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A state audit found Utah public universities often paid tenured professors to quietly leave instead of pursuing discipline, citing a $175,000 separation at Weber State, and auditors urged clearer statewide rules for firing tenured faculty as lawmakers weigh changes to tenure.

Operation Hero opened Utah’s Fallen First Responders Boot Display on Wednesday, Oct.

28; about 56 boots representing police, dispatchers, firefighters, EMS + K-9s who died since 9/11 are on view at Layton Hills Mall through Sunday, and the public can submit additional names on Operation Hero’s website.

Unaffiliated and third-party candidates are on the ballot this fall to push for ranked-choice voting and multi-member districts, and several are campaigning in the northern (2nd District) even though none qualified for the congressional debates.

Biologists and volunteers are planting roughly 3,000 sagebrush and brittlebush across the Middle Fork Wildlife Management Area (about 400 acres) to restore habitat after a summer wildfire and help mule deer, while crews also work to limit non-native grasses that could take over the burned area.

A Halloween weekend storm could drop heavy snow that might let Brian Head meet its planned Nov.

6 opening, with forecasts calling for about 22 inches at Brian Head and roughly 4 inches at Powder Mountain and Snowbasin near Ogden.

CommonSpirit Holy Cross Hospital Davis reopened an eight bed inpatient pediatric unit and held a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, Oct.

28 in Layton — it will have pediatric hospitalists on duty 24 hours a day to treat low acuity illnesses and reduce transfers to Salt Lake.

UDOT finished a restricted crossing U-turn (RCUT) at the SR 23/US 89/91 intersection on Sept.

22 to cut crashes after 51 incidents from 2019–2023; the $6.3 million design aims to improve safety through about 2050 while some locals still favor an overpass.

AAA says Utah's average price for regular gas fell 10 cents to $4.62 per gallon this week, with Ogden at $4.53, and reminds drivers to watch for pedestrians as Daylight Saving Time will end Nov.

1 (2 a.m.).