Southern Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has helped shield archaeological sites from vandalism, bolstered tourism and spurred scientific discovery during the two decades since its designation — all without displacing cattle operations that have long used these public lands in Kane and Garfield counties.

That’s what the Bureau of Land Management wrote in a report released earlier this month.

The next day, however, the agency released redacted documents that downplayed those benefits and, in doing so, painted a picture that the monument might not be necessary to protect the resources within its 1.9 million-acre boundaries.

The BLM pulled back that 23-page report and others, part of a massive document drop, saying they were released in error, The Washington Post first reported. It then released redacted versions.

“You have the secretary being warned, ‘If you get rid of the national monument protections in Grand Staircase-Escalante, you will be leaving sacred Native American sites unprotected, and there is no way to replace those protections with the existing patchwork of laws,” said Aaron Weiss, media director for the left-leaning Center for Western Priorities, which had downloaded the unredacted report. “They were really clear about that. Then they tried to hide that from the American people in the document dump.”

Critics contend the redactions were made because the material undermined Interior’s rationale for shrinking monuments and offer proof that the outcome of Zinke’s monument review was preordained with an eye toward mineral extraction on lands struck from Grand Staircase and Bears Ears national monuments.

Acting on Zinke’s recommendations last year, President Donald Trump reduced the Grand Staircase by about half and Bears Ears by 85 percent, sparking a host of lawsuits from tribal, environmental and scientific groups. Zinke recommended boundary reductions or management changes to several other monuments outside Utah, but the White House has yet to act on those recommendations.

Critics of the monument-reduction campaign chided Interior for ignoring the Grand Staircase’s ability to drive economic development.

“The fact that the Trump administration places no value on the booming recreation economy that generates over $887 billion annually is no surprise to those of us who have been watching their shameful record of exploiting our public lands over the last two years,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Energy Committee. “This ‘drill at all costs’ approach is wrong for our economy and wrong for the environment.”

In redacting many of the documents, Interior cited a provision of the Freedom of Information Act that protects materials that speak to internal deliberations. The key part redacted from the Grand Staircase report describes things that would not have occurred were it not for the monument’s 1996 designation by then-President Bill Clinton.

This passage said fewer cultural sites, which contain artifacts left by prehistoric American Indians as well as by the Paiutes and white pioneers who followed, would have been inventoried without the monument. Before its creation, the monument saw an average of 72 sites a year inventoried. It has averaged 161 sites in the years since. Even so, less than 7 percent of the monument has been surveyed for cultural sites. Besides increased site surveys, the BLM has stepped up research and educational outreach.

“More vandalism would have likely occurred without Monument designation,” the redacted language stated. “Education, increased presence of staff and research and improved management likely led to the reduction in the numbers of sites looted and rock art panels defaced.”

The redacted document also blacks out a passage expressing doubts about whether legal alternatives, such as the National Historic Preservation Act and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, could effectively protect the monument’s cultural and scientific treasures scattered across a vast landscape.

“Protection would likely occur on a site-by-site basis or resource-by-resource basis and also would take a significant amount of time to accomplish under those various laws,” it stated. “These laws may not provide a mechanism to protect all cultural or tribal resources in the [monument]."

This passage stated that monument status has had no bearing on livestock use, which has persisted despite assertions by leaders in Kane and Garfield counties that the Grand Staircase’s strict management guidelines have pushed out ranchers.

“Although grazing use levels have varied considerably from year to year due to factors like drought,” it stated, “no reductions in permitted livestock grazing use have been made as a result of the Monument designation.”

The unredacted document details the monument’s large hydrocarbon deposits, such as 2.6 trillion to 10.5 trillion cubic feet of coal-bed methane, tar sands deposits that hold 550 million barrels of oil, and more than 11 billion tons of coal that could be recovered under the Kaiparowits Plateau.

Critics believe the agency abused a FOIA exemption to hide information that failed to support the argument that large monuments are unnecessary and harm local communities.

“That is factual information that should not be redacted,” Weiss said.

Even so, crucial portions of the Grand Staircase report — ones that undercut Trump’s rationale for reducing the Utah monuments — were not redacted. For example, it affirmed that lands inside the original monument remain available for multiple use, such as hunting, grazing, recreation and access to existing mineral leases and claims. Mineral extraction no longer occurs at the monument outside the Upper Valley oil field west of Escalante, where annual production has slowed from 66,000 barrels at the time of the monument’s establishment to 45,000 barrels in 2016.

The document lauds “a plethora of paleontological specimens” that have come off the Kaiparowits Plateau, including a dozen new dinosaur species.

The BLM’s Utah director, Ed Roberson, last week helped unveil the latest, an armored dinosaur, at the Natural History Museum of Utah in an address that celebrated the federal agency’s role in conserving scientific resources and its partnerships with the academic institutions that study them.

“In the 20 years since Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was designated, a wealth of scientific knowledge has been discovered,” the report said, “with significant archaeological, paleontological, biological, ecological and geological discoveries on the Monument.”

According to the report, 926,000 people visited the monument in 2016. This visitation generated nearly $61 million in expenditures that support 1,024 nonfederal jobs in the region for a total economic output of $91 million.

One July Fourth not too long ago, Ignacio Garcia’s clan gathered in Provo for a backyard barbecue and to watch an international soccer tournament on TV, which they had presumed would pit Mexico against the United States.

Unfortunately, the U.S didn’t make the finals, so while playing patriotic American anthems, the Mexican-American family ate hot dogs and hamburgers but rooted for Mexico.

Such split loyalties reflect their dual heritage as well as their conflicted feelings about Mormonism’s connection to the United States.

Indeed, as 19th-century LDS pioneers were driven from their homes in Nauvoo, Ill., they were determined to leave the United States altogether for — you guessed it — Mexico.

This month, as Americans celebrated Independence Day and as Utahns mark the arrival of Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the inner tensions have expanded to include the whole globe.

Given the Utah-based church’s push to become a worldwide faith, Mormons’ attachment — if any — to the country that birthed their faith and the state where it is headquartered is evolving.

Disconnecting the United States from Mormonism, though, is not easy.

After all, the U.S. is where Mormons believe founder Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus in a New York grove of trees, where the nascent church was founded. LDS scripture even heralds it as the land of promise.

“Most of us are proud to be American,” says Garcia, a professor of history at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University. “I love so much of it. I appreciate it and its freedoms, but it’s not fully mine.”

For Mormons of different ethnicities, he says, feelings about the U.S. are “complicated.”

The America many Latter-day Saints revere is “fundamentally white,” Garcia writes in a recent article for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.

“I once heard that [the late] apostle Mark E. Petersen said the American flag would fly in heaven,” the Latino professor writes, “and that we would all speak English in our celestial home.”

