Here are The Salt Lake Tribune’s top 10 most-read online stories of 2021 (with date of publication at sltrib.com):
1. Tribune data columnist Andy Larsen’s comparison of COVID-19 vaccines (March 26).
2. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, during a confirmation hearing, team up to state their opposition to allowing transgender youths play in girls’ sports (Feb. 3).
3. Police investigating Gabby Petito’s disappearance look to see if there was a connection with the murder of a couple in Moab; it was later determined no link existed (Sept. 16). Petito’s strangled body was found in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park in mid-September; her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot in a Florida nature preserve in October.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Pictures of Gabby Petito, candles and flowers adorn a table at a vigil at Sugar House Park, Sept. 22, 2021, in her honor.
4. Tech billionaire Jeff T. Green officially resigns his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Dec. 20).
5. Dr. Marc Harrison, CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, talks about surviving COVID-19 after battling the same cancer that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had; Powell died from COVID-19 complications (Oct. 19).
6. The community mourns “Izzy” Tichenor, the Utah 10-year-old who died by suicide after, her mother said, enduring bullying over being Black and autistic (Nov. 9).
(Tichenor family) Pictured is Isabella "Izzy" Tichenor in this undated family photo.
7. A 19-year-old woman faces a year in prison, charged with a hate crime for stomping a “Back the Blue” sign and “smirking in an intimidating manner”; the American Civil Liberties Union weighed in, and the case remains pending (July 9).
8. Body camera footage from Moab police show Gabby Petito and fiancé Brian Laundrie getting pulled over after a reported “domestic problem” (Sept. 16).
9. Columnist Andy Larsen examines the then-meager evidence about whether vaccinated people can still spread COVID-19 (Jan. 14).
10. Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland tells an audience at Brigham Young University to stop aiming “friendly fire” at Latter-day Saint teachings (Aug. 23).
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks to faculty at Brigham Young University on Aug. 23, 2021.
