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Utah Legislature votes to join lawsuit on federal lands

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Utah Legislature votes to join lawsuit on federal lands


The state Legislature’s Management Committee voted Tuesday to file a friend of the court brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Utah Attorney General’s lawsuit filed in August over 18.5 million acres of “unappropriated” public lands under federal ownership.

A tie vote of 4-4 was broken by leadership, as per rules, when House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, voted once again in favor of supporting the unique lawsuit.

Both Schultz and Adams said it is well past time that Utah do something about the vast amount of land controlled by the federal government that they say is often left in disarray and neglected.

“I’ve had the opportunity to watch Utah’s public lands over the last almost 40 or almost 50 years,” Schultz said. “And what is happening to our public lands kills me. As a conservationist at heart, who spends a lot of his own money, a lot of my own money, on improving land and making it better — to see the mismanagement that’s happening on our Forest Service lands, on our BLM lands, on all of the federally managed lands, is sickening, and we should all be ashamed of it. It’s going backwards.”

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The amicus curiae, or friend of the court brief, comes in response to a lawsuit announced last month in a press conference by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, joined by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes.

The country’s highest court has yet to take up the case. But if it were to rule in Utah’s favor, control of a significant portion of public lands would shift to state capitals like Phoenix, Boise and Salt Lake City, instead of the nation’s Capitol 2,000 miles away.

It is those people, Schultz added, in charge of those lands in Utah — “bureaucrats” far removed from the state — who are out of touch with what is going on with the landscapes.

“It is not right and it is not fair,” he asserted.

Adams said the lawsuit leaves untouched places already under active management by federal agencies such as national parks, wilderness areas, national forests, monuments, tribal lands or military properties — land he describes as appropriated and serving a designated use. That amounts to 18.8 million acres.

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But 18.5 million acres of federal land is unencumbered for a special purpose, land that the state fears will soon change with public land restrictions that no longer make the land public multiuse and for purposes of sustained yield — something etched in stone under the Federal Lands Policy Management Act passed in 1976.

The land ownership by the federal government puts Utah at a distinct disadvantage, Adams said.

“In comparison the federal government owns less than 1% of the ground in Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island. Our Founding Fathers took care of those three states,” Adams said. “If you move on, less than 3% of the land is federally owned in Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and yet they own 70% of the land here in Utah.”

Look but don’t touch

Some GOP lawmakers have said the federal government is whittling away access to land they control, via restrictions that include 500 miles of roads closed and more to come. Grazing allotments are at risk as well, due to a new position by the Bureau of Land Management that nongovernment organizations are on an equal footing when it comes to being granted leases — but for conservation purposes lawmakers say have the potential to decimate public access.

“It takes a hands off, don’t touch, stay out approach, and they’re going to continue to close down more roads. This is access to some of those of us that love to get out and recreate, camp and climb or whatever it is,” Schultz said. “Hiking in our public land, they’re no longer going to have access to some of their favorite areas unless they’re willing to walk in 15 to 20 miles to get … to this area or to the area where they historically had access — and that is not fair to people with disabilities and that is not fair to people who can’t hike that far in.”

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Several Democratic members of the Legislative Management Committee made clear their objection to Utah’s involvement, citing the costs that will run into the millions and the small chance of any tangible victory.

“I think it’ll be taxpayer money being lost in another fruitless litigation. But we will lose outdoor recreation opportunities. We will lose habitat for wildlife, and this will provide us with an opportunity to privatize some of the 70% of the land we all recreate on,” said Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights.

Rep. Jen Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City, also wanted her name put on record as opposing the legal action.

But if the state is successful, it would take over leasing on those federal lands.

Utah has hired former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement and leading Supreme Court advocate Erin Murphy to argue the case, which could add up to $14 million in costs.

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White scores 25 to help Utah women hand No. 8 TCU its 1st loss, 87-77 in overtime

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White scores 25 to help Utah women hand No. 8 TCU its 1st loss, 87-77 in overtime


SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Lani White scored 25 points to lead Utah past No. 8 TCU 87-77 in overtime Saturday night.

