Basin Now

TriCounty Health provided the following update on Wednesday concerning local COVID-19 vaccinations: TriCounty Health Department (TCHD) teamed up with Ashley Regional Medical Center (ARMC) and Uintah Basin Healthcare (UBH) to vaccinate local long term care and assisted living facility residents and staff.

A program aimed at easing the hardship inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic has been extended. Duchesne County School District shared on Tuesday that free meals will continue to the end of the school year for all enrolled students and their siblings. Basin online students are also eligible for the free meal and can complete the online order form at dcsc.org.

Officials are asking Basin residents to please reduce ozone-forming emissions as much as possible for the next few days after an unexpected ozone jump. “Yesterday afternoon/early evening, ozone at Ouray unexpectedly jumped over the EPA standard, with an 8-hr average of about 73 parts per billion (ppb),” shares Dr. Seth Lyman, Director of the USU Bingham Energy Research Center.

A scary situation thankfully had a positive ending on Wednesday in Rangely. Rangely Police Department called on the public for help finding a missing elderly woman named Joyce Fix around noon. Joyce had been reported as having wandered off from the intersection of West Bell and Morrison Wednesday morning and was considered at risk.

The Seven County Infrastructure Coalition Executive Director Mike McKee issued a statement on Tuesday regarding a decision made concerning the proposed Uinta Basin Railway. “I am pleased to announce that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has preliminarily granted the Coalition’s Petition for Exemption to construct and operate the railway, subject to completion of the environmental review process.

The COVID-19 update from TriCounty Health issued on January 5th provides the latest local report on COVID-19. According to the report, there have been a total of 2,596 confirmed cases to date in the TriCounty Health District. Of these, 1,976 cases are considered recovered and 600 are active.

Everyone has their own way of kicking off the new year with a fresh start. How is Roosevelt City doing it? They are looking to rebrand and are having a new Roosevelt City logo design contest. Throughout the month of January, residents can submit their drawings, paintings, digital artwork, or other logo designs.

125 years ago on January 4th, 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state of the Union. Some of the living insignias include the California gull as the state bird, the Bonneville cutthroat trout as the state fish, the Sego Lily is the state flower, and the Rocky Mountain Elk is the state mammal.

Do you happen to still have a Christmas Tree up and looking for something to do with it? The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has shared great ideas on what to do with a conifer tree that was used for Christmas. Consider turning the tree to a Christmas tree for songbirds.