Bryce Canyon and several other national parks in Utah will reopen.

When it comes to natural beauty, Utah is one of the top places in the United States.  Unfortunately, like all national parks, Utah’s national parks are closed up tight thanks to the government shut down.  Employees aren’t getting paid, and as such, enjoying the beauty of nature is right out.  That’s bad news for the government workers, and worse news for Utah, because the month of October is Utah’s biggest tourist season, and Utah’s national parks are its biggest tourist attraction.  Facing a loss of up to $100 million dollars due to the closure of its parks, Utah has come up with a very creative solution to the problem of closed-down tourist attractions.  The State of Utah will pay to reopen its national parks, giving the National Park Service up to $1.67 million dollars to open eight national park sites in the state for the next ten days.  Utah also has the option of continuing to pay for the parks to keep them open should the government shutdown continue.

“Utah’s national parks are the backbone of many rural economies and hard-working Utahns are paying a heavy price for this shutdown,” said a statement from Utah governor Gary Herbert.  “I commend [US Department of the Interior] Secretary [Sally] Jewell for being open to Utah’s solution, and the world should know Utah is open for business and visitors are welcome.”

Here’s the full list of parks getting reopened by Utah:  Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion national parks; Natural Bridges and Cedar Breaks national monuments; and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.  The National Parks Service is waiting for a transfer of funds from Utah, and once that check clears, they will tell site-specific employees to get back to work, unchain the gates, and let the unwashed masses bask in the beauty of nature once again.  Utah anticipates that its listed parks will all be open by this time on Saturday, so plan accordingly.

Tags: department of the interior, national park service, national parks, government shutdown, utah reopens its national parks, utah reopens national parks with state funds, tourism, Gary Herbert, Sally Jewell, utah national parks, utah pays to open its national parks, zion national park, utah pays to open eight national parks

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]