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Where you can see Joseph Smith’s last letter to wife Emma — written on the day he died

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Visitors to the Church History Museum in downtown Salt Lake City now can see for themselves the similarities — and differences — between a famous historic portrait of Joseph Smith and the much-debated daguerreotype of Mormonism’s founder discovered in 2022.

They can scrutinize Smith’s handwriting in a letter to wife Emma penned on the last day of his life — June 27, 1844 — or examine a copy of characters (in what he said was “reformed Egyptian”) reportedly written on the plates that Smith said he unearthed in upstate New York from which sprang the Book of Mormon.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Last letter from Joseph Smith to wife Emma, penned on the day he was slain. It was recently transferred from the Community of Christ and is on display at the Church History Museum on Monday, March 25, 2024.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Last letter from Joseph Smith to wife Emma, penned on the day he was slain. It was recently transferred from the Community of Christ and is on display at the Church History Museum on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Rick Egan/)

They are part of a collection of documents, artifacts and historic buildings — including the faith’s first temple in Kirtland, Ohio — that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently bought from the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) for $192 million.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Characters written down by Joseph Smith purport to show writings from gold plates Smith said he used to translate the Book of Mormon, on display at the Church History Museum on Monday, March 25, 2024.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Characters written down by Joseph Smith purport to show writings from gold plates Smith said he used to translate the Book of Mormon, on display at the Church History Museum on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Rick Egan/)

Some of the relics are on display in a fresh museum exhibit, which opened to the public Monday, in the heart of Utah’s capital.

The Kirtland Temple itself reopened to public tours the same day — a mere 20 days after the Utah-based faith’s acquisition was announced.

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Missionaries Bart and Marion Davis give a tour of the Kirtland Temple in Kirtland, Ohio on Monday, March 25, 2024. The temple reopened for public tours Monday.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Missionaries Bart and Marion Davis give a tour of the Kirtland Temple in Kirtland, Ohio on Monday, March 25, 2024. The temple reopened for public tours Monday.

“Our hope and expectation is that we would be as good a steward for these resources, these assets, these sacred locations, as [the Community of Christ has] been,” W. Christopher Waddell, first counselor in the LDS Church’s Presiding Bishopric, said in a news release. “Now it’s our turn to reciprocate and to be good stewards and good hosts for them and for [our] members.”

None of these items is new or unknown.

The 1842 oil portraits by David Rogers of the Smiths, for example, are familiar to Latter-day Saints. They have been reproduced in faith’s periodicals as well as examined and analyzed for more than a century.

For 182 years, though, the paintings of the first couple of Mormonism have been in possession of the Smith family, which stayed back in the Midwest after Brigham Young led his followers to Utah, and the Community of Christ.

Smith’s widow, Emma, purportedly did not like the Rogers portraits.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune)  A portrait of Joseph Smith that was recently transferred from the Community of Christ to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on display at the Church History Museum on Monday, March 25, 2024.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) A portrait of Joseph Smith that was recently transferred from the Community of Christ to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on display at the Church History Museum on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Rick Egan/)

“I asked her if it were a good likeness of the prophet. She replied, ‘No, he could not have a good portrait — his countenance was changing all the time,’” wrote Junius Wells, a pioneer-era leader in the Utah church who interviewed the widow. “I then asked her what he thought of it and she replied: ‘I can tell you that, for I asked him and he said: ‘Emma, that is a nice painting of a silly boy, but it don’t look much like a prophet of the Lord.’”

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune)  A portrait of Emma Smith that was recently transferred from the Community of Christ to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on display at the Church History Museum on Monday, March 25, 2024.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) A portrait of Emma Smith that was recently transferred from the Community of Christ to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on display at the Church History Museum on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Rick Egan/)

That opinion was reiterated by Lachlan Mackay, a Community of Christ apostle and historian, in a 2022 interview.

Mackay is among those who studied the daguerreotype and believes it to be authentic and reflective of what Smith actually looked like.

Still, the paintings hung in Emma Smith’s home until she died, noted Laura Paulsen Howe, the museum’s art curator.

“They are really fine portraits,” Howe said Monday. “Nineteenth-century traveling portrait artists focused a lot on clothing rather than faces.”

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Laura Paulsen Howe, art curator of the Church History Museum, talks about a new exhibit of artifacts newly transferred to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the Community of Christ, on Monday, March 25, 2024.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Laura Paulsen Howe, art curator of the Church History Museum, talks about a new exhibit of artifacts newly transferred to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the Community of Christ, on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Rick Egan/)

She pointed out exquisite details in Joseph’s cravat and Emma’s collar.

The Salt Lake City exhibit also includes the door that once was the entrance to Missouri’s Liberty Jail, where Smith and several colleagues were incarcerated in 1838 for several months.

“As long as memory lasts,” wrote early Latter-day Saint Mercy Fielding Thompson, “will remain in my recollection the creaking hinges of that door, which closed upon the noblest men on earth.”

The exhibit showcases those large hinges.

By the late 1870s, the jail “was deemed structurally unsound and abandoned,” explained Riley Lorimer, the museum’s director. “In 1898, Joseph Smith III visited Liberty Jail along with other members of [the RLDS Church] and one of them … took the door home as a token of remembrance.”

It has been in the Community of Christ’s possession since, she said, and was “most recently on display in their museum in Independence, Missouri.”

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Riley Lorimer, director of the Church History Museum, talks about the door from the Liberty Jail, which was transferred from the Community of Christ, at the Church History Museum on Monday, March 25, 2024.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Riley Lorimer, director of the Church History Museum, talks about the door from the Liberty Jail, which was transferred from the Community of Christ, at the Church History Museum on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Rick Egan/)

Many of the other sale items are remaining in Kirtland and Nauvoo, Ill., Lorimer said, including two desks belonging to Joseph and Emma.

A window from the Kirtland Temple has been on long-term loan from the Community of Christ — in fact, has been a fixture of the museum’s visual storytelling for years.

With the sale, it is now permanent.

Though small, the exhibit might still be moving for Latter-day Saints who now can view Smith’s last letter before his assassination at Illinois’ Carthage Jail.

Its postscript (with original punctuation) reads: “I am very much resigned to my lot knowing I am justified and have done the best that could be done give my love to the children.”

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) On exhibit through Oct. 26, 2024, at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City are some of the sacred artifacts — including letters from Joseph Smith to wife Emma — transferred in March 2024 from the Community of Christ. The exhibit is titled “Sacred History: Treasures from the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) On exhibit through Oct. 26, 2024, at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City are some of the sacred artifacts — including letters from Joseph Smith to wife Emma — transferred in March 2024 from the Community of Christ. The exhibit is titled “Sacred History: Treasures from the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” (Rick Egan/)



Lynne Roberts says Utah women’s basketball experienced ‘racial hate crimes’ during NCAA Tournament

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The Utah women’s basketball team was hyped to play in yet another NCAA Tournament. It was an opportunity to show the country just what Utes basketball was about, and that they could still make a deep run despite missing key players Gianna Kneepkens and Isabel Palmer.

But that good feeling changed during the first two rounds of the tournament. The team hotel was in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, despite Gonzaga — located in Spokane, Washington — being the host school.

During their stay, Utah coach Lynne Roberts said, the team experienced racism. Because of that, Roberts said, the team had to change hotels.

“We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes towards our program,” Roberts said after the team lost to Gonzaga. “Incredibly upsetting for all of us. You know, you think in our world in athletics and university settings it’s shocking in a — like there is so much diversity on a college campus and so you’re just not exposed to that very often.”

Gonzaga Athletics released a statement on X regarding the incident.

“Hate speech in any form is repugnant, shameful and must never be tolerated,” the statement says in part. “We worked hard to secure the opportunity to serve as the host institution, and our first priority is and must be the safety and welfare of all student-athletes, coaches, families and supporting staff. ...

“We are frustrated and deeply saddened to know that what should always be an amazing visitor and championship experience was in any way compromised by this situation, for it in no way reflects the values, standards, and beliefs to which we at Gonzaga University hold ourselves accountable.”

Roberts did not go into detail about exactly the team experienced. She said the team left Utah on Thursday, and the incidents happened Thursday night.

The team left the Idaho hotel Friday, Roberts said. She added that Gonzaga and the NCAA helped find the team a new hotel.

Roberts said her players not being able to feel safe during the tournament was “messed up.” She also said “no knew how to handle” what happened.

“It was a distraction and upsetting and unfortunate,” Roberts said. “This should be a positive for everybody involved. This should be a joyous time for our program. To have kind of a black eye on this experience is unfortunate. ... So the shock of like, wow, I can’t believe that happened. Yeah, I think it happens a lot. It doesn’t get talked about enough.”

These Utah food and wine classes can take you from beginner to ‘foodie’

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The world of food can seem like it’s surrounded by unscalable walls to people who don’t consider themselves “foodies.”

There are hundreds of “genres” of foods, each with their own traditional ingredients. There are names for every cut of beef and pork, every different flick of the chef’s knife, every fish used in sushi-making, and every baking technique.

How do you learn which wine goes with some foods but not others? How do you learn about the more obscure ingredients on a cocktail menu? How do you learn to cook if you didn’t learn while you were growing up?

Luckily, your food education can begin right now, right here in Utah. There are professionals in all areas of food that welcome beginners and are ready to share their expertise. Below, you’ll find workshops and classes that offer education on many food-related topics. Hone your skills in the kitchen or just gain confidence in your own palate, all while learning about everything from macarons to pork chops.

(Bethany Baker  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Francis Fecteau, a wine instructor, discusses a wine label with customers during a class on pairing wine with food at Caputo's Market & Deli in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Francis Fecteau, a wine instructor, discusses a wine label with customers during a class on pairing wine with food at Caputo's Market & Deli in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (Bethany Baker/)

Beltex Meats

If you’ve ever wanted to learn about different cuts of pork, dive right in and learn how to butcher an entire pig at Beltex Meats’ whole hog breakdown class, usually taught by the shop’s head butcher, Philip Grubisa.

Beltex Meats, at 511 E. 900 South, Salt Lake City, sources all its meats locally from small ranches and farms in the area, Grubisa told The Salt Lake Tribune. The animals are always pasture raised, and free of antibiotics, steroids and added hormones.

Beltex prides itself on using the entire animal in its butchering, “which is different from your grocery store setting,” Grubisa said. The class begins with a demonstration of half a pig being butchered, and then students are invited to do their own slicing and dicing on the other half.

Charcuterie, beer and wine are included in the $160 fee for the 3 ½-hour class, and students will leave with a 5- to 7-pound bag of meat that they cut themselves.

Grubisa said the point of the class is “teaching people where their food comes from.”

Each class is limited to 10 people, and they’re offered about once a month. Sign up at BeltexMeats.com.

Caputo’s Market & Deli

Caputo’s — with locations in downtown Salt Lake City, in the 15th & 15th neighborhood, and in Holladay — is a prized source for fine cheeses, chocolate, cured meats, oils and vinegars, small-batch bitters, tinned seafood, dried pasta and so much more. Its selection represents hundreds of food producers around the world, and it’s often the place where home cooks know they can get that one special ingredient.

But Adri Pachelli, senior manager and director of education at Caputo’s, wants people to know that you don’t have to be a foodie to shop at Caputo’s. In fact, you can be the complete opposite.