Reese Ross added 15 points and Maty Wilke had 12 for the Utes. Evelina Otto finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Utah (11-4, 2-1 Big 12) made 13 3-pointers and shot 56.5% from long distance.

Olivia Miles had 31 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to pace the Horned Frogs (14-1, 2-1). Marta Suarez added 23 points and 11 rebounds. TCU shot just 37% from the field, including 9 of 39 from 3-point range.

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White forced overtime by making a 3-pointer that tied it 67-all with 12 seconds left in regulation. Utah never trailed in OT and went up 76-69 with 2:47 left after White capped a 9-2 run with her fourth outside basket.

TCU used a 7-0 spurt to erase a four-point deficit in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Suarez and Donovyn Hunter put TCU up 66-64 with 49 seconds remaining.

Ross had a chance to tie it on two free throws with 33.3 seconds left, but missed both. Miles made one of two foul shots with 22 seconds to go before White tied it.

Utah took advantage of cold shooting by the Horned Frogs to pull ahead in the third quarter. Back-to-back baskets from Suarez were TCU’s only field goals over an eight-minute stretch. The Utes scored on three straight possessions, culminating in a layup from Wilke, to take a 52-48 lead.

Miles made back-to-back baskets to put the Horned Frogs back up 58-56. Utah used a 7-0 run, punctuated by a 3-pointer from Ross, to go ahead 63-58 with 4:32 left in regulation.

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Up next

TCU hosts Oklahoma State on Wednesday.

Utah plays at Kansas on Wednesday.

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Judge files ruling allowing for appeal to Utah Supreme Court in redistricting case

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Judge files ruling allowing for appeal to Utah Supreme Court in redistricting case


The judge in Utah’s redistricting case filed a ruling making it possible for the Legislature to appeal to the Utah Supreme Court, but not without a strong rebuke of their process.

On Friday, Judge Dianna Gibson ruled partially in favor of the Legislature’s most recent request in the redistricting case, certifying its August 25th ruling as final in order to allow them to appeal to the Utah Supreme Court.

However, she strongly denied their request to enter a final judgment and end the case, saying, “This case is far from over.”

MORE | Utah Redistricting:

File – Utah Congressional Redistricting Maps (Image: KUTV)

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“Quite literally – this Court is between the proverbial rock and a hard spot. This entire case is not ‘final,’” Gibson wrote in the ruling. “But the Court agrees that the important legal issues decided by this Court and reflected in each of its rulings … should be reviewed by the Utah Supreme Court as quickly as possible.”

Gibson said it was the legislative defendant’s “duty to seek appellate review” regarding any of her interlocutory, or non-final orders, within 21 days of the rulings. She said they repeatedly claimed they would but never did.

Now, they are requesting she finalize the case, or at the very least one of her orders, to allow them to file an appeal.

Because Gibson does not want to delay appellate review, she agreed to certify the August 25, 2025 Ruling and Order as final.

“Every Utah voter, every Utah congressional candidate and arguably every Utah citizen is impacted by this case. Issuing a final ruling – on even a portion of this case – ultimately serves the public’s interest and will lead to a faster resolution of the entire case,” she wrote.

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The redistricting case dates back to 2018, when voters passed a ballot initiative to create a commission to redraw the congressional district boundaries.

State legislators repealed the ballot initiative in 2020, and attempted to draw their own congressional map the following year.

This prompted a lawsuit, which has led to several rulings, including the one on August 25th, which declared that the Utah Legislature violated voters’ rights by approving congressional boundaries that split Salt Lake County.

“Until there is a final decision on these legal issues from our Supreme Court, there will be a cloud on Utah’s congressional elections and an open question regarding the power of the Legislature and the power of the people,” Gibson wrote in her most recent ruling.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Utah man missing for 3 years presumed dead. What happened? – East Idaho News

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Utah man missing for 3 years presumed dead. What happened? – East Idaho News


SOUTH SALT LAKE (KSL) — Investigators believe a South Salt Lake man who disappeared in 2022 is likely dead, but they’re still trying to figure out what happened to him more than three years later.

