The following story was written by Eric S. Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. “Hi! I just need some advice please!,” read a panicky post made to the Facebook page of “DT Essential Oils – Best Recipes & Remedies” on March 24. The woman wrote that her husband was...
Author: Eric Peterson (Eric Peterson)
$1 billion-plus Uinta Basin oil train could hinge on tax break
The following story was written by Eric S. Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. Last June, Utah’s Permanent Community Impact Board (CIB) doled out $21 million from the state’s share of federal mining royalties toward a rail line proposed to connect the oil of the Uinta Basin to...
A Utah senator who has had run-ins with judge has a bill to allow switching courts
The following story was written by Eric S. Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. The website for the law offices of Kirk A. Cullimore proudly touts decades worth of experience in evictions and debt collections, not just arguing the law — but even making it. “Our firm’s work...
Cash Canyon: Former Lawmaker’s Bill to Allow Canyon Tolling Could Benefit His Development Project
The following story was written and reported by Eric S. Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. In the 2018 Legislature, then-Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, one of the most powerful legislators on the hill, presented a bill in a committee to pave the way for toll roads to be established...
Investigative report shines new light into dark corners of a controversial Draper train station development
The following was written and reported by Eric S. Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. The FBI has shut down its yearslong investigation into the murky, conflict-riddled deals involving a Utah Transit Authority commuter train station and related development in Draper. No charges resulted aside from the...
Zions Bank accused of facilitating fraud in California Ponzi scheme
The following story was written and reported by Eric Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. Before he pled guilty to running a $125 million fraud and being labeled a “scammer extraordinaire” by the FBI, Deepal Wannakuwatte was known as a charming entrepreneur who owned his own tennis team....
Former Utah deaf school aide charged with multiple counts of child rape
The following story was written by Eric S. Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project and published in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. Prosecutors filed 10 felony charges Wednesday against Tyler Agustin Jex, a former teaching aide for deaf children in Utah, alleging he raped and sexually assaulted multiple students. It has been a...
Utah universities fail to follow law meant to help students pick school and major
The following story was written by Eric S. Peterson, McKhelyn Jones, and Tori Waltz in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune , The UVU Review and The Signpost. You can always tell when a new school year has started at Utah’s public universities and colleges by the apprehensive, sometimes confused looks on the faces of students wandering...
Higher Voltage and Lower Home Values: Rocky Mountain Power and Marathon Refinery benefit most from transmission project
The following story was written and reported by Eric S. Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The West View . In April, west-side residents awoke to flyers on their doors letting them know that for the sake of cleaner air and more reliable power, their doorsteps would be darkened by modified...
Prosecutor covering two counties is stretched thin–raising questions about the quality of justice in Wayne County
The following story was written and reported by Eric Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune and The Insider newspaper in Wayne and Garfield counties. Loa • On July 31, 2018, a Wayne County sheriff’s deputy pulled up on an ugly scene: A woman stood in the driveway...