Those attitudes are changing.

Under the direction of new LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson, the faith is moving in an even more global direction, revising programs to better meet international members’ needs, rather than reflecting the religious practices of American Mormons.

A genuinely multicultural church, Garcia says, requires “a multicultural theology, a multicultural history and a multicultural leadership structure, which is something we cannot easily claim to have now, nor do we seem to be preparing too rapidly for it.”

Multiculturalism within the church can happen, he says, only “if saints of color have their history told, are empowered by their religious identity, and have an institutional role. If we don’t, then Mormonism — a faith many of us love dearly — remains a white religion with shades of color in which Latinos and others remain governed and acted upon and not agents unto themselves in defining and constructing the future of the church or interpreting its past.”

To succeed, says Garcia, president-elect of the Mormon History Association, LDS authorities — “the brethren” — must understand this.

View from overseas

Despite all devout Mormons’ faith in the story of the church’s founding and unique scripture, there is “significant cultural distance between the local (non-American) and the central (American-accented) church,” Melissa Inouye, a Mormon professor at the University of Auckland, writes in an email. “This distance can make church members more interested in their local church history than early (American) church history.”

Inouye once offered to teach a history lesson for New Zealand youths untangling some historical topics often difficult for American members, like polygamy and race. The bishop waved his hand, she recalls, and said, “I’m more interested in the history of the church in New Zealand.” He pointed out that some ward members were descended from the early Māori Latter-day Saints who had translated the Book of Mormon into their language.

In that moment, Inouye realized that when people outside the United States join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they have joined the faith as it was in that particular place where they first encountered it.

“I wouldn't go so far as to say that American church history is ‘irrelevant’ to them,” she says, “but it's not the primary context for their membership and ongoing practice.”

Still, some Americanisms seem inescapably linked to Mormonism.

“I’ve heard some New Zealand Latter-day Saints express annoyance that the voices — including the voice of Christ — in the Hamilton Temple Visitors Center were all American-accented,” Inouye says. “Imagine how American Latter-day Saints might give a little start if they walked into the visitors center in Salt Lake City and heard Christ speak in a thick Scottish accent.”

So what makes a religious movement truly global?

Mormons may be spread across the globe, but their top leadership and structures are not, she says. “This is very American, from the manner in which male leaders interact with other male leaders to expectations of the personal qualities that make a person a good or competent leader, and so on.”

But Latter-day Saints live their faith “in particular ways,” Inouye says. “This is because Mormonism is largely centered on practice [what people do in everyday life] and what people do in everyday life varies widely around the world.”

Multicultural versus universal

Since Nelson’s ascension to the presidency in January, “globalism” has become the buzzword.

His choice of new apostles (Gerrit W. Gong, a Chinese-American, and Ulisses Soares, a Brazilian), merging of all adult male priesthood quorums, revising the monthly visiting programs from bringing a message to “ministering” to needs, and his recent trip to multiple Asian and African nations all seem to point to an emphasis on the international church.

“Virtually every change that has been made under President Nelson’s tenure has clearly been with the global church front and center in his and the leadership’s minds,” says Patrick Mason, a Mormon historian at Claremont Graduate University in Southern California. “Nelson clearly has an authentically global outlook, and the leadership recognizes that, with slowing (or negative) growth in the United States, they have to make changes that will provide the conditions for Mormonism to thrive around the world.”

Mason predicts even greater attention to the worldwide members over the next half-century.

“This is largely a matter of demographics, but it also speaks to a growing awareness and understanding among the U.S. membership and leadership that they cannot and do not ‘own’ Mormonism,” Mason writes in an email. “One of the great successes of the global missionary program is getting people out of their comfort zones, both attitudinally and geographically, to recognize (if their eyes are open) that it's a big world out there, and what might work in Lehi doesn't necessarily work in London, Lima or Lagos.”

How non-American Mormons view their church’s connection to the United States varies by region, the California scholar says.

“When I did interviews in Romania three years ago, I was surprised that almost none of my interviewees thought of the LDS Church as an American church, or had any misgivings about its American origins or the dominance of Americans in church leadership,” Mason says. “They would often say something like, ‘It had to start somewhere,’ or ‘Christianity began in the Middle East, but that doesn't mean it's a Middle Eastern religion.’”

Like Inouye, Mason notes that Mormonism is “mostly lived and practiced at the local level, so for the most part church members think of their religion as their own.”

Music sets the tone

The LDS Church recently announced it would be producing a new hymnbook to be used by members everywhere while inviting them to send in their suggestions for songs to be included.

That is “the most significant and consequential change so far,” Inouye says. “Music has deep emotional and spiritual power.”

For too long, Mormon music has been dominated by European norms, seen as the “one true way.”

That is unfortunate, she says, “because so many church members nowadays come from very different musical traditions.”

Beyond the melodies, Inouye says, lyrics that sound lovely in English often “are terrible when translated into other languages.” For instance, in “I Feel My Savior’s Love,” one of the scholar’s favorite Primary songs, there is a line that in Chinese “sounds like you are cutting out your heart.”

In English, it goes, "I offer him my heart; my shepherd he will be," she says, but in Chinese, it goes, "He is my shepherd; I will sacrifice my heart."

At this point, Inouye says, “the Primary children in Hong Kong always made gruesome cutting-out gestures.”

The open call for hymnal suggestions allows Latter-day Saints from all over the world to propose “their most beloved, moving hymns,” she says. “If the selection committee includes people from a range of language and cultural backgrounds, in the end, all church members will have at least some hymns, written in their own language, whose words resonate deeply. If the new hymnbook is structured to allow musical flexibility (for instance, including guitar chords, and allowing options for a cappella singing accompanied by drums, instead of mandating a four-part European-style arrangement accompanied by piano or organ), church members will be able to make music in a way that directly accesses the ways people in their culture experience reverence and joy."

Music is a “powerful cultural form,” she adds. “Allowing our musical culture to reflect the church’s diverse membership is a huge step toward becoming a truly global church.”

Garcia, the Mexican-American professor, also is cautiously optimistic about the new hymnal. He worries, though, about who will decide what to include in the final product.

Will the deciders be white missionaries who served in far-flung lands and think they know the culture? Will the majority of hymns continue to be from Europe, Canada and the U.S.?

And what about the fact that the project will be dropping all national anthems?

White Americans may have outgrown their patriotic songs, Garcia says, but Mormons in other countries may not have.

Or they may yearn for hymns — Latino, Asian or African — that “reflect the beauty of their land,” he says, “or that speak to their own reality.”

Eventually, non-American Mormons may move beyond their cultures, but to “expect them to be there already is not fair.”