If you don’t know your gouda from your taleggio, you are welcome to get right up to that cheese counter and ask to taste a sample of both. If you feel overwhelmed when you walk in, Pachelli said any Caputo’s employee would be happy to give you a tour and answer your questions.

Caputo’s was founded in 1997 on the idea of “bringing people in rather than making people feel pushed away,” she said.

In addition to shopping, Caputo’s also offers a variety of classes, everything from a chocolate- and cheese-tasting class, to courses on hard cider, disco-era cocktails, gin, tiki drinks, wine and special classes that are designed to be tours of Italy and Spain.

Prices usually range from $40 to $65 per class; register at Caputos.com.

(Bethany Baker  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Assistant manager Marta Villalobos speaks during a class on pairing wine with food at Caputo's Market & Deli in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Assistant manager Marta Villalobos speaks during a class on pairing wine with food at Caputo's Market & Deli in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (Bethany Baker/)

Harmons Grocery

If you thought Harmons was just a grocery store, think again. The local high-end chain has an entire cooking school, with a slate of classes that range from “Building a Better Charcuterie Board” to “Macarons 101″ to “Spring Break, Teen Chef: A Pizza the Action!” and many, many more.

The classes feature cuisines from all over the world and multiple styles of cooking, and are taught at Harmons locations in Station Park (Farmington), Bangerter Crossing (Draper), Holladay Market, Mountain View Village (Riverton), City Creek (downtown Salt Lake City), Traverse Mountain (Lehi) and in Santa Clara in the St. George area.

At Harmons cooking classes, students will be working together in small groups in a hands-on setting, and get to taste what they whip up.

Classes usually range from $35 to about $125; register at HarmonsGrocery.com.

Salt Lake Culinary Education (SLICE)

Even if you have no plans to become a professional chef, you can still learn at Salt Lake Culinary Education, at 2233 S. 300 East, Salt Lake City, through their many different types of recreational classes.

If you’re wanting to not only eat dinner with a date but also cook together, the Date Night classes might be up your alley.

If you have a child who’s curious in the kitchen and over the age of 9, they may enjoy one of the Junior Chefs classes.

If you’re all thumbs in the kitchen, the basic knife skills classes might be for you.

And if you want to finally crack the code of a specific food like sushi, Indian street food or lasagna, there are specialized workshops available.

Nicole Marriner, who handles events and marketing for Salt Lake Culinary Education, said attendees typically leave their classes with renewed confidence in the kitchen and inspiration to cook more at home.

Classes range from about $85 for individual classes to $210 for couples’ classes; register at SLICEUtah.com.

Scion Cider Bar

If you’ve ever had a glass of hard cider and wish you knew more about the complex beverage, this class taught through the University of Utah’s Continuing Education program is for you. It will be taught by certified pommelier Matthew Ostrander, at Scion Cider Bar, 916 S. Jefferson St. in Salt Lake City.

The class, happening Monday, April 22, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., is called “Ciders of the World: Spanish Sidra” and will educate attendees on ciders from Spain’s Basque and Asturias regions.

Tuition is $39, plus a special fee of $45 for the cider and space rental. Register at Continue.Utah.edu.

Snuck Farm

Snuck Farm — founded in 2015 by owner and managing director Page Westover on family land in Pleasant Grove, at 504 W. 1100 North — offers several workshops to the community based on what’s in season.

Despite the farm’s limited space of 3½ acres, it produces herbs, veggies, cut flowers and more, which show up in classes like Seasonal Drinks: Spring Edition. Most classes are beginner-friendly but fill up quickly, so make sure to reserve your spot soon. Workshops are taught by instructors in the community who are considered experts in their field, Westover said via email.

“It’s my hope people come to the farm and feel inspired to live healthier, more sustainable lives,” Westover said. “And that they enjoy some peace and joy while eating great food and relaxing in a beautiful space.”

One-time classes range from $75 to $90; prices increase for season-long workshops. Register at SnuckFarm.com.

America First Credit Union responds to Utah Royals jersey controversy

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Supporter groups from two National Women’s Soccer League teams have come out against the jersey sponsor of the Utah Royals.

Chicago Local 134 and The Uproar — supporter groups for the Chicago Red Stars and North Carolina Courage, respectively — have taken issue with America First Credit Union, the jersey front sponsor of the Royals, as well the naming rights sponsor of the stadium in Sandy where Real Salt Lake and Royals play.

It’s become an issue that has the state’s governor rolling his eyes, fans split and the credit union explaining its history.

The Uproar released a statement Friday in advance of the game between the Royals and the Courage criticizing the organization for partnering with a company that uses the “America First” phrase.

“While we support all the Utah players and their fans, we can’t stand by without mentioning the front of jersey sponsor, America First Credit Union, of our opponent — the Utah Royals,” the statement reads. “The phrase ‘America First’ has a long history rooted in racism, fascism, and hateful ideology.”

Last week, the day before the Royals lost their season opener to the Red Stars, Chicago Local 134 released a similar statement.

“The history of the phrase ‘America First’ and the imagery used in the credit union’s logo is rooted in racist ideology [and] propaganda that harks back to the Nazis and the KKK,” the statement read. “[S]occer is for all, and promoting an institution that is represented by racist propaganda is unacceptable.”

Gov. Spencer Cox voiced his feelings about The Uproar’s statement via X.

“Just when you think this website can’t get any more ridiculous (I had to double check if this was a parody account…sadly it is not),” Cox wrote in a quote tweet.

America First Credit Union provided the following statement to The Tribune:

“America First Credit Union is dedicated to serving the financial needs of all individuals and communities within its field of membership. Its name and history are rooted in the credit union’s initial connection with the United States government, serving civilian federal employees working at American military bases, including Utah’s Fort Douglas, where the credit union was founded in 1939.

“Throughout its 85-year history, America First Credit Union has worked to put the financial needs and interests of its members and community first—never losing sight of their founding principle of ‘people helping people.’”

The credit union was founded 1939 under the name Fort Douglas Civilian Employees Credit Union. It became Federal Employees Credit Union in 1947 after the company relocated to Ogden.

In 1984, it became America First Credit Union. The company said “America” comes from its connection with the U.S. government and working with people who worked on military bases and depots in Utah. It also said “First” was " meant to reflect our continuing dedication to always putting the financial needs of our members at the forefront of our efforts.”

In regards to its logo, AFCU said it’s a representation of the North American Bald Eagle, and “stylistically designed to look similar to the wings worn by many of the brave service men and women in our armed forces.”

The phrase “America First” has been used in politics since the 1850s. President Woodrow Wilson used it to describe what he meant by neutrality, and president Warren G. Harding used it while campaigning for the general election in 1920.

The term then popped up within the Klu Klux Klan in the 1920s. During World War II, the America First Committee used the phrase as its slogan in its efforts to keep the U.S. from getting involved in the war.

President Donald Trump used “America First” on multiple occasions during his 2016 presidential campaign. David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the KKK, ran for a Senate seat using the slogan.

Fans who spoke to The Salt Lake Tribune had different perspectives. One fan said AFCU is “just a credit union” and has no issue with it being a jersey sponsor. Another fan, however, said they don’t bank with the credit union nor will they buy Royals merchandise that features the sponsor.

Walkable, bikeable and less lonely: Are planned communities the cure?

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This story is and excerpt from The Salt Lake Tribune Inno Lab Notes newsletter where we explore housing, transportation and energy solutions.

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Solano County is a small agricultural community in California’s Bay Area. The county has been the subject of national news stories lately because a group of billionaires secretly bought up agricultural land and want to build a city “from the ground up.” The New York Times reported that the project “was billed as a salve for San Francisco’s urban housing problems.”

It seems like part of a trend of frustrated urbanists giving up on older cities and their NIMBY reputations and turning to greener pastures.

Or, in Utah’s case, to former mining and prison sites. While planned communities get a bad rap for having “Stepford Wives” vibes, some feel they provide an easier path to building the walkable, mixed-use communities that advocates say are the key to tackling many of our woes from climate change to loneliness.

Decades ago Utah got Daybreak — a master-planned community in South Jordan that’s become a cycling and walking oasis but is still working on bringing jobs and amenities in. (Although, in a few years, they will get the Salt Lake Bees). There’s the TRAX red line running straight from downtown Salt Lake City to the outer edges of Daybreak, but residents say they still often have to get in the car to get to work.

In Vineyard, Utah County another group of developers and planners are working on a master-planned community that aims to be more “complete.” Utah City, on the edge of Utah Lake, will be a mixed-use, dense community where people can easily walk to work and the grocery store. Or at least, that’s the vision. The famous walkable city expert and planner Jeff Speck (he literally wrote the book on it) is also involved with planning Utah City. I interviewed him last week and published a Q&A of our conversation on Saturday. Read it here and stay tuned for more planned community news.

Do you have strong opinions on a planned community coming to your neighborhood? Do you live in one and love it? I want to hear your thoughts. Email me at sjeremias@sltrib.com.



Letter: ‘The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are … the religious leaders with their insistence of proper dress and grooming’

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The recent Tribune article on the BYU-Hawaii campus’ rules for grooming reminded me of a quote from the eminent LDS scholar and late BYU professor Hugh Nibley.

Nibley, speaking in the Joseph Smith Lecture Series, 1972-73, on the topic “What is Zion?, said:

“The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are not the harlots and publicans, but the religious leaders with their insistence of proper dress and grooming, their careful observance of all the rules, their precious concern for status symbols, their strict legality, their pious patriotism . . . the haircut becomes the test of virtue in a world where Satan deceives and rules by appearances.”

Norm Koller, Bountiful

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Letter: Here’s why Haley did so well in Utah

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Recently Bryan Schott — in his piece, “Will Donald Trump lose Utah in 2024 after Republicans see low turnout and caucus chaos?” — opined that President Trump’s marginal victory of just 56% is evidence that MAGA is waning in the Beehive State.

What Schott’s postulate fails to address is how do you define a Haley voter? If that definition is nebulous, her presumed roll up of 44% of the vote is equally a shoddy conclusion.

Here are my observations from the caucus in Summit County.

While caucus can be rancorous, it is equally entertaining, fun and promotes community. Most participants enjoy seeing their neighbors and engage in politically charged conversations, yet others show up demanding to vote in the Presidential Preference Poll and leave without taking part in the selection of precinct officers.

Other drive-by voters arrived with numerous absentee ballots. Once tallied, it was revealed that absentee ballots in some precincts went exclusively for Haley. A day or two post-caucus, on Nextdoor, a caucus-goer posted, “it was unusual to see the lady from up the street with the BLM lawn sign at the Republican caucus.” Conclusion: the alleged hordes of Haley supporters were actually Democrats who switched parties in order to affect the outcome of the Republican caucus.

Without the ill-gotten Haley votes in the equation, Donald Trump’s commanding lead is revealed, proving that Utah is MAGA and will dominate in November.

Jerry Heck, Oakley

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Letter: Conservative PAC’s attacks on Biden’s spending don’t add up. Let’s consult Reagan on how government works.

