PROVO, Utah — A woman in Provo, Utah was arrested on Friday after, according to police, she set fire to a shed while her husband and another woman were inside.

The 60-year-old woman now faces charges of aggravated arson. According to a probable cause affidavit, her husband and an unidentified woman were inside a structure on their property when they reportedly began to smell smoke. Once outside the shed the two say they saw the 60-year-old wife "standing near the ignition point of the fire staring at the fire and the occupants of the shed."

A five-gallon gas can was found near the burning shed with no lid, as KSTU reported.

A police report said the man was "cohabitating" with the other woman in the shed.

The 60-year-old wife originally told police that she saw flames and attempted to warn her husband and the other woman inside, but both of the shed's occupants said she did not offer any warning.

After leaving the scene, the wife was found a few blocks away with a butane torch in her possession, police said. Once the woman was taken into custody, a K-9 unit "gave a positive indication on the shoes and pants" worn by the wife, during an "open air search," according to the police report.

This story was originally published by Jeff Tavss of KSTU in Salt Lake City, Utah.

SALT LAKE CITY — A man who is based in the Utah portion of the Navajo Nation is trying to give new life to the Navajo language and culture through a kid's TV show that uses puppets.

Pete Sands says that during the pandemic, he had the opportunity to travel to homes on the reservation and realized a large disparity between the older and younger generations.

"We started knowing the disparities between the older generation, the elder generation and the younger generation - they had no communication," Sands explained.

"The younger folks didn't know, they don't speak the language. They don't understand it."

Sands knew that he had to find a solution to keep his culture and language alive and teach it to the rising generation in a fun way.

In the early months of 2021, he saw with his own eyes how a teacher used a puppet to teach young children in her classroom and a light bulb went off.

"It was this an epiphany (...) I had seen this one thing where a teacher got the attention of children with a puppet," Sands said.

"Maybe I can create a puppet show where we teach a Navajo language and that's where it started."

Sands used his contacts in the film industry to help connect him to a puppet maker based in Los Angeles.

After sketching his vision for what he wanted the puppets to look like, Sadie, Ash, Grandma Sally and Uncle Al were born.

The four puppets, who were made with Navajo features, are meant to bridge the gap between the older and younger generations and are the main characters in the TV show, "Navajo Highways."

Sands recruited some help from a teacher who created a language program to teach Navajo.

The teacher is the host of the show and also voices the grandma puppet.

There are plans to film ten episodes and each episode will have a specific theme.

The first episode will focus on introduction and learning about the Navajo culture.

"Navajos had complex, complicated classes and it breaks it down to just really simple," Sands explained.

"Instead of making it so complicated, we break it down simple where people can understand it."

The show will also focus on unity between native Navajo people and others in the community.

"I think it's important not just to show specifically just native Navajo people, as to show them interacting with people outside the reservation and really bring everything together to show unity," Sands said.

"Just to help them expand beyond what they know...it's okay to be different."

Unlike English, the Navajo language is mainly phonetic, which can be a challenge when trying to teach it to others.

Sands is hoping that by teaching with puppets, it will make challenging lessons more fun to learn and kids will be able to retain the information more easily.

"[Enlgish and Navajo are] intertwined [in the show] because the little kids are learning to speak it in the show," Sands said.

"So that's how the audience grows with them - with the kids. They learn how to speak it."

As Sands and his team work on creating and filming episodes, they're looking for funding for the project.

A Gofundme page has been set up to collect donations.

Sands hopes that when the episodes are completed, he'll be able to put them on a platform that is free for everyone to watch.

"This is special, this is this is something way outside the box," he said.

"They see hope that this can really work. And I really think it can work. I mean, it's never been done before.

Sands says they've been chosen to do a few live shows on the reservation and in Arizona.

This year, they will potentially travel to Los Angeles for a live show.

He says the more that people see the special puppets and their potential to teach kids, the more they want them to come and participate in their own communities.

This story was first reported by Melanie Porter at KSTU in Salt Lake City.

HERRIMAN, Utah (KSTU) — A "friendly" deer is creating a lot of buzz in Utah's Herriman community.

“He liked hanging out with the kids," said Angelica Lujan. "He was playing on the hill with them."

The deer, which residents named "Cooper," has been seen in pictures videos online.

Lujan said she was amazed by the deer’s calm demeanor.

“When he first started coming around, some of the neighbors had talked about not being too friendly with him so he doesn’t get used to us, but it’s a little bit past that,” said Lujan.

Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources said despite the deer's gentle and friendly attitude, people should leave him alone.

"People don’t realize these beautiful, cute deer can be aggressive as they get older. We’ve had times in the past where these friendly deer, they do get aggressive," said Scott Root, conservation outreach manager of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "We’ve had kids hurt at bus stops. Bad things happen when we feed deer in a residential area."

Root says if the deer becomes too much of a regular in the neighborhood, they may have to euthanize him.

“We choose not to relocate because of disease considerations. If this deer stays in the community, it could get hit by a car,” said Root.
Root hopes people will leave the deer alone so it can return to its natural habitat.

“We hoping people don’t befriend it and it goes up in the foothills but if people do see it, leave it alone. Everyone loves that picture for Facebook or Instagram but you’re really doing that animal a disservice and maybe giving it a death sentence if it becomes too domesticated,” said Root.

This story was originally reported by Eliana Sheriff on fox13now.com.

SAN FRANCISCO — Since the Monolith Craze of 2020 began earlier this fall in Utah, many imitators have tried to claim the state's throne as "Home of the Monolith."

However, all have failed until the obelisk that appeared on Christmas Day in a San Francisco park.

It's simply delicious.

A 7-foot-tall-gingerbread monolith was found Friday morning in Corona Heights Park.

As with most monoliths over the past few weeks, no one is sure who left the tasty tower behind. Maybe Santa had some extra time after dropping off toys to all those good girls and boys?

The man in charge of the park system in San Francisco was as surprised as anyone, according to KQED.

"Wow. Even makes a Jewish parks director smile," said Phil Ginsburg.

Ginsburg says he will allow the gingerbread monolith to remain for a little bit, saying, "We all deserve a little bit of magic right now."

This story was first published by Jeff Tavss at KSTU in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Four skiers were killed and four others rescued after an avalanche Saturday in a backcountry ski area near Salt Lake City, police said.

The Unified Police Department of Salt Lake City received a hang-up call around 11:40 a.m. Saturday, and then received a report that there had been an avalanche in the Wilson Basin area with five people trapped, according to Sgt. Melody Cutler, a public information officer with the police department.

Two groups of skiers, one group of three and another of five, began skiing on the mountain at the same time and authorities think the avalanche was caused by the group skiing, Cutler said.

"Four of those skiers were able to dig their way out," Cutler said. "All four of the remaining are deceased."

The skiers range in age from early 20s to late 30s, according to Cutler. A Life Flight rescue service was called to transport the survivors out of the area, and a flyover was being conducted to determine whether it is safe for rescuers to remove the deceased tonight, Cutler said.

The location where the avalanche occurred is a "very popular backcountry ski area," Cutler told CNN, adding that it has "been under very high-risk avalanche conditions recently."

Wilson Basin is by Mill Creek Canyon, about 20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

The Utah Avalanche Center said in a tweet Saturday morning that there were "dangerous avalanche conditions."

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox responded to Saturday's deaths on Twitter, calling it a "terrible tragedy."

"We are grateful to the first responders and others who engaged in this rescue and recovery effort," Cox said. "With avalanche danger high right now, please exercise extreme caution."

Salt Lake City Mayor Jenny Wilson tweeted that she was "heartbroken."

"We deeply mourn the loss of life due to this devastating incident," Wilson said.

The four are the most recent in a string of deaths caused by avalanches in three states, bringing the number of fatalities to nine.

A Utah man was killed when he was caught in an avalanche near Park City Mountains Canyons Village resort a week ago, just a few miles from the site of Saturday's avalanche. The Utah Avalanche Center has already published a report analyzing the avalanche.

Three more skiers, who were all local officials, were killed in an avalanche in Colorado Monday. Their bodies were recovered Wednesday.

In New Hampshire, the body of a skier was recovered Wednesday after an avalanche in the White Mountain National Forest.

MILLCREEK, Utah — Four skiers are dead after an avalanche in Millcreek Canyon, which is in the Salt Lake City area.

The Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake said it received a "faint" distress call around 11:40 a.m. Saturday. Despite poor cell phone reception in the area, officers were able to determine that the slide happened in the Wilson Glade area of Wilson Fork. It is also near Alexander Basin and Gobblers Knob.

UPD later confirmed that four of the skiers were dead and four others were alive. All eight had avalanche beacons.

