Month: July 2016

Suppression efforts for a fire that started in Dinosaur National Monument over the weekend are expected to continue throughout the week. Fire crews from the Monument along with several other agencies responded to the fire north of the Yampa Bench Road, about 2 miles west of Haystack Rock,on Friday. 

The regulatory clock is ticking as the EPA considers air quality data for the Uintah Basin that categorizes the Basin in noncompliance with EPA ozone standards. According to Dr. Seth Lyman, USU Energy Research Director, the change last Fall in the EPA pollution standard to 70 parts per billion sends the basin into nonattainment for ozone and as a result stricter regulations are the expected result. 

Vernal is a hotspot for little baseball stars and their families this week with the 9U tournament going on for the Pacific Southwest Region of Cal Ripken Baseball. 12 teams of these serious little leaguers came to compete this week including 4 from Utah, 5 from California, 2 from Arizona and 1 from Nevada.

What would the Pioneer Day holiday be in the Uintah Basin without starting it with a breakfast served up by upstanding young men in blue and gold? The annual Scout Breakfast in Roosevelt will be held at Constitution park on Saturday from 8 to 10am. The Vernal area Scout Breakfast will be held at the Colton Pavilion on Saturday from 6:30 to 9:30am. 

It seems obvious to most but safe driving includes paying attention to the road and limiting distractions as much as possible. “We are urging people to stay attentive while driving by paying attention to other drivers and pedestrian traffic,” shares the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office. “Distracted driving is always a concern for law enforcement and with new gaming crazes for phones and other media devices that concern has grown, especially with younger drivers.” 

National Park Service Rangers and an investigator from the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office recovered the body of a hiker on the northern boundary of Dinosaur National Monument on Tuesday. According to Chief of Visitor Services Dan Johnson, monument staff received word Tuesdaymorning that a 73-year-old woman had fallen sometime during the night off a 120 foot cliff. 

Utah’s Honor Flight program is preparing to send a new group of veterans to Washington D.C. this fall and Uintah Basin World War II, Vietnam and Korean War veterans are encouraged to participate. Local Honor Flight advocate and representative Jeff Berry presented to the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce this week about his amazing experience taking his 90-year-old father on a flight just weeks before he passed away. The Honor Flight program’s goal is to take all WWII, Korean War and Vietnam veterans on a free, well organized and high class trip to tour Washington D.C.