By McKenzie Romero | Editor
While an estimated 10,000 people marched through Salt Lake City last year as part of the first nationwide No Kings protest of the Trump administration, an armed volunteer fired three shots at a man he saw carrying a rifle.
One of those bullets struck and killed an innocent bystander walking in the crowd. Now, the event “peacekeeper” has been ordered to stand trial for a count of manslaughter.
In today’s Dispatch we bring you the latest update in the case of Afa Ah Loo’s death, the debate in the closer-than-expected 2nd Congressional race and the unfortunate return of some familiar Great Salt Lake billboards.
“Makes me feel a sense of urgency, and I really hope that most Utahns that see that sign will feel that same sense of urgency and know that, you know, the time is, the clock is ticking.” — Samantha Hawkins, communications director for Grow the Flow, about the return of the organization’s Great Salt Lake Tracker billboards.
Matthew Scott Alder makes an appearance in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Pool photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune)
By Annie Knox
Prosecutors say Matthew Scott Alder, 43, of Murray, committed a crime with one “reckless” gunshot that struck Afa Ah Loo, of three total that he fired. He has been ordered to stand trial for manslaughter, a second-degree felony.
Alder told investigators he believed he saw a man “ducked down as he was loading his rifle” and who he thought was about to commit a mass shooting. Ah Loo, a 39-year-old father of two, a fashion designer and the first Samoan contestant on TV’s “Project Runway,” had been marching with fellow demonstrators on State Street and taking video when he was shot.
Candidates for Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Peter Crosby, left, and Republican Blake Moore shake hands following a debate at Utah State University, Tuesday, Oct.13, 2026, in Logan, Utah. (Pool photo by Eli Lucero/The Herald Journal)
By Katie McKellar
On the debate stage in the race for Utah’s 2nd District, incumbent Republican Rep. Blake Moore defended his record and painted himself as a “productive” member of Congress that’s focused on solutions rather than “toxic” politics. But Democrat Peter Crosby argued that if voters want something different, he’s the right candidate to fix a “broken system” and “build a future for every generation to come.”
In a Utah Debate Commission poll of 515 registered voters, Moore got 39% and Crosby got 34%. Unaffiliated candidate Robert Moesinger and Libertarian Daniel Cottam each got 4.9%, and Independent American Carlton Bowen received 4.1%. About 10.7% of voters were undecided at the time the poll was conducted. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 4.32%.
The Great Salt Lake Tracker, launched by Grow the Flow in 2025, is back on Utah roadways. (Photo by FOX 13 News)
GREAT SALT LAKE COLLABORATIVE
By Nate Larsen, FOX 13
The Great Salt Lake is now below 30% of its natural volume, and a billboard along the Wasatch Front is back to remind Utahns just how much the lake has declined.
The Great Salt Lake Tracker, launched by Grow the Flow in 2025, is back on Utah roadways. When the billboard first went up last year, it showed the lake at 37.5% of its natural volume. Now, that number has dropped to 29.7%.
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