STAFF WRITER | American Fork Citizen

Two new schools serving students with disabilities have opened at the former Sharon Elementary School in Orem.

Alpine School District held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday, Aug. 17, for Silver Peak School and the Timpanogos Transition and Education Center. The renovated facility is located at 525 N. 400 East within the boundaries of the future Timpanogos School District.

Silver Peak will serve students with severe disabilities in grades pre-K through 12. Principal Dan Heaps said students will have access to teachers and therapists who can address their individual needs.

“Every child deserves an education built around who they are, not in spite of it,” Heaps said.
The Timpanogos Transition and Education Center, or TTEC, will serve students ages 18 to 22. Its programs will focus on life skills, recreation and preparation for greater independence within the community.

TTEC Principal Melanie Adams said the school will provide individualized support as students prepare for life after school.

“This new facility will give us an even better opportunity to support our adult students right in their communities,” Adams said.

Both schools will begin serving students during the 2026-27 school year.

Jennifer Thomas | American Fork Citizen

Utah’s unemployment rate stands at a low 3.6% with roughly 67,900 residents looking for work. Yet job hunting has grown increasingly frustrating as the labor market slows. To bypass online application backlogs, upcoming events like the Utah Valley Job Fair offer face-to-face access to recruiters and on-the-spot interviews.

The Utah Valley Job Fair will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 25, from 2-5:00 p.m. at the Utah Valley Convention Center in Provo. “The Utah Valley Job Fair is Utah’s largest community job fair with more than 100 participating employers,” said Allison Keller, Public Information Officer for the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

Searching for a job can feel like a frustrating bottleneck, as many applicants frequently report sending dozens of digital resumes without a response, making the search feel like an isolated uphill battle.

“Search for a job is frustrating because you can spend so much time applying and rarely hear anything back, sometimes not even a rejection email is sent. I get hopeful because I wonder if I still have a chance only to realize later that I will not ever get a response,” said Shailey Stubbs, Lehi City resident.

A job fair can help with the bottleneck because it allows direct, face-to-face connection with employers. The Utah Valley Job Fair is a “dynamic, in-person event which connects job seekers and employers for a day of meaningful conversations, career exploration and real hiring opportunities,” according to Keller.

The free event offers job seekers opportunities to meet with employers and find open jobs that could lead to real interviews and possible offers of employment.  

“The Utah Valley Job Fair is a great opportunity to explore career options for anyone just starting their career or those looking for a new opportunity to meet with more than 100 employers across various industries,” said Mark Middlebrook, Director of Outreach at Mountainland Technical College. “Job seekers should prepare for the fair by updating their resume and preparing a 30-second elevator pitch to share with potential employers.”

Visit utahvalleyjobfair.com or https://www.linkedin.com/events/2026inpersonutahvalleyjobfair7416487168564441088/  for more details and a list of participating employers.

Chabeli Carrazana | The 19th News

Pencils are more expensive. So are notebooks, scissors, glue sticks — just about every back-to-school item that families will load into their carts this summer has gone up in price at a time when American families already feel crushed by rising costs.

According to one analysis of the 21 most common school supply items by the Groundwork Collaborative and The Century Foundation prices are up about 7.7% with parents paying an average of $173.45 for their school supply haul. That’s an even bigger jump than last year. Add to that an 11% hike in prices for school lunch essentials — from the literal tons of blueberries needed to feed young children to apple juice — and costs balloon to nearly $4,000 a year to cover supplies and meals.

That data was first shared exclusively with The 19th. The analysis is based on weekly retail transaction data on millions of products collected by NielsenIQ from about 50,000 retailers.

With school supply costs outpacing inflation, many families — and especially the women who do the majority of purchases in American households — are going to feel the sticker shock, said Lindsay Owens, the president and CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative.

“Women in this country are rip-roaring mad about the price hikes that they’re absorbing. They’re trying to manage household finances and budgeting. They’re trying to feed their kids healthy food,” Owens said. “The work is getting harder of providing for your family.”

