Free Republic

Utah Democrats may be on the brink of an unexpected political realignment after a progressive newcomer pulled off a convention upset that has reshaped a closely watched House race. Progressive first-time candidate Liban Mohamed narrowly won Utah Democrats’ convention endorsement Saturday in the state’s newly redrawn 1st Congressional District, defeating establishment favorite Ben McAdams, an outcome that has energized the party’s left flank. Newsweek reached out to Mohamed via email for comment. Some Democrats have framed this result as a potential turning point, with Angel Vice, chair of the Utah Democratic Party Women’s Caucus, telling the Deseret News after the...

A massive hyperscale data centre project tied to investor Kevin O’Leary is moving forward in Box Elder County, Utah after receiving approvals from a state military development authority, with final local authorization now the only remaining hurdle, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The Military Installation Development Authority, known as MIDA, approved multiple steps on Friday to advance the multibillion-dollar development project, which is being pitched as a major economic engine for rural northern Utah. The project is expected to include 2,000 permanent jobs and large-scale infrastructure tied to military installations in the state. It is expected to consume more...

Salt Lake City took in Somali ‘refugees’. Now it’s going to pay the price. In a race roiled in recent weeks by scandal, Liban Mohamed, the Muslim son of Somali immigrants, pulled off a surprising upset in a crowded 1st Congressional District, winning the endorsement of a majority of Democratic delegates at the party’s state convention Saturday. “It’s a progressive’s time to lead. It’s the working class’ time to lead,” Mohamed said after the results were announced Saturday night. “The support is growing as people get to know us and learn about the campaign we’re running, the positivity that we...

In a race roiled in recent weeks by scandal, Liban Mohamed, the Muslim son of Somali immigrants, pulled off a surprising upset in a crowded 1st Congressional District, winning the endorsement of a majority of Democratic delegates at the party’s state convention Saturday. Mohamed emerged as the top choice in a field with two candidates — state Sen. Nate Blouin and Salt Lake City Council member Eva Lopez Chavez — stung by scandal in the past two weeks and a front-runner, former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams, who some delegates viewed as too conservative. After several rounds of ranked-choice voting, McAdams...

The Salt Lake City Tribune is reporting that an openly lesbian city council member running for Congress has been accused by four women of making "unwanted sexual advances."Lopez Chavez says that "nothing inappropriate" happened between her and three other women, while the alleged contact with the fourth woman never occurred."Victoria Petro, who is Lopez Chavez’s fellow City Council member; Maggie Regier, who worked on Stan Penfold’s mayoral campaign in 2019; Hoang Nguyen, who is now a state representative; and Jen Plumb, now a state senator, described their allegations in interviews with The Salt Lake Tribune," reports the newspaper. The incidents...

A transgender woman and her partner were arrested Monday for allegedly kidnapping her 10-year-old son and flying him to Cuba – where the child’s biological mother feared he would undergo gender reassignment surgery. Trouble emerged after Rose Inessa-Ethington, 42, and her partner, 32-year-old Blue Inessa-Ethington, purportedly took Rose’s kid under the guise of going on a camping trip in Canada, the US Attorney’s Office said in a Tuesday press release. The blended family crossed the northern border but never checked into their hotel. Aside from one brief phone call on March 28, they cut off all communication with the boy’s...

Utah’s governor and the heads of both legislative bodies are investigating an alleged relationship between state Supreme Court Justice Diana Hagen — who is responsible for the crucial gerrymandering decision — and an attorney who argued the case. A complaint, exclusively obtained by KSL, was submitted by another attorney, Michael Worley, in late December. It asserted that Diana Hagen’s ex-husband, Tobin Hagen, alleged that Diana Hagen shared “inappropriate” text messages with David Reymann, the attorney involved in the redistricting case that established Utah’s new congressional map. Worley said he believed his duty as an attorney of the bar obligated him...

The Constitution Party has begun maintaining a national list of candidates running with the party in the 2026 election cycle. Party leadership has previously said that recruiting candidates would be a major priority moving forward. The party shared the current list Tuesday, stating that additional candidates will be added as filing deadlines pass in other states. As of publication, the list includes 28 candidates across four states, with the majority concentrated in Utah and Nevada. In Utah, the party is fielding 16 candidates, most of whom are running for county-level offices. These include commission and council seats in Cache, Salt...

New court motions for Robinson's trial, show lab reports not only deemed findings INCONCLUSIVE, they also say that the BULLET fragment COULD BELONG TO MANY MAKES/MODELS OF GUNS.

