(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) This 2013 file photo shows a haze covered downtown Salt Lake City during a winter inversion that increases small particulate pollution. A new University of Utah study shows a link between peak pollution days and low student test scores in third graders in Salt Lake County. The sunrise illuminates the peaks of the Oquirrh Mountains as a the inversion blankets the Salt Lake Valley in Salt Lake City, Utah Monday, December 16, 2013.
Leia Larsen is a sixth generation Utahn and a water and land use reporter reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune. She has covered environment, energy and political issues throughout the West. When she’s not chasing the news, Leia can be found exploring the Wasatch Mountains, sleeping in the desert or rooting around her garden.