Here are the school supplies with the biggest spikes in price:

• Lunch boxes are up 27%
• Notebooks, notebook paper, tissues and index cards are all up about 20%
• Scissor costs rose 14%
• Dry erase markers and glue sticks are up 8%
• Headphones, binders, crayons, colored pencils and No. 2 pencils increased 5-7%

On the lunch side:

• 12 ounces of blueberries are up a whopping 48%
• A loaf of sandwich bread is up 22%
• Apple juice prices have risen 20%
• A pound of oranges has risen 17%
• A box of packaged animal crackers will run you nearly 16% more
• A package of chocolate chip cookies is up 14%

Driving up some of these costs are tariffs and the war on Iran.

Take blueberries, which American families have increasingly been eating more of every year, particularly those with berry-aged children who pop them like M&Ms. About half of the berries Americans eat are imported, many from Peru, which is now increasingly selling its berries to China instead of the United States because of tariff increases.

The other half of America’s blueberries are grown domestically, a good portion of them in Maine, the top producer of wild berries in the country. But tariffs on steel and aluminum have made it more costly to purchase the equipment needed to harvest the crops.

“Our consumers, our manufacturers, our blueberry growers, and more will all continue to pay the price,” Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican from Maine, wrote to the Department of Commerce in December.

Similarly, many school supplies are produced overseas, like pencils and crayons, which are predominantly imported from Brazil, China, Mexico and India. The war in Iran, which has raised fuel and shipping costs, has directly impacted imports, and those price increases are being passed on to consumers. Though inflation is showing signs of cooling, oil prices hit a six-week high in late July.

“Gas prices filter through to everything, but especially food,” Owens said. “The cost of transporting food goes up. The cost of farming goes up because the cost of diesel is up. The cost of plastic goes up, so the packaging around pencils or deli ham gets more expensive. All of that is going to filter through to higher food prices and higher prices for consumer goods like back-to-school staples.”

The problem is parents don’t have a lot of wiggle room on the matter, said Julie Margetta Morgan, the president of the Century Foundation. Kids need the supplies to be successful during the year, and parents, whether they’re low- or high-income, want to ensure their kids can thrive.

About half of parents expect to take on debt to cover back-to-school shopping this year, up from 34% in 2024, according to a survey of parents with kids under 18 conducted this summer by Intuit Credit Karma. One in five parents say they also feel pressure to keep up with what other parents are buying their kids, a June NerdWallet survey found.

“There’s a really strong actual cost — but also emotional cost — to having to make really impossible choices about caring for yourself and caring for your family in order to bear the costs of tariffs and of a war that seems impossible to explain why we’re involved in it,” Morgan said. “It is weighing particularly heavily on mothers.”

Many families cite living under that financial stress, said Ailen Arreaza, the executive director of ParentsTogether, a national nonprofit that works to engage parents politically. In the organization’s surveys, about 70% of parents cite experiencing financial strain, with little relief in sight.

It’s all further complicated by the loss of government benefits over the past year. More than 4 million Americans, including 1.5 million children, have lost their benefits through SNAP, the food assistance program that helps low-income people buy groceries. That makes family budgets even tighter going into the new school year.

“It feels like we are a little bit at a breaking point,” Arreaza said. “The concern and the situation just feels untenable right now.”

To get by, parents are searching their local back-to-school fairs for supplies, or seeking out backpack giveaways and school supply distributions. Some families are working more over the summer to cover increased costs.

By the time November’s midterm elections roll around, some of this pressure is likely to be on parents’ minds in an election that will no doubt center affordability. Both parties face uncertainty heading into the midterms.

Right now, Arreaza said, “parents are so busy and focused on their day-to-day and November feels far away and the election can feel far away for parents, but the reality of what is happening everyday feels very real for families.”

Even if folks aren’t thinking about the election, she said, “they’re thinking about the system that is making it harder for them and they’re noticing the differences.”

This story was originally published by 19thnews.org and written by Chabeli Carrazana. Adjustments for style, length and clarity have been made.

