Tag Archives: Salt Lake City

Growing wildfire forces Salt Lake City residents to evacuate; Officials investigate manmade fire

Sandhurst-Fire-Utah

Important Takeaways:

  • Sandhurst Fire outside Salt Lake City forces residents to flee homes as flames, smoke shoot into sky
  • According to officials, the Sandhurst Fire has so far burned about 400 acres near Ensign Peak and was 0% contained as of Sunday morning.
  • Dozens of homes have been evacuated near Salt Lake City as crews continue to battle a large wildfire that broke out over the weekend that sent heavy flames and thick smoke billowing into the sky.
  • The SLCPD said it also requested the help of all available on-duty officers to assist with the evolving situation, and officers were patrolling the evacuated area to be on the lookout for suspicious activity.
  • Police said they would continue to block all access to evacuated areas, and people who do not live in the area are not being allowed to enter.
  • Officials have said that the Sandhurst Fire was manmade, but an exact cause has not yet been determined

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Pence-Harris VP debate to draw outsized attention after Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis

By James Oliphant and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – This week’s vice presidential debate has taken on an outsized and perhaps unprecedented significance, with questions about President Donald Trump’s health now looming over the U.S. election less than a month away.

Vice President Mike Pence’s sole face-off against Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat Joe Biden’s running mate, on Wednesday in Salt Lake City comes as the Trump campaign reels from a COVID-19 outbreak that has infected not only the Republican president but several in his inner circle.

The pressure on Pence, who often toils in Trump’s deep shadow, is great. Trump trails Biden by 10 percentage points nationally, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, with voters faulting what they viewed as the president’s carelessness about the pandemic.

Pence needs to show the public he is ready to step in as president if the situation requires, while also defending the Trump administration’s handling of a 7-month-old health crisis that has killed nearly 210,000 Americans.

For her part, Harris, who has largely stayed out of the spotlight in recent weeks as Biden ramped up campaign travel, must demonstrate to voters that she, too, could assume the presidency if needed at some point in the 77-year-old Biden’s tenure should he win the election.

Traditionally, the vice presidential debate is considered an afterthought to the three presidential debates, watched by fewer voters and viewed as almost irrelevant in terms of shifting public opinion.

“This debate is different,” said Christopher Devine, an expert on the vice presidency at the University of Dayton. “Some people may be worrying about Mike Pence and how he may perform if called upon. And there are questions about Joe Biden’s ability to stay healthy.”

Trump, 74, returned to the White House on Monday following a three-day stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where he was treated for his illness. While doctors say he is recovering, it remains uncertain when he will be able to resume campaign activities.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said on Monday the president intended to participate in the next scheduled debate with Biden on Oct. 15 in Miami.

Pence will also be charged with trying to slow the Biden-Harris momentum, something Trump was unable to do in his unruly debate with Biden last week. Trump struggled to make a case for his re-election and often resorted to insults to try to rattle Biden.

Pence, a talented and even-tempered communicator who once hosted a radio show while a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, can be more effective on a debate stage than the undisciplined Trump, said Michael Steel, who worked with Pence in the House when Steel was an aide to then-Speaker John Boehner.

“The vice president can make a more cogent and thoughtful case for the Trump administration’s record than almost anyone else,” Steel said. “He’s in a position to have a much stronger debate than the president.”

But, Steel added: “I don’t know how much that matters.”

ATTACK LINES

Reuters/Ipsos polling has shown the presidential race to be relatively stable, with Biden consistently holding a lead nationally and a small set of undecided voters who have yet to make up their minds. More than 3.8 million Americans already have voted ahead of the Nov. 3 Election Day, according to the University of Florida, which tracks the early vote.

A Biden campaign official told Reuters the campaign was prepared for Pence to launch attacks on Harris suggesting she is to the left of the mainstream of the Democratic Party, along with other allegations that Biden’s campaign says are untrue about his son Hunter Biden and Biden’s stance on China.

The official conceded that Pence was a strong debater, but “just because Mike Pence can deliver a line doesn’t make it true.”

Harris, a former Democratic presidential contender, cemented her reputation as a skilled questioner at the 2018 hearings for now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. She will “make a very forceful case” that Biden is the right leader for the moment, the Biden official said.

Harris has panned the administration’s coronavirus response headed by Pence. On Wednesday, she will have to thread the needle between renewing those criticisms without attacking the recovering Trump personally, Devine said.

“It’s a delicate balance,” Devine said. “Harris is probably better prepared than most, having been on the national stage before.”