He hopes the LDS Church will find hymns with messages about God or Jesus for the whole body of believers, Garcia says, but then let the many languages and countries “come up with something unique to them.” It is in such personal and individual expressions that the universal becomes most real — and less American.

His church, he says, will get there.

So the state Legislature thinks it’s a good idea to reward Utah middle-class families who have lots of kids by increasing their tax credits and thus reducing the raise in taxes they suffered for voting for Donald Trump, as I surmise many of them did.

Despite all the warnings from economic experts that only the 1 percent would make a significant gain through tax reductions, some people with large families voted Republican and for Trump. And now they are suffering because of their unwillingness to see what our president really is, not to mention our Congress.

Well, isn’t that too bad? God knows how much we have suffered who didn’t vote for Trump or Republicans, witnessing the pernicious edicts and wild ramblings of our lying, autocratic, racist, misogynistic, ignorant, incompetent and possibly treasonous leader.

Can someone please tell me for why anyone should be paid for having more children in these environmentally conscious times, especially in Utah? Can someone explain to me why I should have to pay for this with an increase in my state taxes or a reduction of state services because these families want to have more children? Can anyone explain to me why these folks deserve this obvious pay-off?

Matt Proser, Salt Lake City

The release of new documents relating to the genesis of the Russia probe — and President Donald Trump’s response to those documents Monday morning — throw the asymmetry between the parties that is the driving fact of our politics right now into perhaps its starkest relief yet.

Broadly speaking, many Republicans have tacitly enabled or actively aided in efforts to pervert the basic functions of government in service of preventing the full truth about Russian sabotage of U.S. democracy from becoming publicly known, all to shield Trump (and, increasingly, themselves) from accountability. By contrast, in many cases, Democrats have been doing all they can to smuggle out to the U.S. public and the world as much basic information that is being learned about that Russian sabotage effort — and about the Trump/GOP campaign to cover that up — as possible.

Monday morning, the New York Times’s Charlie Savage has a great piece on the White House’s decision over the weekend to release documents revealing the FBI’s application to a FISA court to run secret surveillance on former Trump campaign official Carter Page. The bottom line: The documents lay waste to much of the narrative about the FBI investigation pushed by Trump — and GOP Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the House Intelligence Committee chairman who enshrined that story line in his much-discussed memo — while largely confirming that Democratic efforts to correct that narrative have been offered accurately and in good faith.

The Trump/Nunes narrative rests heavily on the idea that the FBI probe into the Trump campaign was illegitimate, because it was triggered by the “Steele Dossier.” The Nunes memo in January charged that to spy on the Trump campaign, the FBI failed to disclose that former British spy Christopher Steele’s research had originally been funded for political purposes (which Trump and his allies maintain shows the probe had tainted origins). In his rebuttal memo at the time, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California — Nunes’s counterpart — disputed this, noting that the FBI’s application for the warrant did, in fact, disclose that Steele was hired by “politically motivated persons” to “discredit” the Trump campaign.

The newly released documents — in particular, the FBI’s FISA applications — show that Nunes was engaged in disingenuous parsing designed to deceive and that Schiff was telling the truth. The application contained a whole page detailing the FBI’s conclusion that Steele had been hired to do “research” to “discredit” the Trump campaign, and that the FBI deemed Steele credible anyway, having relied on his information in the past. As Savage puts it, the new release offers a “page-length explanation” that confirms what Democrats contended “at the time” about the research’s “politically motivated origins.”

The new documents also lay to rest another dispute. The Nunes memo claimed the FBI relied on a Yahoo News article to corroborate Steele's account even though Steele was the source for that article. Schiff's rebuttal pointed out that, in fact, the FBI had cited the Yahoo article to confirm a separate point. The new documents show that Schiff characterized the FBI claim accurately. As Savage notes: "The application dovetails with the Democrats' account."

In sum, the new documents show the FBI suspected that a top Trump official (Page) was collaborating with Russia to sabotage the 2016 election, perhaps along with others. As Julian Sanchez notes on Twitter, there are extensive redactions following the Steele section that strongly suggest the FBI offered other information beyond the Steele Dossier to bolster those suspicions (which Democrats also claimed to be the case). Though those redactions mean this cannot be conclusively proved right now, the documents show that the FBI's request for a wiretap and subsequent follow-up applications were greenlighted by judges appointed by GOP presidents, based on the info the FBI offered.

As Savage bluntly concludes of the Nunes-Schiff battle over this FBI application: “In respect after respect, the newly disclosed documents ... corroborated rebuttals by Democrats ... who had seen the top-secret materials and accused Republicans of mischaracterizing them to protect the president.”

---

Democrats are smuggling out information to the public

The crucial larger context here is that we have seen this on multiple fronts. With Trump denying Russian sabotage happened at all (which he again did this weekend) Democrats released a report detailing Russian assaults on elections in multiple countries (and Republicans refused to sign on to it). Democrats also released the testimony by a co-founder of the firm that bankrolled Steele, challenging the Trump/Nunes claim that the Steele dossier sparked the FBI probe. Independent reporting has confirmed that the Trump/Nunes account is bogus. Simply put, Democratic claims are dovetailing with this independently emerging narrative.

This is about more than just settling a political spin war. We want congressional oversight over our intelligence services so we can be sure they are not abusing their awesome powers, but also to inform the public when our intel agencies are acting lawfully and legitimately, to bolster public confidence in them when they are being undermined for nefarious purposes. That’s what Trump is doing now. (His latest tweets absurdly seized on the new documents to bolster his “hoax” narrative.) And Nunes is helping him by completely corrupting his oversight mission to that end — with the full acquiescence of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis. Meanwhile, Democrats are the ones informing Americans about what’s really happening here.

Many journalists have pointed out that the new documents reveal that Trump and Nunes have been deceiving the public. But the other side of this coin is that generally speaking Democrats have been trying to counter those efforts by informing the public with real, solid information in good faith wherever possible. The conventions of neutral reporting and analysis of course allow scrutiny of one side's political misbehavior but also tend to discourage journalists from forthrightly saying so when the other side is doing the right thing and acting legitimately in the public interest. Yet that's exactly what's happening here, and we all need to be as clear in saying so as Savage has been Monday.

* TRUMP IS 'LASHING OUT' AT IRAN - AND EVERYONE ELSE: Trump has issued an all-caps tweet threatening Iran with unspecified consequences, and CNN's Stephen Collinson notes that he is "lashing out" at pretty much everyone in sight:

"The controversies raging around the Oval Office underline how the President is increasingly taking control of his own defense and is willing to dictate high-risk political and legal strategies. But his incessant and often false attacks on . . . Mueller's investigation also give the impression of someone who fears its ultimate conclusions and is unsettled that his fate may be out of his hands."

