The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah could be getting another Trader Joe's’s grocery store in 2025. At an event Monday, Riverdale Mayor Braden Mitchell announced that the grocery chain will be opening a store in that Weber County city next summer. “It’s a good gift — we’re excited about that,” Mitchell said, after removing Christmas wrapping from a large sign that read “Trader Joe’s: Coming in 2025.” The wrapped sign was delivered to the mayor by someone dressed as Santa Claus. Nakia Rohde, a spokesperson for Trader Joe’s, said in an email Tuesday that “at this time, we do not have a location confirmed in Riverdale.” The grocery chain historically does not confirm or deny rumors of new store locations, typically only announcing store openings just before they happen. #grocery #business #utah #weber By Sean P. Means

After David C.K. Curry, a professor at the State University of New York College at Potsdam, watched as nine programs at his university were cut — including art history, dance, theater and music performance, French and Spanish — he came to believe liberal arts were being targeted. And he recognizes the same signs showing up at colleges across the country. Including in Utah. Fears have spread here among faculty after a recent state audit recommended that the presidents of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities start cutting “inefficient” programs. The language is almost identical to what Curry saw. To the liberal arts professors who specialize in politics and rhetoric, what’s being said between the lines is that arts, humanities and the social sciences don’t “measure up.” They’re scared the numbers will be used to make Utah the next state to cut back or cut out its liberal arts degrees — without regard for what will be lost. “There should be more fears about what this will do,” Curry warned. “This is a playbook. It’s a playbook that’s being sold to institutions nationwide.” Click the link to read the full story. #education #highereducation #liberalarts #humanities By Courtney Tanner

If Utahns have a deep relationship with any particular food, going by the widely held perception, it’s sugar. The signs are all around us. A major chain of cookie bakeries launched here. So did the whole “dirty soda” trend, supercharged by Utah women on TikTok. Salt water taffy is a common gift Utahns give to out-of-state relatives. The symbol on the state flag is a beehive — a natural factory for sweetness. Sugar is “the drug of choice” for Utah, a dentist in Herriman declared in an essay on his practice’s website in 2021. A doctor in Spanish Fork, writing in The Salt Lake Tribune about the “dirty soda” craze in 2022, told Utahns to “stop the madness. Stop ingesting so many processed sugars.” Pastry chef Romina Rasmussen, who founded the Salt Lake City chocolate shop Chez Nibs and operated the French bakery Les Madeleines for two decades, said Utahns “really like sugar, and that’s always been one of my challenges, because my food is not sugar-forward.” Is the perception true? Do Utahns consume sugar more fervently than other parts of the country? And what does Utah’s relationship with sugar say about us and our culture? #sugar #sweets #culture #utah #bakedgoods #dirtysoda By Kolbie Peterson

A nationally renowned neurosurgeon — who has done trailblazing work to detect and treat the most aggressive type of brain cancer — has been named the new leader to oversee the University of Utah’s extensive health care operations. The U. announced Tuesday that after a national search it nabbed Dr. Bob S. Carter, currently at Harvard Medical School, to step into the role of both senior vice president for health sciences and CEO of University of Utah Health. That means he will command the largest academic medical program in the state, as well as the associated hospitals and clinics that treat more than two million patients annually. It’s a big undertaking for the state’s flagship school, but the hiring choice? That was a no-brainer. “This was a difficult decision, with a strong slate of candidates,” U. President Taylor Randall told the campus community in an email. But, “Dr. Carter brings with him deep knowledge of medical research and education.” #healthcare #education #healthscience #academics #hospitals #clinics By Courtney Tanner

We're excited to have a new reporter next year at our partner, The Times-Independent, in Moab. Thanks to Report for America for the support of nonprofit journalism in Utah.

