This week we’re announcing the launch of The Southern Utah Tribune.
Our goal is to serve people in Washington County — home to more than 200,000 people today and an anticipated 460,000 in the future — with news and information that’s just for them.
Starting in October, 40,000 homes and businesses will receive a print newspaper, for free delivered monthly via mail. We’re also offering a weekly newsletter and regular reporting at southernutahtribune.org.
Before we started reporting a single story, we spent months listening to what residents want from their local news source. Hundreds of southern Utahns told us they care about soaring rents and home prices, traffic, how crowded schools are and who benefits from zoning decisions. They want on-the-ground coverage of city and county meetings and how budgets are allocated. They wonder where St. George’s water will come from and who will pay for future reservoirs.
They’d like to see more affordable housing and serious water stewardship.
They also want to celebrate and lift up people doing good work in schools, nonprofits and local businesses. As a nonprofit newsroom, we see this work as central to our mission.
The Southern Utah Tribune is staffed by two full-time reporters who live in Washington County, Mark Eddington and Brooke Larsen. Their editor is Colton Lochhead. You’ll see their bylines, as well as voices from this community in op-eds and letters to the editor (click here to learn how to submit). Journalists from The Salt Lake Tribune, which brings with it 155 years of reporting for Utahns, will also be featured.
The past few weeks have been difficult for Utahns, and more specifically for people who call southwestern Utah home. A man from Washington City is suspected of shooting and killing Charlie Kirk, a conservative political commentator.
As St. George Mayor Michele Randall said in the days after, “We are a much better community than this….What a tragedy it is to have this happen in Utah.”
She’s right, of course.
We believe creating community happens when people have access to trusted information that helps them make informed decisions. Community is at the heart of what makes a place what it is. It defines our values. What we choose to invest in and what we choose to reject.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) St. George on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025.
The Tribune has been a nonprofit for five years, and one of our goals is to serve people across Utah. We rely on community members to do this work, via philanthropy and local advertising.
We hope you will see the value of southern Utah reporting. You can support the effort here.
Our job is to listen, first and foremost. And then to give Utahns what they need to show up for family, friends and neighbors. So that they can create the community they want.
The region is at a critical juncture. So is the state. Impacts of decisions that are made today will be felt for decades to come.
Please read. Subscribe to our free newsletter. Let us know what’s important to you and how we’re doing.
If you have tips or story suggestions, please send them to lgustus@sltrib.com and I’ll ensure they reach the right person.
Thanks for all you do to support your communities. And the critical work of The Tribune.
Lauren Gustus is executive editor and CEO of The Tribune.