Outside Moab Regional Hospital’s entrance on March 23, a group of women arrives bearing large baskets of hand-sewn medical gowns and masks with bright patterns. Hospital officials and doctors greet them, standing six feet apart but smiling.

While there remain no confirmed cases in Grand County of COVID-19, the coronavirus causing a worldwide pandemic and leading to unprecedented public health measures, that number does not comfort Moab Regional Hospital CEO Jen Sadoff. 

As the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic led to the mandatory closures of many public places, tourism was essentially halted just when Moab businesses were counting on an uptick in customers. Restaurants are one especially hard-hit sector and local owners are struggling to decide how to move forwa…

As local businesses began reducing hours or closing entirely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Kingsley realized that many of his tenants would be short on wages or out of work completely. Kingsley is the owner and president of DMA International, Inc., a property management company w…

In this time of social distancing due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the Moab City Council is using a new format for public meetings.

After a Grand County EMS crew was spotted in full masks and gowns, alarm spread in Moab about possible COVID-19 infections.

3/25 Update: This article has been revised to reflect changing policy. In a statement on March 24, the Grand County School District announced changing times for students picking up meals at bus stops. The statement reads: 

The spread of COVID-19, a coronavirus causing a global pandemic, has also led to an “infodemic,” according to the head of the World Health Organization. In an effort to answer questions and inform readers, we spoke to Moab Regional Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dylan Cole to answer qu…

After a weekend where RVs with Colorado license plates drove up and down Moab's Main Street, the Southeast Utah Health Department issued a travel advisory to the area's tourists: go home and stay home until the thread of COVID-19/coronavirus is passed. 

This story was updated 3/18 at 5:00 p.m.

Update: These guidelines were replaced on March 17. > Read more here

Parking again dominated discussion in the city council chambers on Tuesday, March 10. The council held a pre-meeting workshop to discuss parking solutions for businesses on northern Main Street.

A new mountain biking trail opened in the Moab area on the last Saturday in February.

A deal to create a 150-room hotel and resort adjacent to the Sand Flats Recreation Area may be taken up by the Utah Supreme Court, after a lower court ruled the contract violated Moab’s own laws to avoid public hearings on the development.

Moab nonprofit Full Circle Intertribal Center (FCIC) announced it has been approved by the Grand County School District to provide culturally specific programming for Natives. 

The waters of Lake Powell stretch across the border between Utah and Arizona, backed up by the Glen Canyon Dam. The reservoir is part of a vast and complex infrastructure used to manage the distribution of water from the Colorado River. 

The music on KZMU Radio, Moab’s community radio station, fades out. In the studio, Emma Millis confidently leans into the microphone, live and on the air. 

The Utah Department of Health says it is actively monitoring an outbreak caused by a new coronavirus called COVID-19. The virus was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The department is emphasizing that while the outbreak is expanding in China and other countri…

Many Grand County residents and outdoor recreators from all over the world are likely relieved that the Utah State office of the Bureau of Land Management has removed two controversial parcels, located in the Sand Flats Recreation Area above Moab, from consideration for an oil and gas lease …

Rock climbers have high stakes in the management of Bears Ears National Monument.

Chris Cleveland is, in his own words, “an autistic adult who contributes to the workforce.”

City officials and local business owners have been wrangling over the future of $10 million of “Recreation Hotspot” state funding allocated to the Moab area from the Utah Transportation Commission.

Citizens filled every seat and spilled into the hallway at the Grand County Council chambers on Feb. 18, marking the 150th anniversary of the first vote cast by a woman in the country by signing a resolution urging the State of Utah to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. 

Updated 2/20/20: In a statement, the Governor’s Office stated that “The Governor appreciates the unique beauty of the Slickrock area and wants to ensure that nothing is done that would be detrimental to the visitor experience or local water quality. He has asked the Bureau of Land Management…

An attempt to put a set of ordinances passed by the San Juan County Commission onto the ballot has failed after the county-wide referendum effort did not collect the required number of signatures.

A proposed parking garage in central Moab met with significant resistance from residents, business owners and some city councilmembers, who pointed to ballooning cost estimates, questions about community benefits and a city-commissioned parking study that some say shows little need for the p…

Despite ongoing litigation, the Bureau of Land Management has released management plans for the two units of the Bears Ears National Monument, along with plans for each unit of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The monuments were reduced amid controversy in 2017 by President D…

Funding for a new medical clinic in Spanish Valley was approved unanimously by a state board last week with no comment, despite weeks of legal challenges and contentious discussions about whether the clinic will meet the needs of residents in the region, straddling the boundary line between …

The lives of two members of a local Moab family were lost in a multi-car collision on Main Street on the night of Feb. 9. Police say Moab local Vilsar Camey, 45, was killed when a reckless driver ran a red light at high speed at the intersection of Center Street and Main Street, crashing int…

After weeks of delay, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has awarded a contract to Kilgore Contracting to undertake the widening of U.S. Highway 191 from 400 North to state Route 128. 

“One of the reasons you buy a home is for stability, but also it’s a way to invest in your future,” said Derek Whitworth, manager of Moonflower Community Co-op.