KDXU Sunrise Stories for August 23, 2023: “Operation Digital Siege,” Server Outage at a Hospital, and an Assault with a Mace

KDXU Sunrise Stories: Volume 38

Statewide News – 08/23/23

19 Arrested Through “Operation Digital Siege”

19 Utah residents have been arrested for child exploitation crimes through an undercover initiative called “Operation Digital Siege.”

The goal of the operation is to search homes for child exploitation material and then arresting those who are taking advantage of minors for sexual purposes.

Those who are arrested face charges ranging from enticement of a minor to human trafficking.

The operation has involved 29 agencies and 70 task force agents, and more are expected to be arrested through this initiative.

Residents from Salt Lake City and Cedar City have been apprehended so far.

University of Utah Hospital Suffers Server Outage

A data center from University of Utah Health has suffered a major technical outage, affecting the flow of patients to the University of Utah Hospital.

The hospital is currently not accepting any emergency patients due to the outage, and the staff switched to pen and paper to keep track of the current status of housed patients.

The SafeUT app has also been taken offline due to the server outage.

I.T. officials don’t believe this outage is a malicious activity or cyber-attack, but there is currently no word on when the situation will be resolved.

The I.T. team is currently working as fast as they can to restore connection.

Forsooth, an Attempted Assault with a Medieval Mace

A man in Taylorsville has been arrested for attempting to assault his roommate with a medieval style mace.

Joseph Phillips allegedly argued with his roommate to the point where he grabbed a long rod with a spiked ball on the end.

The roommate managed to avoid harm by locking himself in his room and calling the authorities.

Phllips was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail and is waiting on a possibility of bail.

Southern Utah/St. George News – 08/23/23

Human Smuggling in Iron County

A man in Iron County was arrested for attempting to smuggle eight undocumented workers into Colorado.

The Utah Highway Patrol stopped an SUV in the morning of August 22 because it was moving “slowly.”

When they inspected the vehicle, they found eight people inside with 18-year-old Chan Paxtor-Pascual, who was reportedly being paid to transport the workers out of state.

Pascual allegedly confessed to committing similar acts in the past.

Local Theater Celebrates 9 Year Anniversary

A local community theater in St. George is celebrating its 9 year anniversary since it re opened in 2014.

St. George Musical Theater has been around for decades, but it ceased business for time between the late 2000’s and early 2010’s.

The theater re-opened in 2014 at the St. George Opera House in Downtown St. George in September 2014.

The theater has now hosted over 1,200 performances across 60 shows, and they have big plans for the future.

SGMT is looking to open a brand-new theater in 2025 by Main Street and 700 South.

Other

Fun fact about Stockton Myers, the writer of Sunrise Stories.

Stockton once had to grow a mullet for a show that takes place in the 80’s. What was the show? It was a musical version of The Wedding Singer, based on the Adam Sandler movie.

Who did Stockton play? Robbie Hart, A.K.A. Adam Sandler’s part. Stockton had to attach an extension to the back of his hair to make the mullet longer. He still has the extension, and sometimes he wears it to be weird.

We’re halfway through the week! You can make it dang it!

Happy Wednesday.