State School Board Will Review Standardized Tests: KSUB News Summary

The Utah State Board of Education will be reviewing reading and comprehension skills tests this year. The board says it will examine the correlation between standardized tests that are administered to young students to assess these skills. The state periodically undertakes these studies to make sure tests are relevant and accurate benchmarks. The study will determine whether the reading comprehension and basic literacy tests given in the first and second grades are accurate predictors of third-grade performance. Results are expected in August.

Tooele Trio Charged With Wire Fraud

Three Tooele residents are facing federal wire fraud and money laundering charges. Halee Mehlbauer, Timothy Lopez and Rick Bolton were each indicted by a federal grand jury on February 28th. All three face seven counts of wire fraud. Mehlbauer is also charged with one count of money laundering. The government alleges they defrauded Paycheck Protection Program lenders out of approximately 422-thousand dollars in loans. The money was used to pay gambling expenses, debt payments and other personal expenses.

Hurricane Teacher Dismissed From Job After Being Arrested

A southern Utah teacher is out of a job for allegedly abusing children. The Washington County Sheriff's Office says Benjamin Stewart was arrested last week following a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Court documents say Stewart, who lives in Hurricane, admitted in an online chatroom to sexually abusing a child and then shared photos. He also allegedly shared explicit photos of other children using the same website. Stewart had been working as a preschool special education teacher in the Washington County School District.

Eagle Mountain Woman Tries To Run Over Child

An Eagle Mountain woman is under arrest facing multiple charges Monday. Utah County Sheriff's Office deputies say the 39-year-old woman allegedly tried to run down her 16-year-old son. She also used her vehicle to damage a garage and two vehicles belonging to his girlfriend's family. Julie Collings was taken into custody at home. She was booked on suspicion of third-degree felony assault, second-degree felony aggravated child abuse and suspicion of misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence and reckless endangerment.