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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NBA YoungBoy, rapper who was convicted in Utah, receives pardon
Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, known by his stage name NBA YoungBoy, has been pardoned after his conviction in Utah. The rapper, who was living in Huntsville and owns a home in Millcreek, took to Instagram on Wednesday to announce that he had been pardoned by President Donald Trump. 'I want to thank President Trump for granting me a pardon and giving me the opportunity to keep building — as a man, as a father and as an artist,' Gaulden wrote, in part. 'This moment means a lot. It opens the door to a future I've worked hard for, and I am fully prepared to step into this.' A White House spokesperson confirmed the pardon to Gaulden's attorney, Drew Findling, told Rolling Stone that his client had been pardoned, although he hadn't filed a pardon application. Gaulden, now 25, was initially sentenced by a U.S. District Court judge in Utah to nearly two years in prison and five years of probation in December 2024, matching recommendations outlined after he pleaded guilty to unlawful transport of firearms earlier that year. The case originated in his home state of Louisiana before it was transferred to Utah. He was credited with the time he spent in jail after police arrested him in connection with a prescription fraud ring case in April 2024. Gaulden also pleaded no contest to two counts of identity fraud, two counts of forgery and six counts of unlawful pharmacy conduct, all class A misdemeanors, and was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine in November as part of a plea deal with state prosecutors. He had initially faced 46 charges in the state. His lawyer, Findling, also represented Trump in a 2022 election interference investigation in Georgia. As NBA YoungBoy, Gaulden has amassed a large following, garnering 16.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify. He has also been nominated for three BET Hip Hop Awards and a Grammy Award, but the Utah cases were the latest in a string of legal woes he faced in other states. Yet, family described a 'whole other side' of the rapper during his sentencing hearing, calling him a 'jokester' who had risen from poverty in Louisiana. 'I just want people to see Kentrell as a human, and there's a whole other side to these things ... he's a human, and he has a good heart,' said Kyrie Garcia, his godmother. The federal judge who sentenced Gaulden said he believed the rapper was in the process of turning his life around, adding that he was 'going to have to walk the straight and narrow' in the future. Gaulden also thanked Trump's 'pardon czar,' Alice Marie Johnson, and attorney Brittany Barnett as part of his pardon post on Wednesday. 'I'm grateful. I'm focused. I'm ready,' he added.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
He once worked for Big Tech. Now this Utah lawmaker is leading efforts to regulate it
When asked about the biggest win Utah lawmakers achieved during the recent legislative session, Gov. Spencer Cox offered a surprising answer. His pick, HB418, wasn't surprising because it protects online user data — Cox has been one of the strongest proponents of reining in Big Tech — nor was it surprising that the governor picked a bill that passed with near-unanimous support from lawmakers in both parties. What was surprising was that the bill was the brainchild of a first-time lawmaker, who didn't miss a beat in shepherding it through the Utah Legislature in his first weeks in elected office. But the issue is something Rep. Doug Fiefia has been thinking about for years, going back to his time working for Big Tech companies like Google. It's no secret that Google collects a vast amount of data on millions of Americans, but when Fiefia began working in technology sales for the company he said he — along with many others in the company — viewed that data as a way for Google to improve its products by 'connecting the products or the companies to the people that were searching for them.' That view eventually gave way to an uneasiness about just how much information the company has and how it uses it, eventually leading to his departure, Fiefia said. 'The more and more I dove into it, the more and more I realized is this company, they're trying to make a bottom line. And the reality is that the features that they were building ... they are exploiting you and I,' the Herriman Republican told in an interview in the House lounge Tuesday. 'I think I realized very quickly that users — us, you and I — as regular citizens, were never the customer. We were always the product that was being sold and we were being served up on a silver platter.' Fiefia's answer was HB418, a first-of-its-kind bill that gives Utahns the right to control the data that is collected from them by social media companies. The bill requires that users be able to delete their data from a platform or download and transfer it to another platform. It also directs social media companies to enable communication across different platforms, akin to how email users can communicate with others regardless of provider. Cox called it 'as big a piece of legislation as I have ever seen a freshman (lawmaker) run' during a ceremonial signing of the bill in April, during which Fiefia said he hopes the law will 'shift power back to where it always should have remained — with the people.' 'They were trading our free will for profit margin and that's why I wanted to run this type of bill — to give people back the control of their data to own, manage and control it,' he said Tuesday. 