The medical status of the survivors was not immediately available, but officials say they were able to dig themselves out. The surviving skiers were also able to locate and dig out the other four, but they had already died.

Search and rescue teams from several agencies are working to recover the bodies in a way that will not further endanger crews from getting caught in another avalanche.

“We are heartbroken over the tragic news of four fatalities as the result of an avalanche in the Millcreek Canyon area this afternoon," Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson wrote in a statement. "We deeply mourn the loss of life due to this devastating incident.”

The incident is the first deadly avalanche in Salt Lake County this winter season. There were two others last month in the Park City backcountry: a skier in the Square Top area and a snowboarder in Dutch Draw, respectively.

Gov. Spencer Cox also issued a statement, writing on Twitter:

The Utah Avalanche Center reports that an avalanche was remotely triggered in the same general area just one day prior. Nobody was caught in it.

UPD says Millcreek Canyon is closed to recreation at least through Sunday, but restaurants and businesses in the canyon will still be open.

The victims' names have not yet been released, and the survivors' medical status is not known at this time.

This story was originally published by Jonah Napoli, Spencer Burt and Spencer Joseph at KSTU.

Seven people are dead and several more were critically injured when authorities say a sand or dust storm caused visibility issues that led to a series of crashes involving 20 vehicles in Utah Sunday evening.

The crashes happened on I-15 near Kanosh, the Utah Department of Public Service (DPS) said in a news release.

Several people were transported to local hospitals in critical condition, officials said. Authorities did not specify how many people were injured but noted there could be more fatalities.

"It appears that 20 vehicles were involved in Sunday's crashes after high winds caused a sand or dust storm and impaired visibility on the roadway," the release said. "The Utah Highway Patrol summoned troopers from Richfield and Beaver to assist. Multiple ground and air ambulances also responded to transport victims."

Images of the crash site show multiple tractor trailers and several damaged passenger vehicles littering the road, with debris scattered for yards. At least one vehicle appears to have had its passenger doors ripped off.

DPS closed the road in both directions following the crash, which occurred just before 5 p.m., officials said.

Utah Department of Public Safety

A strong thunderstorm was reported southeast of Kanosh around 4:30 p.m., with strong winds occurring as the storm decayed, CNN Meteorologist Gene Norman said. A nearby report of a 51-mph wind gust was also recorded.

The crash occurred in a region that is experiencing some of the worst drought conditions in the country, which makes dust storms more likely. The entire state of Utah is in the two most extreme drought categories as of last week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Climate scientists have said this year's historic drought is fueled by climate change, which decreases precipitation and causes more soil-drying heat waves.

Utah Department of Public Safety

Though the weekend thunderstorms brought beneficial rain to isolated areas, the precipitation wasn't significant enough to prevent gusty winds from kicking up dust and dirt and carrying it for miles. The National Weather Service on Sunday noted a different storm, south of the crash, also created a dangerous dust storm.

Names of the crash victims won't be released until 24 hours after their families have been notified, the release said.

Kanosh is about 155 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

CINCINNATI — Restrictions are lifting and life is returning to a new sense of normal, from work to our personal lives. But a study from the American Psychiatric Association shows navigating the waters with family is tough for many.

About 64% of poll respondents said they were concerned about COVID-19 and how it could impact relatives.

Richard Larsen lives in Cincinnati but has family in Utah.

“It’s been kind of a whirlwind," Larsen said. "It’s shocking how rapidly it’s reopened."

Despite the rapid return, he said he’s at ease with the idea of post-pandemic life. His wife and kids are also eager to travel to family and meet the social demands of pre-pandemic society.

Psychologist Michelle Maegly said not everyone is having an easy time adjusting, though. She’s spoken to clients who find the family obligations they’re expected to resume draining.

“Though we may have the time available, it doesn’t mean we have the emotional energy available,” Maegly said.

She said this is further complicated by family members who may take the desire to remain distanced as a personal affront.

“I think patience with ourselves, patience with each other, knowing that we’re all navigating this awkward world right now, the patience will pay off in spades,” Maegly said.

She recommends easing back into social obligations and taking a quality-over-quantity approach to family gatherings.

“It’s not just about the amount of time we spend with people, but are we really present?”

MURRAY, Utah — A raft full of kids raced down a Slip 'N Slide, screams filling the air.

Bubbles poured out of a machine, piling up along the slide, and at the end. The kids disappeared into the white, foamy cloud. The raft came to a stop, and one by one, each child popped up, laughing and covered in foam.

