Utah’s budget finished the year $28 million in debt, which is well below analysts’ worst-case scenario of $150 million, according to preliminary numbers. Strong corporate earnings helped cover for weaker-than-expected income tax payments. State agencies also had $21 million left over at the end of the 2010 budget year on June 30, which went back into the general fund. “These latest numbers are yet one more sign that Utah’s economy is turning the corner,” Gov. Gary Herbert said in a statement. “T...

Teachers and their supporters quietly protested the Salt Lake City school board on Tuesday over what they see as a breach of the district’s shared governance policy. About five dozen people crowded a school board meeting and held up laminated signs that said “I will not be silenced.” Last month, the Salt Lake City Board of Education approved changes to the high school block schedule over the objections of the Salt Lake Teachers Association, which said teachers were not properly consulted on the ...

Ogden • Hours after Mayor Matthew Godfrey canceled further controlled burns of old homes in Ogden’s Riverfront redevelopment area, the City Council here agreed to set aside money for demolition of the dilapidated structures. Godfrey announced Tuesday that the torching of homes in the project area — bounded by 18th and 20th streets, Wall Avenue to the west and Washington Boulevard to the east — is not in the city’s best interest. Jonny Ballard, division manager for Ogden Community Development, w...

Sam has cleared numerous hurdles to get to her third year in the University of Utah’s graphic design program. She came to the United States at age 7 with her mother and older sister. They had little money and English language skills, and no documentation. Still, she said she graduated from Highland High School in 2008, and was admitted to the U. with the help of advisers and private scholarships. Sam, who asked that her real name not be used, is among 30 undocumented Utah students whose portrait...

A judge refused to throw out the traffic stop that led to former Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack’s drunk driving arrest, dealing a serious blow to Killpack’s defense as the case heads to trial in November. Killpack’s attorney, Ed Brass, had argued that the Utah Highway Patrol trooper who stopped Killpack on Jan. 15 had no reason to pull over his client, because he had not broken any traffic laws. If Brass had succeeded, the drunk driving charge would have had to have been dismissed, the...

A number of pro-voucher advocates, including Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, expressed concerns about public education employees sending or receiving political messages on their government e-mail systems during the referendum campaign to repeal the voucher law passed by the Legislature. So guess whose name is prominently displayed in a political e-mail sent to Jean Hill, attorney for the State Office of Education, at her government e-mail address? It’s none other than Utah Attorney Genera...

An Ogden teenager was taken into custody Tuesday after playground monitors at a neighboring elementary school saw him shooting a handgun from a rooftop. The 15-year-old was seen shooting the gun into the air several times about 12:50 p.m. near the 2100 block of Adams Avenue, said Lt. Eric Young. “He wasn’t shooting at people,” Young said. “He was just out there, firing the gun.” Police did not find any damage from the bullets, Young said. Nearby Dee Elementary School was locked down for a shor...

A teenager charged as an adult for allegedly stabbing to death a 15-year-old boy made his first court appearance Tuesday. Third District Court Judge Deno Himonas read the first-degree felony murder count filed against Jonatan Bustos. The 16-year-old boy heard the charge via closed circuit feed from the Salt Lake County jail. Bustos’ mother watched from the courtroom as her son was appointed an as yet unidentified public defender. Bustos is scheduled to return to court Thursday after meeting with...

Utah’s nursing homes are generally on firm financial footing now. But next year, they may reach their limit on a bed tax that since 2004 has allowed them to draw down extra federal funding through Medicaid. That, coupled with pending cuts to another funding source, Medicare, and the bubble of baby boomers reaching retirement age, will over the next decade create a “perfect storm” for the long-term care industry, said Utah Health Care Association Director Dirk Anjewierden at a press conference on...

Warren S. Jeffs declined Tuesday to accept an extradition warrant aimed at sending him to Texas to face felony charges, leading a Utah judge to set a November hearing to consider the polygamous church leader’s objections. The hearing lasted all of two minutes. State and defense attorneys met with 3rd District Judge Terry Christiansen in his chambers beforehand and worked out details — including allowing Jeffs to wear street clothes in his court appearances. Jeffs entered the courtroom from an a...