Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — While COVID-19 continues to factor into many people's lives, the world felt a little closer to a pre-pandemic normal in 2022.
President Joe Biden declared an end to the term "pandemic" in September, though, the U.S. brought back its free rapid testing program again this month. Despite the lingering coronavirus, travel and crowd sizes returned to levels previously seen in 2019.
This shift also appears in what KSL.com readers clicked on this year. In fact, this year was the first since 2019 that a story about COVID-19 didn't land in our annual list of most-read stories.
Instead, other news items were on the minds of many Utahns in 2022, from local and national tragedies to the war that broke out in Ukraine. Readers cared about the community around them — including the happenings of the Utah Jazz as they parted ways with Quin Synder, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Bogden Bogdanovic and Royce O'Neill over the course of the summer.
Utahns also paid attention to the impacts weather had on their lives and even mysteries from above — such as the mysterious boom over the Wasatch Front this summer.
The following articles were the most-read on KSL.com in 2022.
Friends, family remember girl hit, killed by vehicle at Kaysville 4th of July parade
Date published: July 4
Page views: 413,521
Short synopsis: Macie Hill, of Layton, died after she was hit by a vehicle while participating in the Kaysville Independence Day parade. She was remembered by friends and family as the "brightest little light."
2 Hunter High football players killed, 1 injured in West Valley shooting
Date published: Jan. 13
Page views: 371,226
Short synopsis: Two teens, Paul Tahi, 15, and Tivani Lopati, 14, were shot and killed along 4100 South in West Valley City, while another teen was injured. The two teens who died were freshmen football players at Hunter High School and the injured teen was a sophomore football player.
Husband ran over wife at Salt Lake airport, killing her after returning from vacation, police say
Date published: April 4 (Updated on April 5)
Page views: 286,459
Short synopsis: A Taylorsville man was arrested after police say he ran over his wife in the parking structure at the Salt Lake City International Airport, killing her. The man later pled guilty and was sentenced to prison.
Utah Jazz offseason blog
Date published: June 30 (Final update on Aug. 7)
Page views: 284,137
Short synopsis: A recap of all the Utah Jazz offseason moves, which began when the team declined qualifying offers to Eric Paschall and Trent Forrest. It ended with a flurry of transactions, most notably the trades of all-stars Rudy Gobert to Minnesota and Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland.
Winter watch issued for 'big-time kind of spring storm' in Utah
Date published: April 10 (Updated on April 11)
Page views: 261,381
Short synopsis: Just when it looked like winter was over, a major spring snowstorm arrived in Utah. The storm dumped a few feet of snow in Utah's mountains.
Meteor likely cause of boom heard across Wasatch Front, experts say
Date published: Aug. 13
Page views: 255,703
Short synopsis: Many Utahns across the Wasatch Front heard a large boom on a Saturday morning. After initial theories emerged that morning, experts pieced together videos and reports in the ensuing days to further prove that a meteor was almost certainly the cause of the sound.
Gunman kills 19 children in Texas school rampage
Date published: May 24
Page views: 252,080
Short synopsis: An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at a Texas elementary school. Over the next few days, police were able to confirm that 21 people —19 children and two teachers — were killed as the gunman moved from classroom to classroom.
Magnolia Network pulls show after Utah homeowners open up about renovation nightmares
Date published: Jan. 8
Page views: 236,985
Short synopsis: Magnolia Network's president announced that the network would remove a Utah-based show from its lineup after a growing list of complaints from clients about the renovation projects led by the couple behind the television show. The network decided to put the show back into its lineup later in the month, after an investigation into the complaints.
2 siblings hit, killed on their way to school in Provo; driver also died
Date published: Aug. 29
Page views: 231,868
Short synopsis: A brother and sister died after an SUV car drove onto the sidewalk and hit them, police said. The driver also died, as the SUV he was traveling in brushed by a chimney and hit a car parked in a driveway of a nearby home, before smashing into the front porch of a second home.
Russia presses invasion to outskirts of Ukrainian capital
Date published: Feb. 24
Page views: 223,383
Short synopsis: The world reacted as Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. The conflict is far from over, as the one-year anniversary nears in the coming months.