Kelcie Moseley-Morris | Stateline

A new study examining pollution levels across a 16-year span found that while general pollution levels from sources such as cars and industry have significantly declined, recent increases in wildfire smoke air pollution have offset those gains and could be contributing to negative outcomes for pregnant women and babies such as low birth weight and preterm births.

Published by Frontiers in Environmental Health, the study included data from about 64.5 million pregnancies between 2003 and 2019, covering more than 2,800 counties in 48 states. Even in regions that are not strongly associated with wildfire, such as the southeast region of the U.S., wildfire pollution rates grew substantially during that time period. The study did not account for any movement between counties or regions during pregnancy, or whether pregnant people used any protection against smoke such as masks, air filters or temporary relocation.

Wildfire pollution is included in the same type of pollution as exhaust from cars or industrial outputs, but the study authors looked at two models of pollutants, one of which removed all fire-related pollution to determine how much of it was correlated with wildfire. Over the study period, about 65% of the days that recorded pollution levels above the National Ambient Air Quality Standard could be attributed to wildfire smoke.

Menglu Liang, leading author of the study and assistant clinical professor of biostatistics at the University of Maryland, said in a news release that efforts to reduce other forms of pollution have not been in vain.

“Those gains have genuinely protected pregnant people and unborn babies, and without them, exposures today would be considerably worse,” Liang said. “What our findings show is that wildfire smoke is offsetting a growing share of these hard-won improvements.”

The study time period does not include some of the most recent, most explosive wildfire seasons in the United States and Canada, such as 2020, 2024 and this year. By mid-July this year, there were more than 800 wildfires burning across Canada, leading to hazardous levels of wildfire smoke across parts of the Midwest and northeast, and in late July, a rash of wildfires across Oregon created hazardous air over much of the northwest.

Recent reports show Oregon is on track to have its worst fire season on record, with nearly 1.8 million acres already burned and at least two months left of the peak season. The previous record was set in 2024, with 1.9 million acres burned.

The study found that some regions were disproportionately affected by the smoke, including in the Northwest, where rates of pollution from wildfire more than doubled over that period. The study noted that the burdens were highest in low-income, rural areas with significant populations of American Indian and Alaska Native communities, and areas with maternity care shortages.

Recent studies have correlated wildfire smoke exposure with an increased risk of preterm birth, low birth weight and other negative outcomes such as stillbirth and some congenital anomalies. Scientists believe the body’s inflammatory responses to wildfire smoke can be harmful to the placenta, which is central to fetal survival, and some of the pollutants could cross the placental barrier and affect fetal growth and development.

“These outcomes matter well beyond the delivery room and harms experienced before birth can echo for decades,” Liang said in the release. “That makes prenatal exposure a particular public health concern.”

This story was originally published by stateline.org and written by Kelcie Moseley-Morris. Adjustments for style and clarity have been made.

Sally Francom | American Fork Citizen

Is it possible for a Utah homeowner to lose their recorded interest in a home if they never received the required payment and never signed the deed to transfer that interest?

A recent Utah Court of Appeals decision suggests the answer could be “yes.”

The case Slaughter v. Alleman, decided on May 29 as 2026 UT App 85, now sets a precedent in Utah for situations where divorce, death, joint tenancy, and unfinished obligations come together.

A married couple, April Slaughter and John G. Alleman, owned their home as joint tenants with right of survivorship. Their March 2024 divorce decree awarded the home to Alleman and ordered him to pay $200,000 to Slaughter by May 31, 2024, to equalize the marital estate. It stated that “upon receipt” of the payment, Slaughter would immediately sign a quitclaim deed transferring her interest.

Alleman died by suicide on April 24, 2024. He had not paid $200,000, and Slaughter had not signed the quitclaim deed. The recorded deed identified both former spouses as joint tenants when he died.

The district court later pointed out that Alleman never tried to pay the $200,000 or trigger Slaughter’s obligation to transfer the home between the decree and his death.

Before Alleman died, Slaughter provided wire-transfer instructions and said a check could be delivered to her home.

