10 KSL Investigations that made a difference in Utah in 2024
Dec 31, 2024, 2:51 PM
SALT LAKE CITY, UT — In 2024, the KSL Investigators worked relentlessly to protect consumers, expose systemic problems, highlight potential solutions, fight for government transparency, and get answers for Utahns.
Here are some of the investigations that made a difference this year:
1. KSL’s two-year fight for government transparency
KSL asked for a copy of Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes’ work calendar two years ago with one idea in mind: Utahns should know how elected officials spend their time on the clock. The ensuing public records fight landed in court and spilled over to the state Capitol, where lawmakers clamped down on public access to their schedules. KSL’s battle ended in November when Reyes’ office settled the lawsuit against the KSL Investigators and turned over five years of his calendar.
2. KSL Investigates: Unfinished Business
Frustrated Utah homeowners who have tried to track down the money they paid to an unlicensed contractor who abandoned their job discovered the contractor has done the same thing to several others. It’s a nasty pattern in our state: unlicensed contractors who abandon jobs, leaving homeowners out thousands. The KSL Investigators explored the likelihood of criminal charges.
KSL Investigates exposed critical gaps in compliance with the Safe Connections Act, a federal law designed to help domestic violence survivors separate their phone lines from abusers. Survivors shared heartbreaking accounts of their struggles, including a Utah woman who faced significant hurdles despite having legal protections. This comprehensive coverage highlights the law’s requirements, provider-specific compliance issues, and detailed instructions to help survivors navigate the system. By holding providers accountable and empowering survivors with actionable steps, this investigation underscores the life-or-death importance of swift compliance with this law.
4. Get Gephardt helps a Utah family who says their bank refuses to reimburse fraudulent charges
If a con man got into your bank account, you’d expect your bank to help straighten it out. But a Taylorsville family says their bank treated them like they were the criminals. Get Gephardt helped get them off the hook when a fraudster left their account overdrawn by $53,000.
5. When toxins come home from work and family members get sick, who’s responsible?
If workers bring hazards home without knowing it and family members get sick, should employers be held responsible? Barbara Boynton’s family says in her case, yes. She died in 2016 of a rare lung cancer decades after she laundered and shook asbestos dust from her husband’s work clothes. KSL’s coverage examined the Boynton family’s legal fight against one Utah company and how their case is defining the industry’s obligations to workers and their loved ones.
6. Utah School Kept Special Needs Child Alone in Padded Room Dozens of Times, Mother Says
KSL Investigates uncovered troubling claims from a Utah mother, Alisha Hadden, who says her 9-year-old daughter, Gracelynn, was placed in a padded room, called “the booth,” dozens of times over two years at Elk Meadows Academy. This practice, known as seclusionary timeout, is supposed to be used only if a student poses “an immediate danger to self or others.” But records reveal it was used 42 times for Gracelynn. This investigation highlights the disproportionate impact of seclusion on students with disabilities, state rules regarding its use, and ongoing efforts to revise Utah’s policies. Gracelynn’s story raises critical questions about the long-term psychological effects of seclusion and the need for systemic change.
7. Get Gephardt: Layton man demands refund for decades of charges for water he can’t access
Imagine finding out you’ve been paying nearly 40 years for water rights you’re not only not getting, but that you can’t get, because the pipes for it don’t exist. A Utah man who found himself in that exact scenario reached out to the KSL Investigators to help him get some answers.
8. Putting child safety first in custody cases
Our team examined how judges in custody cases weigh evidence of abuse by one parent against claims of alienation by another. Several mothers told the KSL Investigators they faced losing custody of their kids after reporting abuse. They also told lawmakers of their experience and in March, Utah passed a new law prioritizing kids’ safety in custody decisions.
9. KSL Investigates: Truth Test
In 2024, the KSL Investigators launched Truth Test, a political fact-checking series. We used the truthfulness lens to cut through the noise and political back and forth and expose the facts. Through the Truth Test series, we fact-checked candidates’ statements in televised debates for each of Utah’s statewide races leading up to the November Election.
Through the Failure to Protect series, which first began airing in December 2022, the KSL Investigators have exposed gaps at every level of Utah’s justice system. In 2024, reporting on failures to notify victims of their perpetrators’ parole hearings prompted changes by Utah’s Board of Pardons and Parole when it comes to how it communicates with survivors of crime. Also this year, a serial sexual predator at the center of KSL’s Failure to Protect investigations was convicted in multiple sexual assault cases and sentenced to prison.
Have you experienced something you think just isn’t right? The KSL Investigators want to help. Submit your tip at investigates@ksl.com or 385-707-6153 so we can get working for you.