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I will always remember:

In his radio address to the nation on the federal budget and the congressional elections on Oct. 15, 1988, Ronald Reagan said:

“You may have heard a lot of campaign talk from our liberal friends recently about the federal deficit and federal debt. What you don’t hear them say is that the president can’t spend one dime of the government’s money without congressional appropriations. Only Congress can decide how much the government spends. Only Congress can pass spending bills. Only Congress can determine how big the deficit will be, or if we’re to have a deficit at all. In fact, it is against the law for the president to spend a penny more or a penny less than Congress directs him to spend. The president can’t add to the deficit. He can’t subtract from it either. That’s Congress’ job.”

In his remarks to administration officials on domestic policy on Dec. 13, 1988 he said:

“And under the Constitution, only Congress can spend money; the president can’t appropriate a penny.”

So, Conservative Values for Utah PAC, what’s up with your TV ad referring to “President Joe Biden’s reckless spending”?

Claudia Ruby, Sandy

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U.S. Supreme Court mifepristone hearing: Utah backs abortion pill restrictions

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While Utah Supreme Court justices weigh whether the state’s constitution allows for a near-total abortion ban, Attorney General Sean Reyes is pushing the U.S. Supreme Court to restrict medication abortion not just in the Beehive State — but nationwide.

The same justices who overturned the federal constitutional right to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, handing policymaking over to states, heard arguments Tuesday in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a case that could result in tightened access to mifepristone, a pill used in medicated abortions.

Under the direction of Reyes, Utah signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief with 20 other states urging justices to roll back abortion pill access.

“The FDA has adopted a nationwide elective-abortion regime,” the brief reads. “It has extended that regime deeper into pregnancy, with even fewer guardrails, and despite abortion’s unique challenges.”

Reyes Amicus by Jeff Parrott on Scribd

The case, brought by a newly-formed anti-abortion group called Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, challenges the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first drug in a medicated abortion, as well as more recent rule changes widening where people can access it and making it available later in a pregnancy.

The drug is primarily used for abortions, but is also prescribed to manage miscarriages. While it isn’t immediately clear how many Utahns take mifepristone for the latter purpose, according to the most recent abortion data released by the state, more than half of the nearly 3,000 abortions provided in the state in 2021 were done using medication.

Under the FDA, Mifepristone is currently approved for use up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. Taking mifepristone for an abortion is widely considered by medical professionals to be safe, and complications are rare.

Abortion is legal up to 18 weeks in Utah as a trigger law passed in 2020, which bans abortion with limited exceptions, makes its way through the courts. Republican state lawmakers have taken multiple actions to try to speed up and circumvent that legal process.

(Emily Anderson Stern | The Salt Lake Tribune) People attend an anti-abortion prayer meeting at the Utah Capitol Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023.
(Emily Anderson Stern | The Salt Lake Tribune) People attend an anti-abortion prayer meeting at the Utah Capitol Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023.

The brief Reyes signed accuses the FDA of going around abortion restrictions passed in multiple states, including Utah.

“Under the Constitution, States have the primary authority to protect health, safety, and welfare,” the brief says. “Using that power, many States have regulated and restricted abortion — including chemical abortion. Yet the FDA has greenlighted a permissive elective-abortion policy — undercutting States’ laws, thwarting States’ ability to enforce them, and hobbling the interests that those laws serve.”

But a coalition of 22 Democratic governors penned their own brief, saying a ruling restricting mifepristone access would do just that — undercut states’ laws. Voters in some of those states have approved ballot measures protecting abortion access.

Three of Utah’s five-member congressional delegation — Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Blake Moore and Rep. John Curtis — joined a separate brief also asking the court to impose more limits on mifepristone.

“As pro-life elected representatives, Amici are committed to protecting women and adolescent girls from the harms of the abortion industry,” their brief says. “By deregulating chemical abortion drugs, the FDA failed to follow Congress’ statutorily prescribed drug approval process to the detriment of patient welfare.”

Both briefs cite the Comstock Act — a 19th-century federal law that has been watered down over the years, but still includes language outlawing Americans from mailing any “article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion.” That statute has also been used in plaintiffs’ arguments and in efforts to prohibit abortion in towns bordering Utah and other states with abortion restrictions.

Although federal agencies have said they don’t interpret the code to criminalize abortion, abortion rights advocates worry the 150-year-old law could be relied on to implement a nationwide abortion ban.

As this case has made its way through the courts, anti-abortion group Pro-Life Utah on Facebook hailed a potential court-ordered crackdown on mifepristone as “good news.”

The action arm of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, meanwhile, urged supporters in a social media post earlier this month to sign onto a separate amicus brief to protect access to mifepristone, and “stop Sean Reyes from playing games with people’s personal medical decisions.”

Tuesday’s oral arguments were streamed on the U.S. Supreme Court’s website.


Opinion: Utah is jeopardizing public education funding. As educators, we need your help.

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Utah’s Constitution provides for a public education supported by state and local tax revenues. Since obtaining statehood, Utah has developed, supported and championed one of the most successful public education systems in the country. The success of the system of public schools has come from unrivaled commitment and collaboration of educators, parents, taxpayers, policy makers and the business community, despite sparse state funding. All Utahns and taxpayers, not just those with school-age children, benefit from a robust and thriving public education system.

The Utah Legislature has enacted policies that privatize education in Utah and provide public funding to support alternative educational systems. Using public funds in this way increases state education costs and undermines public schools. All Utahns should be wary of this shift which has resulted in rapidly escalating costs that threaten state budgets, with little to no accountability for student learning in states where similar policies have been pursued.

Utah has 41 school districts, each shaped by the communities they serve and governed by locally elected boards of education. Every square foot of this great state is served by a public school district. Every child who resides in any place in Utah has the guarantee and the right to be educated in a public school. Our shared commitment is to every child, regardless of where those children call home or whatever their circumstances may be. None are turned away.

Unlike private education options, local governance of neighborhood public schools ensures a collaborative effort where accountability and local input go hand in hand to provide opportunities for every student to thrive. Dedicated educators, staff, student support professionals and local policy makers use best practices every day in classrooms in every public school throughout the state so today’s students will become productive and contributing citizens to our communities and state.

We write as two of the elected officials answerable to the families in Canyons District, which serves 33,000 students. Canyons students have opportunities for college preparation courses, athletic and performing arts experiences, advanced language courses, career certifications in the medical or technology fields and many more options that align with their interests and skills. We are proud of all that is offered to students and know that similar opportunities are available in school districts throughout the state.

By nurturing individual potential, the system of public schools significantly contributes to Utah’s economic landscape by creating a well-educated workforce that is prepared to meet the challenges of Utah’s dynamic economy. We view this as a sacred trust — one that requires a significant investment.

John Adams, in the early days of this country, offered this advice: “The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people, and must be willing to bear the expense of it. There should not be a district of one mile square without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.”

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In November, voters will be asked to consider removing from Utah’s Constitution a long-standing designation of income tax as a protected revenue source of funding for public schools. We believe that removal of this constitutional protection jeopardizes future funding of public education as only minimal appropriations would be required. Protecting and increasing the investment in public education is as essential to the well-being of individuals, families and communities as the electricity we rely on, the roads we travel, the water we use, the trails we enjoy, and the air we breathe.

We invite all citizens of Utah to become informed of how your local public school district is preparing the youth in your community for a successful future — and better yet — become a champion of public education.

(Photo courtesy of Karen Pedersen) Karen Pedersen
(Photo courtesy of Karen Pedersen) Karen Pedersen

Karen Pedersen, MEd, is a native Utahn who is a former educator in the public school system for 41 years. Karen continues her commitment to serving students and educators as an elected member of the Canyons District Board of Education. The views stated here are my own opinions and are not representing the Board of Education.

(Photo courtesy of Nancy Tingey) Nancy Tingey
(Photo courtesy of Nancy Tingey) Nancy Tingey (kiana corri/)

Nancy Tingey has been a volunteer and passionate advocate for public education in Utah for 36 years. Nancy is in her twelfth year of serving on the Canyons District Board of Education. The views stated here are my own opinions and are not representing the Board of Education.

The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. We rely on your insight to do this. Find out how to share your opinion here, and email us at voices@sltrib.com.

Michael Valentine: I’m not interested in solidarity with genocide deniers

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I’m not interested in creating solidarity with hate speech and genocide deniers. I am not interested in breaking bread with those who can’t see the humanity of Palestinians. I don’t want any Nazis in my bar, Weathered Waves, no matter what stripes and flags these Nazis salute. I’m writing this op-ed to respond to the last two letters to the editor published by the Tribune and to clarify my stance once and for all.

It’s not antisemitic to be anti-Zionist. It’s not discrimination to ban hate speech from my bar. I am not discriminating against anyone. We have violated no policies and have broken no laws. We have had Jewish customers in our bar multiple times in recent weeks who oppose Zionism, who support our ban against hate speech, who stand for human rights, who support a ceasefire and who stand in solidarity with Palestine.

Zionism isn’t a protected class — it’s an ideology. It’s not protected under the Civil Rights Act or Utah Code 13-7-3 Zionism is not a race, color, sex, pregnancy, religion, ethnicity, national origin, age, gender, etc. It’s a religious dogma that asserts God gave a certain people a set of land thousands of years ago and therefore have a right to ethnically cleanse, oppress and dominate the Arab people who already live there and who are actually indigenous to the land.

Zionism ties directly with our own Utah and American history, as we also destroyed the tribes who lived here through generations of manifest destiny, colonialism and genocide. Salt Lake City remains on Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute and Ute land. Mormon and Western history is one of blood, violence and conquest against native people. This history must never be forgotten. The site of the Bear River Massacre is hours away.

As an atheist, I don’t believe in a Jewish, Christian or Muslim state. I believe Israel has no right to exist in the same way America doesn’t have a right to exist. This is my religious freedom that is not being addressed all while Governor Spencer Cox signs a bill putting the Ten Commandments in schools, a direct violation of the separation of church and state and First Amendment religious liberties. Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. I vehemently oppose all theocracies, both Israel and our local Utah theocracy. 

Since banning hate speech from my bar and standing for human rights, I have received multiple death threats, as well as threats to burn my bar down. I have been the target of a disinformation campaign with fake bots sending me messages and phone calls directly from Israel, a campaign that I have reported to the FBI. But it is a small price to pay to stand on the right side of history, to stand with humanity and to stand with the Palestinian people as they fight the direct annihilation of their people and culture.

I will always be anti-genocide, anti-colonialism and pro-human rights. I stand with those around the world who directly oppose the war crimes of Israel and America as all of Gaza is carpet bombed, hospitals are blown up, children are murdered, doctors are shot and nurses and journalists are targeted and assassinated.

I’m sure there are other genocide-loving establishments folks can enjoy. My bar will not be one of them.

I remain disgusted by anyone who justifies genocide and rationalizes what is happening in Gaza as trials unfold at the Hague with the International Court of Justice investigating egregious human rights abuses at an unprecedented scale and speed of unimaginable inhumanity. With the court now investigating the illegal occupation of Palestine by the apartheid state of Israel.

Free Palestine. Ceasefire now.

(Photo courtesy of Michael Valentine) Michael Valentine
(Photo courtesy of Michael Valentine) Michael Valentine

Michael Valentine is a former Salt Lake City Mayoral candidate who is actively getting signatures to get on the ballot to run for Salt Lake County Mayor this year. He is a business owner and filmmaker who resides in downtown Salt Lake City.

The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. We rely on your insight to do this. Find out how to share your opinion here, and email us at voices@sltrib.com.