Shortly before the deadline, Alleman’s estate attorney emailed Slaughter’s counsel claiming he had payment and proposed a meeting without the clients. According to Slaughter, no check or proof of funds was produced, no wire was sent, and no check was delivered to her home.

However, the court opinion says that on May 31, the special administrator “tendered payment” to Slaughter’s lawyer. It does not say what kind of payment was offered or if anything was physically delivered. Slaughter disagrees that a proper payment was made and says she got neither a wire nor a check.

Saying payment was made is not the same as actually delivering it with proof.

In October 2024, the district court ruled that the joint tenancy remained intact and that Alleman’s interest passed to Slaughter through the deed’s right of survivorship. It declared her the sole owner of the home and awarded her attorney fees.

The Utah Court of Appeals reversed the district court decision in May.

The appellate court held that the divorce decree itself severed the joint tenancy by operation of law, converting the former spouses’ interests into a tenancy in common. It further concluded that the decree awarded Slaughter’s interest to Alleman when the decree was entered.

With this interpretation, ownership did not depend on Alleman paying $200,000 or Slaughter signing a quitclaim deed. The court saw “upon receipt” as setting the order of steps, not as a requirement that had to be met before ownership changed.

Since the opinion was published, its legal conclusions may guide Utah courts in similar cases. The decision also affects title companies, probate lawyers, estate planners, and others who use recorded deeds to figure out ownership. If former spouses are still listed as joint tenants, the deed might not tell the whole story if a divorce decree changed their interests without a new recorded deed.

In practice, this ruling means ownership can transfer before the required money is paid and before the recorded deed shows the change. The person who is owed money might have to sue for payment and lose the security of owning part of the property.

Recorded deeds usually make ownership clear. Court orders should also be understood as they are written. Most people would think that if a deed is to be signed “upon receipt” of payment, the money should come first.

The Court of Appeals decided that this kind of language may only set the timing, while ownership can transfer earlier. People going through a tough divorce probably would not realize this difference.

This decision serves as a warning for family-law attorneys when drafting documents. If payment must come before ownership changes, future decrees may need to say so clearly as a condition precedent. Still, homeowners should not have to use special legal terms to make sure payment and ownership stay linked when the order seems obvious.

Slaughter’s lawyer is preparing a petition for a writ of certiorari, asking the Utah Supreme Court to review the decision. The Court of Appeals denied a rehearing, and the lawyer got a 30-day extension to prepare the petition.

The Supreme Court does not have to take the case just because a petition is filed, and even if it does, a review does not mean the decision will be reversed. Still, these questions deserve a look from Utah’s highest court.

The justices should clarify when survivorship rights end, whether “upon receipt” is an enforceable condition, and whether ownership can transfer before payment is made and the deed is signed.

Utah homeowners should be able to understand their rights from deeds and court orders. They should not have to face a death, an estate and years of litigation to learn that “upon receipt” may not require actual receipt at all.

Annie Knox | Utah News Dispatch

By the end of July, crews had all but contained Utah’s biggest wildfires smoldering in southern Utah. But they were far from getting a chance to celebrate.

August started a new chapter in an intense, tinder-dry summer, with the Widemouth 2 Fire east of Fillmore exploding in size since Saturday, threatening hundreds of homes, forcing evacuations and stretching firefighting resources thinner.

Gov. Spencer Cox warned of “catastrophic conditions” Sunday, noting realities on the ground raised the Great Basin region’s preparedness level to four out of five, indicating greater fire activity is putting limited resources in high demand. The Great Basin region covers most of Utah, Nevada and Idaho, along with a small portion of Wyoming.

In all, more than 456,000 acres — more than 700 square miles — have burned across Utah this year, nearly tripling last year’s total.

By Monday, the Widemouth 2 Fire burned more than 68,000 acres, with crews attacking the fire directly near the small community of Kanosh and trying to prevent flames from moving further southeast toward communities and homes.

“Lines are holding thus far,” a coalition of state and federal agencies working on the fire said in a memo to the public. Despite the fire’s erratic behavior, crews kept any buildings from being destroyed and there were no major injuries, the agencies said Monday.

