Utah News

Latino leaders gathered last week in Yuma, Arizona, to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month—and to stress the importance of the Colorado River.

Two years ago, the Colorado's water use – by Utah, six other states and Mexico – officially outstripped its total annual flow. Experts say the river is slowly drying up, with a combination of over-consumption, drought and climate change. Sal Rivera of the group Nuestro Rio says the Colorado has been used for centuries by Latinos for farming and recreation, but they can no longer assume it will be around forever.

The Utah roads will soon be icy and snowy, and it may be time to reevaluate your driving habits before you have to navigate them. AARP Utah offers a four-hour driver safety course for anyone who sits behind the wheel. Paulette Welch, the driver safety coordinator, says most older adults haven't received any driving instruction since they were teenagers – and a lot has changed since then.

Using fingerprints and photos taken by motion activated wildlife cameras, authorities identified Troy James Knapp, a 45-year-old burglary fugitive from California, as the man responsible for a string of mountain cabin burglaries in southern Utah.

Kane County filed charges against Knapp earlier this year. Now Iron County has issued charges of its own, including four felony counts of burglary.

After 20 years on the job, one federal employee decided to draw more attention to the way the Bureau of Land Management is run while on his way out. Stan Olmstead retired from the BLM’s Vernal Field Office last month, but before he did, he sent a memo out to his colleagues across the state, hoping to draw attention to what he calls a broken agency.