Bagley Cartoon: Red Wedding

Water Documenters: Read meeting notes from the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy

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Attendance:

Present:

Tom Godfrey - Chair (Via Zoom)

John Kirkham - Vice Chair

Patricia Comarell - Secretary

Donald Milne - Chair of Engineering Committee

Cindy Cromer

Absences:

John Mabey Jr. - Chair of Management Advisory Committee

Joan Degiorgio - Chair of Environmental Committee

Addendum for Sam Park West Reservoir and Terminal Reservoir Easement Agreement

Ammon Allen, the engineering manager at the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy, explained that Salt Lake City is adding a valve to the Terminal Reservoir at the base of Parleys Canyon. There was an easement agreement in 2012 involving the district with Salt Lake City, which this would update. This addendum insures the water district for liability coverage and also clarifies ownership and operation responsibilities. The addendum was already approved by Salt Lake City, so it only needs to be approved by the district for it to be official.

Aqueduct Resilience Grant Agreement with the State of Utah

The Utah Division of Water Resources has awarded $1.4 million, which will fund the design for a replacement of three pipe segments totaling over 1,483 feet. These pipes were addressed in the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan and sit on a fault line.  This grant will be a part of the fiscal year 2025 plans, but a consultant will be selected in June of 2024.

Davenport Consulting Contract for Salt Lake Aqueduct Replacement (SLAR) Right of Way

A consulting firm named Davenport was being subcontracted by the firm and engineers who were working on this project. This contract will move their services so they are directly tied to the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake and Sandy (MWDSLS).The right-of-way acquisitions are where property or easements is acquired in order to complete the given project. The district wants to be the sole-source contractor for Davenport.

Kimley-Horn’s Task Order for Public Engagement.

In a recent meeting, the district approved a five-year contract with Kimley-Horn. The scope of their services is focused around community relations. The particular task order will last for a year involving the Salt Lake Aqueduct Replacement project, where the consultant will lead weekly engagement meetings, send weekly construction update emails and several other activities connecting with stakeholders. Patricia Comarell, the secretary on the board of trustees, was interested in where Kimley-Horn would perform their community meetings. She was worried that if they conducted the meetings at the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake and Sandy, they would have poor community turnout.

Additional Notes

The snow year continues to be very successful. Utah is currently at the median peak for winter precipitation. There will likely be more precipitation which means that this year will rank above the median for the past 10 years.

What Passed

  • Consider approval of Addendum No. 1 to Sam Park West Reservoir and Terminal Reservoir Easement Agreement (Tab 1)
  • Consider approval of Aqueduct Resilience Grant Agreement with the Utah Division of Water Resources (Tab 1)
  • Consider approval of professional services agreement and Task Order No. 1 with Davenport Consulting for right-of-way acquisition services (Tab 1)
  • Consider approval of Task Order No. 1 with Kimley-Horn for public engagement on the Cottonwoods Connection project (Tab 1)
  • Consider approval of Board Meeting minutes dated February 26, 2024 (Tab 2) (With the fix of a small typo)
  • Close session for pending or reasonably imminent litigation

Everything passed unanimously.

Water Documenters is a collaboration between The Salt Lake Tribune and City Bureau and funded through grants from the Great Salt Lake Collaborative and the Rita Allen Foundation. College student journalists from all over Utah are hired to attend and take notes at public water meetings in Utah. These notes are then published for anyone to read or use. The project is aimed at providing better public access to meetings where major decisions are made about a limited Utah resource. For more meeting notes, click here. For more information, click here.

Utah man shot by Payson police shoplifted sushi before officer confrontation, prosecutors say

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A man who prosecutors say shoplifted sushi from a Payson grocery store before he was shot by police when he threatened them with a knife has been charged with trying to kill the officers.

Octavio Salas, 20, was charged Monday in 4th District Court with attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; and interfering with police and retail theft, Class B misdemeanors, court records show.

Before the police shooting, a man wearing a black ski mask shoplifted a tray of sushi on March 16 from the Payson Market at 586 N. Main Street, according to a probable cause statement. Police officers found the man nearby “and stopped to talk with” him, but the man — later identified as Salas — “began retreating.”

Police said Salas “had a silver metal tool in his right hand and an approximately 5-inch blade knife in his right hand,” and that he told the officers, “Shoot me.”

Officers ordered Salas to drop the knife, but Salas refused, charging documents state. Police used a stun gun on him three times without effect before Salas “began advancing” on one of the officers, coming “within feet of this officer while swinging the knife.”

Another officer then opened fire on Salas twice, hitting him once in the shoulder.

After police took Salas to the ground, he struggled with officers before he was eventually placed in handcuffs, according to charging documents. As officers tried to medically treat him, Salas said things like, “Why am I not dead?” and “I want to die,” the documents state.

Salas was hospitalized for his injuries and later transferred to the Utah County jail, where he is being held without bail. His first court appearance is scheduled for Monday.

Vampire Weekend’s bass player really wants to hang out with ‘The Real Housewives of SLC’

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Hey, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City: Did you know that a member of the band Vampire Weekend is at least a little obsessed with you? And that he really wants you to come to their upcoming concert in Utah?

And he’d love to buy you dinner and hang.

In an episode of the band’s YouTube streaming series “Vampire Campfire” — the three band members sit around a fire pit talking mostly about themselves — bass player Chris Baio extends an invitation to “RHOSLC” cast members Heather Gay, Whitney Rose, Lisa Barlow, Meredith Marks, Angie Katsanevas “and, yes, Monica” Garcia: “If you have any interest in going to an indie rock festival in your town of Salt Lake City, we are playing the Kilby Court Block Party in the second week in May.”

(The block party is set for May 10-12 at the Utah State Fairpark. Vampire Weekend is scheduled to headline on Friday, May 10, closing out the night on the Kilby Stage.)

Baio is clearly a fan of Utah’s Housewives. “I absolutely was blown away by your most recent season,” he says, which finished airing in January.

Leah Hogsten  |  The Salt Lake Tribune

Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend plays at Red Butte Garden, Tuesday, May 21, 2013.
Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend plays at Red Butte Garden, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. (Leah Hogsten/)

His bandmates just as clearly know nothing about the show. “So what’s so good about ‘The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’?” asks guitarist Ezra Koenig. Drummer Chris “CT” Tomson adds, “I bet there’s, like, years of mythology to understand it all.” And Baio tells them, “It’s a whole universe.”

But Baio — who has not just been watching “RHOSLC,” but actually paying attention — quickly and accurately sums up what happened in Season 4.

“What ended up happening is that a woman [Monica] who was new to the show — she turned out to have been an online troll of all the other women over the years,” he says. “It was an incredible, stunning reveal.”

Off the top of his head, Baio not only remembers the names of all the Housewives but also the name of Monica’s Instagram troll account: Reality Von Tease.

(Bravo) Jen Shah goes after Meredith Marks in an episode of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
(Bravo) Jen Shah goes after Meredith Marks in an episode of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

And he tells his bandmates that “one member of ‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,’ Jen Shah, she is currently serving time in the federal prison for financial fraud. … She got arrested by the FBI during the second season.”

Also accurate.

Maybe Bravo ought to hire Baio to do promos for “RHOSLC.” He tells his bandmates, and “Vampire Campfire” viewers, “It’s an incredible program and, like, I cannot recommend it enough.”

And when Tomson suggests that cast members can expect “maybe even dinner on you before the show,” Baio quickly agrees. “I would love to hang before the show. … It would be my honor and my privilege,” he says.

He’s obviously a fan, and he appreciates that the Housewives are “gladiators … fighting for our entertainment.” Tomson doesn’t get it, asking if “Real Housewives” is like “Road Rules,” with challenges set up for cast members. “What’s the game here?”

“This is the game of being a Housewife,” Baio says. “The fighting, and all that kind of stuff.” And, he adds, the show includes “an element of cruelty.”

Also accurate.

(Columbia Records) The members of Vampire Weekend — from left, drummer Chris “CT” Tomson, guitarist Ezra Koenig and bassist Chris Baio — on the set of their YouTube series "Vampire Campfire."
(Columbia Records) The members of Vampire Weekend — from left, drummer Chris “CT” Tomson, guitarist Ezra Koenig and bassist Chris Baio — on the set of their YouTube series "Vampire Campfire."

Baltimore bridge collapse caused by DEI efforts, Utah Rep. Phil Lyman says

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Phil Lyman, a Utah Republican lawmaker and candidate for governor, quickly used Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse to boost his gubernatorial campaign by blaming the accident on efforts to make workplaces more diverse.

He later said he had not authorized the comment before it was posted by his social media team.

A cargo ship reportedly lost control and rammed into a support structure for the bridge early Tuesday morning, destroying the structure. As rescue crews were searching for possible victims, Lyman blamed the tragedy on the culture wars over diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

Lyman was responding to a post from the Young Conservative Federation attacking Port of Baltimore Commissioner Karenthia Barber, a Black woman who, according to her professional biography, owns a consulting firm that includes “diversity, equity and inclusion audits and consulting.”

“This is what happens when you have Governors who prioritize diversity over the wellbeing [sic] and security of citizens,” Lyman posted Tuesday morning.

In a subsequent post, Lyman added, “DEI=DIE.”

While Lyman did not respond to a request to explain to post ahead of the publication of this story, he later returned a phone call from The Salt Lake Tribune.

“It was not our best moment,” Lyman said. “The post was a knee-jerk reaction to some of the things others were putting out there.”

Lyman struggled to explain why he believed that DEI played a hand in the tragedy before saying he did not author the posts. He said his social media team often posts without his approval, which is what happened Tuesday morning.

“I prefer a dignified approach and sometimes the people who handle the social media are more provocative than what I’m comfortable with,” Lyman said.

Lyman took full responsibility for the posts and did not feel he needed to apologize for politicizing the tragedy. He does not plan to remove them.

Baltimore officials said early Tuesday morning that they were searching for victims of the collapse. The Baltimore Banner reported that members of a road repair crew may have fallen off the bridge into the water.

“We are still very much in an active search and rescue posture at this point, and we will continue to be for some time. We have a large area that we have to search,” said Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace according to The Baltimore Banner.

Bridge experts say no bridge could withstand being hit by a ship the size of the vessel responsible for Tuesday’s disaster, The Washington Post reported.

(Mark Schiefelbein | AP) A container ship rests against wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, as seen from Pasadena, Md. The ship rammed into the major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday, causing it to collapse in a matter of seconds and creating a terrifying scene as several vehicles plunged into the chilly river below.
(Mark Schiefelbein | AP) A container ship rests against wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, as seen from Pasadena, Md. The ship rammed into the major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday, causing it to collapse in a matter of seconds and creating a terrifying scene as several vehicles plunged into the chilly river below. (Mark Schiefelbein/)

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, whom Lyman is challenging for the GOP nomination this year, responded soberly to news of the bridge collapse.

“Terrible news out of Maryland this morning,” Cox posted. “Our prayers are with everyone affected by this tragedy.”

Lyman is not the only Republican crassly blaming the calamity on Democrats or liberal politics. Former Florida State Rep. Anthony Sabatini posted a video of the bridge collapsing with the caption, “DEI did this.”

Fox Business Host Maria Bartoromo tried to link the bridge disaster to the President Joe Biden administration’s border policy. At the same time, American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp said “drug-addled” workers and coronavirus lockdowns were to blame. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones suggested the accident was due to a cyber attack and may signal the start of World War III.

