SALT LAKE CITY — Nate Quigley and his wife, Vanessa, studied at BYU, but it was Utah's mountains, rivers, lakes and desert scenery that kept them coming back to the Beehive State after they started careers. A little over a decade ago, they were living in Florida and preparing to launch a company that would ultimately become Chatbooks — an app that essentially helps users turn digital photos into a scrapbook — when they decided to move back to Utah.

SALT LAKE CITY – As developments surrounding President Donald Trump’s tariffs threats unfolded Monday, Utah’s Republican leaders defended Trump’s actions as necessary to crack down on the U.S. fentanyl crisis — while also acknowledging potential trade wars could bring higher costs and negative economic impacts. Trump on Saturday had announced plans to implement tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. But by Monday afternoon, his threats against Mexico and Canada were delayed by at least 30 days after leaders of the two countries agreed to increase border security efforts.

Salt Lake City – A Utah bill looks to allow local officials to use an Airbnb or Vrbo listing to investigate unlicensed short-term rentals as long as they have other proof. Local officials may soon have an easier time enforcing local rules about short-term rentals in their communities. A legislative committee on Thursday unanimously passed a bill that would allow cities, towns and counties that regulate short-term rentals to use a listing on a website like Airbnb or Vrbo to prove violation of local rules as long as officials have other information proving the property is a short-term rental.

Salt Lake City — Utah lawmakers will try again in 2025 to eliminate the state’s portion of the food tax. If the plan went forward as written today, Utah’s combined tax bill on food would drop from 3% to 1.25%. That’s according to research from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. According to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Salt Lake, unlike previous attempts to repeal the food tax, SB122 isn’t conditional on anything else happening.

Salt Lake City – Mortgage rates are once again above 7% after climbing for weeks. A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the U.S. averaged 7.04% as of Thursday, according to Freddie Mac’s survey results, up from last week’s average rate of 6.93%. A year ago at this time, the same type of mortgage averaged 6.60%. “This is clearly bad news for would-be homebuyers,” said Phil Dean, chief economist at the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. “Higher interest rates translate into higher monthly payments.”

Salt Lake City — A new report released said that while big steps have been taken to protect the Great Salt Lake, more will need to be done in the coming years to prevent it from drying up. The report, prepared by the Great Salt Lake "strike team" made up of state agencies and university researchers to advise policymakers about the lake, noted significant improvements. The report was presented at the Kem C. Gardner Institute for Public Policy at the University of Utah on Tuesday morning.

Salt Lake City – Last year, Utah’s economy fared better than the national average. However, the state is bracing for a forecast of slower, but not stalling, economic activity in 2025. That’s according to the 2025 Economic Report to the Governor by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. Phil Dean, chief economist at the Gardner Institute and co-chair of the Utah Economic Council, said in a news release that despite predictions of “higher interest rates forcing a hard landing,” the economy in the U.S. grew in 2024, as things start to get to normal levels after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some policies [...]

Taming the “red snake” — the often miles-long line of glowing red taillights going up and down the Cottonwood canyons on a powder day or holiday — has proven a vexing problem for the four ski resorts nestled in the snow-covered mountains east of Salt Lake City. On a sunny day, about 1,200 cars an hour move through Little Cottonwood Canyon, home to Snowbird and Alta Ski Area. But when it snows, the number drops to 300 an hour, causing gridlock for hours, said Mike Maughan, Alta president and general manager.

Salt Lake City – At a time of relative peace and with fewer than 1% of Americans serving active duty in the military, it’s easy to forget the economic impact of the defense industry — particularly in Utah. But in 2023, the defense industry directly and indirectly supported over 173,000 Utah jobs — about the size of the state’s construction industry — and contributed an estimated $22.2 billion to the state’s gross domestic product, according to a report released this week by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Salt Lake City has been named as one of Zillow’s hottest housing markets for 2025. It was the only ranked city in the western half of the United States. The closest city on the list was Kansas City, over 1,000 miles away. The city moves up 18 spots in the annual rankings. Housing researcher Dejan Eskic with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute found it surprising that Utah’s capitol city made the list.