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☀️ 54 – 87° Logan | ⛅ 63 – 90° Salt Lake

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🌅 Good morning!

A Utah neighborhood recently got the HGTV treatment.

Hamlet Homes, based in Murray, partnered with the show “Rock the Block” to renovate identical homes in the Worthington Ranch community in Grantsville, Brynn Carnesecca reported for KSL.com.

Four teams with two designers each competed each week with a new challenge area such as the kitchen, master bedroom, basement and outdoor landscape. Teams received a $250,000 budget and six weeks to maximize the home’s value.

In the end, the team that adds the most value to the space is crowned the winner and gets to have the street named after them. The finale aired this week.

The show brought publicity to the small town, along with many interested fans.

“In the beginning, nobody knew what to expect. … But I think it’s been really fun for them,” said Tami Ostmark, Hamlet Homes vice president. “People loved having these superstars in town. The city came to realize that this was bringing a lot of attention to this little city. They will now be known on the map as the city that hosted ‘Rock the Block.’”

Fans of the show and anyone looking to see the four newly renovated homes are welcome to attend a Block Party Weekend in the neighborhood, hosted by Hamlet Homes this weekend.

Read more about HGTV’s “Rock the Block” in Grantsville.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox pushes local leaders for help with his starter home goal

Gov. Spencer Cox pushed local leaders to do more to help make his goal of building 35,000 starter homes in Utah by the end of 2028 a reality.

A discussion was held for the leaders from the 48 mostly Wasatch Front municipalities during his “Built Here” housing summit.

“It was a collaboration moment more than anything else. It really was about sharing the good ideas. I mean, we’ve had lots of ‘woodshed’ moments. It was about going over the numbers,” the governor said.

“I said at the end, ‘All I’m asking is that you are all as passionate about this as I am, understanding that the very future of our state hangs in the balance here,’” Cox said, warning the municipalities that all of Utah’s top rankings nationally "go away if we don’t solve this in the next five years.”

So far, just over 5,000 starter homes have been built since his “Utah First Homes” goal was announced in December 2023, Lisa Riley Roche reported. Efforts are underway to allow “starter condo” projects to tap into the $300 million in public funds set aside for loans to builders.

Read more about Cox’s starter home goal.

How a trio of lifelong Washington County pals are hoping to help UVU make baseball history

When three southern Utah kids who came from the same neighborhood graduated high school and left to play baseball at different colleges, they figured that was the end of their shared baseball careers together.

Until this year, when all three of them ended up transferring to play baseball at Utah Valley University. Now the former neighbors are teammates and roommates.

“The odds of all that happening has got to be close to zero,” said Wolverine infielder Landon Frei, laughing.

The Washington County trio grew up playing together and even won the 4A state title for their Snow Canyon High baseball team in 2021.

“We all played on the same travel baseball team since we were like 7,” said Frei. “We played on the same youth football team growing up and all the way through high school. So we’ve had a lot of years playing on the same teams.”

Frei, Mason Strong and Carston Herman are part of the UVU team that will take on No. 12 seed Oregon for today’s NCAA tournament opener.

It’s the second time in school history for UVU to make a tournament appearance, after claiming the WAC tournament title last week.

The Wolverines begin the double elimination regional at 7 p.m.

Read more about the UVU teammates.

FROM OUR SPONSOR SALT LAKE PARADE OF HOMES

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Utah

Utah’s oil train gets U.S. Supreme Court blessing (Deseret News)
Charges: Man held Millcreek family hostage for months, assaulting, extorting, threatening them (KSL.com)
WSU brings free children’s activities to Ogden parks with focus on arts, science (Utah Policy)
What being in between El Niño and La Niña means for Utah’s summer weather (KUER 90.1)
30 Women to Watch 2025 (Utah Business)
In parts of Utah, wildfire season has gotten a month longer (Axios)
Rocky Mountain Power requests rehearing on partial electricity rate hike, calls order ‘shortsighted’ (St George News)
Kamas Main Street corridor declared an endangered historic space (The Park Record)
Pilot who rescued cat from fatal Bryce Canyon fall gives her a forever home (2KUTV)
Daily fishing limit increased at Utah reservoir over low water levels (KSL.com)

Health

Hormel issues beef stew recall over wood chips (Deseret News)
‘Japanese walking’: Try this low-impact fitness hack for better heart health (Healthline)

Faith

Why the Justice Department just sued a small Idaho town (Deseret News)
Salt Lake Temple update: Renovation efforts include detailed stonework, restoration of baptismal font (Deseret News)
To share and invite is a ‘natural fruit of the pure love of Christ,’ teaches Elder Christofferson (Church News)

Politics

Gov. Cox creates new council to help prepare Utah for a bright future (Deseret News)
Trump threatens to rescind California’s education funding over transgender sports debate (Deseret News)

The Nation and the World

Landslide from partial glacier collapse buries 90% of Swiss village (CBS News)
Western Canada wildfires emergency hits another province as thousands flee (BBC)
Fossils found in North America reveal new species of ‘very odd’ sea monster (ABC News)

Sports

Why this former BYU player doesn’t like what’s happening to high school athletes (Deseret News)
What an anonymous Big 12 assistant coach said about BYU football in 2025 (Deseret News)
What an opposing Big 12 coach thinks about Utah in 2025 (Deseret News)
Your NCAA Tournament bracket may grow in size by nearly 12% by 2026 (Deseret News)

Photo of the Week by Isaac Hale

Spanish Fork first baseman Rhett Walburger (31) makes a snow angel in the ice used to douse head coach Hadley Thorpe after the Dons defeated Brighton 7-4 during the final game of the championship series in the 5A high school baseball state tournament held at UCCU Ballpark on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem on Saturday, May 24, 2025.

🗓️ Events Calendar

We put together a calendar list of events and activities going on around the state of Utah during this month. Check it out and let us know if we are missing anything!

Here are some highlights for events in Utah today:

Pony Express Days | Eagle Mountain
Vineyard Days | Vineyard
Ogden Music Festival | Ogden
“Elephant & Piggie’s ‘We Are in a Play!’” | Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, Logan
“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” | Empress Theatre, Magna

Please reach out to me at sgambles@deseretnews.com if you have any thoughts, feedback or ideas you would like to share!

✨ Cheers ✨

— Gambles