By Katie McKellar | Senior Reporter
He accused them — without evidence — of being Chinese agents. Now they’re suing.
“Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary is now facing a lawsuit from two Utahns involved with a left-leaning nonprofit and political firm. They’re accusing him of defamation, saying even though the celebrity investor corrected his claims last month and Fox News issued an apology, that doesn’t make up for the damage done.
In today’s Dispatch, we cover the details of the suit filed against O’Leary, Utah leaders’ plans to buy and preserve more land on the south side of the Great Salt Lake, and concerns from environmentalists in New Mexico over whether Trump will slash monuments in their state next.
“I spent years building my reputation, my business, and the trust of my community. In just weeks, Kevin O’Leary tore it all down with lies.” — Gabrielle Finlayson, with the political firm Elevate Strategies, on why O’Leary’s correction and Fox News’ apology wasn’t enough to stave off a lawsuit.
Community members protest ahead of a special Box Elder County Commission meeting to discuss the Stratos project, a massive data center proposed for an unincorporated area in Box Elder County on May 4, 2026. (Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch)
By Annie Knox
Joshua Kanter, founder of the left-leaning nonprofit Alliance for a Better Utah, and Gabrielle Finlayson, of the political firm Elevate Strategies, are suing O’Leary and Fox News, saying they led a “weekslong smear campaign” against them by falsely accusing them of being funded by China.
O’Leary made the accusations while he tried to defend his massive data center proposal in Box Elder County. He later corrected his claims in a social media post, saying he had “no evidence,” and Fox News issued a statement saying the network corrected the record and apologized. But Kanter and Finlayson say that doesn’t make up for the impact to their reputations.
Joel Ferry, commissioner of Utah’s Department of Natural Resources, addresses reporters near the southeast shore of the Great Salt Lake on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (Ashley Detrick/Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office)
By Annie Knox
State leaders say they’re moving closer toward a goal of snapping up more land on the southeast side of the Great Salt Lake to help protect it from any encroaching development.
They announced a new $2.5 million contribution from the Utah Inland Port Authority toward that effort while holding a news conference on the marshland property of a duck hunting club just a few miles from warehouses in the authority’s northwest quadrant in Salt Lake City.
President Donald Trump on July 13, 2026, announced he was greatly reducing two Utah national monuments. The leader of a New Mexico environmentalist group is concerned about what that could mean for New Mexico’s monuments, including Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. (Julia Goldberg/Source NM)
SOURCE NEW MEXICO
By Patrick Lohmann
A New Mexico environmentalist group is sounding the alarm about what President Donald Trump’s decision to dramatically reduce the footprints of two national monuments in Utah could mean for several “beloved” national monuments in New Mexico.
Mark Allison, executive director of New Mexico Wild, worries Trump’s move to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah could open the door for Trump to keep stripping protections from national monuments across the country, including three in New Mexico that he said might be next on Trump’s list.
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