HERRIMAN, Utah — EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was first reported by Brooklyn Critchley and Lucas Welk last fall when they were in the investigative reporting class at the University of Utah. Their instructor was FOX 13 investigative reporter Nate Carlisle.“I love the Herriman Bucks,” Rummel said this month in the parking lot of the Smith’s grocery store in Herriman, “I hope they do it again this year. We spent all ours right here, here at Smith’s.
Meanwhile, in Salt Lake City, the largest single chunks of pandemic relief went to real estate developers, FOX 13 News and the students found. “We really wanted to include [Smith’s and Walmart] because we knew that several residents were also having hardships,” Moody said. “They provide groceries and groceries were a real need.”“It helped us keep employees that we had,” said Mary Manousakis, whose family owns American Burgers, on a recent afternoon where the grill was sizzling and hamburgers were being passed to customers over the counter and out the drive-thru window.
Salt Lake City received more than $100 million in pandemic relief. Most of that was designated for the airport, which was still under renovation as the pandemic started and lost travelers and the taxes they generate. Other money was used to give businesses PPE and emergency loans.