Utah officials have released an updated statewide wildfire risk map, offering the most detailed look yet at where communities and landscapes face the highest danger from wildland fire. The map, published in late December, is intended to guide plan­ning, mitigation, and public awareness as the state heads into another fire season shaped by drought, growth and changing climate conditions. Image via Utah Department of Forestry. The new map was developed by the Utah Division of F

The Willow munici­pality, a proposed new town east of Kanab, moved forward with its preliminary feasibil­ity study in late No­vember. Early drafts of the study found the municipality not feasible, citing high municipal service costs and an uncertain de­mographic base. However, the final report reversed that conclu­sion, determining the municipality to be fiscally feasible and allowing the project to continue through Utah’s Preliminary Municipality process. Under state law, a

Utah health officials continue to describe the state’s measles situ­ation as an outbreak, and new information released this week adds a direct cross-border exposure involving Kane County Hospital. Since the Southern Utah News last re­ported on measles ac­tivity in late December, health authorities say additional cases have been confirmed in Utah and neighboring Ari­zona, reinforcing con­cerns about sustained regional spread. Coconino County Health and Human Services announced

On January 1, 2026, a new anti-drinking-and-driving law will begin requiring alcohol sellers to check every single ID before sale, regardless of age ap­pearance, checking for a new red banner that forbids sales to repeat or serious DUI offenders. HB437, passed in the 2025 legislative ses­sion, enacts an array of legal measures de­signed to restrict alco­hol sales to any person labeled “interdicted,” a status assigned to individuals convicted of an extreme DUI. Utah law labels

Kane County EMS is pleased to announce it has received $24,000 in grant funding from the Kane County Commission and the Kane County Econom­ic Opportunity Board to support advanced emergency medical services education for its providers. This investment will directly strengthen emergen­cy care across Kane County’s rural com­munities and for the many visitors who rely on local EMS each year. Image courtesy of Kane County Hospital The grant funding is being used to support an Adv

In a special legislative session held on December 9, Utah Lawmakers repealed 2025’s House Bill 267, which banned public sector businesses from collective bargaining with organiza­tions like unions, and fur­thered the legal battle over 2026’s voting maps. The special session was spurred in part by the signature drive on the HB0267 issue and in part by the ongoing legal debate over Utah’s voting district laws. Many legislators on the state level, generally Republican, contest a

On December 4, 2025, Congresswoman Celeste Maloy (R-UT) introduced legislation to honor the life and service of Deputy Sheriff Brian Harris, a Kane County Deputy who was killed in the line of duty. The bill would offi­cially designate the United States Postal Service facil­ity located at 35 South Main Street in Glendale, Utah, as the “Deputy Sheriff Brian Harris Post Office.” Image via Kane County, Utah “Deputy Brian Harris grew up in this commu­nity and spent his career prot