The Widemouth 2 Fire’s rapid spread forced evacuations for southeast portions of Fillmore, a city of about 2,800, along with smaller towns of Kanosh and Meadow. It also prompted the Utah Department of Corrections to evacuate 40 Utahns serving out their prison sentences in the Millard County Jail on Sunday night, a department spokesman said Monday in a prepared statement.

Those relocated will stay at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City “until conditions are safe,” the statement said.

A month earlier, as the Babylon Fire raged in southeastern Utah, the department temporarily relocated others who were being held at the San Juan County Jail.

The Widemouth 2 Fire started with a lightning strike last week and tripled in size overnight on Saturday, in a display of how more fires are continuing to rage even after the sun sets due to hotter, drier conditions brought on by climate change. In colder weather, flames often move slower or die down when it’s dark out.

The governor thanked crews working around the clock in his social media post over the weekend, saying “the best way we can support them is by preventing new fires. Please avoid anything that could create a spark, follow all fire restrictions, and stay alert.”

This year’s conditions, cuts to the U.S. Forest Service, and a policy from the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service to stomp out all fires fast have advocates worried about the safety of crews across the country. Drawing attention to the risks are the deaths of four members of a specialized “helitack” crew on the Utah-Colorado border in June.

Emily Barker, 38; Nick Hutcherson, 27; Nathan Matthews, 43; and Sydney Watson, 27, were caught in a burnover incident. A surviving member of their team was hospitalized with burn injuries. 

On Tuesday at the Widemouth 2 Fire, a new incident management team equipped to handle more complex fires is expected to take command, said Karl Hunt, spokesperson for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands.

“We’re anticipating that we’ll be able to bring in a lot more resources to help battle the fire,” Hunt said.

Utah has applied for grants with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help cover the cost of fighting the fire, along with others that erupted in the state this summer, including the Cottonwood Fire near Beaver and the Iron Fire near Eureka. The agency generally covers 75% of the cost, Hunt said. 

The fire near Fillmore was one of many fires around the state. The Black Canyon Fire burned on the border of Sanpete and Emery counties, triggering evacuations for a subdivision east of Ephraim.

In northern Utah, crews were also battling brush fires that broke out along I-80 near Parley’s Canyon and the border of Salt Lake City and Millcreek Monday.

This story was originally published by utahnewsdispatch.com and written by Annie Knox. Adjustments for style and clarity have been made.

Staff Writer | American Fork Citizen

All five of CommonSpirit’s Utah hospitals have earned the Leapfrog Full Transparency Badge, recognizing their commitment to publicly reporting information about patient safety and quality through the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

The Full Transparency Badge is awarded to hospitals that complete, affirm and submit all sections of the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, one of the nation’s leading voluntary reporting programs focused on patient safety, quality and transparency.

The Utah hospitals receiving the badge include:

• Holy Cross Hospital – Davis, Layton, UT
• Holy Cross Hospital – Salt Lake, UT
• Holy Cross Hospital – West Valley, West Valley CIty, UT
• Holy Cross Hospital – Jordan Valley, West Jordan Valley, UT
• Holy Cross Hospital – Mountain Point, Lehi, UT

“At CommonSpirit Health, our highest calling is to provide exceptional care that Utahns can trust,” said Jeremy Bradshaw, Utah Market President. “Earning the Leapfrog Full Transparency Badge across all five of our Utah hospitals is a powerful testament to that commitment. It reflects our dedication to openly sharing vital information about patient safety and quality, so every individual and family can make informed decisions about their health. This recognition embodies our promise of humankindness, ensuring clear communication and earning the confidence of those we are privileged to serve.”

Beyond reporting, the teams across the Mountain Region actively engage in continuous improvement initiatives, from implementing technology and best practices in infection prevention to enhancing patient-provider communication. Each day, the Mountain Region exceeds expectations for patient outcomes.

