Utah hockey, AI art and local media layoffs top the list of 2024's most-read stories on cityweekly.net 

• Jason Wong

Each year, City Weekly publishes hundreds of stories online and in print, working to inform and entertain our readers about their city, their state, their nation and their world.

But before the clock starts on 2025, here are the 10 stories from 2024 that got the largest audience on cityweekly.net.

1. Smart Bomb: Utah Yeti is an abominable name for a new NHL team.
Each week, Christopher Smart's "Smart Bomb" offers a tongue-in-cheek roundup of the latest local, state and national news. And while Smart's work regularly pulls big numbers on cityweekly.net, his June 12 column struck a particular cord with readers as Smart offered his two cents about the candidate monikers for Utah's still-unnamed NHL team.

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"Here are the rest of the finalist names from the 'fan voting' contest: Utah Blizzard; Utah Hockey Club; Utah Mammoth; Utah Outlaws and Utah Venom.," Smart wrote. "OK, it's true that more than 10,000 years ago, mammoths roamed around Utah. But really? They're as synonymous with Utah lore as jackalopes. Outlaws? Venom? Huh?"

Read more here.

2. AE: The case for not messing with AI "art"
Artificial intelligence was all over the news in 2024, as generated text, audio and imagery continued to approach lifelike quality. In this piece, AE writer Bryan Young examined the ethical and commercial dilemmas of embracing the output of AI, which is trained by replicating—or "stealing," as Young argues—the creative work of real humans.

"It seems as though we all know, innately, that stealing the work of someone else is wrong, especially in the context of the capitalist hellscape that we live in," Young wrote. "But why is there still such a disconnect when it comes to AI art? Why do some folks feel like it's okay to share and disseminate?"

Read more here.

3. Opinion: Hybrid and remote employees at the all-online Western Governors University are being told to get back to the office.
An online university requiring its hybrid staff to work in person at the office? Employees of the Utah-based Western Governors University called foul, catching the eye of Chandler Peterson, who submitted this op-ed about not just WGU but the broader return-to-office push by corporate employers in the post-COVID recovery. And while the topic resonated with City Weekly readers, no other local media outlet ever touched on the story.

"It would not be the first reported incident of what is being called 'Quiet Cutting' in the corporate world," Peterson wrote. "AT&T recently mandated that 9,000 of its employees return to the office and one telecommunications manager eerily described it as a layoff disguised in sheep's clothing."

Read more here.

• Benjamin Wood

4. News: Layoffs hit KSL as Republican victories send shockwaves through the media industry.
When news broke that KSL and its parent company, Bonneville International, had executed staff layoffs, Salt Lakers couldn't help but wonder if the decision had anything to do with mounting anti-media hostility from the political right, including that of Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who spent months decrying LDS church-owned KSL as a left-wing propaganda machine (yes, you read that right).

"KSL employees, past and present, who spoke to City Weekly were stunned, nonetheless, and declined to comment on the record," reported Katharine Biele. "While management may have been mulling the act for a while, it hit the newsroom unexpectedly, those employees said."

Read more here.

• Utah Transit Authority

5. News: UTA reveals its alternative to the Rio Grande Plan for improving Salt Lake Central Station.
Transit services along the Wasatch Front are set for major pre-Olympics expansions, including the double-tracking of the Frontrunner regional train and new Trax lines and stations in Salt Lake City. But despite the buzz, City Weekly was the only Utah media outlet to regularly cover the proceedings of the Utah Transit Authority, and was the first to report on UTA's plans to upgrade its embattled and underutilized Salt Lake Central Station on 600 West.

"The preliminary designs call for the construction of two six-story towers connected by an enclosed atrium, or 'transit hall,'" Benjamin Wood reported. "UTA staff suggested the building could utilize mass timber for a 'warm' and inviting aesthetic, and would incorporate ground-level retail amenities for transit riders with office space in the upper levels, accommodating UTA operations as well as other commercial tenants."