Update, 4:20 p.m. • After this story was published, Rep. Phil Lyman said he took responsibility for the post and that it had been published by his social media team without his approval.

Kouri Richins now facing more charges in addition to husband’s murder

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Kouri Richins, a Utah woman who is accused of killing her husband in 2022, is now facing several new fraud-related charges.

On Monday, Richins was hit with two counts of mortgage fraud, two counts of insurance fraud, and three counts of forgery. She was charged in 2023 with aggravated murder and other offenses in connection with the death of her husband, Eric Richins.

Prosecutors allege that Richins applied for a mortgage in 2021, in which she claimed a balance of $210,898 in her credit union account. According to court documents, there was actually $15,609.

Read the full story at fox13now.com.

The Salt Lake Tribune and Fox 13 News are content-sharing partners.

Ruby Franke videos: What police saw after her son escaped Jodi Hildebrandt’s home and officers went in

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Authorities released a cache of videos Friday from the day Ruby Franke’s 12-year-old son fled Jodi Hildebrandt’s Ivins home last August, an escape that revealed the “horrific abuse” prosecutors later said he and his sister faced there.

The 29 videos — a combination of home surveillance and police body camera footage — show the boy approaching neighbors’ houses for help, wearing a pair of shorts that expose his thin legs and bare feet, as well as the moment when police find his younger sister in a dark closet inside Hildebrandt’s home.

Both children appear thin and move slowly, and authorities seem unnerved by the scene. In one video, a paramedic outside Hildebrandt’s house tells an officer, “I’m crying.”

“I know,” he responds. “That’s why I have my shades on.”

[Read more: Ruby Franke case: Police records, personal journal detailing child abuse released]

Franke and Hildebrandt each pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse in December and were both sentenced in February to at least four years in prison.

The Salt Lake Tribune reviewed the hours of footage released Friday. Here is what it showed.

12-year-old escapes, asks for help

Surveillance video shows Franke’s son walking up to a house. Music can be heard, and he rings the doorbell and waits about a minute before knocking on the door. No one answers, and he walks out of view — evidently to another neighbor’s house.

He pushes the doorbell at the other house, Ring camera footage shows, and begins to walk away when no one answers after about 40 seconds. But he turns around when a man opens the door.

“Hey,” the boy says, “I was just wondering if you could do two favors?”

“Well, what is it?” the man responds.

“Taking me to the nearest police station,” the boy says, adding, “Well, actually just one (favor) is fine.”

The man asks the boy what’s going on, to which the boy replies, “It’s personal business.”

In later videos from that home’s security system, the man is on the phone with police asking for help, while a woman brings the boy snacks — candy and pretzels.

“He has duct tape around each ankle,” the man can be heard telling dispatchers. “Yeah, there’s sores around them, and he has them around his wrist as well. This boy has been,” the man trails off, his voice breaking with emotion, “This kid has obviously been…” Then the video ends.

An ambulance later arrives and the boy is loaded into the back. Police body camera footage shows him lying on a gurney with snacks in plastic bags on his lap. His ankles have been blurred in the footage released to the public. An officer asks him, “How’d you get the ropes on you?”

The boy responds, but his answers are bleeped.

“Who did them? You’re not in trouble with me,” the officer says. “We’re just trying to figure out what is going on. Our main focus right now is you. Who put the ropes on you?”

Police go to Hildebrandt’s home

(Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department) Footage from body-worn camera shows police searching the home of Jodi Hildebrandt on Aug. 30, 2023.
(Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department) Footage from body-worn camera shows police searching the home of Jodi Hildebrandt on Aug. 30, 2023.

After the boy went to the neighbor for help, police went to Hildebrandt’s home to search for other children. Body camera footage shows officers knocking on Hildebrandt’s large front door, and the woman answering it — but refusing to step outside.

“Jodi, you need to step out,” an officer says.

“I have my attorney,” she replies, pointing to her cell phone.

“That’s great,” the officer responds, “Step out of the house.”

When Hildebrandt continued to refuse to leave her home, the body camera footage shows two officers grab her and pull her outside.

Later in the video, Hildebrandt questions how the police could come into her home without a search warrant. A police lieutenant later explains to Hildebrandt’s attorney, who she had on speaker phone, that the “exigent circumstances” which allowed them to enter her home were that “we received a report of an emaciated juvenile that had duct tape around his extremities asking for food and water … [we are] ensuring there is nobody else in that same condition.”

10-year-old found in closet

(Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department) Footage from body-worn camera shows police locating a child at the home of Jodi Hildebrandt on Aug. 30, 2023.
(Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department) Footage from body-worn camera shows police locating a child at the home of Jodi Hildebrandt on Aug. 30, 2023.

Officers cleared Hildebrandt’s house and just before noon found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in a dark bathroom closet wearing blue jeans and a pink shirt. Video shows her on the floor, sitting cross-legged and very still.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I promise,” the officer says. “See this right here? It’s a badge. It tells me that I don’t hurt people. I’m just here to make sure you’re OK.”

Later, another officer drops off a small pizza and drink in front of the girl as Maroon 5′s “Payphone” plays in the background. The officer sings a few lyrics as the girl continues to sit still.

After more than a minute passes and she still hasn’t touched the food, the officer says, “You’re more than welcome to eat.”

She waits about 10 seconds before slowly reaching toward the white cardboard pizza box and opening it. About 30 seconds later, she takes a hesitant bite. And then another.

Later, two female medics try to coax the girl out of the closet. One of them tells the girl, “We helped your brother, and we got him some help too. That’s what we want to do for you. We want to get you some help too. We are safe. We will not hurt you, and we won’t do anything to hurt you.”

The girl answers, but her response is redacted. A few seconds later, the girl stands up and walks slowly out of the room — about four hours after police found her.

Inside Hildebrandt’s home

(Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department) Footage from body-worn camera shows police taking handcuffs and rope from the home of Jodi Hildebrandt on Aug. 30, 2023.
(Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department) Footage from body-worn camera shows police taking handcuffs and rope from the home of Jodi Hildebrandt on Aug. 30, 2023.

Police got a search warrant to gain entry into what one officer describes in a police report as a “panic room,” a small concrete room in the basement that was behind a locked vault door.

Body camera footage shows officers opening the vault door, and walking into the small room which had a toilet, a sink, an empty fridge and a Murphy bed. What appears to be white linens bundled together were on the sink countertop, and the cabinets were mostly empty — except for one drawer. Another clip of body camera footage shows an officer finding rope and handcuffs in a drawer in that room, and putting them in an evidence bag.

When police asked Hildebrandt for the passcode to open the vault door, body camera footage shows her initially telling officers she couldn’t remember it and that it was a number she had set six years ago.

A police report details other items that officers seized from Hildebrandt’s home that day, including several laptops and cellphones. They also seized bandages and plastic wrap, along with clothing.

Franke and Hildebrandt police interviews

Franke appears in later footage taken at Hildebrandt’s home. After the women were detained, officers took them to the police department to be interviewed.

Footage shows Franke sitting across from Detective Jessica Bate and Sgt. Nick Tobler in a sparsely decorated room. They offer her water and snacks, which she doesn’t accept.

“We’re just here to talk to you about kind of a few things involving your kids,” Bate says. “So first, do you live down here, or?”

Franke doesn’t answer, and stares ahead blinking. The officers ask her a few more questions, and she doesn’t respond. About two minutes into the questioning, Franke tells police, “I’ll wait until I have a lawyer.”

Officers try to get her talking for about a minute longer, but Franke doesn’t say anything more, and the officers leave.

Hildebrandt’s interview lasted nearly twice as long as Franke’s — around 7 minutes — with Hildebrandt telling officers she wanted to speak to them but her attorney asked her not to do so.

“So, I trust my attorney. He said don’t say anything. So I said, ‘I have nothing to hide,’ and he said, ‘I know that. Just let me be there with you when you talk,’” Hildebrandt said. “You guys seem like nice people. I’m not trying to hide anything. Not trying to be difficult. This is really, if you knew all the pieces, you’d have a lot of empathy for what’s going on.”

The officers tell her that she doesn’t have to answer any questions she doesn’t want to, and ask her if she would be comfortable talking about Ruby and Kevin Franke.

“We just honestly want to understand what their dynamic is, what happened to the children, what caused their separation,” Bate said, “and after talking to Kevin it sounds like you know a lot about their dynamic and their relationship.”

Hildebrandt reaffirms that she won’t speak until her attorney is present, and the officers leave.

Taking Franke and Hildebrandt to jail

(Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department) Footage from body-worn camera shows police arresting Ruby Franke after two of her children were found at the home of Jodi Hildebrandt on Aug. 30, 2023.
(Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department) Footage from body-worn camera shows police arresting Ruby Franke after two of her children were found at the home of Jodi Hildebrandt on Aug. 30, 2023.

After interviewing the women, police took them both to jail — in the same police car.

Body camera footage shows Hildebrandt being handcuffed and put into a patrol car first, as the sun was setting over the southern Utah red rock landscape.

In another video, Franke is seen being put into handcuffs and brought to the police lobby. Franke does not interact or respond to the police speaking to her, and at one point a lieutenant asked her if she needed medical help before going to jail.

“Are you OK?” he asks her, as she averts her eyes away from him. “I’m just concerned about you. I know you don’t believe that.”

The lieutenant continues to tell her that he was concerned because he had spoken to Franke’s husband about “her circumstance” and that he also worried for her children.

It was nearly dark when the police finally led Franke to the police car where Hildebrandt had been sitting. The footage shows another officer, Bate, tell Franke that the two women were under arrest for child abuse, one count for each of her two children who were in Hildebrandt’s home.

“It’s for the malnourishment,” Bate tells Franke. “You guys were in direct custody of those kids.””


She helped shape today’s LDS Primary. She sneaked behind the Iron Curtain. Oh, and she still water-skis at 92.

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Dwan Jacobsen Young was tapped to head up the Primary, a global organization for children in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at a pivotal point in the faith’s history.

It was 1980. Jimmy Carter was the U.S. president, gas prices were skyrocketing, and women were entering the workforce in record numbers.

The Utah-based church’s model for its congregations (wards), — which had been all-encompassing communities including weekday activities for children — needed to adapt.

To reduce travel time for members, Latter-day Saint authorities pulled the faith’s Primary, Sunday school, sacrament service, youth classes, priesthood meeting (for men) and Relief Society (for women) into a three-hour block of time on the Sabbath, in what was called “the consolidated meeting schedule.”

That’s when the male authorities turned to Young, a petite dynamo from Salt Lake City’s east bench with five children and broad experience in elementary education and music, to lead the Primary organization into a new era.

She and her two counselors, Virginia Cannon and Michaelene Grassli (who would succeed Young as president), were tasked with creating a fresh curriculum for children that would be appropriate for Sunday, rather than weekdays, which had been more like Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts.

They served from 1980 to 1988, after which Young went with her husband, Thomas Young Jr., to oversee missionaries in Calgary, Alberta. She later was appointed to the board of trustees of Primary Children’s Hospital and the board of what was then called Intermountain Health Care.

Young was among the first three women to address the general women’s meeting, which was established in 1984, and, when she was “released” in 1988, was among the first few modern women to speak at the faith’s General Conference.