'And I think this is the first step. I think there are probably more steps to come after this.' Google did not respond to a request for comment. In the case of HB418, Fiefia's youth was a key factor in building support for the bill, as he was able to explain the technicalities of online data collection in a way that made sense to older or less tech-savvy colleagues. He compared modern data ownership to regulations enabled by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allow users to keep their phone numbers if switching providers. Put that way, Fiefia said, skepticism from colleagues warmed up to the idea, telling him: 'I don't understand all the technical pieces of this, but if that's the principle, I agree.' Fiefia looks like a conservative Republican on most issues — his campaign website declares him anti-abortion, pro-business and pro-gun — but his thinking on tech regulation mirrors a change within the conservative movement that has been led in part by Utah. The state was the first in the nation to enact broad social media regulations — though their future is still being worked out in the courts — and has joined with a coalition of states in suing major companies that own Facebook and TikTok. Fiefia still views himself as pro-business, but argues that social media companies have built their brands off of content created by users. Rather than view his data privacy bill as stifling business, he sees it as promoting individual ownership of intellectual property. 'We would never allow any other industry to do what we've allowed Big Tech to do,' he said. 'You're right, I believe in the free market, but when it comes to our identify, our digital footprint and their control of it and their manipulation of it, that's where I think conservatives came to the table and said: 'You know what, we don't like regulating, we believe in a free market, but this is just wrong. They've crossed the line.'' 'This is actually my property,' Fiefia added. 'I created this. I wrote that. I posted this. That is mine and what we've allowed them to do for so long is to claim it, to use it and to abuse it.' While governments are still scrambling to catch up with the disruption social media platforms have caused, the next powerful technology, artificial intelligence, is emerging. The 'reactive' approach to social media has contributed to poor mental health outcomes for children, Fiefia said, and the lawmaker is hopeful government will be more proactive this time around. 'I fear that if we do the same thing, if we take the same approach with AI, too many people will get hurt,' he said. 'The advancement of AI and the technology is so robust and so advanced that if we take a reactive approach, I fear that it's just going to be too late.' But Fiefia worries that Congress is already taking steps to make it harder for states to adopt artificial intelligence protections. Tucked into President Donald Trump's 'one, big, beautiful bill' — which passed the House Thursday — is a provision enacting a 10-year moratorium on state regulations of artificial intelligence. 'We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it's taking off,' Vice President J.D. Vance said in February, per CNN, articulating the administration's position. Fiefia disagrees, arguing that states are nimbler and better able to adapt to rapid technological advances compared to an infamously unproductive Congress. He anticipates Big Tech and privacy issues are 'going to be my fight in the Legislature ... for the rest of my time here,' so AI will be on his mind regardless of what Congress does. That's not to say Fiefia is opposed to the advancing technology — it's just the opposite. He seems tremendous potential across the board, particularly in health care, where he is optimistic artificial intelligence will lead to medical breakthroughs and cures for disease that humans have been unable to master. He just doesn't want to make the same mistake many did with social media by overlooking the potential harms. 'We've got to find a balance, to figure out how do we protect users and make sure that we continue to support innovation?' he said. 'That's what I'm always thinking about. I don't ever want to over-regulate, but I also want to see if we allow this technology to run, what does it look like if it's used by the wrong hands?'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Southern Utah developers pick new route to create cities due to roadblocks with county leaders
The developers behind two proposed Utah cities that would be created via a new mechanism that bypasses local officials' scrutiny say they tapped the alternative incorporation route after hitting roadblocks in dealing with county leaders. 'We worked closely with Kane County for nearly two years before applying for a preliminary municipality,' said Greg Whitehead, representative for Kanab 600, the developer behind Willow, a proposed new development 1.4 miles east of Kanab in Kane County. Realizing the applicable county zoning guidelines wouldn't allow for the higher housing density project that developers sought, they opted to pursue incorporation via a mechanism created in Utah law just last year — a process that's raised concerns among some. Going the route outlined in SB258, developers create the plans for the sort of locale they seek — called preliminary municipalities — and the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office reviews, considers and, if they pass muster, approves them. 'The best path forward to achieve our vision — one that aligns with the governor's and state's priority of increasing accessible housing — was to pursue a preliminary municipality,' Whitehead told The Willow plans, fully developed, call for 1,276 housing units, including 794 single-family homes, 206 townhomes, 168 apartments and 108 vacation rentals, spread over 595 acres. The request to become a new city, filed Jan. 1, is still in the works. In Grand County, Kane Creek Preservation and Development and G&H Miller Family Holdings are pursuing a proposal on around 180 acres of land about a mile southwest of Moab. Fully developed, their community, previously called Kane Creek and now named Echo Canyon, calls for 478 housing units, 48 of them identified as affordable housing, and 102 'overnight accommodation units.' A spokesman for the project — which has sparked strong opposition from some — said the developer initially worked with the Grand County Commission to try to get support for the plans. After four years of what the spokesman described as fruitless efforts, they also applied for preliminary incorporation with the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office. 