By Eric S. Peterson, Megan Quiggle, Will Weber, Jacob Freeman, Andrew Luras, Gaetano Chiarenza, Whit Fuller, Miken McGill, Sorina Trauntvein, Alejandro Lucero, Rhenick Edwards and Reede Nasser. The following story was developed by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project and the University of Utah’s “Cold Case” class investigating unsolved murders in the state, in partnership with...
Author: Eric Peterson (Eric Peterson)
The Inland Port wants to be Utah’s magnet for tech jobs and electrification
By Eric S. Peterson The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with KUER. The Utah Inland Port Authority believes technology will be a big part of the future of shipping in the state. The Port wants to attract high-tech jobs and also make green tech investments like electric vehicle...
Utah Inland Port now says it will be lean and green. Experts are skeptical
By Eric S. Peterson The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with KUER. The Utah Inland Port as it was imagined five years ago has come to a standstill. In 2018, planners envisioned a 16,000-acre logistics oasis in the marshy scrubland northwest of Salt Lake City. Instead of buzzing...
Renter says she was forced to pay a legal bill to get federal rent assistance
The following story was funded with support from The Economic Hardship Reporting Project and was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. When Ivey O’Neill moved into the Garden Lofts apartments, everything seemed perfect. Right in downtown Salt Lake City, it was close to everything and the unit...
Bill would raise major barriers to sue for asbestos injuries in Utah
The following was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. In a Feb. 15 committee hearing, Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, said HB328 was a common-sense approach to making sure asbestos lawsuits only truly target the guilty. The bill, Asbestos Litigation Amendments would require medical proof an individual...
Utah set aside $10M for homelessness. Instead of services, cities tapped it for police
The following story was funded by The Economic Hardship Reporting Project and reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with KUER, the Salt Lake City Weekly, The Standard-Examiner and The Spectrum News. It’s an early January afternoon and behind the Rio Grande Depot in Salt Lake City, several homeless individuals have been tediously...
Inmate challenges state law he says was meant as retaliation against whistleblowers
The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. Utah law SB 242, passed in 2017, put a stop to the work of Reginald Williams. Williams, an inmate in the state prison, was known for filing dozens of Government Records Access and Management Act requests, or...
Eviction expungement guide distributed to needy families for the holidays
This Thanksgiving Harmons Neighborhood Grocer held its annual turkey giveaway in collaboration with the low-income advocates of the Crossroads Urban Center, who helped distribute over 3,000 turkeys to needy families. The Utah Investigative Journalism Project was honored to contribute to the event by having our recent “How to erase your eviction record” guide included in...
Public help needed identifying suspects from video for SLC Cold Case
The Utah Investigative Journalism Project has obtained video of two suspects of a hotel robbery in Draper, on October 11, 2021, who may have knowledge of the murder of Joseph Salas. The Utah Investigative Journalism Project reported on Salas’ death this summer in an article exploring the lack of trust between Salt Lake City’s unsheltered...
UIJP wins top watchdog reporting prize for eviction coverage
The Utah Investigative Journalism Project garnered a big win at this year’s National Association of Real Estate Editors journalism competition, winning the organization’s Kenneth R. Harney award for Best Real Estate Consumer Education Reporting. The award was for coverage of Utah’s handling of the eviction crisis, specifically how the state disbursed federal emergency rental assistance...