“We applaud these Mountain Region hospitals for their commitment to transparency,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Transparency is one of the most powerful drivers of improvement in health care. By fully participating in the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the Mountain Region is helping patients and families access meaningful information about the safety and quality of their care.”

The Leapfrog Full Transparency Badge appears on Leapfrog’s public ratings website and identifies hospitals that have committed to openly sharing information about their performance.

For more information about CommonSpirit Mountain Region, visit mountain.commonspirit.org.

Rob Shelton | American Fork Citizen

Ask anyone under 35 in American Fork or Lehi about buying a first home, and the answer tends to be some version of the same thing: not yet, and maybe never. The dream hasn’t changed. The math has.

The Provo-Orem-Lehi metro area had a median household income of $101,014 and a median home price of $572,450 as of mid-2026, according to an analysis by Ziffy.ai reported by the Deseret News in July. To make that home affordable on that income, mortgage rates would need to fall to 2.3 percent, a level not seen in the U.S. since the depths of the pandemic. Rates in Utah are instead averaging 6.55 percent as of late July 2026. This has led to 74% of Utahns being priced out of purchasing a median-priced home, according to the Utah Housing Strategic Plan Metrics.

That local snapshot tracks statewide. James Wood, recently retired senior fellow at the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, shared this outlook at a Salt Lake Board of Realtors forecast event in January that Utah’s housing market would be “running in place” through 2026 with modest price growth, elevated rates and a market still working through the aftershocks of the pandemic-era boom.

Nationally, the income needed to afford a typical home for sale fell 2 percent between April 2025 and April 2026, to $116,780 from $119,191, according to Redfin, the seventh straight month of improvement, and mortgage rates briefly dipped below 6 percent in February 2026 for the first time since 2022. But Redfin’s list of the 35 large metro areas that saw affordability improvements excluded all of Utah. Rates climbed back to the mid-6-percent range by late spring as instability tied to the conflict in Iran pushed them up again.

The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s 38th annual Economic Report to the Governor, presented in January, found Utah’s overall housing prices grew slower than inflation in 2025, technically an affordability improvement. Still, homeownership rates kept falling anyway, a sign that price growth alone isn’t the whole story.

A common assumption is that affordability will return once mortgage rates fall enough. The Ziffy.ai analysis complicates that locally: of 364 metro areas nationwide in the 2026 study, 42 had such a wide gap between median income and median home price that even an interest-free mortgage wouldn’t close the gap for typical earners like in the St. George area. The Provo-Orem-Lehi metro wasn’t quite that extreme, but still needed rates near 2.3 percent.

Principal and interest are only part of the monthly bill. According to a March 2026 profile from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a full-time worker in Utah needs to earn $29.29 an hour, a household income of $60,930 a year, to afford the average two-bedroom rental at HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,523 a month without being cost-burdened. That’s before factoring in the added costs of ownership: property taxes, homeowners insurance, HOA dues and maintenance on top of a mortgage payment.

With the cost of ownership and rent, some young people are getting creative. According to Finance Buzz and the US Census Bureau, 27% of Utahns age 18-34 currently live with their parents. Nationally, a third of American young adults still live at home with their parents. That figure is up over 10% from 1960.

Population growth: Utah County is projected to roughly double, to 1.5 million residents, between 2025 and 2065, and will drive 45 percent of the region’s long-term population growth, according to the Gardner Institute’s 2026 Economic Report to the Governor. That growth hasn’t slowed even as statewide net migration has slowed: migration accounted for just 43 percent of Utah’s 2025 growth, the Gardner Institute found, the lowest share in four years.

The lock-in effect: More than 61 percent of Utah mortgage holders have an interest rate below 4 percent, according to Wood’s 2026 outlook, giving current owners little incentive to sell a home a younger buyer might otherwise be able to afford.

Housing affordability was ranked Utah voters’ No. 1 issue in the Utah Foundation’s 2024 Priorities Project, the first time in that survey’s 20-year history any housing-related concern topped the list. The Priorities Project runs once every four years, so that remains the most current version of that specific measurement, with the next update due in 2028.

