Gilbert Sun News - 7.11.2021

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Gilbert mayor under fire

INSIDE: HEALTH & WELLNESS

PAGE 12

An edition of the East Valley Tribune

INSIDE

This Week

NEWS.................................3 Star-spangled success at Gilbert Regional Park.

COMMUNITY......... 14 Local teen scientist wins international competition.

SPORTS....................... 19 Perry looks to roll to the division throne.

COMMUNITY....................................... 14 BUSINESS............................................. 18 SPORTS.................................................. 19 GETOUT.................................................20 CLASSIFIED..........................................23

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Sunday, July 11, 2021

Gilbert carny operator called human trafficker BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor

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Gilbert operator of a family owned traveling carnival was accused of confiscating the passports of over 20 Mexican nationals and forcing them to work 70 hours a week without water or meal breaks and housing them in poor living conditions. Jordan Nathaniel Jensen, 31, faced 12 felony counts related to human trafficking, according to the Utah Attorney General’s Office. Jensen remained in Weber County Jail

last week without bail. An attorney representing Midway West Amusements denied any wrong-doing by Jensen. Jensen was scheduled for an initial court appearance July 12, according to Richard Piatt, an Attorney General spokesman. Jensen, a Highland High School graduate, was arrested July 1 at Newgate Mall in Ogdon where Midway West Amusements was set up with its games and rides such as TiltA-Whirl, the Zipper and Gravitron. The entertainment business is also owned and operated by Jensen’s mother, Michelle

Marie Jensen, 56, and a brother Hunter Austin Jensen, 24, officials said. Both live in Gilbert. “These laborers were living and working in inhumane conditions that could be dangerous to their health and even their lives,” said Attorney General Sean D. Reyes in a news release. “They were paid a paltry amount and had costs deducted on top of that. “By withholding their H-2B visas, Midway West Amusements was coercing them

Legislature makes Showman mask mandates history

see MIDWAY page 6

BY PAUL MARYNIAK GSN Executive Editor

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he flashpoint for one of the longest-running controversaries throughout the 2020-21 school year in local school districts – mandatory face masks on campuses – was obliterated last month when the Republican majority in the Legislature outlawed such mandates. Making it effective July 1, the measure “prohibits a county, city, town, school district governing board or charter school governing body from requiring students or staff use face coverings during school hours and on school property.” That means districts not only are forbidden from requiring students and staff to wear masks in classrooms but also can-

see MASKS page 9

Gilbert resident Ari Levin is the man with the plan to make one of the Valley’s newer venues, the Madison Center for the Arts in Phoenix, an entertainment destination. See the story on page 18. (Arianna Grainey/GSN)

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