Leia Larsen - The Salt Lake Tribune

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) An emblem at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 26, 2026.

Republicans in House District 14 primary split on who should draw Utah’s political boundaries

By Leia Larsen | June 9, 2026, 9:20 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, March 6, 2026.

These two Republicans want to replace Jerry Stevenson in the Utah Senate

By Leia Larsen | June 9, 2026, 9:15 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bird costumes are distributed to 6th graders as they participate in a call to action to save the bird during a rally at the Great Salt Lake on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025.

Saving Great Salt Lake key issue in Utah’s House District 21 primary race

By Leia Larsen | June 9, 2026, 7:57 p.m.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Spencer Butterfield opens the gate to a pasture during a trail ride at Golden Hour Farm in Hyrum on Thursday, March 26, 2026.

The threat farmers around the Great Salt Lake fear more than drought

By Leia Larsen | June 1, 2026, 3:23 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox talks about signing an Executive Order establishing a statewide framework to guide the evaluation and development of large data center projects in Utah on Friday, May 29, 2026. It prioritizes protection of GSL and utility ratepayers, and follows immense public backlash to the Stratos Project. The governor had just concluded convening with state, federal, philanthropic, scientific, business and conservation leaders for a Great Salt Lake Roundtable focused on the next phase of coordinated action and partnership.

Utah Gov. Cox issues order to protect Great Salt Lake, air quality from data centers

By Leia Larsen | May 29, 2026, 11:23 p.m.

(O'Leary Digital) Renderings of a proposed data center to be constructed in Box Elder County. The project is backed by celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary.

Second water right application for Kevin O’Leary’s Utah data center project withdrawn

By Leia Larsen | May 27, 2026, 8:48 p.m.

(Utah Fire Info) Pictured are crew members working a controlled fire to get rid of invasive phragmites around the Great Salt Lake.

What are phragmites, and why does Utah burn them next to the Great Salt Lake?

By Leia Larsen | May 27, 2026, 3:52 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) With the help of state-run rebate and incentive programs, Draper resident Cindi Griswald turned her grass parking strips into a colorful, water-wise landscape, Aug. 6, 2021.

How Utahns can help their yards survive this year’s drought

By Leia Larsen | May 26, 2026, 6:35 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox, right, joins state, local and regional water leaders to provide an update on Utah’s drought conditions and water supply outlook heading into the summer months during a news event at Little Dell Reservoir on Thursday, May 21, 2026.

‘We can’t control the weather, but we can control the tap’: Gov. Cox declares statewide emergency as Utah drought worsens

By Leia Larsen | May 21, 2026, 8:05 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at a news conference for the Mountain West Geothermal Consortium in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 20, 2026.

Rollout of controversial Box Elder data center project ‘was not good,’ Gov. Cox says

By Leia Larsen | May 21, 2026, 12:00 p.m.

(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) People protest the Stratos data center project at the Capitol in Salt Lake City, Thursday, May 14, 2026.

Utahns will have more chances to weigh in on Kevin O’Leary’s data center project. Here’s how.

By Leia Larsen | May 20, 2026, 2:39 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hansel Valley on Friday, May 1, 2026.

Kevin O’Leary-backed Utah data center project seeks new water right

By Leia Larsen | May 19, 2026, 5:25 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The north shore of the Great Salt Lake at Hansel Valley on Friday, May 1, 2026.

Will the Great Salt Lake hit a new record low this year?

By Leia Larsen | May 15, 2026, 12:00 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The north shore of the Great Salt Lake and Hansel Valley on Friday, May 1, 2026.

Water rights request for massive Box Elder data center withdrawn after thousands of Utahns file protests

By Leia Larsen | May 8, 2026, 4:41 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The sun sets over Rocky Mountain Power's natural-gas fired Gadsby Plant in Salt Lake City, which generates less than one-tenth the energy that the Stratos Project's plant will potentially produce, as seen on Wednesday September 15, 2021.

‘So much worse than I even thought’: Utah’s ‘hyperscale’ data center could create massive heat island near Great Salt Lake

By Leia Larsen | May 7, 2026, 3:32 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hansel Valley on Friday, May 1, 2026.

Massive Utah data center complex ‘can’ be powered by renewables, O’Leary says — after state insisted ‘100%’ natural gas

By Leia Larsen | May 8, 2026, 4:42 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) People debated as the Box Elder County Commission prepared to meet on a MIDA and Kevin O'Leary data center project in Brigham City on Monday, April 27, 2026.

After delaying a decision, Box Elder County is set to vote on a hyperscale data center project. Here’s what we know.

By Samantha Moilanen | Leia Larsen | Tony Semerad | Megan Banta | May 8, 2026, 4:46 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sunset Pass Road in the Hansel Valley, on Tuesday, April 28, 2026.

Hundreds of Utahns file to block Kevin O’Leary’s proposed massive data center campus over water concerns

By Leia Larsen | Samantha Moilanen | May 1, 2026, 12:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Super heated waters bubble to the surface on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, on the Bear River near Preston, Idaho, the site of the Bear River Massacre in which a village of Shoshone were attacked in 1863 and experienced the largest slaughter of Indigenous people in the nation’s history. The Shoshone acquired the site in 2018 with plans to turn it into a place of healing.

A Shoshone-led restoration to bring water back to the Great Salt Lake is earning recognition

By Leia Larsen | April 30, 2026, 3:52 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Pineview Reservoir, on Monday, April 20, 2026.

Don’t turn on your sprinklers yet, Utah water officials warn

By Leia Larsen | April 22, 2026, 2:52 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A passenger jet takes off in a dusty, hazy Salt Lake Valley in July 2024. The EPA has signaled its intent to revote a "serious" classification for northern Utah's summertime ozone pollution.

Trump admin helps Utah steer clear of worse air quality status — but not because the air got better

By Leia Larsen | Jose Davila IV | April 21, 2026, 10:34 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dust blows over the Great Salt Lake in Davis County on Monday, May 12, 2025.

Utahns already breathe Great Salt Lake dust. A new study finds they may be eating it, too.

By Leia Larsen | April 16, 2026, 1:35 p.m.

(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Great Salt Lake is seen from the Eccles Wildlife Education Center in Farmington, Monday, April 13, 2026.

Utah business leaders put up $30M in race to save the Great Salt Lake before the Olympics

By Leia Larsen | April 13, 2026, 9:11 p.m.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Protesters gather during a Monopoly-themed rally to protest utility-driven rate hikes and obstacles to renewable energy at the corporate headquarters for Rocky Mountain Power in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

Rocky Mountain Power’s latest plan shows more investment in fossil fuels for the foreseeable future

By Leia Larsen | April 10, 2026, 4:39 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Despite getting a little more snow than most other resorts, Beaver Mountain begins showing the effects of the hottest winter in state history on Friday, March 20, 2026.

Utah’s snowpack melted out weeks early. Here’s what to expect in the months ahead.

By Leia Larsen | April 8, 2026, 7:00 p.m.