Indeed. You can smell the fear in Trump's lies.

* GOP SENATOR: FBI DIDN'T SPY ON TRUMP CAMP: On CNN's "State of the Union," Sen. Marco Rubio, Fla., dismisses the idea that the FBI "spied" on the Trump campaign based on surveillance of Carter Page:

"'I don't believe that them looking into Carter Page means they were spying on the campaign. . . . The only plot here is the plot to interfere in our elections by the Russians.'"

As Trump continues to portray himself as the real victim of Russian sabotage, let's not forget that he encouraged it and cited its fruits on the campaign trail.

* GOP CANDIDATES' RESPONSE TO TRUMP IS SILENCE: The Post reports that Trump's embrace of Vladimir Putin is only the latest thing that GOP candidates in tough races have been forced to pretend isn't happening:

"While members of Congress in safely Republican districts are free to always side with Trump, those serving in more moderate districts have repeatedly found themselves squeezed between their need to court Trump supporters and the friction his actions have prompted in their districts. Their fallback is often silence."

Of course, that Republican "silence" sends the message that Republicans will not act as a check on him, which gives Democrats an opening to say they will.

* TRUMP'S TRADE WAR WILL HURT GOP IN MIDTERMS: The Post report also contains this nugget:

"Trump is determined to make trade part of the midterm discussion - even though many in the White House are skeptical that it is a good issue, particularly in battleground Midwestern states. . . . Two senior White House officials said they receive the most complaints from Republican incumbents and candidates on trade and the president's tariffs, as international retributions have begun to take a toll on the price of corn, soybeans and bourbon."

Trump’s trade war is a bad issue even in the industrial Midwest, i.e., Trump Country? We keep hearing that large silent majorities are rooting for Trumpism to succeed.

Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog, a reported opinion blog with a liberal slant — what you might call “opinionated reporting” from the left.

We trust police officers with immense power.

We trust them to protect our communities and enforce our laws, exercising, when necessary, the authority to investigate crimes, detain citizens, arrest suspects and, on rare occasions, use lethal force.

Because they exercise such broad authority, we rightly demand accountability. That comes in the form of internal checks — chain of command and so forth — but it also comes from transparency, by allowing the public to demand information relating to how they use the power they are given.

Time and again, we have seen state open records laws and public pressure used as a check on police forces.

Think of the case involving the manhandling of nurse Alex Wubbells for doing her job and refusing to do a blood draw on an unconscious victim of a police chase. Were it not for the public release of the video of her arrest and the resulting public outrage, there would have been no accountability for the Salt Lake City officers who abused their power.

My colleague Taylor Anderson has been using open records laws for months to uncover information about the treatment of inmates in county jails, focusing on cases where people have died in custody.

The ability to shine a spotlight on how law enforcement works is vital to protecting citizens’ civil rights and liberties.

Now, the Brigham Young University Police Department is essentially arguing it should be exempt from that sunlight, that open records laws don’t apply to its officers and it should be allowed to operate within a black box that would give it unfettered power.

Fortunately, earlier this month, Judge Laura Scott disagreed.

The Salt Lake Tribune had filed an open records request and eventually sued to get records relating to how the BYU Police Department shared information with the university’s Honor Code Office.

It’s a crucial question because, as we learned in 2016, BYU threw one young woman out of school after a Utah County Sheriff’s deputy shared the woman’s sexual assault report with the university.

Was the practice more widespread and did BYU police also share that kind of information? That’s what The Tribune reporters want to find out.

Another pending request seeks records of a high-profile, decades-old sexual assault allegation from a former sister missionary who secretly recorded a confrontation with her alleged assailant — the former head of the Missionary Training Center.

But BYU has stonewalled, saying that, because it’s a private university and employs its own police force that, from the school’s perspective, the officers are essentially the same as a team of mall cops and aren’t subject to state open records laws.

It’s an incredible argument that Scott surgically dismantled in her 34-page opinion.

The roughly 30 BYU police officers — a force about the same size as a decent-sized Utah city — are certified by the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Police Officer Standards and Training center. The department is classified by DPS as a “law enforcement agency,” and, as a result, the officers are able to do anything any police officer in Salt Lake City or Ogden or Provo can do.

They are allowed to arrest suspects. They can put the flashing lights on top of their car. They gain access to confidential state and federal databases. They are part of the state’s 911 emergency call network. They can carry weapons. And they are eligible to receive state and federal grants.

They can also refer cases to the Utah County Attorney for prosecution — something private security officers cannot do — and when those cases are prosecuted, it is the State of Utah listed as plaintiff.

The BYU Police Department has exercised those roles as an arm of the state for nearly four decades, ever since the Utah Legislature passed a law explicitly recognizing BYU’s security officers as a state-sanctioned police force.

Yet attorneys for BYU contend none of that — even the explicit statutory creation of the force — makes the police department a state-sanctioned entity. They plan to appeal the judge’s ruling.

It is a flimsy argument that, if brought to its logical conclusion, carries profound consequences. It would essentially make BYU’s police department the only force in the state above the law, able to act with impunity while being exempt from transparency or public accountability.

If BYU police want to be a private security force, then the department needs to give up its access to confidential law enforcement data, state and federal funding, 911 services, and the ability to enforce and investigate crimes.

If it wants to act as a police force, then it needs to be transparent and accountable and show it deserve the public’s trust.

It can’t have it both ways.

Every year it is the same old story. The lawmakers of this state demonstrate that they have no common sense and in many cases no backbone.

Fact: Distracted driving kills people. Study after study states that distracted driving is up to five times more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. We have an unenforceable law about texting and driving. As it stands, we have to make our law enforcement officials guess as to what a driver is doing with their cellphone.

Our lawmakers are attempting to introduce a law that would say: phone in hand, you’re breaking the law. But we have genius legislators such as Sen. Daniel Thatcher saying, “I see people every single day who are capable of using a phone while operating a motor vehicle without committing a moving violation.”

Using this logic, let’s make it part of high school driver training. Demonstrate that you can use your cellphone without an accident or killing someone. Also, let’s do away with speed limits. I see drivers in NASCAR who are pretty damn good at driving 200 mph.

Gregory Jones, North Salt Lake

Sens. Hatch and Lee, and Reps. Bishop, Curtis, Love and Stewart,

You are elected representatives of the people. The people — not a party, not a political ideal nor platform. You are charged with and directly responsible for ensuring a balance of power exists within the three branches of government. No more blind acquiescence! No turning a deaf ear to the abuse of the executive branch. Be leaders. Get involved. Set election consequences aside. Fight! Do your jobs!

