Month: July 2016

Unclaimed property in Utah could mean money in the pockets of some Uintah Basin residents. Presenting at the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Tuesday, the Treasurer for the State of Utah, David Damschen, explained that there is $2.2 million dollars in unclaimed money in Uintah County alone. Unclaimed property is intangible property such as savings accounts, certificates of deposit, utility refunds, un-cashed checks, stocks or contents of safe deposit boxes, that have been unclaimed or abandoned. 

Utah’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for local Counties remained steady. Daggett County remained at 5.4 percent. Uintah County also maintained the previous month’s rate at 10.2 percent and Duchesne County showed a slight decrease in unemployment from 9.6 percent to 9.4 percent. 

Bids to lease Duchesne County land for oil and gas extraction was approved by the Duchesne County Commission this month. The County received bids from Transcontinent Oil on two pieces of property.

Today is the day local livestock owners can attend a special meeting concerning changes to the Veterinary Feed Directive. To be implemented next year, the Veterinary Feed Directive will have significant impacts on how producers obtain feeds containing certain animal medications.

Graffiti may be more of an urban trend but that hasn’t stopped it from popping up recently in area communities. According to Vernal City Assistant Police Chief Keith Campbell, graffiti has become an issue locally this summer. 

Tragedy struck on Flaming Gorge on Friday when a teenage girl was hit by lightning and killed. According to the Daggett County Sheriff’s Office, a Utah County family was traveling to shore on a pair of Sea Doo jet skis near the Hideout Canyon Camp at approximately noon on Friday. Passenger, 14-year-old Brooklyn Reynolds, was fatally struck by lightning as her step-mother, 49-year-old Jayleen Reynolds, was driving the Sea Doo. 

Seatbelts saved lives in a two vehicle crash west of Duchesne on Saturday evening. According to Utah Highway Patrol, the crash occurred at approximately 7:35pm on Highway 40 at Mile Post 83, three miles west of Duchesne. 

A second tragedy struck Daggett County over the weekend when a BLM employee was killed in a motorcycle accident. According to the Utah Highway Patrol, the 23-year-old man from Tennessee was traveling east on a motorcycle about half way between Dutch John and Little Hole Road on Saturday morning when he failed to negotiate a curve in the road. 

As a whole, Utah’s economy continues to grow. According to new data from the Department of Workforce Services, Utah’s employment for June 2016 grew by about 3.5 percent, adding 48,500 jobs to the economy from one year previous. While continued growth is indicated, the unemployment rate for the state actually increased by two-tenths of a percent from the month before to 4.0 percent. 

It’s the time of year for electrofishing, at least for the Division of Wildlife Resources. Biologists will be surveying Currant Creek Reservoir and the streams that feed into it in the coming days. The electrofishing equipment shocks the fish with a mild electric current, allowing biologists to scoop the fish out of the water to collect and record data.