Friday is here! Woop, woop!

• 🌤️ Today's weather: Mostly sunny, with a high of 101.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Mary Jane Jacobs!

Today's newsletter is 996 words — a 4-minute read.

The Department of Homeland Security is abandoning plans to convert an empty Salt Lake City warehouse into an ICE detention center, per a new court filing.

Why it matters: It would have been Utah's first immigration detention center, holding between 7,500 to 10,000 people despite staunch opposition from local leaders.

• The DHS previously promised accelerated plans to have its warehouses operational this year as part of President Trump's mass deportation push.

Driving the news: In a Wednesday filing, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County and DHS asked a judge to pause a lawsuit the city and county filed in June to halt the warehouse conversion. They alleged the facility would strain resources.

• DHS alerted local officials last month that it no longer planned a detention center there and would designate the warehouse as "excess property."

The latest: At a news conference yesterday, Gov. Cox said he couldn't comment on the litigation, but noted the Biden administration also recognized the need for a facility but that it had to be "the right size, in the right place."

• "Conversations are happening," said Cox, who supported an ICE detention facility in Utah. "They haven't gone very far, so there's no location or place that we're aware of."

When asked for comment yesterday, DHS gave Axios the same statement it provided in June: "DHS is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners."

• City and county officials declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

Catch up quick: DHS purchased the 833,000-square-foot warehouse near the airport for $145.4 million in March.

• The plans were put on hold as the DHS reviewed warehouse purchases made under former department Secretary Kristi Noem.

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Despite the viral Joe Rogan clip zeroing in on Salt Lake City's homelessness, new data shows it's actually declining.

Why it matters: Homelessness is down in Utah for the first time in six years, but barriers to affordable housing remain.

Catch up quick: Comedian Shane Gillis, a guest on the Aug. 13 episode, described Utah's capital as the "cleanest, nicest" city when he was starting out in the local comedy scene.

• "I was telling my buddies, wait until you see how nice this is. And we landed and there was 10 homeless guys chasing us," he said.
• Gillis has performed in Salt Lake City multiple times in recent years — once at the downtown WiseGuys in 2022 and at the Delta Center last year.

What they're saying: During a Tuesday briefing about the new behavioral health and criminal justice response system, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said she was aware of Gillis' comments and didn't want to dismiss them.

• "A lot's happened since 2020. We had an office-based economy in the downtown core that is now an entertainment, retail, recreation-based economy," she said. "There was a different experience in downtown public safety."
• "I assume he was joking, and frankly, I think part of the reason that he made that comment is because of the juxtaposition of the perception of Salt Lake," said Rick Schwermer, a partner at the Leifman Group, about Gillis' remarks.

What we're watching

🔋 The California company Waterleaf is getting $100 million from the federal government to build a lithium extraction plant near the Great Salt Lake. (KSL)

⚡️ Lawmakers are drafting a bill that would permanently end a now-expired state requirement that electricity providers reduce carbon emissions and use 20% renewable energy sources when cost-effective. (Utah News Dispatch)

📹 Gov. Cox says he's seeking a review of how Utah's Flock cameras are being used after reports of privacy violations by police in other states. (FOX 13)

🎟️ Reservations for the Salt Lake Temple's 2027 open house will become available Sept. 1 (KUTV)

A Utah missing person case from 2009 is getting another look with the Freeform true crime series "Somebody Knows Something," streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

Driving the news: An episode released this week reviews the disappearance of then-30-year-old Steve Koecher, a St. George man who was last seen Dec. 13, 2009 on surveillance footage in Henderson, Nevada.

Catch up quick: His car was left at a cul-de-sac in that neighborhood, and there were few other leads.

• The reason for his trip to Nevada remains unknown, though police learned he'd been traveling around Utah and Nevada in the week before he disappeared.

Flashback: His case gained prominence alongside that of Susan Powell, a 28-year-old West Valley City mother of two who had disappeared a week earlier.

• Family members of Powell's husband speculated without evidence that Koecher and Powell eloped or ran away together.
• Both cases have remained popular subjects of true crime media.

Disclaimer: Steve and I became friends when we worked night shifts together at the Salt Lake Tribune between 2007-2008.

• I recall him as kind, quiet, smart and hardworking. He spoke fondly of his family and his mission to South America. His disappearance remains utterly perplexing to me.

How to help

With grids, crossroads and Vert, all lines are pointing toward a busy weekend in and around SLC.

🛹 Tony Hawk's Vert Alert: The annual skateboarding competition is free to watch at the University of Utah's Huntsman Center today and tomorrow.

🎸 Grid City Music Fest: More than 70 bands and artists are slated to play today through Sunday at South Salt Lake's block party in the Creative Industries Zone. Ticket info

✍️ Crossroads Cards & Memorabilia Show: Trade sports cards, collect autographs and covet others' treasures tomorrow and Sunday at The Shops at South Town. Free

Tell a party person

👓 Kim is reading the "The Reformatory."

🧭 Erin wonders if the first words humans invented for the four directions started out as words for objects that were in each of those directions.

This newsletter was edited by Astrid Galván.