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Sean P. Means

Culture, Food & Business Editor

Sean P. Means has been reporting and editing for The Salt Lake Tribune since 1991 — including 25 years as movie critic. Since 2018, he has reported on arts and culture reporter, and breaking news — and was part of The Tribune’s COVID-19 reporting team. He reviews movies for MovieCricket.net and X96’s “Radio From Hell” program.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Garage on Beck, photographed in January 2022, will close after May 31, the Salt Lake City roadside bar's owner says.

This longtime Salt Lake City bar is closing — and you can buy a piece of it

By Sean P. Means | April 11, 2025, 5:30 p.m.

(Children's Miracle Network Hospitals) Joe Lake, right, co-founder of the nonprofit group Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, shares a high-five with a child at a 2023 event for the organization. Lake has died at age 82.

Co-founder of Utah-based Children’s Miracle Network, which has raised billions for hospitals, dies

By Sean P. Means | April 8, 2025, 9:33 p.m.

(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Children enjoy snack time at a Provo day care in 2022. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that fertility rates in Utah dropped in 2023 — the 15th year the figures for Utah have either declined or held steady.

Utah’s fertility rate has dropped again, CDC data shows

By Sean P. Means | April 4, 2025, 8:43 p.m.

(20th Century Fox) Dean Jagger played Brigham Young in the 1940 Western melodrama "Brigham Young" and later converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

LDS prophet Brigham Young on screen: Lots of darkness and one ‘bright ray’ of sunlight

By Sean P. Means | April 1, 2025, 7:00 p.m.

(Timeline Touring) Six members of the cast of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" — from left: Jessi Ngatikaura, Mayci J. Neeley, Taylor Frankie Paul, Jennifer Affleck, Mikayla Matthews and Layla Taylor — will take the stage together live in "MomTok: The Unholy Tea" at The Palazzo Theatre at The Venetian resort in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 7, 2025.

Here’s how to see the Utah cast of Hulu’s ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ live in Las Vegas

By Sean P. Means | April 1, 2025, 2:00 p.m.

(Eddie Clark | Sundance Institute) Eugene Hernandez, director of the Sundance Film Festival, talks to a reporter outside the Boulder Theatre in Boulder, Colorado, on Thursday, March 27, 2025, at a celebration to mark the impending move of the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder starting in 2027.

Sundance move: Hollywood veterans both ‘thrilled’ and nostalgic about leaving Utah

By Sean P. Means | March 31, 2025, 6:23 p.m.

(Kristy Griffin | Warner Bros. Pictures) Actor Jason Momoa, left, talks with director Jared Hess on the set of "A Minecraft Movie." Momoa plays a character named Garett in the film.

How this Utah filmmaker created the wild block world of ‘A Minecraft Movie,’ capturing an ‘epic, ridiculous quest’

By Sean P. Means | March 31, 2025, 12:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Park City’s Main Street is closed to traffic as Sundance Film Festival attendees walk the historic blocks on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. Utah leaders could create a new film festival to fill the void after Sundance's 2027 departure.

Dumped by Sundance, Utah’s state and tech leaders want to put money toward a new film festival

By Sean P. Means | March 29, 2025, 3:55 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Park City’s Main Street during the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. The festival, which has called Park City home since 1981, will be moving to a new location in 2027.

Sundance Film Festival is leaving Utah. Here’s why, and what Utah offered it to stay.

By Sean P. Means | March 28, 2025, 4:35 a.m.

(Sang Tan | Associated Press file photo) Utahns will soon be able to buy beer from the grocery store without getting out of their car, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox on Monday, March 24, 2025.

Utahns can soon buy beer without leaving their cars

By Sean P. Means | March 24, 2025, 11:20 p.m.

(Utah Film Commission) One of the markers on the Utah Film Trail, showing a location at Dead Horse Point State Park that was used in the 1991 movie "Thelma & Louise." The trail program was launched by the Utah Film Commission and the Utah Office of Tourism.

From ‘Galaxy Quest’ to ‘Thelma & Louise,’ new ‘Utah Film Trail’ takes you where famous movies were made in the state

By Sean P. Means | March 20, 2025, 1:32 p.m.

(Jumelle Press) Travel blogger, author and publisher Elise Smith Caffee died on March 12, 2025, in a Salt Lake City hospital, after being severely burned in a car crash in Cancun, Mexico, on March 6, 2025. She was 45.

‘A true light’: Utah blogger who wrote about world travel with her 3 daughters dies after crash in Mexico

By Sean P. Means | March 14, 2025, 11:11 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Park City’s Main Street is pictured during the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025.

Could a ban on pride flags derail Utah’s bid for the Sundance Film Festival?

By Sean P. Means | Addy Baird | March 14, 2025, 8:51 p.m.

(Andrew Peterson/Bravo) Jen Shah, on season 2 of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City," before she was sent to federal prison for a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Prison release date moved up for Jen Shah, former ‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ star

By Sean P. Means | March 11, 2025, 8:34 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Kevin Franke, right, ex-husband of Ruby Franke, is joined by his attorney Randy Kester as he attends a child welfare hearing on Sept. 18, 2023, at the 4th District courthouse in Provo. Legislation that Franke endorsed, to protect money that children earn making online content, passed the Utah Senate on March 7, 2025, and was headed to Gov. Spencer Cox's desk.

Utah child influencers would see money earned from online content placed in trust funds under this bill

By Sean P. Means | March 11, 2025, 12:00 p.m.

(Isaac Hale | Salt Lake Tribune file photo) An effort to tweak Utah’s liquor laws is back on track after the bill was derailed on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. The sticking point was a proposed change to the state's "proximity" law — and whether the state or cities should decide how close a bar or restaurant can be to a park or playground.

Utah’s big liquor bill is back — after lawmakers reject push to let cities decide where to put bars

By Sean P. Means | March 11, 2025, 10:02 p.m.

(Charles Sykes | Invision/AP) Jesse Armstrong attends the Writers Guild Awards at the Edison Ballroom on Sunday, April 14, 2024, in New York.

The creator of ‘Succession’ is coming to Utah to direct his first movie

By Sean P. Means | March 4, 2025, 7:53 p.m.

(Johan Persson) Killian Donnelly, left, as the Phantom, and Lucy St. Louis as Christine, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera." A new touring production is scheduled to be performed April 8-26, 2026, at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City.

Next season at Eccles: ‘Phantom,’ ‘Back to the Future,’ ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and more in new lineup

By Sean P. Means | March 4, 2025, 5:00 p.m.

(CBS) Scott and Lori Thompson of Millcreek, Utah, married parents of eight sons, are competing on season 37 of CBS's reality competition show "The Amazing Race."

This Utah couple — the parents of 8 sons — try a new challenge: Competing on ‘The Amazing Race’

By Sean P. Means | March 4, 2025, 1:00 p.m.

(America's Freedom Festival) The country trio Rascal Flatts has been booked to be the musical headliner at Stadium of Fire, the annual patriotic extravaganza at Provo's LaVell Edwards Stadium, set for Friday, July 4, 2025.

This popular country band will perform before the fireworks at Provo’s Stadium of Fire

By Sean P. Means | March 4, 2025, 2:06 p.m.

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