In the meantime, the Utah Foundation has kept publishing on the topic. A March 2026 report, “Appraising Utah’s Homeownership Approaches,” examined “shared-equity” programs, in which private investors help cover a buyer’s down payment or other costs in exchange for a share of the home’s future value, an emerging option as government subsidy programs remain limited relative to need.

Nationally, first-time buyers made up just 21 percent of all home sales in the year ending mid-2025, the lowest share the National Association of Realtors has recorded since it began tracking the figure in 1981, down from roughly 40 percent before the 2008 financial crisis. The median age of a first-time buyer nationally hit 40 in 2025, also a record.

Gov. Spencer Cox’s goal of adding 35,000 new “starter homes” statewide by the end of 2028 remains behind pace; state housing officials reported roughly 6,500 starter homes built statewide as of a legislative preview in January 2026. The state’s Utah Housing Strategic Plan, finalized in December 2025, calls housing affordability the “single greatest threat to Utah’s prosperity” and is now paired with a new public dashboard.

Homeownership remains one of the most common financial goals among young Americans. The challenge isn’t that younger Utahns have stopped dreaming of homeownership; it’s that the cost of that dream has risen faster than the incomes meant to reach it, even in a year when national affordability data show tentative, uneven improvement. Whether Utah County closes that gap may decide not just where young adults live, but whether they stay in places like American Fork and Lehi.

April Slaughter | American Fork Citizen

A 59-year-old man died Saturday after he was struck by lightning while hiking near the summit of American Fork Twin Peaks, according to the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

The incident was reported at approximately 12:20 p.m. on July 18 as thunderstorms moved across the Wasatch Mountains. The man and another hiker were near the summit of the east peak when lightning struck, reportedly causing the man to fall.

Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue was activated at 12:22 p.m. and responded with assistance from a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter and Snowbird Ski Patrol.

Crews located the hikers from the air, but storm conditions initially prevented rescuers from safely reaching them. Search and rescue personnel reached the area after the storm cleared and recovered the man’s body. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The search and rescue operation lasted approximately two hours. Rescuers had to balance the need to reach the hikers quickly with the continued danger posed by the thunderstorm in the exposed, high-elevation terrain.

Snowbird Ski Patrol helped escort the surviving hiking partner safely from the mountain. Authorities had not released the name of the man who died as of Monday.

“We would like to thank Snowbird Ski Patrol for assisting with the safe escort of the patient’s hiking partner off the mountain,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “We also extend our appreciation to DPS for their skilled aviation support and assistance throughout the incident.”

The incident was initially described as occurring near Little Cottonwood Canyon, while the name American Fork Twin Peaks led to some confusion about whether it happened in American Fork Canyon. Authorities placed the hikers near the east summit of American Fork Twin Peaks, in the mountains just south of Snowbird Resort.

American Fork Twin Peaks sit along the boundary between Salt Lake and Utah counties. The two summits rise to approximately 11,500 feet, and the west summit is considered the highest point in Salt Lake County. These mountains should not be confused with the nearby Broads Fork Twin Peaks.

High, exposed ridgelines and summits can become particularly dangerous when thunderstorms develop. Lightning tends to strike elevated or isolated objects, and hikers above the tree line may have few places to seek protection.

The National Weather Service advises hikers and others participating in outdoor activities to check the forecast before leaving and monitor conditions throughout the day. Summer thunderstorms can develop rapidly over Utah’s mountains, even when skies appear clear at the beginning of a hike.

Thunder is a warning that lightning is close enough to pose an immediate threat. The weather service recommends leaving exposed areas and seeking shelter as soon as thunder is heard or threatening clouds begin to form. Hikers should not wait for rain to begin before moving to a safer location.

According to the weather service, a significant lightning threat generally extends 6 to 10 miles from the base of a thunderstorm. Wind, rain and surrounding terrain can also make thunder more difficult to hear, leaving hikers with less warning that a storm is approaching.

“There is no place outside that is safe when a thunderstorm is in the area,” according to National Weather Service guidance.