A group of parents stood nearby, watching the fun. They banded together to create a neighborhood bubble Slip 'N Slide, to help all the youngsters beat the heat.

It's clear the tight-knit group in Murray loves collaborating for the sake of their kids.

Naomi Howa, one of those parents, was telling a story to the group as they stood next to the pile of bubbles.

"We ended up filing a police report," she said. She was catching them up on the latest neighborhood event-- something she and her neighbors caught on camera late Monday night.

"They parked here, and then... one went over to Rachel’s and two came here," Howa said. "One of them snagged the big banner... and then one of them grabbed the flag, and then they ran all back to the car and took off."

Surveillance video shows thieves hitting a few of the homes, stealing pride flags hanging from porches.

Again.

"It's been hit a couple of times," neighbor Jennifer Auwerda said. "We've put the flags up and in the middle of the night, some teenagers come and rip them down."

The first time it happened, Howa said, they figured it was a one-time thing. But then it happened a second time. And then a third.

"It definitely feels like we're being targeted. A little bit of having the house get hit so repeatedly, and it's disheartening," Howa said.

The neighbors were disheartened, considering the flags were flying for one of their own — 13-year-old Bridget Huddlestone, Howa's nonbinary daughter.

"And we just wanted to band together as a community to show our love and support to Bridget," Auwerda said.

Bridget came out to their family last year, and since then has received a lot of love from their family and neighborhood. That part has been great, Bridget said.

"It felt really good being able to be like, 'Oh my family supports me,'" they said.

That good feeling extended to being able to celebrate Pride Month for the first time this year. Bridget hung a pride flag in front of their family's home in early June.

But soon after, that flag disappeared.

So, Howa ordered another to hang up and other neighbors joined in with more flags.

Then, those flags disappeared, from Bridget's home and several others.

Undeterred, they hung up a third round of flags all over the neighborhood.

Those are the flags that went missing on Monday night. Video evidence showing a person or a group of people running around the neighborhood, ripping the flags down home-by-home. They drove up in a car and drove away after the snatch-and-dash incident.

"It definitely didn't feel too good. Like, 'Oh someone's trying to like go out of their way to make my day worse,'" Bridget said. "It's just weird."

Howa called the police after the person who tore down one of the flags damaged the area of the porch to which the flag was secured. The Murray Police Department confirmed that the incident may be investigated as a hate crime. They're hoping to identify who is going around repeatedly stealing the flags.

Despite being targeted three times, Bridget and her neighbors aren't letting their spirits down.

The parents are doing what they do best: Banding together for the kids.

Around the neighborhood, several other homes are waving new pride flags, with rainbow pinwheels spinning in the grass. Bridget's porch columns are wrapped in rainbow paper, and a giant rainbow "PRIDE" banner hangs above the door.

"There's a new flag being handed to us from one neighbor, and a potted plant from another neighbor with rainbows all on it," Howa said. "It just escalated from there."

"Jen, our neighbor, went crazy. She was like buying flags handing them out to people," Bridget said.

Auwerda bought over 60 pinwheels and 20 flags to distribute.

Bridget is now surrounded by an even bigger display of love and support.

"It should be a time to just like be yourself without being feared of being judged," Bridget said.

"And we love that message," Howa said, "And that's why we celebrate Pride."

This story was originally published by Lauren Steinbrecher on Scripps station KSTU in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A middle school cheerleading program in Utah has received criticism after a student with Down syndrome, who was working as the team manager, was excluded from an official team portrait this year.

Shoreline Junior High School's cheerleading squad took two official team portraits — one photo with 14-year-old Morgyn Arnold and another photo that included everyone but Arnold, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Wednesday. The latter photo was used by the school on social media and in the yearbook.

Arnold's older sister, Jordyn Poll, 25, said she believes the decision was made because of her sister's disability. She also said it was the second time in three years that Arnold was left out of the yearbook — she was not mentioned in the class list two years ago.

"Morgyn is very intelligent," Poll said, adding that her sister's name was not even mentioned in the yearbook. "She knew what happened. She was sad, and she was hurt."

In public posts on Facebook and Instagram, Poll shared the two photos and argued that the school was deliberately excluding her sister. She said her sister spent hours learning the dances, going to games and supporting the team.

"It's the SAME cheer team — SAME girls, SAME photo shoot, SAME poses, but one included all team members and one did not," Poll said. "A choice was made on which photo to submit."

