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Trump promises to refill the Great Salt Lake as Utah leaders poo-pooh conservation

Lawmakers want to spend $1 billion on pipelines and desalination rather than asking Utahns to use less water.

News

Utah officials are preparing to ask the federal government for $1 billion to support the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Great Salt Lake" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/07/10/great-salt-lake-dust-disproportionately-impacts-latinos-pacific-islanders" data-vars-content-id="3e22fb82-d552-41e6-a56c-dcd4847c26f1" data-vars-headline="Trump promises to refill the Great Salt Lake as Utah leaders poo-pooh conservation" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/07/10/great-salt-lake-dust-disproportionately-impacts-latinos-pacific-islanders" target="_self">Great Salt Lake</a> following President Trump&#x27;s recent statement that it&#x27;s &quot;very important&quot; to save the lake.The big picture: Republican lawmakers are <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="looking at measures" data-vars-click-url="https://senate.utah.gov/securing-utahs-water-future/" data-vars-content-id="3e22fb82-d552-41e6-a56c-dcd4847c26f1" data-vars-headline="Trump promises to refill the Great Salt Lake as Utah leaders poo-pooh conservation" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://senate.utah.gov/securing-utahs-water-future/" target="_blank">looking at measures</a> that sidestep asking Utahns to use less water.

ICE watchdogs chortle as MAGA Sen. Mike Lee deletes post linking masks to cartels

"Cartel hitmen wear masks," Lee said of footage of veiled attackers. "Leftists aren't complaining."

In a now-deleted X post on Sunday, Sen. Mike Lee appeared to compare masks worn by ICE agents to those worn by <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="cartels setting fire to a gas station in Mexico" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2026/02/23/mexico-cartel-leader-el-mencho-drug-lord-killed" data-vars-content-id="8b6b1b86-e7bc-4d31-8227-fc3bf48f76ba" data-vars-headline="ICE watchdogs chortle as MAGA Sen. Mike Lee deletes post linking masks to cartels" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2026/02/23/mexico-cartel-leader-el-mencho-drug-lord-killed" target="_self">cartels setting fire to a gas station in Mexico</a>.The intrigue: The comparison directly — if temporarily — contradicted the Trump administration&#x27;s defense of immigration agents&#x27; concealment of their identities during raids, arrests and other public actions.

Colorado River cuts loom after states miss deal

The seven Colorado River Basin states missed a key federal deadline to reach a new water usage agreement.

The seven Colorado River Basin states missed a key <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="federal deadline to reach a new water usage agreement" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix/2026/02/03/katie-hobbs-colorado-river-agreement-upper-basin-burgum-meeting" data-vars-content-id="4baac60f-b299-46a1-96f6-8b56471c417e" data-vars-headline="Colorado River cuts loom after states miss deal" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix/2026/02/03/katie-hobbs-colorado-river-agreement-upper-basin-burgum-meeting" target="_self">federal deadline to reach a new water usage agreement</a>, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is now likely to impose a solution of its own.Why it matters: The Colorado River is a vital source of municipal water for residents living along the Wasatch Front, and beyond and federal intervention could mean forcing mandatory cuts.

Most Utahns don't support Christian nationalism

Christian nationalism is deeply entrenched inside today's Republican Party, according to the survey.

Less than one-third of Utahns <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="hold Christian nationalist beliefs" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/03/11/utah-republican-christian-nationalism-view-politics" data-vars-content-id="5158a0e6-9106-40b5-811a-a886eb215a81" data-vars-headline="Most Utahns don&#x27;t support Christian nationalism" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/03/11/utah-republican-christian-nationalism-view-politics" target="_self">hold Christian nationalist beliefs</a>, according to a sweeping 50-state survey by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute.Why it matters: The once-fringe ideology holds that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and should be governed according to strict fundamentalist Christian values, even as the country becomes <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="less religious" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2025/12/26/great-unchurching-america-religiously-unaffiliated" data-vars-content-id="5158a0e6-9106-40b5-811a-a886eb215a81" data-vars-headline="Most Utahns don&#x27;t support Christian nationalism" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2025/12/26/great-unchurching-america-religiously-unaffiliated" target="_self">less religious</a>.