The unchecked power of President Donald Trump and his continued abuse of executive authority is the greatest threat to our democracy. His actions in Helsinki are deeply troubling, potentially treasonous. Seemingly blind to anything negative regarding Russia, he berates European allies, denigrates and questions American institutions and praises the unchecked actions of an adversary. It’s an amazingly sad yet phenomenal example of “divide and conquer.” Is Putin Trump’s counterpart or is he Trump’s controller? The actions in Helsinki more than suggest the latter. Do your jobs! Investigate, impeach and restore proper balance to the executive branch or our government. Do it now.

Dan Thirkill, Farmington

It’s no secret that the big stories in Washington are not always seen as big stories outside the Beltway. The new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that President Donald Trump’s performance at last Monday’s Helsinki summit is another example of this. But the poll also suggests that, in talking about the “Russia scandal,” Trump opponents should focus less on Russia and more on the election interference itself.

On three of four questions, the polling breaks down two ways: Partisans support or oppose Trump depending on their political party, and independents are less concerned about the president's performance than furor in Washington and the media would suggest. Clear majorities of Republicans approved of how Trump handled the summit and believe American leadership has "gotten stronger." Democrats said the opposite. And for independents, only 38 percent thought the president went "too far" in supporting Putin, compared with 52 percent who answered "not far enough" or "about right."

Similarly, a third of independent votes approved of Trump's handling of the summit and 20 percent had no opinion. Trump opponents can be slightly relieved that independents didn't side with Republicans. Overall, though, as The Washington Post notes, "The findings indicate that while Trump was judged critically for his summit performance, the event has not at this time proved to be a significant turning point in his presidency." If you wondered why even after Helsinki most Republicans avoided criticizing the president, this poll is your answer.

But on one question — whether voters approve of Trump expressing doubt about whether Russia tried to influence the 2016 election — the numbers look different. On that query, 60 percent of independents disapprove — a clear majority. Furthermore, only 51 percent of Republicans approve of Trump impugning the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusions and 31 percent disapprove. Yes, that’s still a majority in favor, but by Republican standards, 51 percent support for the president is astonishingly low. Remember, at the 500-day mark of his presidency, Trump’s approval rating among Republicans was nearly 90 percent. Other than George W. Bush post-Sept. 11, that’s the highest support for a president within his own party since World War II. Any issue where only half of Republicans support the president and nearly a third oppose is an opportunity to erode enthusiasm among his base.

Why do the numbers look so different on those questions? As the rest of the poll shows, the vast majority of Republicans and large numbers of independents aren't disturbed by Trump's obsequiousness toward Russia. The numbers change when the topic changes to our elections. It seems that Russia concerns voters far less than interference with their votes.

And, this makes sense: While election security isn’t a traditional “kitchen table issue,” protecting one’s vote is more relatable to voters than whether NATO allies raise defense spending. One thing all voters do have in common is, well, voting. Think about it this way: If, for example, in 2020 a cabal of domestic actors — say, a group of billionaires — steals and leaks a presidential campaign’s emails, voters won’t be any less angry because the conspiracy wasn’t orchestrated by a foreign adversary. What they care about is the intrusion, not the background of the intruders. This week, Democrats wisely pushed for more state election-security funding, which Republicans blocked. Don’t be surprised if Democrats continue to hammer the GOP on this.

It’s understandable why opponents of the president think “Trump sided with Putin” should be a convincing argument. Putin’s criminal regime is no friend to decent people. But for everyone who understands that protecting special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe is vital, this poll is a reminder to keep election interference itself front and center when making that case.

James Downie is The Washington Post’s Digital Opinions Editor. He previously wrote for The New Republic and Foreign Policy magazine.

Here we go again. Utah politicians’ latest proposed resolution to our ongoing public lands debate, the Emery County Land Bill, again, is far from adequate.

The only thing about the Emery County bill that gives any hope at all is that it points out the obvious. The San Rafael Swell is way overdue for real protection. For anyone who’s spent even a little time exploring the Muddy Creek area, it’s predictably laughable that these politicians (the same ones who worked to eviscerate our national monuments) would only offer to protect a pittance of what’s actually there. When I spend time anywhere near Muddy Creek, I enjoy the confidence that I can get away from ATVs, and their dust, and their noise. ATVs affect a much wider area than right where they happen to be, but this bill makes Muddy Creek a playground for motorized toys traveling for the sake of travel.

So here we are again, presented with another grand opportunity to protect the San Rafael Swell. Let’s not condemn it to the same myopic management scheme that faces all public lands in Utah that remain unprotected. The San Rafael Swell in general, and Muddy Creek in particular, deserves the same protection as the High Uintas, Lone Peak, Deseret Peak, etc. Because wilderness really should remain wilderness.

Brad Weaver, South Weber

Jordan School District is hiring psychologists for every elementary school. It's an experiment the rest of Utah should watch closely.

Utah has built its most-bang-for-the-buck school system on not doing these kinds of things. We have one school nurse for every 4,500 kids, and few high schools have adequate counselors. Our philosophy has been to put every dollar into classrooms and take administrative/auxiliary positions down to the bare minimum.

Jordan, mostly a bedroom district with a small commercial tax base, has one of the lowest per-pupil expenditures among the 41 school districts. They aren't Park City. So their decision to spend money on this shows how schools are increasingly on the front lines in addressing family issues.

In fact, school psychologists are now so in demand that Jordan can’t fill all the positions. It’s starting with psychologists for a half day and counselors for the other half at each school. In justifying the move, Jordan officials say they are seeing rising anxieties among students, particularly financial anxieties.

It used to be conservative groups like the Eagle Forum would rise up when there was talk of schools taking on anything that wasn’t directly educational. But with seven suicides in the Herriman High School community in the past year, that hands-off ideology is looking more like a failure to act.

By staffing up in all 36 elementary schools, the district is committing to be there when crises arise. Most districts spread psychologists across multiple schools, if they have them at all. But the issues they address don't wait for appointments.

The hope is that the added support will give teachers more time to teach. It’s also reasonable to think that addressing students' psychological needs early could save money later on remedial education, discipline and other school expenses.

But it’s not realistic for Jordan to think this effort will pay for itself. If it is worthwhile, the benefits will be seen in larger society, not just the schools. Schools are in an excellent position to recognize and address mental health issues early, but we shouldn’t make schools take from classrooms to cover the costs.

Jordan needs to have the right metrics in place, and then Utah educators, parents and policy makers should analyze the results. If this becomes the norm, we could see a healthier population inside and outside schools. We also need to be prepared to pay for it.