'We've never asked for a favor. We just wanted a fair processing of our application, and that clearly hasn't happened. So that's why we started pursuing this,' said the spokesman, who asked not to be named given the intense sentiments the issue has spurred. The developers, still open to working with Grand County officials, submitted their preliminary municipality petition on May 1, 2024, and it is still under review, though it is much further along than the Willow request. The Echo Canyon developers' plans fall within guidelines spelled out in the zoning laws of Grand County, home to Arches National Park and a popular tourist destination. But county officials have rebuffed, stalled and delayed action, the spokesman charges, because of a 'no growth' mindset. Thus, when they learned of the mechanism spelled out in HB258 that gives them leeway to work with the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office in creating a city, opening another route for their plans to move forward, they jumped. 'If nothing else, even if it just brought the county to the table to treat us fairly, that'd be an OK outcome, too,' he said. The Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office has yet to grant final approval to any of the four preliminary municipality requests it's received since last year. Development is a delicate topic in fast-growing Utah, and the preliminary municipality process as spelled out in SB258 was targeted by another measure during the 2025 legislative session, HB540. HB540 — pursued amid concerns that SB258 gives developers too much leeway and weakens the authority of local government on development questions — aimed to halt or limit use of the process, but the measure ultimately stalled. At any rate, as described by the Willow and Echo Canyon developers, their moves to go the preliminary municipality route aren't about flaunting local officials or local development guidelines. 'Throughout our collaboration with the county, we explored ways to create a master plan that would allow for more attainable housing, which generally sits on less than 1-acre lots,' said Whitehead. 'However, given the existing zoning restrictions, we ultimately realized that we wouldn't be able to provide the level of affordability and variety of housing options that we felt were truly needed — homes that allow young families, first-time buyers and longtime Utah residents to stay close to their roots and build their futures.' Furthermore, Whitehead noted, the plans still face scrutiny by the state, which requires studies for proposed new locales to make sure they are financially feasible, among other things. 'We welcome ongoing conversations and community engagement to help shape this new city in a way that benefits everyone,' Whitehead said. The Echo Canyon spokesman stressed the fact that the proposed development falls within development parameters already spelled out in Grand County zoning ordinances. The developers sought 'zero variances,' he said. While the traditional incorporation route is spearheaded by registered voters in a development who want to convert the locale into a city, developers are the key force behind preliminary municipalities, typically on undeveloped land. Still, the Echo Canyon spokesman noted that a traditional elected city government would have to be created in preliminary municipalities on reaching 100 residents, among other requirements. Developers behind two other projects, Park City Tech in Summit County and Nine Springs in Morgan County, have also applied to become preliminary municipalities. Summit County Manager Shayne Scott, however, said the Park City Tech developers, Park City Junction, plan to work with county officials in finalizing their plans. Park City Junction reps didn't respond to queries seeking comment. Brach Nelson, who represents the Nine Springs developers, Spring Mountain Ranch and SISO, declined comment.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
New head of Salt Lake FBI office made dramatic career shift to be part of the ‘solution'
Mehtab Syed has an impressive resume that includes working for the FBI in some of the nation's biggest cities and the department's most important divisions. That's not bad for a woman who was born in Pakistan, moved to the United States when she was 17 and was working as a financial analyst for a restaurant chain. 'Never in a million years did I ever plan to be an FBI agent,' she told this week. In February, Syed was named as the new head of the FBI's Salt Lake City field office, which also includes Idaho and Montana. Syed's unexpected career change and rapid rise within the FBI began in 2001 after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. 'I was perfectly fine with my degree in finance and doing financial work. But after 9/11, I just wanted to do something different and wanted to be part of a solution instead of part of a problem,' she said. Syed, who is Muslim, was living in New York at the time of the attack. 'You feel shame first because you're Muslim, (and) you see someone doing something so bad, and it kind of reflects who you are. But then I got angry, and I was like, 'Uh-uh, that's not happening.'' She decided to start applying for jobs at FBI field agencies. 'I just wanted to do something,' Syed recalled. But after initially not getting any return calls, Syed actually forgot about her application to the FBI. It wasn't until she came home one day and her son told her the FBI had called. Syed called the number they had left. 'They said, 'Hello, FBI.' I hung up,' she recalled, with a laugh. Syed initially didn't believe the FBI had actually called her about her application. But after talking to her son again, she called them back a second time and before she knew it, she was entering the FBI Academy at age 35. She began working as an agent in the New York field office in 2005 and worked on counterterrorism investigations, was a member of the crisis negotiation team and the rapid deployment team. In 2008, Syed was sent to Islamabad, Pakistan, as acting assistant legal attaché. 