The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with KSL.com SALT LAKE CITY — For the past decade, Drew Mingl helped build Utah’s Open Data Catalog into a model of transparency for state governments across the country. The data portal posted thousands of datasets online in useful formats for all...
Author: Eric Peterson (Eric Peterson)
Emergency calls from US Magnesium workers show disorganized response
By Eric Peterson and Emma Penrod The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune, with support from the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. The urgent call came into the Tooele County 911 dispatcher just after 9:30 one...
Controversial Moab developer quietly makes major donations in AG’s race
The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Moab Sun. Derek Brown’s campaign website for the attorney general’s race brands him as a “constitutional conservative,” ready to take on the overreach of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. meddling in Utah’s state’s rights. Moab resident Laura Long is also worried...
County commissioner and former Utah wildlife official investigated for alleged big game baiting
The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. It was a dream hunt more than 20 years in the making — that’s how long Robert’s father had been applying in annual state drawings for a highly sought after bow hunting tag. Scoring the tag last...
Utah gave $40M in tax breaks to a solar company accused of fraud
The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Salt Lake City Weekly. “I guess you could call me a tree hugger,” said Washington state resident Tammy Crough on why she decided to install home solar power in 2023. “I love trees, the Earth, and I think solar is a...
Utah could look to these countries to outlaw “coercive control” in intimate relationships
The following story was supported by funding from The Alicia Patterson Foundation and the Fund for Investigative Journalism and was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. Imagine a hostage situation. A woman is trapped in her home, and her life and the lives of her family members...
A Utah man never hit his wife–until he tried to kill her. But how he treated her was a warning sign
The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project with funding from The Alicia Patterson Foundation and the Fund for Investigative Journalism in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. Jennifer Andrus didn’t have any bruises. She didn’t have black eyes, or other injuries to her face or head that are considered typical warning...
Free webinar on requesting public records 4/23
Join us for this free webinar on April 23, 12-1 pm where we will run through everything you need to know to file requests for public records in Utah. We’ll go over strategies for successful requests and how to fight records denials. This is a crash course on our public records law, the Government Records...
US Senate candidate received $50k from vape shop owners
The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah News Dispatch. Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs, one of a handful of candidates vying for the U.S. Senate seat soon to be vacated by Mitt Romney, welcomed Florida GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz to stump for him at a recent rally of...
Wilson’s Senate campaign disclosures show how closely development and government can align
The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with KUER. In his U.S. Senate campaign ad, Republican Brad Wilson, former speaker of the Utah House, leans into his career as a real estate developer. He walks through a construction site and the camera cuts to Wilson swinging a sledgehammer into...