Massachusetts Democrat dupes Fox News, slams Trump. A look at Herbert’s chief of staff, Justin Harding. More Utahns voted in the primary but it was still below 30 percent.

Happy Tuesday. And happy Pioneer Day. A Massachusetts congressional candidate pulled a bait-and-switch on a Fox News talk show yesterday, using the president’s preferred morning show as a platform to blast his administration’s policy of immigrant family separations. Fox & Friends had thought it booked a former Arizona congresswoman for the show but instead a Massachusetts Democrat running for Congress appeared on screen. [Politico]

Topping the news: While most Utahns have never heard of Justin Harding, Gov. Gary Herbert’s chief of staff, the governor calls him the “supercop directing traffic” in state politics. [Trib]

-> There was an increase this year in the number of Utahns who voted in the primary election, from 24 percent in 2016 to 29 percent this year, according to a final canvass of results from Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox’s office. [Trib]

-> The president of the Payson-based company Liberty Safe, Steve Allred, was invited to the White House to display his company’s premiere safe. [Trib]

Tweets of the day: From @TheAPJournalist: “Whelp, looks like Georgia state rep. Jason Spencer is in a whole lot of trouble.”

-> From @TeaPainUSA: “12 Cohen recordings? We should create an advent calendar where we play a new tape each day and on the last day, Michael Cohen announces his plea deal.”

In other news: Steve Powell, the father of Josh Powell, a man that murdered his two sons and killed himself while being investigated for his wife’s disappearance, died Monday in Washington state. He was the only person to go to prison during the investigation of Susan Powell’s disappearance. [Trib]

-> Community members held a vigil at Liberty Park to show support for a 16-month-old girl family members believe was sexually assaulted by a man who later committed suicide. [Trib]

-> JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman, a Utah native, is launching a fifth airline that will be based in the United States. [Trib]

-> Jordan School District announced it plans to put a full-time psychologist in each of the 36 elementary schools in the district beginning this fall, a move aimed at combatting student depression and unhappiness. [Trib]

-> Pat Bagley gives his take on people who camp out overnight for the Days of ’47 Parade. [Trib]

-> Robert Gehrke imagines what Brigham Young would have tweeted if he had a Twitter account back in 1847. [Trib]

Nationally: President Donald Trump threatened to revoke the security clearances of former national security and intelligence officials who criticized him or raised alarm about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. [WaPost] [NYTimes] [CBS]

-> Satellite images shows that North Korea has begun dismantling a missile-engine test, keeping with the promise Trump said Kim Jong-un made to him during their summit meeting in Singapore. [NYTimes] [CNN]

-> While White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she has no plans to leave the administration, some Trump advisers are beginning to think about who her replacement could be. [Politico]

-> Documents released and then retracted by the Interior Department show that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his aides ignored the benefits of national monuments when reviewing whether to shrink Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, because they were “revealing [the review’s] strategy." [WaPost]

Got a tip? A birthday, wedding or anniversary to announce? Send us a note to cornflakes@sltrib.com.

-- Thomas Burr and Connor Richards

Twitter.com/thomaswburr and Twitter.com/crichards1995

Logan • A cheerleader who said her school violated her freedom of speech when it booted her from the squad over a profane video posted on social media won’t be reinstated while her lawsuit over the decision plays out.

U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball’s ruling said the case raises “very interesting First Amendment issues for our social media age,” The Herald Journal in Logan reported.

Still, he said she and her parents have refused the school’s offer to let her come back under conditions that include an apology and community service. The girl is referred to as SJ in court documents.

"SJ is being restricted from the activity of her choice because she does not believe she should have conditions placed on her return," Kimball said in the ruling last month. "However, she could have already rejoined the squad by completing the conditions set by the school."

Her lawyer Angela Elmore told The Associated Press this week that the girl refused because she believes the school shouldn’t control her private speech, a cause that’s bigger than a year of cheerleading.

The girl was removed from the Mountain Crest High School team after she posted a video in March on Snapchat of her and other cheerleaders singing along to a rap song that included swear words.

Corey Johnson filed the lawsuit in May on behalf of his daughter after appeals to school administration and the Cache County School District failed. The suit says the video was posted by mistake, and school officials dismissed her from the team merely because of the profanity used in the video.

The suit also says the punishment was gender discrimination because a football player disciplined because of text messages was not given an equal punishment.

According to court documents filed by the school district, the cheer adviser had instructed all potential cheerleaders before tryouts about proper social media usage, advising them to avoid posting derogatory or explicit comments.

"She explained to the potential cheerleaders that there was a history of inappropriate social media usage by Mountain Crest cheerleaders and it had escalated the sometimes violent rivalry Mountain Crest had with its neighboring school, Ridgeline, and created conflict with Mountain Crest," court records stated.

The suit seeks financial compensation and a court declaration that the cheerleader’s constitutional rights were violated.

Washington • President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that “Tariffs are the greatest!” and threatened to impose additional penalties on U.S. trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House.

Trump tweeted from the White House that U.S. trade partners need to either negotiate a "fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It's as simple as that."

The president has engaged in hardline trading negotiations with China, Canada and European nations, seeking to renegotiate trade agreements he says have undermined the nation's manufacturing base and led to a wave of job losses in recent decades. The imposition of punishing tariffs on imported goods has been a favored tactic by Trump, but it has prompted U.S. trading partners to retaliate, creating risks for the economy.

Trump has placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to U.S. national security, an argument that allies such as the European Union and Canada reject. He has also threatened to slap tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totaled $335 billion.

And the president has already put tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports in a separate dispute over Beijing's high-tech industrial policies. Trump has threatened to ratchet that up to more than $500 billion, a move that has left financial markets uneasy. Beijing's retaliatory tariffs have hit American soybeans and pork.

Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday that the U.S. is a "'piggy bank' that's being robbed." He noted that countries "that have treated us unfairly on trade for years" are coming to Washington to negotiate.

The president is meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday. The U.S. and European allies have been at odds over the president’s tariffs on steel imports and are meeting as the trade dispute threatens to spread to automobile production.

Less talking, more performing.

That's the Pac-12's strategy this season, judging by a Football Media Day that will take only one day, in contrast to the Southeastern Conference's four-day event and the Pac-12's two-day sessions in recent years.

The Pac-12 will stage its annual event Wednesday in Hollywood, Calif. The primary subjects are likely to include the College Football Playoff, three new coaches in the South division, the revenue gap between the Pac-12 and other Power Five conferences, Bryce Love's Heisman Trophy candidacy and the five quarterbacks representing their schools at the meetings.