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Dwan Young speaks at General Conference.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Dwan Young speaks at General Conference.

It was a “challenging…but crucial time,” recalls the 92-year-old widow (her husband died in 2023).

Still lively and engaged — with scores of grandchildren and great-grandchildren — Young was named this year by Guinness World Records as the “world’s oldest female water-skier.”

“When they announced it,” she says, “I thought it was just a joke.”

It wasn’t — and she has the certificate to prove it.

(Bethany Baker  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Dwan Young's certificate from Guinness World Records for water skiing sits on her fireplace in her home in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dwan Young's certificate from Guinness World Records for water skiing sits on her fireplace in her home in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (Bethany Baker/)

Here are excerpts from Young’s recent interview with The Salt Lake Tribune.

How did you get to be the church’s seventh general Primary president?

I was on the Primary general board starting in 1970 and in the spring of 1980 had given a presentation on Cub Scouts in my stake (a regional cluster of congregations) and one of the other Primary board members was there. That could be why I was chosen.

What was your role in the first general women’s meeting in 1984?

Gordon B. Hinckley [then a counselor in the governing First Presidency, later church president] called the women leading the Relief Society, Young Women and me and said, “I want you to move into the Relief Society Building and speak with one voice.” Before that, we each had separate meetings. At the first combined meeting, all three of us [presidents] spoke. I was first. The goals toward which we worked were “diversity, equity, identity and unity.” We met every month and our adviser met with us. It was a glorious time and the beginning of wonderful things to happen as far as the unity between the organizations was concerned.

The consolidated meeting schedule was announced in February 1980, meaning there would no longer be any weekday Primary. Were you given any directive on how to make that change?

We had to start from scratch. We had advisers but we were given a free hand. We had to do a new curriculum with music, “sharing time,” “activity days” and “achievement days.”

What resources did you have?

There is a wonderful, spiritual background to this. In 1970, [future church] President Harold B. Lee, who then was just an apostle, had developed the curriculum department, and they had identified all of the principles of the gospel that were to be taught to the church and the years in which each of the principles were to be taught. At that time, the Junior Sunday school would present the principle and Primary would offer the application of the principles with stories and activities. So 10 years later, we sat down to ask what we should do, since the Primary curriculum didn’t work and the Sunday school curriculum didn’t have the application of the principles. The first year we took bits and pieces from both organizations and put together a temporary curriculum. We just sent out papers clipped together and mimeographed to instruct Primaries on what to teach. Then we started doing our own curriculum. [Lee’s list of principles] gave us a foundation. At the Primary, we just did the skeletal outline with purposes and the guidelines. In the past, the Primary general board wrote the lessons, not the presidency. So all we had to do was establish the principle, and then they filled in. So that’s what we did.

What were some of the challenges you faced?

First, women [who were called to teach Primary] didn’t want to miss Relief Society — and they were asked in temple recommend interviews if they attended all their meetings. Second, the transition of the girls got complicated. Boys moved into the priesthood on their birthdays when they turned 12, but girls stayed in Primary until the end of the year, when they turned 12, rather than move into Young Women. We had to figure that out. The most horrible challenge was we lost all the nonmember children at once. We lost thousands and thousands who had been coming before because they came right from school to Primary. Being on Sunday, they weren’t going to come.

Men suddenly could serve as Primary teachers, so was this the first time women presided over men in the church?

I think so, and it was wonderful. They were music leaders, they were nursery leaders, and the boys loved having a man teach them. Then members of the bishopric would come in each month to Primary to give a message, which was a great blessing for the children.

What’s your favorite experience in visiting Primaries in other countries?

(Bethany Baker  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Dwan Young, the seventh Primary general president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sits in her home in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dwan Young, the seventh Primary general president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sits in her home in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (Bethany Baker/)

I traveled a lot. We only went to places where there were stakes, so I didn’t visit anywhere in Africa [which had just officially opened to missionary work two years earlier with the end of the priesthood/temple ban on Black members]. Probably my most heartwarming experience was in then-East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain. We couldn’t take in books or anything, and we couldn’t talk to anyone because the government didn’t even know we were there. It was very hard for the members there. On a Sunday, we got to this nondescript building, and we opened the door, and it was filled with people, and it was like the sunshine poured out. We went to Primary in the back, and I thought, “What in the world will they teach? How could they get the materials?” The president said, “I have a relative in West Berlin. She writes me letters — the first pages are to the family, then she copies the Primary lesson and sends it to me.

Any other travel memories?

In the Philippines, we went out into the jungle to visit a family living in a wood-frame square facility, raised up off the ground. There was no running water, no sanitation, no electricity and a live chicken tied under the sink. But, here in her home, the wall was covered with pictures from the Ensign [church magazine]. So here was this mother. Her husband was in jail. She had four children. She couldn’t afford to send all the children to school because they had to take a bus into the school. So one child a day would go to school while the other children were home. At the end, one of them played the guitar and they sang “I Am a Child of God” in Spanish and Tagalog and the whole evening was filled with the spirit. The gospel was there, and she was happy and loved, loved the Lord and I thought, “Oh my word. The world is filled with mothers like this. It was very humbling and very inspiring. I think about her a lot.”

(Young family) Dwan Young water-skis at age 92 in August 2023.
(Young family) Dwan Young water-skis at age 92 in August 2023.

When did you take up water skiing?

I started snow skiing when I was 6. I think that helped me get used to the way to water-ski. I have skied all of my life ... but I had not had any introduction to water until I married Tom. His family loves the water. They love fishing and used to rent a house on Bear Lake. As soon as we got married in 1951, we started boating, and I started skiing then.

How did you get your unusual name?

My father saw it in the newspaper. A man named Robert Dwan, a movie director for Groucho Marx, and it was his last name. Dad just liked it. My name is Dwan Louise, named after Louise Covey — Stephen Covey’s mother and one of my mom’s best friends. Mom did not like it. She wanted me to be called Louise, so that was what she always called me. But everyone else called me Dwan.

Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.

Free travel between Cache Valley and the Wasatch Front? Public funding could help make it happen.

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This time last year, the Cache Valley Transit District was in a bind.

The free-fare transit district had just broken ground on a new $56 million, decade-in-the-making administration and maintenance facility but was short on the funds needed to finish the project.

Todd Beutler, CEO and general manager for the Cache Valley Transit District (CVTD), said the Utah Legislature denied an $8 million funding request in 2023 to fill the district’s funding shortfall. Despite the funding gap, the district went ahead with began construction anyway.

But lawmakers felt differently this year. The northern Utah transit district received $5 million in state funds this year to cover part of the remaining cost of the new building. The new headquarters will house all of the transit district’s buses and administrative offices and the state funds will cover around 10% of the facility’s overall cost, Beutler said.

The transit district has outgrown its current facility, he added, and the new building will allow the CVTD to keep up with their projected demand in the growing Cache Valley. The larger space means the capacity for more buses, more staff and, potentially, more routes.

He said the expansion also gives the infrastructure CVTD needs to accomplish a long-held goal — connecting to the Wasatch Front.

“With that expansion, we’re looking at how and when do we connect to the Wasatch Front from a transit perspective,” Beutler told The Salt Lake Tribune. “We hear that request frequently.”

In the past, Beutler said CVTD has studied whether local demand would merit that connection, but they found current ridership wouldn’t justify making those trips. Salt Lake Express, a bus line with stops across multiple western states, currently has routes from Logan to Salt Lake, but fares can be upwards of $50.

CVTD does not charge riders for any of its services, making it an appealing option for people like Utah State University students to get around. A route to Brigham City — which has Utah Transit Authority routes — would open the door for students, or anyone in Cache Valley, to take transit to Utah’s population centers.

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The transit district’s desire for route expansion is tied to the county’s projected growth in the coming years. A 2022 study from the Kem C. Gardner Institute at the University of Utah projects Cache County could add nearly 100,000 residents by 2060.

The projected growth also comes with the need for expanded transit. CVTD’s funding request to the state projected ridership could grow as much as 245% by 2050, which would total 2.5 million trips every year.

As of now, construction on the new facility is ongoing, and CVTD hopes to have it finished by May 2025. Beutler credited Cache Valley’s state lawmakers for their efforts in securing the funding, particularly state Sen. Chris Wilson, R-Logan.

Wilson said earlier this month that CVTD getting its funding request granted was one of his highlights from the 2024 session.

“Todd (Beutler) does not take no for an answer, except last year, I guess he did have to take no (for an answer),” Wilson said. “But this year, we were able to get funding … that was a heavy lift.”

Design for proposed southern Utah reservoir is poor and poses risk to public safety, engineer says

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Ivins • A $22 million reuse reservoir the Washington County Water Conservancy District proposes to build in the middle of an Ivins residential community is poorly designed and will pose a safety risk to residents.

That’s the assessment Wayne Pennington, a geophysicist and retired dean of engineering at Michigan Technological University, provided to the Ivins City Council about the current design for Dry Wash Reservoir the district plans to build on about 90 acres between Kwavasa Drive and Highway 91.

“We are not bound to the model the district has,” said Pennington, who lives in Ivins and has researched the reservoir on his own time and dime. “In fact, I think the model the district has will not stand up. … Frankly, I think if any professional engineer put their imprimatur on that model [he or she] would lose their license.”

Pennington’s verdict on the district’s reservoir design, which resulted from his own research and report he prepared on Dry Wash, was delivered before an overflow crowd that packed the Ivins council chambers for a work session Thursday. The session was focused on potential problems with Dry Wash Reservoir, which is a key component of water district officials’ plans to amass another 47,000 acre-feet of water by 2042 to keep pace with growth.

By storing treated wastewater for use in outdoor irrigation, district officials argue, Dry Wash would free up culinary water the district would then have on tap to supply new homes constructed in the county over the next two decades. Opponents counter that locating a reservoir in the middle of the Kayenta residential community in Ivins is a bad idea and would be fraught with problems.

Dry Wash’s current design calls for a 1,500-acre foot reservoir with a high-water level of 3,044 feet, which is four feet higher than the maximum level a 2004 Environmental Assessment determined was safe. Moreover, Pennington noted, the current design is much larger than the 1,000 acre-foot reservoir the water district initially agreed to with the city in 2021.

Another concern is that nearby homes are at 3,020 feet elevation, 24 feet lower than the high-water level proposed in the reservoir’s current design which also calls for a 66-foot dam that critics worry might leak and seep into the groundwater and cause flooding.

Dust in the wind

Further exacerbating matter safety and public health concerns, Pennington and others voiced at the work session, is the problem posed by dust. When the reservoir is drawn down to send the water where it is needed during the hot summer months, about 47 acres of the lakebed would be exposed.

“A reservoir with these characteristics would … create problems due to a broad, shallow area on the western flank, creating a mudflat when the reservoir is low, and allowing wind to pick up the dust and other materials, carrying it to populated areas,” Pennington told city officials.

Ivins resident Ginamarie Foglia, an adjunct professor at Rocky Vista University who specializes in internal medicine and infectious diseases, expressed concern about dust clouds spreading valley fever, a fungus prevalent in the dirt and soil of Utah and other states in the American Southwest that can afflict and sicken both people and animals.