“To my knowledge we don’t have one working theory as to whether it’s a homicide or a suicide or if he just completely went off the grid, essentially,” officer Shaun Ward said Monday.

But according to a recent search warrant affidavit filed in 3rd District Court, “There has been no financial or digital footprint indicating that (Cornelis ‘Casey’ Frederik Bokslag) is still alive. It is presumed he is deceased.”

Ward says the search warrant, filed in late November, is to look at Bokslag’s Google accounts, such as his email history, internet search history and location data. Investigators are hoping those records “might provide additional information about where Bokslag had been in the days and hours leading up to his disappearance as well as any correspondence, contacts, locations and a slew of other sources of information that could lead Investigators to the location of Bokslag’s body, which will allow us to determine if his disappearance was a result of suicide or foul play,” the warrant states.

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As of Monday, the request for that information from Google was still pending.

Ward, 30, was last seen on June 6, 2022. Police have recovered surveillance video of Bokslag leaving his apartment complex that day in his car by himself. He then went to an ATM in South Salt Lake and withdrew $100. Bokslag, a four-year Marine veteran who had worked for a watershed company since 2016, did not go to work that day, which family members, his employer and police said was highly unusual.

“Investigators eventually learned that Bokslag had taken the day off work and told friends and family that he was traveling to Evanston, Wyoming, to participate in the gay pride parade festivities,” according to the recently unsealed search warrant.

Hours after Bokslag was reported missing on June 8, 2022, his 2012 Suzuki SX4 was found by a passerby in Summit County, near the Castle Rock exit off I-80, about 18 miles west of the Wyoming border.

“It was discovered that the vehicle’s license plates were removed from the car. Meticulously, the screws were put back into the license plate frame, and the vehicle was essentially clean in nature,” police said at the time.

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The warrant further states that “there was a noticeable absence of fingerprints inside the vehicle. This was determined to be consistent with the interior having been wiped clean.

“Later, DNA swabs were taken and submitted for testing. They revealed two genetic profiles. One was matched to Bokslag by exemplar samples provided by the family. A second profile was identified. The profile was checked through the Combined DNA Index System, and no positive identification was made,” the warrant states.

Ward said Monday that investigators have done extensive searches around where Bokslag’s car was found in 2022, both on the ground and by drone. His residence was also searched, and a few items of potential evidence, such as Bokslag’s laptop, were seized.

A co-worker called Bokslag several times one night before he disappeared, according to cellphone records collected by investigators. Several witnesses told police that the co-worker and Bokslag “were up for the same promotion, but Bokslag was eventually selected for it, causing resentment. Those cellphone records also showed Bokslag’s phone being turned off at some point on June 6,” according to the warrant.

“A records check revealed that shortly after receiving numerous calls in one night from the hostile co-worker, and prior to being reported missing, Bokslag purchased a handgun in Salt Lake County along with two boxes of ammunition,” the warrant says.

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Ward did not have any additional information Monday about the co-worker, including whether police had questioned him or if he had been ruled out as a possible suspect.

A $50,000 reward is still being offered for information that leads to Bokslag being found. According to a web page set up by his family, Bokslag is 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighs about 140 pounds, has blond hair and gray eyes. He also had a goatee at the time of his disappearance. A missing persons poster is hanging in the lobby of the South Salt Lake Police Department with Bokslag’s information.

Anyone who has information on what may have happened to Bokslag or anyone who may have seen him is asked to call police at 801-840-4000. Ward says all tips will be investigated.

“Really, anything at this point. If they think that they saw him or have seen him recently, or if they have any information into his personal life that our investigators may not know … any information is welcome,” he said. “We want to bring closure to the family. The family still wants answers.”

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