Read more here.

• Zak Podmore

6. News: As Lake Powell recedes, a Utah author's new book explores the past, present and possible futures of Glen Canyon.
Utah's Lake Powell, formed by the construction of the Glen Canyon dam, has been declining for years, to the point that the dam's power-generating operations are under threat of failing. But as observed by Powell expert Zak Podmore in this exclusive book excerpt shared with City Weekly, the decline of Lake Powell has coincided with a rebirth of the natural characteristics of Glen Canyon.

"As we continued downstream in our kayaks, a single coal-black thunderhead consumed the canyon ahead while the sun shone on our backs," Podmore wrote. "Sunlight cut under the approaching storm, igniting the Wingate Sandstone walls into a corridor of red fire that vanished into sheets of angry rain. The storm soon enveloped us, and the rain turned to sleet. Gusts of wind forced us to pick up our pace, our hands exposed and numb."

Read more here or find the full text in Podmore's book, Life After Dead Pool.

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7. Private Eye: Utah's Phil Lyman waves around his Trump pardon like it's an anti-woke flag.
City Weekly founder John Saltas has covered every topic under the sun in his weekly Private Eye column, but few resonated with readers as much as his playful takedown of Phil Lyman, a southern Utah Republican and vocal opponent of the state's new flag who challenged Gov. Spencer Cox in this year's Republican primary, refusing to concede his loss and attempting every trick in the alt-right playbook to keep his candidacy on life support.

"I don't know if all that is correct about Lyman. I don't know the guy, but I do know that Lyman was prosecuted by the federal government in 2015 after he went joyriding up Recapture Canyon near the San Juan River in Juab Country," Saltas wrote. "Yes, it is a federally protected area and, yes, especially so due to the sensitivity of rare archeological treasures found there."

Read more here.

• Deonne Cavendish

8. News: Utah gave $40M in tax breaks to a solar company accused of fraud.
Through the Utah Investigative Journalism Project, reporter Eric S. Peterson and his team contributed several deep-dive investigative pieces to City Weekly in 2024, but the most popular online was this report on the taxpayer subsidization of a Utah solar power company accused of deceptive sales tactics and mismanagement.

"The company denied the allegations but paid the state roughly $2 million and agreed to change its marketing practices and provide ethics training to employees," Peterson reported. "In 2019, the company also reached a settlement with the state of New Jersey over similar allegations."

Read more here.

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9. Urban Living: New license plate and road rage laws are in effect for Utah drivers.
Each week, longtime Salt Laker and realtor extraordinaire Babs De Lay pens the "Urban Living" for City Weekly's Community section, offering insights on the housing market, interest rates and tips and tricks for keeping your home up to snuff. But in this column, De Lay highlighted Utah's new laws related to license plates and road rage, an increasing problem on Utah's highways.

"I often hear about violent incidents on the news, but had a minor scare myself last week when I was pulling out of a fast food drive-thru to get my iced tea," De Lay wrote. "The car in front of me stopped in the middle of the parking lot to do something on his phone. I waited a minute, then honked. He immediately flipped me the bird and then decided to crawl an inch at a time out of the parking lot, roll down his window and scream at me the entire slow trip out of the lot.

Read more here.

10. Private Eye: Utah's Statue of Responsibility invites high-brow thinking, and a few low-brow jokes.
Utah's population is exploding, leading to several projects aimed at creating new housing and retail centers and the accompanying hand-wringing over development, land use and traffic congestion. At the Point of the Mountain, one project stands out not just for its housing ambition, but also for the massive "Statue of Responsibility" that proponents hope will anchor the project.

"The statue itself is basically two hands, each grabbing the other at the forearm, the symbolism of companionship, unity, assistance and community very easy to discern. I like simple things like that and especially don't like to think too hard about the meanings of any particular piece of art, knowing full well that art, in the end, is interpretive."

Read more here.