'She was responsible for conducting extensive coordination between law enforcement, intelligence, and security services of multiple governments,' according to her bio. In 2015, she was assigned to a similar position in Amman, Jordan, as assistant legal attaché. After Pakistan, she returned to New York, where she was the supervisor of a counterterrorism task force that investigated such groups as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, she said. Then, in 2012, she was asked by her supervisors to work at the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. 'I really didn't want to. But I was being pushed and was told that I need to go and do something different,' she said. Syed continued her counterterrorism work in Washington, but on a more global basis. By 2020, she was working in the Newark, New Jersey, field office as the assistant special agent-in-charge of cyber and counterintelligence. In 2022, she was promoted to section chief of the China Operations II Branch of the Counterintelligence Division at the FBI's headquarters in Washington. By 2023, she was moved to the Los Angeles field office to once again oversee cyber and counterintelligence. Syed also spent some time in Utah for 'survival training' in 2013, she said. And after working for years in some of the nation's biggest cities, she recently requested to return to the Beehive State to fill the job as the special agent-in-charge at the Salt Lake office. 'I like change. I like (a) challenge. I'd never been to Montana before. I'd never been to Idaho, so I came here. And I'm so glad that I did because I'm really enjoying my time here,' she said. She describes her job now as making phone calls to headquarters to make sure her agents in Utah, Idaho and Montana get the resources they need. But she admits that the job in Utah is much different than working in New York or Los Angeles. 'Until I came to Utah, I had no idea how different the Utah territory is than being in New York, LA (and) Newark, because we cover here three different states,' she said. 'So, just the time to go from one resident agency to another takes hours and hours. And don't get me wrong, I'm used to driving for hours. Only 30 miles can take two hours in New York. But it's a different kind of traveling. I have a whole new appreciation for my agents here in Utah and Montana and Idaho. It's different challenges here. 'I think what we need here is more resources, more agents, more professional staff, more intel analysts,' she continued. 'My goal is to bring more resources back to Utah … and Billings and Idaho. We need more agents here.' Rather than counterterrorism, she said some of the main priorities in Utah are going after gangs, cartels and drug traffickers and protecting citizens, while also lending technical support and intel to other federal and local agencies to assist with their investigations. 'Whatever the priority is do, that's what we do,' she said.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cox says he doesn't plan to call special session to address signature gathering
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said he has no plans to convene a special session to overturn a law governing ballot access in the state after Sen. Mike Lee used his speech at Saturday's Republican convention to plead with the governor to do so. Attacks on the law — which allows candidates to collect signatures to appear on a party's primary ballot in addition to campaigning at the party convention — appeared to escalate Saturday with Lee's remarks and a statement from newly reelected GOP Chairman Rob Axson saying he believes there are votes to repeal it in at least one chamber of the Legislature. But asked if he plans to act on pressure from Lee and others to call lawmakers into a special session on SB54, Cox told simply: 'No.' Some GOP delegates have long hoped to see SB54 rolled back in favor of just the caucus-convention system. Also, a proposal to kick candidates who gathered signatures out of the Republican Party was brought up, but not considered, during the convention last week. After his speech, Lee doubled down on his call for state lawmakers to overturn SB54, writing on X that: 'No state should dictate to political parties the process by which they nominate candidates. Ever. It ends badly for everyone — especially for conservatives.' Axson told reporters after winning reelection as party chairman that he is 'not a fan of the signature path' and wants to build support for overturning SB54 through the Legislature. 'If we build an apparatus that every Utahn and every community feels that there's a value in that, well, they're going to come along with us,' he said. 'They're going to be supportive of what we're trying to do, and the Legislature is going to listen to that. I believe, again, building is far more productive and worthwhile than taking things apart.' He said he believes there are enough votes to repeal SB54 in the House but not in the Senate — though lawmakers in both chambers don't appear to have plans to address the issues this year. Axson urged party members to be civil in pushing to have SB54 overturned, saying 'it can't be a vitriolic conversation.' 'It has to be a conversation that's transparent and upfront and collaborative,' he said. 'If we can show the value of what the Republican Party is doing and trying to do and trying to grow and build additional capacity, we make it a lot easier on these elected officials to take the hard votes of repealing SB54. It's going to take some time. How long or how short that is, I don't know.' While some of the most die-hard supporters of the GOP in Utah want to see party delegates empowered to select who gets to run as a Republican in the general election, the 4,000 or so state delegates are not representative of GOP voters as a whole, and a new report shows they lean slightly more conservative ideologically. A recent poll commissioned by Count My Vote found that only 17% of Utah Republican voters think the state should do away with signature gathering altogether.
