Zak Podmore

Report for America corps member

Zak is a Report for America corps member covering conflict and change in San Juan County for The Tribune. He has been writing from Bluff, Utah, since 2015 and is the author of Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political On Rivers of the New West from Torrey House Press.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Off-road utility terrain vehicles (UTVs) motor down Main Street in Moab toward the Sand Flats Recreation Area just outside town, Feb. 19, 2021.

Why noise from off-road vehicles is making life miserable in Moab

By Zak Podmore | February 25, 2021, 3:57 p.m.

(Zak Podmore | Tribune file photo) Geri Hernandez, a certified Navajo interpreter working for San Juan County, holds a bilingual "I voted" sticker at an early voting day at the Red Mesa Chapter House on the Navajo Nation in San Juan County on Oct. 8, 2020.

Navajo Nation applauds expected extension of San Juan voting rights deal

By Zak Podmore | February 25, 2021, 2:00 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo) Energy Fuels, which operates the only conventional uranium mill in the United States near Blanding, in San Juan County, Utah, on June 24, 2020. The company and its leaders, along with another uranium mining company made coordinated campaign contributions leading up to the creation of a $75 million federal uranium stockpile.

Campaign contributions, including from a Utah operator, preceded creation of federal uranium stockpile

By Zak Podmore | February 22, 2021, 2:39 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo) Navajo Mountain Health Clinic Manager Revina Talker (left) tends to a 74-year-old Diné patient as medical assistant Toni Black gets an IV flowing on Aug., 25, 2020. The small community of Navajo Mountain has vaccinated over half of its residents against COVID-19.

Remote Navajo Mountain clinic now ranks among Utah’s most vaccinated places

By Zak Podmore | February 12, 2021, 3:18 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hite Crossing Bridge stretches over the Colorado River as it flows into Lake Powell near Hite Marina on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021.

Sunday preview: Why hedge funds are eyeing Utah’s shrinking water supply

By Zak Podmore | February 11, 2021, 4:52 p.m.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) Davina Smith, executive director of SLC Air Protectors, stands near the Colorado River on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019, with a medicine bundle of plants she gathered in Bears Ears National Monument. Smith plans to run the bundle 320 miles from the Bears Ears Buttes to Salt Lake City.

Monument Valley woman is running 330 miles across Utah with a piece of Bears Ears National Monument

By Zak Podmore | February 10, 2021, 8:20 p.m.

(Murice D. Miller | Special to The Tribune) Millions of visitors flock to Moab every year, and city and county officials said they're receiving a flood of complaints about noise from off-highway vehicles on city streets.

Moab residents sound off against OHV noise. Lawmakers listen, advance bill that may silence the vehicles at night.

By Zak Podmore | February 10, 2021, 2:18 a.m.

(Jeremy Harmon | Tribune file photo) Joseph Hillstrom, known to most by his Industrial Workers of the World pen name, Joe Hill, was arrested and convicted of the murder of John G. Morrison. Prosecutors contended Hill and an accomplice, believed to be Otto Applequist, entered the Morrisons’ grocery store in downtown Salt Lake City on Jan. 10, 1914, near closing time. The elder Morrison was shot in the back. His teenage son Arling, the state argued, shot Hill. Arling was shot three times by the accomplice and died instantly. John Morrison died at a nearby hospital. Hill was convicted and eventually executed. Applequist was never found.

Utah wants your help in preserving the historical records around the 1915 execution of labor icon Joe Hill

By Zak Podmore | February 9, 2021, 4:22 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Colorado River flows into Lake Powell near Hite Marina on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. The reservoir is only 40% full and continued surging demand combined with the ravages of a drying climate signal a water crisis in the not-too-distant future. Wall Street investors see the an opportunity to capitalize on a whole new commodities trading market.

Exclusive: Hedge funds eye water markets that could net billions, as levels drop in Lake Powell

By Zak Podmore | February 8, 2021, 5:44 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Volunteer Zachary Farr helps plant flags at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, to recognize the thousands of individuals in Utah who are impacted by domestic violence each year for the Stop the Violence Utah campaign. Facing cuts in federal funding, Utah's domestic violence service providers are asking the state Legislature for $3.4 million this session to meet increased needs during the coronavirus pandemic.

Utah domestic violence shelters seek more state funding to meet need during COVID-19

By Becky Jacobs | Zak Podmore | February 4, 2021, 9:27 p.m.