Newsroom
For all media inquiries, please contact:
Nick Thiriot
Communications Director
nick.thiriot@utah.edu
801-587-3717
News Releases
Great Salt Lake ends 2025 water year at third-lowest level on record as recovery work continue
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Anna McEntire, USU Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air 435-881-1323, anna.mcentire@usu.edu Nick Thiriot, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, 801-842-9150, nick.thiriot@utah.edu January 7, 2026 (Salt Lake City) – Utah continues to make significant strides in stabilizing Great Salt Lake, though the vital ecosystem remains below healthy levels, according to the latest data summary released for the 2026 General Legislative Session. The report, authored by the Great Salt Lake Strike Team, highlights tangible progress in 2025, but underscores the urgent need for sustained and data-driven action to contribute to a durable path forward for Great [...]
Report: Nearly half of Utah’s current young children do not read at grade level
Contact: Nick Thiriot, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, nick.thiriot@utah.edu, 801-842-9150 January 5, 2026 (Salt Lake City) – Early literacy provides a critical foundation for every child’s academic success. However, a new report from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, commissioned by the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation, reveals that nearly half of Utah’s K-3 students are not meeting grade-level reading expectations. In 2025, only 50.3% of third graders achieved grade-level proficiency in reading, with similar rates in earlier grades. […]
Utah mobilized $1.4 billion in funds for affordable housing programs in FY 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Nick Thiriot, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, nick.thiriot@utah.edu, 801-842-9150 December 29, 2025 (Salt Lake City) – Affordable housing remains a critical issue for many Utah families. A new report from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute reveals that nearly 30 programs across the state collectively provided $1.4 billion in housing assistance funds to Utah homeowners and renters in Fiscal Year 2022 (FY 2022). This includes funds from across the federal, state, and nonprofit sectors. […]
Utah’s agricultural sector generated $2.3 billion in annual sales in 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Nick Thiriot, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, nick.thiriot@utah.edu, 801-842-9150 December 18, 2025 (Salt Lake City) – Utah’s farm operations generated $2.3 billion in animal products and crop sales in 2022, according to a report released today by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. Agricultural activities, primarily concentrated in seven counties, employed over 16,000 people and utilized 10.5 million acres of state land. […]
Recent Media Mentions
Salt Lake County realtors detail 2026 housing market
SALT LAKE CITY — Realtors across the state participated in the annual Housing Forecast event, detailing trends within the housing market in Salt Lake County. The Salt Lake Board of Realtors (SLBR) hosted the event, where experts talked about mortgage rates, buyer demographics, inventory and housing-price appreciation.
Utah’s housing market is expected to be ‘running in place’ in 2026
SALT LAKE CITY – Don’t expect Utah real estate to do anything crazy this year. That’s what agents and brokers were told at the Salt Lake Board of Realtors’ annual housing forecast event in Salt Lake City. The business of buying and selling houses is expected to be more or less stagnant in 2026, said Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute Senior Fellow James Wood.
5 lessons learned about the Great Salt Lake in 2025 outlined in new report
SALT LAKE CITY — A group of Utah leaders and prominent residents gathered on a deck near the eastern shores of the Great Salt Lake on a hot September afternoon last year to outline a vision they had for the Utah 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Not just farms: New report shows where water from the shrinking Great Salt Lake is going
SALT LAKE CITY – Despite the Great Salt Lake’s dire straits, state researchers and leaders remain optimistic that Utah will become the first place in the world to reverse a saline lake’s decline — and do so in time for the 2034 Winter Olympics.
As Utah students struggle to read, what’s being done to help them?
ST. GEORGE — In the hours after a report was released sharing how Utah's younger students are struggling to read, we spoke with people in the southern part of the state to find out what's being done to turn the dismal numbers around.
Almost half of Utah third graders can’t read at grade level, report says
SALT LAKE CITY — On Monday, the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute released a report detailing early literacy rates among Utah children, indicating that many of Utah’s children are not as proficient in reading as they should be.