(Mark Eddington | The Salt Lake Tribune) Washington County Water Conservancy District general manager Zack Renstrom talks about the importance of Dry Wash Reservoir at a public meeting Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, at Rocky Vista University in Ivins. Ivins Mayor Chris Hart is seated onstage to Renstrom’s right.
(Mark Eddington | The Salt Lake Tribune) Washington County Water Conservancy District general manager Zack Renstrom talks about the importance of Dry Wash Reservoir at a public meeting Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, at Rocky Vista University in Ivins. Ivins Mayor Chris Hart is seated onstage to Renstrom’s right.

Washington County has the highest incidence of valley fever, or Coccidioides fungus. Between 2009 and 2015, there were 17.2 cases of valley fever per 100,000 people, compared with 1.83 per 100,000 for Utah as a whole, according to the Utah Department of Health.

“Some people exposed to valley fever may develop some kind of immunity and do OK,” Foglia said. “But the people who really suffer from it and need antifungals or can land in respiratory distress are people who are immunocompromised, people on steroids or who are on oncology medications…”

Pennington and others concerned about Dry Wash are pushing for a smaller reservoir with a different configuration that enhances public safety and mitigates any dust problems by shrinking the size of the lakebed exposed to wind during the summer months.

District officials did not comment on the concerns over the design of the reservoir during the work session. But district general manager Zach Renstrom recently told The Tribune that the current design is sound, has undergone rigorous analysis and has been subject to extensive review from the state and an independent third party. He also said the district has not encountered dust problems at its other reservoirs.

Meddlesome midges, gnarly gnats, biting black flies

Last week’s work session was not a public hearing. Instead, the council took comments from people credited with having some level of expertise or first-hand experience with various problems that might plague Dry Wash. Besides concerns about the reservoir design and dust, residents fretted about the havoc they said could be caused by pesky midges, gnats and biting black flies.

Kayenta developer Terry Marten said homes located at nearby Ivins Reservoir are already plagued by swarms of insects.

“When the lights are on in one of the [homes] close to the reservoir … and if a door is left open, then your house is filled with gnats,” Martin said. “They die relatively soon but then they are on the tables and furniture and chairs.”

Chuck Warren, president of the Desert Preservation Initiative, warned about Dry Wash Reservoir leading to the spread of invasive tamarisk trees, which out-compete native species like cottonwood and willow trees, “kill everything else” and fuel more wildfires.

Ivins officials plan to hold another work session soon to give water district officials and project engineers an opportunity to answer residents’ questions and concerns. Before construction can begin on Dry Wash Reservoir, the city must sign off on the project and grant the district a conditional use permit.

“We need to determine what the severity of these problems are, what mitigation the city of going to be required to provide and what the expense will be to the city so that when a decision on a conditional use permit is made, it is made with an understanding of what the city is committed to do,” Ivins Mayor Chris Hart said.

Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.

Right-wing influencers, including Burgess Owens, descend on the Darién Gap

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Metiti, Panama • Ayub Ibrahim had just walked out of the jungle. His feet still ached. A month earlier, he had left his home in Somalia, fleeing a civil war, he said, traveling first to Turkey, then Brazil and finally crossing on foot through a 66-mile expanse of wilderness known as the Darién Gap.

Resting in the sweltering San Vicente migrant camp in Panama with hundreds of other recent arrivals, he suddenly found himself surrounded by a half-dozen Americans with video cameras.

“Do you guys like Ilhan Omar?” one person asked. “What do you think about Joe Biden?”

Ibrahim, 20, answered the questions. He said he liked and admired Omar, the first Somali American to serve in Congress. He doesn’t follow U.S. politics, he added, but thinks Biden is a good president. When asked if Biden or former President Donald Trump would be better for immigrants, he chose Biden.

Later, Ibrahim would say he had felt ambushed and confused by the questions. He hadn’t intended to make a political statement.

But by then, it was too late.

One of his questioners, Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist and former Republican candidate for Congress, had already posted an edited video of the conversation online. It had rocketed around the internet, amassing nearly 2 million views on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The caption read: “Somali illegal aliens proclaim support for Ilhan Omar and Joe Biden inside Panama migrant camp!”

As immigration becomes a dominant issue in the 2024 presidential race, right-wing media has been awash in gritty and often deceptive videos of migrants emerging from the Darién Gap, a roadless stretch of Panamanian jungle that has become a bottleneck for thousands of people on their way to the United States.

The clips are presented as proof of what Republicans often describe as an “invasion” of Muslim terrorists, Chinese spies and Latin American criminals. Posted widely on social media, the videos blame Biden for the migration and suggest, falsely, that Democrats are encouraging it to create new, illegal voters. International aid organizations are cast as profiteers making money off human misery.

The New York Times traced much of that content to the work of Michael Yon, a former Green Beret who over the past three years has become the go-to tour guide for right-wing journalists, politicians and social-media influencers wanting to see the Darién Gap firsthand.

Those travelers have included, along with Loomer, Republican Reps. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin and Burgess Owens of Utah, reporters, producers and podcast hosts for The Epoch Times, a right-wing newspaper, and correspondents for Real America’s Voice, the digital media company that hosts Steve Bannon’s podcast.

Videos and other content made by the visitors have come to serve as a kind of B-roll footage accompanying conversations about immigration on Fox News, Tucker Carlson’s online show and even for Trump himself.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Burgess Owens, seen at a Salt Lake County Council meeting in February, has traveled to Panama to see migrants traverse through the Darién Gap.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Burgess Owens, seen at a Salt Lake County Council meeting in February, has traveled to Panama to see migrants traverse through the Darién Gap. (Francisco Kjolseth/)

On Friday, the Republican presidential candidate reposted a video on Truth Social made by Loomer. It included several clips from her trip to Panama, including a snippet of her conversation with Ibrahim.

The Times followed one group as it toured camps on the edge of the Darién Gap, observing and recording as participants interviewed migrants and shot video. The reporters, producers and influencers gravitated toward migrants from Africa, China and the Middle East, barraging them with politically loaded questions.

Their posts amplified what they perceived as gotcha moments while dismissing answers that appeared to challenge their preconceptions.

When asked whether he had been given money by the United Nations or humanitarian groups, Ibrahim said he had not. He also said that as a Muslim he supported equal rights for women and was opposed to discrimination against gay people. Those portions of the interview were cut from the version posted online and missing from Loomer’s later accounts.

In an interview with a call-in talk show on Infowars, the far-right platform, Loomer questioned whether the Muslims she encountered, including Ibrahim, were “jihadists or people who have jihadist tendencies.”

Reached the next day on a bus bound for Costa Rica, Ibrahim said he regretted the experience. “She wanted to give a bad picture about immigrants to the world,” he said of Loomer. “Her questions weren’t fair.”

Clips of migrants in Panama have become weapons in the information battle being waged over immigration, experts said. The content, looped again and again online, is highly effective, particularly in creating the perception of the threat of violence, said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a political science professor at George Mason University who has studied social media’s impact on immigration.

The images, she noted, tend to focus on young men while excluding women and children, who might generate more sympathetic responses. The migrants are often referred to as “military-aged men” and “invaders” and their claims of political or religious persecution at home are often dismissed as scripted falsehoods.

(Federico Rios | The New York Times) Migrants at a store at the Migrant Reception Center of Lajas Blancas, Panama, on Feb. 17, 2024. The treacherous migrant crossing in Panama is drawing packs of American activists who are distorting how immigration is perceived and debated at home.
(Federico Rios | The New York Times) Migrants at a store at the Migrant Reception Center of Lajas Blancas, Panama, on Feb. 17, 2024. The treacherous migrant crossing in Panama is drawing packs of American activists who are distorting how immigration is perceived and debated at home. (FEDERICO RIOS/)

“This is straight from the textbook for how you build a narrative,” Correa-Cabrera said.

The influencers and media figures on the tours argue that they are shedding light on a crisis that mainstream outlets either downplay or refuse to cover. Loomer described herself as a journalist. “My reporting was so powerful,” she said.

The focus on Muslim and Chinese migrants may create a distorted impression. Roughly 90% of the 520,000 people who crossed through the Darién Gap last year were South Americans and Caribbeans, according to the Panamanian government. The vast majority of that group comes from Venezuela, Ecuador and Haiti, countries experiencing economic and political upheaval.

The number of migrants from Africa, China and the Middle East coming through the Darién Gap has boomed in the past two years, but is less than 8% of the total. Panama screens migrants from those regions for potential criminal or terrorist connections. So far, the terrorism threat they might represent is theoretical. Several academic studies have found no correlation between immigration and acts of terror, a review by the Council on Foreign Relations published last fall found.

Critics warn that inflammatory coverage of these complex problems only serves to aggravate a humanitarian crisis.

“The misrepresentation of the migrants crossing the gap as invaders or illegals puts their life at risk,” said Sandie Blanchet, UNICEF’s representative in Panama. “It can justify harsh treatment and even violence against them.”

Inside an ‘Invasion Investigation’

On a steamy February afternoon outside a government migrant camp on the edge of the Chucunaque River, Yon escorted a reporter and photographer from The Epoch Times up a hill, pausing to gesture at three weary Venezuelan migrants limping across a bridge.

“If we lose this, it is over. You know what I mean? The United States is done,” he said.

In some circles on the right, an invitation to tour with Yon has become something of a golden ticket, promising access on the ground and publicity upon return.

A swaggering Special Forces veteran, Yon has long had a knack for getting attention. In his autobiography, he recounts killing a man with his bare hands in a bar fight. (Charges against him were eventually dropped.) He later made headlines as a front-line blogger and photographer at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Federico Rios | The New York Times) Migrants during an interview with Michael Yon, a former Green Beret who has become the go-to tour guide for right-wing journalists, politicians, and social-media influencers in the Darién Gap, left, at the Migrant Reception Center of Lajas Blancas, Panama, on Feb. 17, 2024. The treacherous migrant crossing in Panama is drawing packs of American activists who are distorting how immigration is perceived and debated at home.
(Federico Rios | The New York Times) Migrants during an interview with Michael Yon, a former Green Beret who has become the go-to tour guide for right-wing journalists, politicians, and social-media influencers in the Darién Gap, left, at the Migrant Reception Center of Lajas Blancas, Panama, on Feb. 17, 2024. The treacherous migrant crossing in Panama is drawing packs of American activists who are distorting how immigration is perceived and debated at home. (FEDERICO RIOS/)

He has since immersed himself in right-wing politics around the globe. In 2014, he was recruited by Japanese activists to dispute the long-established existence of “comfort women,” the Korean women forced into sexual slavery during World War II. More recently, he joined Dutch farmers protesting environmental reform, claiming it was part of a plan to replace the country’s population with immigrants.

On Jan. 6, 2021, he was outside the U.S. Capitol and later falsely said the rioters were spurred on by “agent provocateurs” connected to antifa.

That year was a turning point for migration through the Darién Gap, an inhospitable stretch of mountainous wilderness that is riddled with poisonous snakes and roving gangs of criminals. What had been a trickle of just a few thousand people crossing the gap each year gushed to 133,000, an increase fueled largely by Haitians fleeing economic chaos.

Yon arrived in Panama that February and began his tours shortly after — including one with Tiffany and Owens. In total, he estimates he has brought as many as 60 people to see the camps in person, and tries to remain behind the scenes. “I just want people to see for their own self and make their mind up,” he said.

But he often portrays himself as an expert, sitting for frequent interviews with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, as well as in a 2022 video called “Alien Invasion” produced by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.

