Utah
Will Alpine School District remain intact or be split?
Multiple city councils in Utah County met Tuesday to vote whether to ask county officials to place on the general election ballot questions whether to split the Alpine School District and form new, smaller school districts.
Currently, the cities are served by the Alpine School District, which had an enrollment of 84,700 students in fall 2023, the largest statewide.
The cities of Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Draper, Highland and Lehi each met on Tuesday to consider resolutions requesting that the Utah County clerk place the ballot question on the November ballot.
The proposal contemplates that those five communities and the portion of Draper in Utah County would be served by a new school district, which is temporarily being referred to as the Central School District. If voters approve of the new school district, the future school board will select its name.
The Alpine City Council held a special meeting at noon Tuesday and voted unanimously to approve the resolution that the Utah County Clerk place the issue on the general election ballot.
City Administrator Shane Sorensen, in a brief presentation before the vote, said the city hired a consulting firm that recommended that the proposed Central School District was financially viable.
“Their conclusion was, ‘We are of the opinion that the new school district is a viable alternative to the existing school district,’“ he said.
A new, smaller school district would also bring about more local control, more control to meet the needs of students and potential tax savings, he said of the consultant’s findings.
Meanwhile, two other city councils in Utah County — Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain — considered resolutions on Tuesday whether to ask the Utah County clerk to place on the November ballot a question whether to create a new district in the western portion of the county that would serve Fairfield, Cedar Fort, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain and certain unincorporated areas west of Utah Lake.
The Saratoga Springs council voted unanimously for the resolution.
This spring, several city councils unanimously passed resolutions to potentially create a new school district. The cities have conducted two public hearings each to hear public comment on the proposed new school district leading up to Tuesday’s vote to ask that the issue be placed on the general election ballot.
In late May, Alpine School District Superintendent Shane Farnsworth sent a video to all employees announcing his recommendation to keep the district whole.
“Alpine School District is a viable, responsive, fiscally well-managed and high-achieving school district,” Farnsworth said at the time.
A Florida consulting firm hired by the school district recommended a two-way split.
In June, the Utah Legislature passed HB3003 to clarify the process for splitting a school district.
Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, the bill’s sponsor, said the intent of the legislation was to avoid a “messy ballot” and a “messy outcome” if various options to split the district appear on ballots and more than one passes.
The bill, passed during a special session, eliminated the option for a local school board to initiate the process to create a new school district.
If voters approve the ballot questions in November, it would take several months to establish new governance and administrative functions.
Utah
Utah State visits New Mexico after Hall’s 27-point showing
Utah State Aggies (18-3, 9-2 MWC) at New Mexico Lobos (18-4, 9-2 MWC)
Albuquerque, New Mexico; Wednesday, 11 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: New Mexico faces Utah State after Jake Hall scored 27 points in New Mexico’s 90-80 victory over the San Jose State Spartans.
The Lobos are 12-0 in home games. New Mexico is 2-0 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
The Aggies have gone 9-2 against MWC opponents. Utah State averages 83.6 points and has outscored opponents by 15.7 points per game.
New Mexico averages 81.5 points, 13.6 more per game than the 67.9 Utah State gives up. Utah State averages 15.6 more points per game (83.6) than New Mexico gives up (68.0).
The Lobos and Aggies square off Wednesday for the first time in conference play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Hall is scoring 15.5 points per game and averaging 3.2 rebounds for the Lobos. Tomislav Buljan is averaging 13.9 points and 11.1 rebounds over the last 10 games.
Michael Collins Jr. is shooting 40.3% from beyond the arc with 2.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Aggies, while averaging 18.6 points. Mason Falslev is shooting 51.4% and averaging 16.2 points over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Lobos: 8-2, averaging 81.0 points, 34.3 rebounds, 15.0 assists, 8.5 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.4 points per game.
