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PROVO, Utah (AP) — Provo resident MacCene Grimmett has cast a ballot every single election since she’s been old enough to vote — and that’s quite a few elections. MacCene, who has lived in the same dark red-bricked house in northern Provo since 1953, recently celebrated her 107th birthday. She was the oldest active voter in the state in November, when county elections officials came to her house and helped her cast her vote on an iPad. MacCene’s political activity stems from both a passion for local politics and a love for humanity in general.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A former Arizona politician has pleaded guilty in Utah to human smuggling charges in an illegal adoption scheme that stretched across three states and involved women from the Marshall Islands. Paul Petersen is a Republican who served as county assessor in metro Phoenix. The Friday pleas come after he struck an agreement with Arizona prosecutors on state Medicaid-fraud charges. A plea is expected next week in Arkansas. Petersen was accused of illegally paying women from the Pacific island nation to give up their babies in at least 70 adoption cases over three years.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah lawmakers unanimously approved a budget proposal that would plug an estimated $850 million state revenue shortfall following the COVID-19 pandemic. The House and Senate passed two bills during a special session Thursday that would impose less than 2% cuts across state government agencies while increasing spending for education and social services. Lawmakers used more than $680 million from their reserves, as well as federal dollars from the CARES Act to balance the budget. The Salt Lake Tribune reports the measure will drain nearly a third of the state’s rainy day funds.
CHINLE, Ariz. (AP) — A 50-year-old Navajo Nation police officer has died at a Phoenix hospital, becoming the first officer on the tribal police force to die from COVID-19 in the line of duty. Police Department officials say Officer Michael Lee died Friday at Banner-University Medical Center in Phoenix. Police Chief Phillip Francisco said the department was “devastated and heartbroken” by the death of Lee, whom Francisco called “a husband, a father, a son and a protector of his community.” Lee served 29 years with the tribal department, beginning his law enforcement career as a police recruit with the Navajo Police Academy in 1990. The department says survivors include Lee’s wife and children.
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