Shoreline Junior High posted an apology on its Facebook page. But the page was later hidden or deleted.

"We are deeply saddened by the mistake that was made that omitted a student photo out of the yearbook," the post said. "Apologies have been made to the family, and we sincerely apologize to all others impacted by this error. We are continuing to look at what has occurred, and to improve our practice."

Davis School District in Davis County, just north of Salt Lake City, put out a similar statement.

"We are continuing to look at what has occurred and why it occurred," the statement said. "We will continue to look at our processes to ensure this does not happen again."

Poll said her family initially called the school and was told there was nothing they could do, The Tribune reported. She said Wednesday the school contacted the family again and are working "to make the situation right."

Disability Law Center of Utah attorney Nate Crippes said Wednesday that this type of exclusion happens often in schools across the state, and that the center receives about 4,000 annual complaints. Crippes said all districts can work to improve by adding more accommodations and being more inclusive.

Arnold will be in ninth grade at Shoreline Junior High next year, Poll said, adding that her sister has not yet decided if she will continue being the cheer manager.

Utah man sentenced to prison for multimillion dollar scheme claiming he could turn dirt into gold

Updated: 10:36 PM EDT Apr 26, 2021

A Utah man promised investors his business could turn dirt into gold and swindled millions of dollars from them over several years, according to federal officials. Now, he has been sentenced to prison for his role in an $8 million telemarketing fraud scheme. Marc Tager, 55, is the latest defendant to be sentenced in the scam that started in 2014, according to the Department of Justice. On April 14, he was sentenced to 43 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, money laundering and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.Tager, from Sandy, Utah, was one of four men charged in connection with the scheme that scammed 140 people, most older than 65, according to a news release from the DOJ. Jonathon Shoucair, 69; Matthew Mangum, 51; and Kenneth Gross, 75, were sentenced last year.Officials say Tager, Shoucair and Mangum were the leaders of the scam and they told investors they had a revolutionary process developed by Mangum that could extract gold from dirt. Related video: Keep The Identity Thieves Away With These Simple Tips"Investors were told that the defendants controlled this proprietary, breakthrough, nanotechnology that used environmentally friendly means to recover microscopic particles of gold from dirt," reads the news release.Gross, from Porter Ranch, California, would cold-call potential investors, according to the DOJ, and then pass along interested parties to Tager and Shoucair, who would obtain funds from the victims."What investors did not know was that Tager and Shoucair first met while serving multi-year federal prison sentences together for previous fraud related convictions," reads the release. In 2005, Tager was serving a two-year sentence for mail fraud when he met Shoucair, who was serving a five-year prison sentence for running a $50 million telemarketing fraud, according to officials.Victims of the new scheme were told the money they invested would be used to pay for space, equipment and material to develop Mangum's supposed breakthrough process, according to the DOJ, and that once it was developed it would generate huge returns for investors. Instead, Tager, Shoucair and Mangum formed a consulting business and made "fraudulent statements to investors to secure funding that was only partially used to support the business, which was never profitable."To make their scheme seem legit, the trio created a website for the business, according to the DOJ, that said it owned an 80-acre mining claim with a substantial amount of mineral-rich ore and that their revolutionary mining technology could achieve 20 times the yield of traditional mining at a fraction of the cost. It also promised that "investors would achieve 100% percent returns on their money in 12 months."In total, $8 million was raised from investors through the use of a national telemarketing strategy, according to the DOJ. Officials estimated that only $3 million of the funds was used to pay for potentially legitimate business expenses."However, three million dollars of investors' money was spent for the personal benefit of Tager, Mangum, and Shoucair, with another two million dollars of the funds going to pay telemarketers, including Gross, who helped raise the funds," reads the release.The Utah US Attorney's Office prosecuted the case. The investigation was a collaboration by the Utah Department of Commerce Division of Securities, FBI and IRS.Shoucair, from North Hills, California, was sentenced last October to 72 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and money laundering.Mangum, from South Jordan, Utah, was sentenced in November to 48 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

Brent Kolan and his two sons got lost in Utah's West Desert.

Now, having been rescued, they're speaking out about what happened.

Kolan raced off-road vehicles for decades and passed that passion for the sport down to his kids.

"I had been out there 50 times. Don't know how we got so turned around and the wind came up," Kolan said.

Kolan took his kids out for a quick ride, but it turned into a search-and-rescue mission Kolan and his two sons won't soon forget.

Watch the full story in the video above.