Utah is sending center Lo Falemaka and linebacker Chase Hansen. The Utes are likely to be picked second or third in the South, behind USC and possibly Arizona. Utah was the No. 2 choice in the division last summer, before finishing fifth with a 3-6 conference record that included narrow losses to USC, Washington and Stanford.

Arizona's Kevin Sumlin joins Arizona State's Herm Edwards and UCLA's Chip Kelly as new coaches in the South, with Kelly returning to the Pac-12 after his successful run at Oregon led to two NFL opportunities.

Khalil Tate of Arizona and Manny Wilkins of ASU will attend the event, along with fellow quarterbacks Justin Herbert of Oregon, Jake Browning of Washington and Steven Montez of Colorado. USC linebacker Porter Gustin, from Salem Hills High School, is one of two defensive players representing the Trojans.

The Utes got a glimpse of Tate in 2016, when he passed for 105 yards and ran for 33 yards in Arizona’s loss at Rice-Eccles Stadium. But when they faced the Wildcats in September 2017, Tate had not yet become Arizona’s starter. The Wildcats will meet BYU, Southern Utah and the Utes in the first seven weeks of the season.

Love, Stanford's senior running back, finished second in the Heisman voting last year, when the Cardinal upset Washington. That loss may have kept the Huskies out of the College Football Playoff, and the Pac-12 lacked a semifinal contestant for the second time in three years. Washington, which visits Utah on Sept. 15, should be picked as the Pac-12 champion and the conference's best hope for a CFP bid in 2018.

The Pac-12's national profile needs the boost that a title contender would produce, after going 1-8 last season in bowl games – a deceiving record in some ways, but not a good look. The conference also has been derided for failing to generate the same amount of revenue as its contemporaries, notably the SEC and the Big Ten.

That gap has raised questions about the work of Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, although his contract runs through June 2022.

A fourth BYU football player was named to a preseason watch list on Tuesday, as defensive end Corbin Kaufusi was selected by the Football Writers Association of American to the 2018 Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list.

The Nagurski Trophy goes to the most outstanding defensive player in college football.

Kaufusi is one of 97 players from 61 schools and all 10 Division I FBS conferences on the list. The 6-foot-9 Kaufusi, who played basketball for BYU earlier in his career, led the Cougars with six sacks last season, and also made 67 total tackles. He’s one of 24 defensive ends on the list.

Last week, BYU tight end Matt Bushman, running back Squally Canada and quarterback Tanner Mangum received preseason recognition.

Bushman was named to the 2018 John Mackey Award preseason watch list on Friday. The award is given annually to the most outstanding tight end in college football.

Bushman led all freshman tight ends in 2017 with 49 catches for 520 yards and earned Freshman All-America honors from USA Today, the FWAA and 247sports.com. It was the most production from a BYU tight end since Dennis Pitta caught 62 passes for 829 yards in 2009.

A senior, Canada was named to the 2018 Doak Walker Award preseason watch list last Wednesday. The Walker Award goes to the country’s top running back.

Canada, from Milpitas, Calif., led BYU in rushing last year with 710 yards and six touchdowns. His 213-yard performance against UNLV ranks No. 10 in school history. Former BYU running back Luke Staley won the Walker Award in 2001 after rushing for 1,582 yards and 28 touchdowns.

Mangum, also a senior, was named to the 2018 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. Student-athletes who demonstrate a unique dedication to community service, make a positive impact on those around them and show tremendous perseverance to overcome personal struggles are nominated for the award.

Mangum has been an advocate for mental health awareness after publicly acknowledging his own struggles with mental health issues last year. He has started in 21 games for BYU, including 12 as a freshman when he became the first BYU freshman to reach 3,000 passing yards in a season.

At least five more watch lists are scheduled to be released this week, including the Lou Groza (best kicker), Ray Guy (best punter), Paul Hornung (most versatile player), Wuerffel (community service and academics) and Walter Camp (best player) awards.

Washington • President Donald Trump offered his “best wishes” to Utahns celebrating Pioneer Day on Tuesday, extolling the Mormons who escaped persecution to take on a challenging and dangerous trek to find a new home.

“Our nation honors the ingenuity, industry, and unwavering commitment to faith of all those who endured frontier hardships,” the White House said Tuesday. “These pioneers worked tirelessly to transform the arid desert landscape into a blossoming new home where their families could live in peace and prosperity. The legacy they helped build across the American West lives on through hundreds of cities and towns that continue to thrive in the 21st century.”

Trump said he and first lady Melania wished their best to everyone celebrating Pioneer Day, a state holiday in Utah marking the Mormon settlers arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.

“On this day in 1847, Brigham Young and the first group of Latter-day Saint pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley to begin building a new home for their families,” Trump said. “Fleeing persecution, these families undertook a difficult journey spanning more than a thousand miles from Illinois to the Utah territory. In the years that followed, nearly 70,000 men, women, and children charted similar paths across windswept plains and rugged mountains in search of religious freedom and a better way of life.”

Trump said Tuesday that Americans remember the “extraordinary pioneers who uprooted their lives and undertook an incredible leap of faith into the unknown.

“Their stories and accomplishments are lasting reminders of the importance of religious freedom and the enduring strength and spirit of the American people,” Trump continued.

Los Angeles • A store worker killed in a gunbattle before a suspect took hostages in a crowded supermarket was hit by a police officer’s bullet, Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday.

The employee, Melyda Corado, 27, was leaving the store Saturday as the suspect, Gene Evin Atkins, 28, was going into the store after firing two rounds at officers pursuing him, Moore told reporters.

The two officers each fired back at Atkins and one of their rounds went through one of Corado's arms and into her body.

In deciding whether to open fire, the officers had to consider whether the suspect in what was already a long-running series of violent events would become an active shooter in a market crowded with weekend shoppers, Moore said.

"That is the worst, worst decision that any officer ever wishes to have to make," the chief said.

Atkins was scheduled to be arraigned later Tuesday on numerous charges.

The events began about 1:30 p.m. in South Los Angeles when Atkins allegedly shot and wounded his 76-year-old grandmother and fled in a stolen car, taking along a 17-year-old girl who was grazed by a bullet. Moore said the abduction of the girl was kidnapping.

Around 3 p.m., officers spotted Atkins in Hollywood and got into a car chase with him.

Moore said Atkins fired at the officers through the rear window of his vehicle but the officers did not fire back at that time.

About 15 minutes later he crashed into a utility pole outside a Trader Joe's market in the Silver Lake neighborhood, where the gunbattle erupted. Corado was fatally struck and Atkins was wounded in the arm.

Store employees and customers fled or hid.

Atkins held some as hostages, let some go and then surrendered several hours later.

Investigators recovered casings of the two bullets fired at the officers after the car crash, Moore said.