Why the Challenger disaster haunts the collective memory

Millions of kids tuned in and ended up watching death on live TV.

If you weren&#x27;t around in 1986, the significance of the Challenger disaster in the collective memory of your elders may elude you.<ul><li>To bridge the generation gap, I&#x27;ll try to set the scene for you. <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="How do you do, fellow kids" data-vars-click-url="https://youtu.be/fiOMbqPHFwo?si=Of5CvMakn2Yw8v1k&amp;t=23" data-vars-content-id="8e6e95b3-6d74-4a6d-9a36-89e3ba44577c" data-vars-headline="Why the Challenger disaster haunts the collective memory" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://youtu.be/fiOMbqPHFwo?si=Of5CvMakn2Yw8v1k&amp;t=23" target="_blank">How do you do, fellow kids</a>?</li></ul>

How the Challenger tragedy became a decision-making parable

The shuttle explosion 40 years ago changed how we assess risk, build things and work together.

Forty years ago this week, the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch, shocking viewers around the world — and making Utah&#x27;s burgeoning aerospace industry an object of national scrutiny.The intrigue: The explosion was caused by faulty O-rings made by a Utah company — whose employees had tried desperately to stop the shuttle launch.

When charity turkey raffles got caught in Prohibition's gambling crackdown

In the 1920s, Johnny Law put its foot down on this decades-old Thanksgiving game.

History

<figure><img alt="A 1922 cartoon about turkey raffles in the Ogden Standard Examiner." height="1508" id="2b7977b1-0cde-4690-815a-a5602a6e82fd" src="https://images.axios.com/bWH5QuLX6ZpUr_ml1SvUqzzUwtE=/2025/11/18/1763504486068.png" width="1592"/><figcaption>A 1922 cartoon in the Ogden Standard Examiner. Photo via Utah Digital Newspapers Archives, the University of Utah</figcaption></figure>A century ago this week, Salt Lake City law enforcement promised a trip to the hoosegow if any charity, church, fraternal club or saloon strayed into Utah&#x27;s darkest corner of vice: Turkey raffles.<ul><li>This is Old News, where we scan the police blotter of Utah&#x27;s past.</li></ul>

The quiet plans that became Hill Air Force Base

Rampant isolationism didn't stop big military investments.

When Hill Air Force Base opened 85 years ago this month, Utahns didn&#x27;t know how crucial the new military installation would become.<ul><li>This is Old News, where we strap on our aviator hats, pull down our goggles and go off into the wild blue yonder of the past.</li></ul>

How Juanita Brooks' history of the Mountain Meadows Massacre changed Mormon views of the past

75 years ago, a revolutionary history book exposed who was to blame for the 120 deaths of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Seventy-five years ago this month, a new book drastically changed how Latter-day Saints viewed their own history: Juanita Brooks&#x27; &quot;The Mountain Meadows Massacre.&quot;<ul><li>This is <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Old News" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/07/01/utah-history-story-collection-old-news-powell-bundy-olympics" data-vars-content-id="a4d5517a-95d5-4402-b950-89ce0665f662" data-vars-headline="How Juanita Brooks&#x27; history of the Mountain Meadows Massacre changed Mormon views of the past" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/07/01/utah-history-story-collection-old-news-powell-bundy-olympics" target="_self">Old News</a>, where we recount the history of Utah history.</li></ul>Why it mattered: It was the first historical work that offered convincing evidence that the Mormon Militia had slain 120 California-bound settlers in a 19th-century attack long blamed primarily on Indigenous people in southern Utah.

How Utah became the nation's first swan hunting ground

Hunters now eat, mount or jerkify swans — once nearly extinct birds.

So, it turns out swan hunting is a thing. And it started right here in Utah.<ul><li>This is <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Old News" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/07/01/utah-history-story-collection-old-news-powell-bundy-olympics" data-vars-content-id="d439b942-9863-4ef8-9a3b-db0c507d7d02" data-vars-headline="How Utah became the nation&#x27;s first swan hunting ground" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/07/01/utah-history-story-collection-old-news-powell-bundy-olympics" target="_self">Old News</a>, where we raise a front paw and point our noses toward Utah&#x27;s past.</li></ul>

New guide helps find Nine Mile Canyon rock art

The "world's longest art gallery" can be tough to navigate. This new book will help you.