Aggies: 8-2, averaging 81.1 points, 31.6 rebounds, 17.2 assists, 8.2 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 49.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.2 points.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Utah
Utah Man Dies In Wrong-Way Head-On Crash On I-80 Near Evanston
A Utah man driving the wrong way on Interstate 80 died over the weekend after colliding head-on with a semitrailer near Evanston.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol confirmed Monday that Duane Derrick, 40, of Logan, Utah, was driving a Chevy pickup the wrong way in the interstate at about 2 p.m. Saturday.
According to witnesses and evidence collected at the scene, Derrick was driving eastbound in the westbound lanes before the collision.
He died at the scene, the WHP reports. The driver of the semitrailer was transported to a local hospital, where he was treated and released.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol was not available for additional comment at the time of publication.
‘How Did He Not See Him?’
Paige Sequeira of Ogden, Utah, shot a video of the aftermath of Saturday’s accident as she was traveling along I-80.
Her reaction and what she captured on her phone paints a harrowing picture.
The Chevy pickup was beyond totaled. The entire vehicle was smashed into a tangled mess of metal, with wheels nearly twisted off their axles.
The semitrailer was hundreds of feet away, having driven off the highway and down an embankment toward a housing development.
Its forward engine and drive axle were nearly severed from the rest of the cab, a testament to the force of the impact.
The shoulder was covered with large debris from both vehicles.
Sequeria openly questioned, “How did he not see him?”
According to the Wyoming Highway Patrol, both vehicles “reacted and swerved to the north shoulder, colliding head-on.”
Derrick was wearing his seat belt when the collision happened, WHP reports.
Rough Start
Derrick’s death was the seventh fatality on Wyoming’s roadways so far in 2026. There were six fatalities at this point in 2025, and two in 2024.
Wyoming is already one of the deadliest states for trucking.
Statistics compiled by the Truck Safety Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, show Wyoming had seven fatalities per 100,000 population in the last year, topping the list as the deadliest state.
According to the Wyoming Department of Transportation’s crash data, 90% of commercial motor vehicle crashes on I-80 involve non-Wyoming resident drivers, and 78% of those crashes happened during inclement weather.
Saturday’s crash was another on what truckers call “The Gauntlet,” the stretch of I-80 through Wyoming that runs between Evanston and Pine Bluffs. However, analyses like these are often skewed by Wyoming’s small population.
“In a rural state like Wyoming, with one of the smallest populations but some of the highest truck miles traveled per capita in the nation, even a small number of crashes can dramatically skew the results,” Kevin Hawley, president of the Wyoming Trucking Association, previously told Cowboy State Daily. “This makes Wyoming appear ‘deadlier’ than larger states with far higher crash totals.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
Utah
Man arrested for DUI after rear-ending Utah County deputy
SPRINGVILLE, Utah — Police arrested a man whom they say is a “habitual offender” of driving under the influence after he crashed into a patrol vehicle.
A Utah County Sheriff’s deputy said he was patrolling in Springville early Sunday morning when a pickup truck driven by Richard Andrew Roberson, 38, collided with his vehicle. The deputy said he was stopped at a stop sign when Roberson hit him from behind.
When the deputy approached Roberson’s vehicle at a nearby gas station, he said the suspect showed signs of being intoxicated and also smelled like alcohol. He agreed to a field sobriety test, during which the officer said he showed multiple signs of being impaired.
Roberson was then arrested, and police say a urine test showed positive results for alcohol and marijuana, while a blood test is pending.
Police said Roberson’s driver’s license from California is currently suspended, and his vehicle was not insured.
While looking into Roberson’s background, police say they discovered that he’s had “nearly a dozen” DUI charges or convictions across four different states. His most recent convictions were in 2016 and 2017 in another state, but his most recent DUI charges were a pair of incidents in Utah within the past two months.
The arresting officer wrote that these factors indicate that Roberson “is a habitual offender and is a danger to the public.”
Roberson was arrested for felony DUI, driving on a suspended license, and operating a vehicle without insurance. A judge denied bail.
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