going to do a good job.”
Child advocates had opposed expanding the limit at unlicensed day cares. But after those changes requiring background checks and limiting the number of small children, one of them expressed cautious optimism.
More kids in unlicensed day care? Utah Legislature mulls changing state law
“We feel OK about where the bill has landed,” said Anna Thomas, policy director at Voices for Utah Children.
Still, Thomas worries about how these new rules will be enforced — and whether eight kids at an unlicensed day care will truly be safe.
“You’re just sort of relying on people to let you know if something is going wrong,” Thomas said, “and people are not going to put their day care programs in the position to be closed.”
HB153 also expands the child tax credit in Utah that parents can claim for their young children.
The vote count on the bill was close in the Senate. It barely passed 15-12. The final vote in the House of Representatives Wednesday morning was 50-21.
KSL TV asked Gov. Cox’s office if he planned to sign the bill, but no one had responded as of late Wednesday evening.
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(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Yeti, a Himalayan-themed bar in Cottonwood Heights, is pictured on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.
Utah
Zion National Park closes popular trail during ongoing search and rescue operation – KSLNewsRadio
FILE: An entrance to Zion National Park is pictured on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. The West Rim and Angel’s Landing Trails are temporarily closed in Zion National Park for an ongoing search and rescue operation. (Ravel Call, Deseret News)
(Ravel Call, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — The West Rim and Angel’s Landing Trails are temporarily closed in Zion National Park for an ongoing search and rescue operation.
According to park officials, an incident occurred on the Angels Landing trail at approximately 2 p.m. on Friday, April 17.
At the time of publication, emergency services and search and rescue officials were on the scene.
Views along the Angel’s Landing Trail, Zion National Park. (KSL)
No further information was available.
Other reading: Supreme Court, Justice Hagen respond to state investigation into misconduct allegations
This story is developing and may be updated.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy Friday, Utah! Things will be a bit calmer in the north today, although lake effect snow could bring a few light morning showers to parts of the Salt Lake Valley and over the Oquirrh Mountains.
We may see snow showers hold on to the Northern Mountains as well, but the vast majority of the snow is behind us. Clouds will clear as we approach the afternoon with partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies on deck for most of the day.
While the snow is tapering off, the cold airmass is still around. Daytime highs will run 10-15 degrees below seasonal norms, only topping out in the mid to upper 40s for most of the state, and upper 50s to mid 60s for the warmer spots.
Breezy conditions are expected in southern and eastern Utah, but they’ll calm down throughout the day. Lower Washington County may wake up to gusty northerly winds, especially near the mouths of north-south oriented canyons where gusts are climbing to 50 mph. As a result, a Wind Advisory is in effect for this area until 9 am.
It’ll be another cold overnight with temperatures dropping below freezing, so don’t turn on your sprinklers or bring you plants back outside just yet. Freeze Warnings are in effect for most Utah valleys from the Wasatch Front to Cedar City and through much of Eastern Utah.
Temperatures will fall to the teens and 20s, posing a threat to sensitive vegetation and outdoor plumbing. The Freeze Warning is in effect from 8 pm Thursday until 12 pm Friday for most of the West Desert, the Wasatch Front, Castle Country, the Western Uinta Basin, Sanpete and Sevier Valleys, and Canyonlands.
The Freeze Warning goes back into effect at the same time Friday night into Saturday morning.
Saturday will kick off with freezing temperatures, but the warming trend begins. By Saturday afternoon temperatures will be closer to normal, reaching the upper 50s to low 60s for most valleys, and mid 60s to low 70s for the typical hot spots.
By Sunday temperatures will climb another 10-15 degrees, topping out in the low 70s for most, and 80s for St. George. The warm dry weather sticks around to kick off the workweek and temperatures continue climbing through Tuesday when the Wasatch Front could be flirting with 80s. We could see a change come midweek.
We’ll keep you posted on the latest developments in our 4Warn Weather forecast both on-air and online, we are Good4Utah!
- Lake effect possible for some
- Clearing out
- Still cold
- Freeze alerts in effect
- Hard late season freezes in valleys
- Warms up and clear for the weekend
- 10-15 degrees above average by Sunday/Monday
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