The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Signpost and Utah News Dispatch. Lisa Boggs was hoping to make a difference when she joined Weber County Animal Services. Those hopes were dashed after a disagreement between Boggs and shelter management over how to care for a Great Pyrenees...
The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah News Dispatch. States are forgoing millions and, in some cases, billions of dollars in revenue by allowing data centers to skip out on paying sales tax. But Utah has no idea how much money it’s losing to these tax exemptions — the...
The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. The trek into the office is a necessary evil for many employees; it’s unpaid time that could be spent elsewhere. But some state employees are able to cash in on their commutes. That includes one member of Gov. Spencer...
Transparent Utah is a site that can show you everything from the highest paid salaries of government officials to how different government agencies are spending taxpayer dollars. You can explore per-student spending patterns across the state, analyze property assessments across the state and compare costs for common healthcare procedures in your community. It’s an incredible...
The following was written by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah News Dispatch. Utah lawmakers are not only trying to close off your access to records about how the government does (or doesn’t) work — they want you to pay the bill for it. Two bills are taking direct aim at the...
The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah News Dispatch. State officials are required to disclose if their “immediate family” are involved in businesses that could receive public funding. Recently obtained records, however, show that some heads of state agencies have interpreted the disclosure rules to mean they...
The following story was reported by the Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with KSL.com. SALT LAKE CITY — The people who run Utah’s state agencies are required to disclose possible conflicts of interest. But the governor’s office apparently doesn’t think the public has the right to know what those are. In a highly unusual...
Want to get involved in your community but don’t know where to start? Start by showing up! There are public meetings all over the state from city council meetings and zoning boards to legislative hearings and more. Join us for a free webinar on Sept. 19 from 12-1 pm to learn how to find meetings...
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...
By Sara Tabin The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Spectrum & Daily News and the Salt Lake City Weekly. The past couple years have been rife with existential threats for Utahns—earthquakes, wildfires, supply chain shortages—not to mention multiple waves of coronavirus surges. It’s been enough...