SOUTH SALT LAKE — South Salt Lake police arrested a man Tuesday afternoon after he allegedly beat a dog on a table in his backyard.

Casey R. Bowman faces a third-degree felony charge of torture of a companion animal.

Police responded to a home near 3100 S 500 E after receiving a report of a man beating a white dog. The witness reportedly heard yelps from the animal and saw the suspect hitting and pushing down on the dog with all his weight.

Officer Gary Keller, South Salt Lake Police Department, said the man’s alleged actions warrant a felony charge.

“Something this egregious, where he’s beating on a dog, to the point it was torture, yeah it’s going to be a felony,” he said.

Police said the witness took photographs of the alleged incident, which helped them identify the suspect, as his face and arm tattoos were visible in the photos.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Legislature has appropriated $2 million to be used in a statewide “War on Weeds.”

According to the Utah Department of Agriculture, many counties in Utah are affected by non-native weeds that interfere with recreation, poison wildlife and livestock, displace productive farmland and contribute to wildfires.

In Wasatch County, weed control program workers are spraying for evasive weeds from a specially fitted rail car at the back of a train on the Heber Valley Railroad.

Invasive weeds cost Utahns millions of dollars in lost economic production and in firefighting costs, the Dept. of Agriculture said in a press release.

Citizens are encouraged to report sightings of invasive weeds at: http://www.eddmaps.org/mrwc/report/index.cfm

SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah – Utahns in non-traditional relationships are one step closer to being able to share benefits.

The Salt Lake County Council voted 8-1 Tuesday to give final approval of a mutual commitment registry, which would help those in relationships outside of Utah’s definition of marriage share benefits.

The registry could be used by same-sex couples or in other situations like someone caring for an elderly parent.

Arlyn Bradshaw, Salt Lake County District 1 councilman, sponsored the proposal, and he said he hopes this measure will be the beginning of a bigger discussion that moves toward marriage equality in Utah.

“This is the greatest extent a local government can provide outside of marriage,” he said.