Nine Mile Canyon has been dubbed &quot;the world&#x27;s longest art gallery&quot; for its elaborate rock art — but finding it all can be tricky.The latest: A new guidebook makes much easier work of touring the eastern Utah canyon, while leaving enough for you to discover on your own.

When Mark Hofmann's deadly bombs left SLC in terror

Forty years ago, a forgery scandal led to a series of deadly bombs.

Forty years ago, Salt Lake was reeling in terror as multiple bombs exploded in deadly attacks around the city, stemming from a forgery spree involving purportedly historical Mormon documents.<ul><li>This is <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Old News" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/07/01/utah-history-story-collection-old-news-powell-bundy-olympics" data-vars-content-id="cd2e9802-df85-42f3-8428-6adb94dc30f6" data-vars-headline="When Mark Hofmann&#x27;s deadly bombs left SLC in terror" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/07/01/utah-history-story-collection-old-news-powell-bundy-olympics" target="_self">Old News</a>, where we process patterns of trauma and healing in Utah&#x27;s past.</li></ul>

When Utah starred in "the worst movie ever made"

What, vegetarian cannibal goblins don't strike fear in the hearts of all humanity?

Thirty-five years ago this week, Utahns were on pins and needles waiting to see themselves and their home state in a major achievement in horror cinema: &quot;Troll 2.&quot;Why it mattered: The <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="film" data-vars-click-url="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/troll-2" data-vars-content-id="bfa9a409-0a33-4120-bb60-18d988c7b426" data-vars-headline="When Utah starred in &quot;the worst movie ever made&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/troll-2" target="_blank">film</a>, released Oct. 12, 1990, would <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="go on" data-vars-click-url="https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy8jbj/an-oral-history-of-troll-2-the-best-worst-movie-ever-made" data-vars-content-id="bfa9a409-0a33-4120-bb60-18d988c7b426" data-vars-headline="When Utah starred in &quot;the worst movie ever made&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy8jbj/an-oral-history-of-troll-2-the-best-worst-movie-ever-made" target="_blank">go on</a> to be <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="widely" data-vars-click-url="https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/troll-2-halloween-horror-movie" data-vars-content-id="bfa9a409-0a33-4120-bb60-18d988c7b426" data-vars-headline="When Utah starred in &quot;the worst movie ever made&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/troll-2-halloween-horror-movie" target="_blank">widely</a> lauded <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="as" data-vars-click-url="https://collider.com/troll-2-ending-explained/" data-vars-content-id="bfa9a409-0a33-4120-bb60-18d988c7b426" data-vars-headline="When Utah starred in &quot;the worst movie ever made&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://collider.com/troll-2-ending-explained/" target="_blank">as</a> the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="worst" data-vars-click-url="https://comettv.com/2019/10/why-troll-2-is-considered-the-best-worst-movie-ever-made/" data-vars-content-id="bfa9a409-0a33-4120-bb60-18d988c7b426" data-vars-headline="When Utah starred in &quot;the worst movie ever made&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://comettv.com/2019/10/why-troll-2-is-considered-the-best-worst-movie-ever-made/" target="_blank">worst</a> movie <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="ever made" data-vars-click-url="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/03/troll-2-best-worst-movie" data-vars-content-id="bfa9a409-0a33-4120-bb60-18d988c7b426" data-vars-headline="When Utah starred in &quot;the worst movie ever made&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/03/troll-2-best-worst-movie" target="_blank">ever made</a>.

When KSL finally started airing "Saturday Night Live"

The show didn't return to Utah's NBC affiliate until 2013.

Twenty-two years ago this week, Utahns were howling at the first &quot;Saturday Night Live&quot; to broadcast on NBC&#x27;s Salt Lake City affiliate in almost two decades.<ul><li>This is <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Old News" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/07/01/utah-history-story-collection-old-news-powell-bundy-olympics" data-vars-content-id="3026ed2e-9e71-45b4-aa4b-97da952cdc8b" data-vars-headline="When KSL finally started airing &quot;Saturday Night Live&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/07/01/utah-history-story-collection-old-news-powell-bundy-olympics" target="_self">Old News</a>, our uncensored version of Utah history.</li></ul>