John Saltas

Salt Lake City

Publisher and Writer at Salt Lake City Weekly

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Articles

City Weekly's founding fathers go digital with "The Bingham Boys" podcast.

1 week ago | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

I constantly wonder why everyone's attention span has taken a vacation, perhaps to somewhere on the beautiful Gulf of Mexico, like Port Aransas in Texas. I'm not a terribly bitter person, and I'm not a fan of boycotts, so I forgive Red State travelers. I despise that Texas is home to Ted Cruz, but I recognize he's an interloper to the state that more honorably gave us Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Willie Nelson.
FLASHBACK 2010: 26 years later, there would be no City Weekly without mom.

2 weeks ago | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

In commemoration of City Weekly's 40th anniversary, we are digging into our archives to celebrate. Each week, we FLASHBACK to a story or column from our past in honor of four decades of local alt-journalism. Whether the names and issues are familiar or new, we are grateful to have this unique newspaper to contain them all.
The GOAT is dead. Long live Salt Lake's John Paul Brophy.

1 month ago | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

I lost a buddy yesterday. Don't think I need to speak to say,I'm gonna miss him. No words will grieve his memory,When I saw him last, he looked at me,And said, I'll see you again. But he was goneGone by Monday. The lines above are from a song that I wrote many years ago, titled "Gone by Monday." That verse was originally written for my good friend, Frank "Woody" Robison of Fillmore, a Combat Marine who served two tours in Vietnam.
Donald Trump's media lapdogs are the latest flavor of an old politics-and-journalism recipe.

1 month ago | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

I am not one to go to a rally—or even a football game for that matter—just for the hell of it. And this past weekend, I didn't attend the "Fight Oligarchy" event at the University of Utah Huntsman Center. I did the math and figured I couldn't get there in time to get inside. With a couple of new joints south of my midsection, standing around is just not a pleasant option.
Utahns of all stripes are fed up and ready to protest Donald Trump

1 month ago | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

The first time I saw a mass protest was certainly during one of the many miners' strikes that occurred in Bingham Canyon when I was growing up. It seemed like the strikers always gathered near our home in Lead Mine, site of the precipitation plant ("P-Plant") that never shut down and where—due to the high profitability of the plant—non-striking "company men" kept it operating. That one of Bingham Canyon's most well-known taverns, the Moonlight Gardens, was also in Lead Mine was just a bonus.
Tesla-driving Republicans can't handle Salt Lake City's speed bumps.

2 months ago | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

I learned how to drive a car in Bingham Canyon, Utah. Bingham Canyon was the largest and longest canyon in the Oquirrh Mountains and was, at one time, home to more than 10,000 residents, who primarily earned their daily bread by working in the ever-expanding open pit copper mine. Mining operations long ago buried and/or dug away the city of Bingham (and all subsidiary towns like Copperfield, Highland Boy, Galena, Yampa, Frogtown, Carr Fork, Dinkeyville and all the rest).
'La Migra' is back in town, but Utah's economy can't function without immigrants.

Jan 29, 2025 | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

In the mid-70s, I was a full-time student at the University of Utah, paying for schooling as a full-time blackjack dealer in Wendover, Nevada. I went to class Monday through Thursday, then drove to Wendover on Thursday afternoon to begin dealing shifts, putting in 40 hours in four days. I'd drive home late Sunday night, catch some sleep, then start over with the books Monday morning.
Confessions of a SAD sufferer

Dec 27, 2024 | alternet.org | John Saltas

As a lifelong sufferer of SAD—Seasonal Affective Disorder—I've never fully enjoyed this time of year. SAD affects about 5% of all Americans, or about 10 million people like me who mal-adjust to there being less sunlight in the fall and winter months and who sleepily find themselves more sad, more tired, less motivated and less optimistic, all looped together by the belt that finds its way around our growing waistlines. It's depression.
Thanks for those prayers, Gov. Cox. America has never disagreed better.

Dec 18, 2024 | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

Just over a month ago, most Democrats, many Independents and a blessed few of our fellow Republicans awoke to the news that Donald Trump had won the 2024 presidential election. To say the least, there was much finger-pointing, fearmongering and dismay felt among that voting bloc, all of which was pointless because the world did not come to an end, as was commonly predicted.
FLASHBACK 1989: Social worker Debra Daniels teaches empowerment to victims of domestic abuse.

Dec 16, 2024 | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

In commemoration of City Weekly's 40th anniversary, we are digging into our archives to celebrate. Each week, we FLASHBACK to a story or column from our past in honor of four decades of local alt-journalism. Whether the names and issues are familiar or new, we are grateful to have this unique newspaper to contain them all. Title: A Better Way for Battered WomenAuthor: John SaltasDate: Dec.