120 workers in Kent, Washington showed up to work -- and found out their jobs are gone. Not because the company is failing... but because it’s expanding somewhere else. In this video, we break down what really happened with Rise Baking Company, why those jobs are moving to Utah, and how the timing lines up with Washington’s new tax law signed by Bob Ferguson.

With a little more than an hour to go before President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night deadline for Iran to open up a vital shipping corridor, Utah businessman Khosrow Semnani, who was born in the Middle East country, was wracked with anxiety. “I’ve never been worried so badly as I am right now, to be honest with you,” he said. Semnani, the man who opened Tooele County’s low-level nuclear waste facility, was particularly concerned about Trump’s threats to attack bridges and power plants in Iran, especially the nuclear generation facility in Bushehr. “These are counterproductive. It pushes people of Iran to...

A more than 50-year-old Utah cold case murder has been identified as another victim of the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy using advanced DNA techniques.

While the SAVE America Act continues to languish in the Senate under the supervision of Republican Leader John Thune, leaders and voters in several states have taken it upon themselves to secure their own elections from noncitizen voting. ...***FloridaGov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s own version of the SAVE Act into law last week. The law, which requires citizenship verification against REAL ID data when registering to vote, will go into effect in January of next year.***MississippiMississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also signed election integrity legislation into law last week. Named the Safeguard Honesty Integrity in Elections for Lasting Democracy (SHIELD) Act,...

Sen. Mike Lee says the Senate is going right back at the SAVE America Act next week and he’s urging conservatives to keep the pressure on.“Early next week, we’ll be taking up the SAVE America Act again. We need to stay on it until it passes. SPREAD THE WORD!”That renewed push comes after Senate Republicans notched a procedural win Tuesday that puts the bill back on the front burner. The Senate voted 51-48 to advance the SAVE America Act by approving a motion to proceed, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republican voting no.Supporters say the SAVE America...

A man who was previously charged for making terrorism threats against the Sandy police department was shot and killed by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper last Friday afternoon on I-15. The driver, identified Thursday as Sayed Mousavi, 29, of Sandy, hit the trooper's vehicle about 5 p.m. near 4500 South on I-15, and kept going, before coming to a stop near 3500 South, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety. The trooper started to approach Mousavi after he stopped and got out of his car on the freeway. Mousavi allegedly pulled out a knife, "leading to the trooper discharging...

Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) said Wednesday he will not support the U.S.-Israeli military offensive in Iran after the conflict reaches 60 days without congressional approval. Curtis wrote in the Salt Lake City-based media outlet Deseret News that the War Powers Resolution of 1973 limits the president’s period of time to respond to “emerging threats.” He called the conflict with Iran nothing new, “a long-standing, well-organized and well-funded campaign against American lives and interests.” “At the same time, here in America, constitutional limits are in place to temper the president from unilateral authority,” Curtis wrote. “I support the president’s actions taken...

MILLCREEK — A Midvale woman was arrested Thursday and accused of cutting the brake lines of a vehicle belonging to a couple who have a stalking injunction against her. Toria Raye Stein, 32, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Thursday and charged Friday in 3rd District Court with attempted murder, a first-degree felony, and two counts of stalking, a second-degree felony. The victim couple lives in the Mount Aire community in Parleys Canyon. The wife told police that in late February, "she got into her Honda CRV, finding the brake pedal was not working and went straight to...

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is home to more than 8 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land, and it's now poised to be home to the agency's operations. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that it will relocate its Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City as part of a "sweeping restructuring of the agency" that seeks to bring the agency's leaders closer to the lands it manages. "Moving the Forest Service closer to the forests we manage is an essential action that will improve our core mission of managing our forests while saving taxpayer dollars and boosting...

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, intended to hit President Donald Trump amid nationwide "no kings" protests, but instead Republicans argued her comment admits the flimsy case being made. "Donald Trump is not, never will be, and has never been a king. #NoKings," Hirono's Saturday morning X post read as left-wing protesters marched in various anti-Trump demonstrations. The remarks landed with rare agreement from figures on the right, though. "So you agree – you think your 'no kings' rallies are stupid…," replied Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who once backed Trump's 2024 Republican primary opposition from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. "Roger that!" Sen....

President Trump’s allies are planning to take over the Senate floor this week in a bid to pass the SAVE America Act, setting up a major test for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) who is under pressure from Trump and the MAGA base to extend the debate over voting reform for as long as possible. GOP senators are playing their cards close to the vest ahead of this week’s marathon debate over the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which would require people registering to vote to show documented proof of citizenship. But they’re bracing for long hours...