US Magnesium says it stopped building a retaining wall meant to keep toxic waste out of the Great Salt Lake because it’s no longer mining magnesium and therefore, according to the company, is not creating waste to mitigate. State and federal agencies say that’s not how it works. The wall is mandated as part of the company’s 2021 settlement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And with progress on the wall and other required work stalled, state officials successfully argued Friday that the mining company should be put under the control of a court-appointed receiver. Third District Judge Charles A. Stormont signed an order Friday evening appointing John H. Curtis of Rocky Mountain Advisory, LLC, to “take possession of, use, operate, manage and control” US Magnesium. The move “is intended to eliminate and remedy US Mag’s noncompliance with Utah’s environmental protection laws,” according to the complaint filed Friday by the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. Read the full story to learn more. #Utah #GreatSaltLake #toxicwaste #magnesium #noncompliance #environment By Megan Banta & Shannon Sollitt & Sheila McCann

When Sharon Haynie signed on to teach early morning seminary almost 30 years, the volunteer instructor expected the predawn rousings, the many lesson preps and struggles to elicit thoughtful responses from sleepy students. What she didn’t anticipate: The hit to her bank account. Haynie, who lives in rural south-central Colorado, has taught the weekday classes for high schoolers in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1997. During that time, she estimates she has spent thousands of dollars — roughly $40 a month in recent school years — of her own money, much of it on standard classroom materials. The seminary superfan is not complaining. The sacrifice is worth it, Haynie said, and one she can afford. She realizes, however, that’s not the case for everyone. More than a decade ago, she and a fellow early morning seminary teacher, Jenny Smith, launched a Facebook group for instructors. Surprise over the costs of the calling is a regular topic, Smith said, in the 19,000-member community, especially among its newer members. “Early morning seminary is,” Smith, who lives in Virginia, said, “an expensive calling.” Click through to read the full story. #religion #volunteer #seminary #supplies #classroom #money By Tamarra Kemsley

With winter settling in, a plan to refashion a former Motel 6 in South Salt Lake into a long-planned shelter for up to 85 families moved forward after the suburb’s City Council signed off on zoning rules for the facility. Council members voted unanimously this week — with embattled representative Paul Sanchez absent — to approve the opening of the new shelter at 315 W. 3300 South. “We’ve spent a lot of hours working with the applicant and their staff … making sure all the details are dialed in,” said Jonathan Weidenhamer, South Salt Lake’s community and economic development director. “We understand exactly how this will operate, how it will function. We are very comfortable at this time bringing this rezone to you tonight.” Homelessness leaders have been trying to open a new family facility since 2022, the first year in nearly a quarter century that parents with kids were turned away from shelter due to capacity. Right now, the waiting list at Salt Lake County’s one homeless resource center dedicated to families includes 80 to 100 groups. #Homelessness #Utah #SaltLakeValley #Shelter By Jose Davila IV

When the 2025 Sundance Film Festival ends in Park City next Groundhog Day, movie fans in Utah won’t know whether the country’s premiere independent film festival will be staying or going in 2027. And, according to the festival’s director, neither will the people organizing it. “We’re still a ways off from making that announcement,” Eugene Hernandez, the festival’s director, said in an interview Tuesday. “We’re sticking with late winter, early spring.” Sundance staff members are still touring the three finalists in the running: Boulder, Colorado; Cincinnati; and a Salt Lake City/Park City bid. “We’re still visiting cities, we’re still having conversations,” Hernandez said. And, Hernandez said, the staff members “are also running a festival that’s 43 days away. So we’re also just giving ourselves the space to do the work of the festival.” Read the full story for more on Sundance's future. #movies #films #SundanceFilmFestival #business #relocation Sundance Institute By Sean P. Means

With a crucial deadline looming, Salt Lake City Council members are set to vote Tuesday on the final zoning rules and contracts that will clear the way for The Larry H. Miller Company’s west-side Power District development. And the public won’t have a dedicated chance to weigh in on the draft accords. Council members are slated to consider two contracts — one with LHM and another with the Utah Fairpark Area Investment and Restoration District, the state-created taxing authority that will oversee the development along North Temple. Although the city has hosted two public hearings about a potential development agreement with LHM, neither has included specifics about what would be contained in a final contract to guide construction. Read the full story to learn more. #development #planning #zoning #SaltLakeCity #Utah By Jose Davila IV