The safest shelter is inside a substantial building or a fully enclosed, hard-topped vehicle with the windows closed. Picnic shelters, open-sided structures, tents and isolated trees do not provide adequate protection.

When a building or vehicle cannot be reached, hikers should descend from peaks and ridgelines as quickly and safely as possible. They should avoid lone trees, rocky overhangs, open fields, metal fences and bodies of water. Groups should spread apart to reduce the possibility of multiple people being injured by the same strike.

Outdoor activities should not resume until at least 30 minutes after the last sound of thunder, the weather service advises. Lightning can extend several miles beyond the visible base of a thunderstorm and may strike in an area where rain has not yet begun or has already ended.

If someone is struck, bystanders should call 911 immediately and begin first aid if it is safe to do so. Lightning strike victims do not retain an electrical charge and can be touched. CPR or an automated external defibrillator may be necessary if the person is not breathing or does not have a pulse.

Lightning kills about 20 people annually in the United States and injures hundreds more, according to the National Weather Service. Some survivors experience burns, neurological damage or other lasting health complications. About two-thirds of lightning deaths are associated with outdoor recreational activities.

Saturday’s fatality occurred during a weekend marked by severe weather across Utah. Heavy rain and thunderstorms also caused flash flooding and other hazardous conditions in several areas of the state.

The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office expressed their condolences to the family and friends of the man who died.

April Slaughter | American Fork Citizen

A West Jordan man remains in the Utah County Jail following his arrest in connection with the Timp Fire, a wildfire that burned about two acres and prompted evacuations and temporary closures in American Fork Canyon.

Conrad Jared Larsen, 46, was arrested by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office at 8:30 p.m. on July 15 and booked into the jail at 10:48 p.m., according to the county’s inmate search. Jail records list his status as active, with no release date shown.

Larsen was booked on a new allegation of arson involving property damage of at least $5,000. The jail listing identifies the suspected offense under Utah Code as arson involving the property of another and classifies it as not bailable. The booking information does not establish that prosecutors have formally filed a criminal charge in district court.

The same jail record also lists a separate Orem Justice Court arrest warrant in an earlier criminal trespass case involving an institution of higher education. The trespass case is separate from the Timp Fire investigation.

The Timp Fire was reported July 9 near Timpooneke Campground, a popular recreation area in American Fork Canyon that provides access to trails in the Mount Timpanogos Wilderness. The campground and nearby Mutual Dell area were evacuated while crews responded, and access to other canyon recreation sites, including Tibble Fork Reservoir, was temporarily affected during the emergency.

Firefighters kept the fire to approximately 2 acres before it could spread farther into the surrounding forest.

Published reports citing the arrest record say the U.S. Forest Service identified Larsen as a suspect and contacted the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. Witnesses reportedly told investigators they saw a man matching Larsen’s description adding sticks to a fire burning outside a designated fire ring.

According to those reports, the fire had spread to two nearby bushes and flames had reached an estimated 10 feet while the man continued adding material. Investigators later located Larsen in the canyon, where he was reportedly carrying a large log and had a lighter in his back pocket. Authorities also reported a strong odor of smoke coming from his vehicle.

Those details are allegations attributed to the arrest record and have not been proven in court. Larsen is presumed innocent unless and until he is convicted.

Investigators estimated the damage would exceed $5,000, according to published reports citing the arrest record. Even a relatively small wildfire can require a substantial response when it begins near a campground, trailhead or other crowded recreation area.

Timpooneke Campground sits along the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway and is a primary access point for hikers entering the Mount Timpanogos Wilderness. The area draws campers, hikers and families throughout the summer, making evacuations and closures especially disruptive during the peak recreation season.

Published reports citing federal court records state Larsen previously pleaded guilty in connection with a 2017 fire that burned approximately 17 acres near the Timpooneke area. 

As of the most recent jail search, Larsen remained in custody on the arson booking and the separate Orem warrant. Any decision to formally file charges will be made by prosecutors after reviewing the evidence gathered by investigators.