For weeks, Aleah Corona’s 13-year-old son told his mother he was afraid he would be hurt at Provo Canyon School. During their therapy sessions earlier this year, she said, he told her that other students had threatened him and that he didn’t feel safe.

Corona was worried too. It wasn’t like her son to have a “meltdown” over safety concerns, she told The Salt Lake Tribune. But she said school staff reassured her that she didn’t need to worry.

“It’s like a manipulative tactic,” she recalled being assured. “He’s just probably doing it because he wants to go home. A lot of kids are doing it.”

Then, on May 14, another resident — larger than Corona’s son — slammed the teen’s head into the ground, a new lawsuit Corona filed Monday alleges. The lawsuit alleges the assault happened after “tensions between the two youths were permitted to escalate in the presence of staff.”

Corona’s son was knocked unconscious, and he was bleeding from his mouth. But Provo Canyon School staff did not call 911, according to state records, and no ambulance or police came. Instead, the staff took the 13-year-old to an emergency room themselves — which state regulators later determined resulted in a one-hour delay in treatment.

Her lawsuit states that her son’s injuries were so serious that the Orem hospital transferred him to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, where he was diagnosed with a fractured jaw and a traumatic brain injury.

But police were not alerted to the boy’s injuries until a Primary Children’s emergency room doctor — who happened to be a state senator — called law enforcement, Corona’s attorney said Monday.

The physician’s phone call, Corona’s lawsuit alleges, was responsible for “bringing light to this situation that [Provo Canyon School] were trying to keep concealed from police, regulators, a mother and from the consumer public.”

Corona said Monday that she was speaking out and filing a lawsuit because what happened to her son was “not right.”

“We discussed safety concerns. They disregarded safety concerns,” she said. “They manipulated me as a parent.”

Corona on Monday joined high-profile celebrity Paris Hilton on the steps of Provo’s historic courthouse to speak out against Provo Canyon School. Hilton went to Provo Canyon School in the 1990s and alleges that she was abused in the program, overmedicated and sexually assaulted when she was given pelvic exams that had no clear medical purpose.

Hilton urged Utah licensors to take harsher action against Provo Canyon School, saying its own records paint a picture of a “violent and neglectful” program.

“There is only one answer,” she said. “Shut it down.”

‘A facility that is the problem’
Hilton has become an advocate for reform for the so-called “troubled teen industry,” and has helped pass laws in 16 states — including in Utah in 2021 — that brought more oversight to teen treatment programs.

Hilton noted that Provo Canyon School’s current owners, Universal Health Services, have distanced themselves from her abuse allegations, saying they didn’t own the facility when she attended.

But other more recent incidents, she said, show abuse is still happening: A teenager grabbed by his neck by a staff member and thrown to the floor, a 14-year-old girl who was chemically restrained 17 times in three months, and a staff member who struck a teenager during a restraint.

“This is not a facility with problems,” Hilton said. “This is a facility that is the problem.”

State regulators took emergency action, a type of corrective action plan, against Provo Canyon School after Corona’s son was hurt, requiring the program to re-train staff and increasing monitoring. But that additional oversight is expected to end on Thursday.

Hilton wondered if it would take a teenager’s death for Utah to dole out more severe consequences.

“Utah’s silence is a choice,” she said. “If a child dies, it will not be a tragedy that we couldn’t see coming. The warning signs are already here.”

Full article: sltrib.com

AMC Theatres is postponing plans to simulcast a series of live concerts from performers like Bebe Rexha, Paris Hilton, Kim Petras and Maren Morris. The cinema chain revised its plans after a series of summer releases such as “Backrooms,” “Scary Movie” and “Obsession” over-performed at the box office, and in advance of the debuts of likely blockbusters such as “Toy Story 5.”

“Week after week in 2026, the domestic box office performance has exceeded or met expectations,” AMC said in a statement. “With a robust lineup of films and strong advance ticket sales in the weeks ahead, AMC is making some programming adjustments during the month of June.”

The company had partnered with Arena One on the series, dubbed AMC Girls Night Live. It said the simulcasts will move to later in 2026. Tickets that were purchased will be refunded, AMC said.

“AMC is very excited about its partnership with Arena One, and we look forward to announcing updated dates and additional artists in the weeks and months ahead,” the company added.

The series was originally expected to kick off with Rexha on June 17, and then feature Hilton on June 18, Petras on June 19 and Morris on June 20. The plan was for the concerts to serve as alternative content that could supplement ticket sales. But with the summer box office up more than 13% year-over-year, the situation isn’t as dire as it has been since COVID depressed theatrical revenues. The sense at AMC is that postponing the series can help offset a weaker slate of films at a later point in 2026.

Source: variety.com