Renai Bodley Miller

  A dump truck overturned on 224 Friday afternoon, about a half mile above the Montage, blocking traffic in both directions in Empire Pass. The road was closed for more than four hours, preventing Park City traffic from accessing Guardsman Pass, a popular fall drive, during that time. The road reopened around 7 o’clock Friday night.

Hideout's Town Council isn't done talking about annexing 655 acres in Summit County.

The council scheduled a meeting for Friday night of Labor Day weekend at 6:30pm.  On Thursday afternoon, a judge issued a preliminary injuction against Hideout's pre-annexation agreement with developers Josh Romney and Nate Brockbank.  Summit County had filed a lawsuit saying that agreement occured in violation of Utah's open meeting laws.  

Summit County released more information Monday about a private birthday party in early August that health officials believe has led to at least 75 new cases of COVID-19.

Rich Bullough, Director & Health Officer for the Summit County Health Department, released the following statement Monday evening:

"As COVID-19 continues to impact our communities, we want to share some additional information related to the recent event that has contributed to the increase in new cases.

A fire near Mirror Lake Highway had firefighters scrambling and campers and hikers evacuating an area near Norway Flat Saturday afternoon.

The Shingle Creek Fire started near mile marker 11 around 2:30pm on the north side of the highway.

**UPDATE:  I-80 will be closed Friday at 9am, according to Unified Fire Authority, to support firefighting operations.  They don't know how long the highway will be shut down.  If you need to get from Park City to Salt Lake City, take an alternate route.**

A fast-moving wildfire in Parleys Canyon sparked about 6:30pm Thursday evening.  About an hour later, Interstate 80 between Park City and Salt Lake City was closed to vehicles so fire fighters could battle the blaze on the ground and from the air.  The highway reopened around 9:30pm.

Tuesday night Park City School District and Wasatch School District will hold meetings to talk about how to safely return students to the classroom this fall.

By law, all public school districts have to post their COVID-19 plans for the 2021/2022 school year on their website by August first. 

  It appears Park City students will have the option of going to class in person or online next school year, according to a letter from the school superintendent, Jill Gildea, which is posted on the school district’s website, pcschools.us. Kindergarten through 12th grade classes for the 2020 / 2021 school year start August 20th. 

The Black Lives Matter mural on Park City’s Main Street was vandalized Tuesday night, just days after it was completed.

The word “black” was painted over with grey paint. So was the image of a fist that makes up the letter “i” in the word “lives”. The result is that the phrase “Black Lives Matter” becomes “Lives Matter.”

Four large temporary art installations are underway on Park City's Main Street this 4th of July.   

The four 20' by 300' murals are being painted on the street. Executive Director of the Park City Summit County Arts Council, Jocelyn Scudder, says her group saw an opportunity to create public art on the pavement when they realized Park City had closed Main Street to cars for the holiday weekend. The city had also cancelled the traditional 4th of July parade out of concerns about COVID-19. Scudder says that allowed artists to get on the street early in the day.

**UPDATE  11am:  Summit County Sheriff Justin Martinez says Stratton has been found safe and has been reunited with his father. 

Search and rescue workers are looking for a missing 9-year-old boy near the Henry's Fork area in Summit County Thursday.

While the results are not official yet, it appears Malena Stevens has an insurmountable lead over Canice Harte in the race for Summit County Council.

Stevens and Harte, who serve together on the Snyderville Planning Commission, competed in the Democratic primary to fill the Council seat being vacated by Kim Carson.

In Tuesday’s unofficial results, Stevens received 1821 votes—nearly 1000 votes ahead of Harte, who received 831.

No Republican contender has filed to run for Carson’s seat. So barring a write-in, Stevens has been elected to the Summit County Council.

Utah has set another high bar for COVID-19 cases. There are 676 new cases of the coronavirus in Utah Friday, according to the state health department.  That brings the total number of positive cases in Utah to 20,050 since the pandemic began in March.

More than 317,000 tests have been administered. The rate of positives is at 6.3%. 31 more people are in the hospital due to COVID-19, bringing the total number of hospitalizations to 174.

Thursday night Utah Governor Gary Herbert approved Summit County’s request to make wearing face masks mandatory in public. County Manager Tom Fisher tells KPCW the county received verbal confirmation from Herbert's office and written approval will come Friday.