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SEVEN BABIES DEAD
Police: Utah woman gave birth at home
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Authorities say a Utah woman accused of concealing seven pregnancies before allegedly strangling or suffocating her newborns gave birth each time in her home.
Pleasant Grove Police Capt. Mike Roberts said Wednesday that investigators have determined that 39-year-old Megan Huntsman did not go to a hospital to have the babies. He didn't say if anybody helped her give birth.
Huntsman acknowledged to police that she killed six of the babies. One was stillborn.
She was arrested Sunday on six counts of murder and is being held on $6 million bail.
Roberts said Huntsman also hid her pregnancies with her two oldest daughters, now in their early 20s, from extended family until she was at the hospital.
Roberts said investigators have a theory on her motive but aren't discussing it publicly.
MEDICAID EXPANSION
Utah Gov.: Medicaid negotiations moving forward
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah Gov. Gary Herbert says Medicaid expansion talks with federal officials are moving forward.
Herbert said Wednesday he again made the case in Washington, D.C., this week for a plan to cover low-income Utah residents in the private market, instead of the government program.
He says the plan was well received by White House staff members but its details must still be worked out.
Herbert says hopes by June to secure a lump of federal money for a three-year pilot program to help 110,000 Utah residents buy private health insurance.
The state estimates the program would cost $258 million in federal money during year one and about $280 million by year three.
Herbert, a Republican, has not outlined many specifics of the proposal or exactly how much flexibility he's seeking.
UTAH COUNTY DEPUTY SHOT
Evidence hearing for teen charged in deputy death
PROVO, Utah (AP) — Prosecutors say a dash-cam video shows the moments a fugitive fatally shot a Utah deputy and fled in a pickup truck driven by a teenage girl now facing murder charges in the case.
Prosecutors played the video from slain Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Cory Wride's car in a Provo courtroom Wednesday while trying to convince a judge there's enough evidence for 17-year-old Meagan Grunwald to stand trial.
The teenager is the only surviving suspect from the Jan. 30 chase and shootout with police and faces 12 charges, including murder and attempted murder.
Authorities say Grunwald's boyfriend, 27-year-old Jose Angel Garcia-Juaregui (how-REG'-ee), fatally shot Wride and wounded another deputy during the multi-county police chase.
Garcia-Juaregui later died from wounds he suffered in a shootout with police.
RAPE KITS-BACKLOG
Salt Lake City officials consider rape kit issue
(Information in the following story is from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A backlog in processing evidence that could lead to more rape convictions in Salt Lake City has drawn the attention of city officials.
City council members on Tuesday questioned why no more than 21 percent of Salt Lake City rape kits collected from 2003 to 2011 have gone to a crime lab.
The kits include evidence such as semen and saliva. Advocates say the logjam prevents sexual assault cases from reaching prosecution.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank says it takes six months to analyze a single DNA sample, and police prioritize cases they believe are most likely to go to trial.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports Burbank also cites communications issues with the state crime lab.
Salt Lake City Democrat Rep. Jennifer Seelig sponsored successful legislation this year to streamline the process.
BLAZE ENGULFS BUILDING
Man accused of arson wants statements thrown out
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man charged with arson is asking a judge to throw out statements he made to police after the blaze because they were made in violation of his constitutional rights.
The 34-year-old Dustin Bowman is charged with arson in a Feb. 9 fire at a downtown Salt Lake City apartment complex that caused $6 million in damage. Nobody was inside the building, and no one was hurt.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Court records show his attorneys filed a motion this week saying investigators violated Bowman's Fifth Amendment right during interviews on Feb. 14-15.
Prosecutors say Bowman acknowledged setting the fire, saying he only wanted to start a small blaze.
A hearing to discuss the request has been set for May 14 at a federal court in Salt Lake City.
MISSING RIFLE-SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Davis County Sheriff's missing M16 rifle found
(Information in the following story is from: Standard-Examiner, http://www.standard.net)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An M16 rifle that had been missing from a Utah sheriff's office since the mid-2000s has been recovered.
The Standard-Examiner of Ogden reports Davis County Sheriff Todd Richardson says the weapon was returned Friday. He would not identify who brought it in.
Richardson said an investigation is underway by the county attorney to determine if charges will be filed.
The rifle was one of 20 given to the Davis County Sheriff's Office in 1998 under a Department of Defense program that issues surplus equipment to police agencies.
A previous report from the sheriff's office showed there was no record of the missing rifle. The rifles were kept in storage except for a few training exercises until 2006, when they were issued to deputies.
SALT LAKE-BANK ROBBED
Salt Lake City police seek suspect in bank robbery
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Salt Lake City police are looking for a man who robbed a Key Bank on South Foothill Boulevard.
Police say the white man in his mid-20s entered the bank about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday and gave a teller a note demanding money. He then fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of money in a white BMW believed to be a 3 series built in the early 2000s.
The suspect is described as being about 6-foot-1, between 190 and 200 pounds with a stocky build, scruffy facial hair and yellow teeth.
He was wearing blue jeans and an off-white hooded jacket with a darker geometric pattern.
Police are asking anyone with information to call 801-799-3000.
COMMUTER TRAIN- PEDESTRIAN KILLED
Suicide suspected in Sunset train-pedestrian fatal
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man was struck and killed by a FrontRunner train in Sunset, shutting down a stretch of the commuter line for several hours Tuesday night.
The Davis County police department says the accident happened about 8 p.m. near 2300 North and 475 West.
The Utah Transit Authority set up bus service to shuttle passengers between the Clearfield and Roy stations while authorities investigated.
Authority spokesman Remi Barron says the man was walking down the middle of the tracks. The investigation continues, but Barron says it appears to have been a suicide.
GAY MARRIAGE-OKLAHOMA
Round 2: Court takes up Oklahoma gay-marriage case
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Lawyers for a couple challenging Oklahoma's gay marriage ban, and the clerk who refused to grant them a license, are headed to a federal appeals court with a rare opportunity.
Judges at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver heard arguments last week about Utah's gay-marriage ban, and will take up the Oklahoma case Thursday.
That gave the Oklahoma legal teams on both sides a chance to fine-tune their arguments based on what they heard last week.
Attorneys defending the ban say they were encouraged by the judges' tough questions.
The couple's lawyers will likely look to the judge who asked whether Utah's ban was akin to a Virginia ban on interracial marriage struck down in 1967.
Both state cases involve bans on same-sex marriage passed by voters.
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