As usual, there's little information on the judges. For seated judges, the peer reviews displayed on judges.utah.gov typically show little deviation from glowing ratings, with cumulative scores on average in the 19s as rounded. An exception is 5th District (Iron, Washington and Beaver Counties) Jay Winward, whose score is in the 17s.

Looking at recent high profile cases, Winward dismissed rape charges against a BYU football player after denying a trial delay of 2 months. Washington County prosecutors had previously delayed filing to allow the alleged victim to prepare to face cross examination, and now asked for 2 additional months. Rather than simply denying the extension, he also dismissed the charges without prejudice.

As quoted from the KSL article:

The former BYU football player was scheduled for a jury trial from July 6 to July 10 on a charge of rape, a first-degree felony. After hearing arguments from both sets of attorneys on the prosecutors' request to delay the trial to give the alleged victim more time to prepare, Winward denied the request and dismissed the case without prejudice.

Prosecutors were also unsuccessful in dismissing Winward from the case. [edit, adding] The reasons cited included:

• "[N]ot recognizing victim trauma and the victim’s rights"
• "[N]ot holding the defense counsel in contempt when the alleged victim’s real name was spoken aloud on two separate occasions during Kingston’s preliminary hearing." The victim's name was to kept anonymous.
• Based on a similar prior ruling "..appearance that Judge Winward approaches sexual assault/rape allegations involving prominent sports individuals with skepticism not reflected in ordinary criminal proceedings"

Dear Governor Cox and First Lady,

While I applaud the effort to lead a statewide initiative called Utah Reads to improve childhood literacy I am wondering why children at my childs school have to pay to participate in the Battle of the Books program. No child should have to pay to participate in this program!

With only 50.3% of Utah K–3 students meeting grade-level reading standards and only 45.4% of students proficient in English Language Arts we need to do better….actually you need to do better and reduce one barrier to these kids becoming confident readers. Choose your constituents! Choose the future!

What’s good Utah! I'm driving across the Mountain West in a van with a couple of friends shooting a documentary. We're on the hunt for interesting stories, local businesses, or characters along our route.

We just wrapped an incredible few days interviewing people around Wyoming and are planning ahead for Utah.

Got a local rec or a story to share? Could even be yours. No limit on how weird, unique, or beautiful the subject is… we just want to capture what's really out there. Drop a tip in the comments/DMs. Thanks!

Im in American fork and really want to get back into tennis. Taking lessons to get back into it, finding people to play with. Maybe even joining a tennis club if there are any. Anyone have any advice? Obviously winter is approaching to idk if now is the time to get into it, but I know a lot of clubs will have indoor courts?