During a series of primary debates last year, Harris had to navigate how to take shots at Biden, a beloved party statesman, without alienating swaths of Democratic voters. Her criticism of Biden’s past record on forced school busing earned her media attention but may have backfired with the electorate. She ended her campaign in December before voting began.

Coronavirus protocols at the debate on Wednesday will be strengthened following Trump’s diagnosis.

Pence and Harris will be seated more than 12 feet (3.7 m) apart on the stage, farther than the 7 feet (2 m) that separated the lecterns at the Sept. 29 debate between Trump and Biden. The candidates will also be separated by a plexiglass barrier during the debate, as requested by the Biden campaign.

All debate attendees, including members of the media, will be required to get tested for COVID-19. The debates commission said anyone not wearing a mask would be “escorted out.”

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and James Oliphant; Additional reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)

Utah hit with 5.7-magnitude quake, inbound flights from Salt Lake City diverted

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Wednesday it had evacuated the air control tower at Salt Lake City International Airport and halted flights after a magnitude 5.7 earthquake was reported nearby.

The FAA said it “has implemented a ground stop for (Salt Lake City) and is diverting inbound aircraft to other airports.” The FAA’s Salt Lake Air Route Traffic Control Center is handling all air traffic in the area.

Salt Lake City is the 23rd busiest U.S. airport and a hub for Delta Air Lines.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Decriminalization of polygamy in Utah clears key hurdle in state legislature

By Jennifer Dobner

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) – Legislation to effectively decriminalize polygamy among consenting adults in Utah overwhelmingly passed the state House of Representatives in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, moving it a step closer to becoming law.

The measure reduces the criminal penalty for plural marriage from a felony to an infraction on par with a traffic ticket. It cleared the House on a vote of 70-3.

The bill, which originated in the Senate, now goes back to that body for a final vote to approve a technical amendment made in the House. Both chambers are controlled by a Republican majority.

Final Senate passage would send the bill to Utah Governor Gary Herbert, also a Republican. He has not indicated whether he would sign the measure into law.

Under current statutes, polygamy – typically involving a man who cohabitates with and purports to marry more than one wife – is classified as a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

If the bill becomes law, punishments for plural marriage would be limited to fines of up to $750 and community service.

However, fraudulent bigamy – in which an individual obtains licenses to marry more than one spouse without their knowledge, or seeks to wed someone underage without her consent – would remain a felony. It would also be treated as a felony if charged in connection with other crimes such as child abuse, fraud, homicide or human trafficking.

The bill’s Republican sponsor, Senator Deidre Henderson, has said her intent is not to legalize polygamy but to decriminalize it so that those from polygamous communities who are victims of crimes can come forward for help or to seek social services without fear of being prosecuted themselves.

Opponents of the bill say current law should not be changed because polygamy is inherently dangerous and harmful to women and children, particularly girls, some of whom have been forced into marriages with older men.

Polygamy is a remnant of the early teachings of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which officially abandoned the practice in 1890 and now excommunicates members found engaged in the practice.

Fundamentalist Mormons, numbering an estimated 30,000 across the western United States, continue the practice, however, in the belief that if promises glorification in heaven.

(Reporting by Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City; Editing by Steve Gorman, Robert Birsel)

Mormon church to allow children of LGBT couples to be baptized

FILE PHOTO: The LDS Church's Mormon Temple in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, is seen January 27, 2012. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) – The Mormon church will allow the children of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender parents to be baptized, but will not sanction same-sex marriage, its leadership said on Thursday.

The decision, announced on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ website Thursday morning, reverses a 2015 policy that deemed same-sex couples to be apostates of the faith, which made their children ineligible for baptism.

“We want to reduce the hate and contention so common today,” said the church, which no longer uses the common name Mormon. “We are optimistic that a majority of people — whatever their beliefs and orientations — long for better understanding and less contentious communications.”

The policy took effect on Thursday for the more than 16 million members of the Salt Lake City-based church.

LGBT advocates praised the move as progress in a fight to end discrimination against LGBT people in faith groups.

“This statement by the LDS Church to change course is a move in the right direction that will make a real difference in the lives of LGBTQ Mormons,” The Trevor Project, an international advocacy group for LGBT youth, said in a statement.

The church’s statement emphasized that the new policy does not reflect a change in church doctrine. The church considers same-sex marriage and same-sex acts to be sins, while it does not condemn same-sex attraction alone, according to its website.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Scott Malone and Dan Grebler)