Washington • The U.S. readied a plan Tuesday to send billions in emergency aid to farmers who have been hurt by President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China and other American trading partners.

The Agriculture Department was expected to announce the proposal that would include direct assistance and other temporary relief for farmers, according to two people briefed on the plan, who were not authorized to speak on the record.

The plan comes as Trump speaks at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Kansas City in the heart of the nation's farm country.

Trump declared earlier Tuesday that "Tariffs are the greatest!" and threatened to impose additional penalties on U.S. trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said the funding may need to be approved by Congress and the aid would be temporary.

"The administration is trying to negotiate better trade deals," he said. "In the near term is there some relief we can look at? Well, we'll see."

But the plan magnified objections among many Republicans that the tariffs amount to taxes on American consumers. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said lawmakers are making the case to Trump that tariffs are "not the way to go."

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said the plan would spend billions on "gold crutches."

"America's farmers don't want to be paid to lose — they want to win by feeding the world," he said. "This administration's tariffs and bailouts aren't going to make America great again, they're just going to make it 1929 again."

The Trump administration has slapped tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods in a dispute over Beijing's high-tech industrial policies. China has retaliated with duties on soybeans and pork, affecting Midwest farmers in a region of the country that supported the president in his 2016 campaign.

Trump has threatened to place penalty taxes on up to $500 billion in products imported from China, a move that would dramatically ratchet up the stakes in the trade dispute involving the globe's biggest economies.

Before departing for Kansas City, Trump tweeted that U.S. trade partners need to either negotiate a "fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It's as simple as that."

The president has engaged in hard-line trading negotiations with China, Canada and European nations, seeking to renegotiate agreements he says have undermined the nation's manufacturing base and led to a wave of job losses in recent decades.

The imposition of punishing tariffs on imported goods has been a favored tactic by Trump, but it has prompted U.S. partners to retaliate, creating risks for the economy.

Trump has placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to U.S. national security, an argument that allies such as the European Union and Canada reject. He has also threatened to slap tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totaled $335 billion.

During a Monday event at the White House featuring American-made goods, Trump displayed a green hat that read, "Make Our Farmers Great Again."

The president is meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday. The U.S. and European allies have been at odds over the president's tariffs on steel imports and are meeting as the trade dispute threatens to spread to automobile production.

__

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Paul Wiseman and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed.

Washington • Sen. Orrin Hatch is not dead.

And his office went out of its way Monday to make sure people knew that.

Late Monday, the Utahn's office tweeted a screenshot of a Google search for the senator that said he had died on Sept. 11, 2017.

Hi.. @Google?

We might need to talk. pic.twitter.com/vdHbcccy7x

— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) July 24, 2018

“Hi.. @Google? We might need to talk,” the senator’s office tweeted.

Someone, it appears, edited the Wikipedia entry for the 84-year-old senior Republican senator saying he had passed away, resulting in a Google search that very-much-alive Hatch was gone. The Wikipedia page, which had been changed early Monday, was fixed that night.

But Hatch’s office had some fun proving the reports of his death were greatly exaggerated.

Here is Senator Hatch preparing for an interview just weeks ago. Alive and well.

You can find those interviews (proof of life) here—> https://t.co/ZFiA5xDCeA pic.twitter.com/23QQVZ939A

— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) July 24, 2018

There were pictures of Hatch reading newspapers — from the last week, as evidence he wasn’t six feet under — as well as photos of him visiting with the German chancellor, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and eating bacon on his 84th birthday.

To convince even the most conspiratorial minded out there, the office tweeted out videos of him signing bills, meeting with Utah veterans and visiting his favorite restaurant, Chuck-A-Rama.

Senator Hatch making an important state visit to Chuck A Rama in May. (With audio) pic.twitter.com/s8onBfGBJ0

— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) July 24, 2018

Hatch’s office even noted that while the Internet had proclaimed him dead — about 12 hours in all — the senator helped advance three bills.

“Even in death, Hatch remains one of the Senate’s most prolific legislators,” the office proclaimed.

Commentators, too, had their fun with the inadvertent death notice.

“We miss you more every day Senator,” tweeted Seth Mandel, an op-ed editor of The New York Times.

We miss you more every day Senator

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) July 24, 2018

Others were not so kind.

“Senator Hatch is alive and well, it’s his principles that are dead,” wrote another Twitter user.

Senator Hatch is alive and well, it’s his principles that are dead.

— Jason A. Aluia ® (@Jason825) July 24, 2018

In the end, Google came to the rescue to bring Hatch back from the dead.

“You certainly are alive and sporting a great sense of humor. We apologize for the error. We’ll have it fixed shortly,” Google tweeted at the senator.

You certainly are alive and sporting a great sense of humor. We apologize for the error. We'll have it fixed shortly.

— Google Communications (@Google_Comms) July 24, 2018

By early Tuesday, according to Google, the senator was still living.

Las Vegas • The Utah State Aggies are coming off a bowl appearance and return 18 starters, including a sophomore quarterback — Jordan Love — who unseated the incumbent starter as a freshman last year. On paper, anyway, Matt Wells' team appears poised for a return to contention in the Mountain West Conference.

The conference’s coaches and media, however, appear to be taking more of a wait-and-see approach with the Aggies.

USU was picked to finish fourth in the Mountain Division on Tuesday in both the coaches and media polls at the MWC media summit here at the The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Defending Mountain West champion Boise State was picked to win the Mountain Division title as the Broncos gathered all 22 first-place votes and earned a total of 132 points. The Broncos went 7-1 in league play last season and defeated Fresno State, 17-14, in the Mountain West Championship game. Wyoming received 95 points for second place in the Mountain Division poll, followed by Colorado State (82), Utah State (78), Air Force (52) and New Mexico (23).

Fresno State was picked to finish atop the West Division with 16 first-place votes and 126 points. San Diego State claimed the other six first-place votes and 116 points to place second behind the Bulldogs in the West Division poll, followed by UNLV (78), Nevada (72), Hawai’i (45) and San José State (25).

This marks the sixth season of divisional play for the Mountain West, which moved to the two, six-team divisional format in 2013 following the additions of San José State and Utah State. The Mountain Division is comprised of Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah State and Wyoming, while Fresno State, Hawai’i, Nevada, San Diego State, San José State and UNLV make up the West Division. The two divisional winners will meet in the MW Championship Game on Dec. 1 at the home stadium of the divisional champion with the best conference record.

Utah State returns nine starters on offense and nine on defense from a team that tied for fourth in the Mountain Division of the Mountain West with a 4-4 record and finished the season at 6-7 after playing in the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl.

Those 18 returning starters are the third-most in the nation behind only Florida (19) and Michigan State (19).