Yon says he makes no profit from the trips. Guests cover their own expenses, including $35-a-night rooms at a modest hotel just steps from a migrant camp. He also raises money online: A crowdsourced fundraiser begun in February to pay for a “Darien Gap Migrant Invasion investigation mission” has raised just shy of $13,000.

Loomer, for her part, initially sought to raise $14,500 to fund a seven-day trip but blew past that goal, extending her stay by three days and raising close to $28,000.She said she did not make a profit.

Last week, she started a new online fundraiser, seeking $100,000 to pay for a film about her experiences in Panama. Its title, she said, will be “The Great Replacement,” a reference to the conspiracy theory that Democrats are encouraging immigration in a scheme to replace white voters.

A Narrative Takes Hold

Yon and his tours often take aim at the humanitarian organizations at work in the area, reserving particular ire for one U.N. agency — the International Organization for Migration. The groups, they say, incentivize migration by providing health care, psychological support and nutrition both before and after migrants make the journey.

That aid is paid for by government contributions and private donations, funds that Yon calls “profits” that motivate the organizations to encourage more migration.

Diego Beltran, interim director for Central and North America and the Caribbean for the migration organization, disputed the characterization, noting that the U.N. doesn’t profit from its activities and that it works to find alternatives to migration. The agency has helped more than 4 million migrants settle legally in South America rather than move north to the U.S., he said.

(Federico Rios | The New York Times) Migrants bathe in a river under the bridge that connects the Migrant Reception Center of Lajas Blancas to Bajo Chiquito, Panama, on Feb. 17, 2024. The treacherous migrant crossing in Panama is drawing packs of American activists who are distorting how immigration is perceived and debated at home.
(Federico Rios | The New York Times) Migrants bathe in a river under the bridge that connects the Migrant Reception Center of Lajas Blancas to Bajo Chiquito, Panama, on Feb. 17, 2024. The treacherous migrant crossing in Panama is drawing packs of American activists who are distorting how immigration is perceived and debated at home. (FEDERICO RIOS/)

“There is a great deal of disinformation in this area,” Beltran said. “It’s clear that migration is increasingly a political issue in many countries. But we don’t agree with efforts to stigmatize migrants and increase xenophobia.”

Another target is HIAS, formerly known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a U.S. nonprofit that provides services, including legal aid and mental health, to migrants. Yon’s tours have made an issue of the large maps of the region it posts on some of its facilities in Panama, claiming they encourage people to make the trek.

HIAS officials say the maps, which do not detail specific routes through the gap, are meant to help migrants find aid stations.

“We certainly don’t encourage migration,” said Mark Hetfield, the HIAS president. “All we’re offering is a way to assist those who arrive there.”

Hetfield said many of the criticisms of his group were grounded in antisemitism, noting that the man who murdered 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 had frequently posted rants about the group. “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people,” the killer posted online just hours before the attack.

Yon has also claimed, without evidence, that the group is helping dangerous migrants enter the U.S. “They’re going to scream ‘Allahu akbar! And they’re going to shoot” them, he said, using an obscenity, at an anti-immigration rally last month near Eagle Pass, Texas. “And they’re coming across the border and it’s being funded with Jewish money.”

There is some evidence that the narrative cultivated by Yon and others in his groups is having an impact. This month, after influencers who visited the region posted dozens of complaints online about maps hung by international groups, the director of Panama’s National Migration Service raised a similar concern, calling it “irresponsible.”

HIAS has since removed some of its maps in the region, saying it did so for “security reasons.”

‘Angels of the Jungle’

Yon has forged close ties with the Panamanian government, and particularly its border patrol. His groups have frequently received unrestricted access to migrant facilities, while mainstream journalists are often prohibited.

A key to that access is Oscar Ramirez, a Mexican activist and correspondent for Real America’s Voice, who since early last year has worked with Yon in Panama as a fixer and translator. With a military bearing, he greets border officers with hugs at checkpoints and receives armed escorts on treks through the Darién Gap itself. And while he is quick to rail against international groups, he calls the border patrol “angels of the jungle” in social media posts and news reports.

At a recent security forum in Panama City, Maj. Nelson Moreno, a border patrol protocol officer, described Ramirez as “an integral part of our border DNA.”

Two days earlier, a border guard stopped Times journalists from traveling to an Indigenous village where Ramirez and Yon, along with roughly a dozen American influencers, were filming migrants.

Although there were no other witnesses to the episode, Loomer discussed it in an interview on Infowars, the right-wing website founded by Jones, the following day, saying the agency considered the Times journalists a “security risk.”

Yon later said he had learned about the episode from sources in the region. You can’t make a move in the Darién Gap, he said in an interview with the Times, “without me hearing about it.”

Constant Content Creation

Over 10 days, Loomer visited four migrant centers, navigated rivers in motorized canoes, rode through the Panama Canal, and posted nearly 100 times on X about the trip. One video has over 4.5 million views and was shared by Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser.

“We are being invaded,” Loomer said in the clip, as she boarded a bus with migrants. “We are being replaced and it’s no accident it’s happening in an election year.”

(Federico Rios | The New York Times) Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist, interviews Ayub, a Somalian migrant who is crossing the Darien Gap, at the Migrant Reception Center of San Vicente, Meteti, Panama, on Feb. 17, 2024. The treacherous migrant crossing in Panama is drawing packs of American activists who are distorting how immigration is perceived and debated at home.
(Federico Rios | The New York Times) Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist, interviews Ayub, a Somalian migrant who is crossing the Darien Gap, at the Migrant Reception Center of San Vicente, Meteti, Panama, on Feb. 17, 2024. The treacherous migrant crossing in Panama is drawing packs of American activists who are distorting how immigration is perceived and debated at home. (FEDERICO RIOS/)

In the crowded San Vicente camp, Yazdan Faramehr, 29, a bodybuilder from Iran who speaks good English, was encircled by Americans clutching video cameras. As they peppered him with questions, he told them he was hoping to get a fresh start in Los Angeles’ large Persian community.

But Faramehr grew uncomfortable when Loomer, who once identified herself as a “proud Islamophobe,” but now rejects the label, began asking about Iranians coming the U.S. to “commit acts of Islamic terrorism.” Worried about drawing unwanted attention or putting his family at risk, he asked that the group not use his image.

Yon posted a clip on X anyway. It drew dozens of replies from people speculating that Faramehr, who said he worked in human resources in Tehran, was a dangerous intruder with a secret agenda.

Reached as he traveled north from Panama, Faramehr gave the Times permission to use his photo. He said he thought it was fair of Yon’s tour to “criticize their country’s immigration system” but felt like they were trying to trap him.

“To be honest,” he said, “I wish I never talked to them.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.


Letter: A few thoughts on the proposed Statue of Responsibility

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I recently read your article about a huge statue proposed at “The Point” (the new development at the Point of the Mountain). Here are a few thoughts:

• Don’t we have some responsibility to ask residents of Bluffdale and Draper what they think of this oversized statue? I’m one in favor of public art, but not this time.

• 300 feet tall? But the Statue of Liberty is only 150 feet tall! Her 150-foot pedestal is only there to keep her feet dry. We don’t want to outdo Lady Liberty.

• Get rid of the multicolored “balloons” up the side – it gives it a Vegas feel. I like the earlier simpler versions on the artists website.

• This is a good representation of helping each other up! We do have a responsibility. Viktor Frankl expressed this so well and is my hero, too.

• Put this statue somewhere else — like at the border … where we welcome immigrants just like Lady Liberty does/did/should/might in special cases.

Colleen Bliss, Bluffdale

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Is a Utah bar’s ‘No Zionists’ policy antisemitic? Illegal? A rabbi and a law professor weigh in.

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The owner of a bar in downtown Salt Lake City ignited a social media firestorm earlier this month after he announced that no Zionists would be allowed in his establishment — but what, exactly, is a Zionist, and is such a ban legal?

Michael Valentine, owner of the Weathered Waves cider bar at 158 S. Rio Grande St. in The Gateway shopping center, said in a March 3 Instagram post that “we are horrified by the ongoing genocide in Gaza and are even more horrified to see so many Americans ignore and rationalize ethnic cleansing.”

“That is why,” the post continued, “we are pleased to announce we are banning all Zionists forever from our establishments.”

In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune on March 6, Valentine said he wrote the post and doesn’t see it as antisemitic.

Rabbi Samuel Spector of the Salt Lake City synagogue Congregation Kol Ami said that Valentine “doesn’t get to make that determination. He doesn’t have the authority to define what is and isn’t antisemitism.”

Spector said he defines a Zionist as someone who believes “that the Jewish people have a right to self-determination and independent statehood.” He defines self-determination for Jews as “being able to be in charge of their own fate.”

On March 6, the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services notified the Utah attorney general’s office about Valentine’s Instagram post, “so they may conduct an investigation on whether the business is violating discrimination laws,” said department spokesperson Michelle Schmitt.

She told The Tribune in an email last week that “the A.G. investigation is ongoing.”

Valentine doesn’t believe the ban is illegal. In an op-ed Valentine wrote for The Tribune, he argued that “it’s not discrimination to ban hate speech from our bar. We are not discriminating against anyone, have violated no policies, have broken no laws.”

Clifford Rosky, a law professor at the University of Utah, said that Valentine may have violated public accommodations laws at the federal and state level. Apart from the law, Rosky added, “it is not a wise business practice to open up a new business and get yourself in the paper for all the people you’re not willing to serve.”

What is a Zionist?

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Congregation Kol Ami Rabbi Sam Spector speaks to supporters of Israel that gathered to mourn those murdered by the Hamas terrorist attack, on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Congregation Kol Ami Rabbi Sam Spector speaks to supporters of Israel that gathered to mourn those murdered by the Hamas terrorist attack, on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. (Rick Egan/)

Spector himself identifies as a “cultural Zionist,” he said, “which means that I think that the Jewish state should be a light unto the nations of the world, and that it’s our job to actively work towards perfecting that state to be in line with our Jewish values and ideals.”

He said he also identifies with what’s called “labor Zionism,” which centers around the idea of Jews having a connection to Israel and that they should work the land and build up a country.

As for the Palestinian people, Spector said, “I support humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. I support Palestinian rights, and I hope for the establishment one day of a Palestinian state living side by side next to Israel.”

Spector said that people who are “ignorant” to what Zionism is believe that it refers to support for current Israeli policies. If someone is truly anti-Zionist, Spector said, “I do consider that to be a form of antisemitism,” because “what you’re saying is that Jewish people do not have the right to self-determination.”

Spector — who co-wrote an op-ed about the Israel/Hamas war with Iranian American industrialist Khosrow B. Semnani, which The Tribune published Sunday — said Zionism is part of multiple movements of Judaism, and to say that “‘we don’t have a problem with Jews, we just have a problem with Zionists,’ you’re excluding probably close to about 90% of American Jews then from your bar.” He said he has gotten phone calls from Jews asking if Salt Lake City is safe for Jewish people.

“At best,” Spector said, Valentine is “doing something that is ignorant. And, at worst, he’s doing something that’s antisemitic.”

Valentine, after his bar’s initial Instagram message, clarified his stance in a in a follow-up post. “We didn’t just ban Zionism, we banned all hate speech,” he said. “We banned neo-Nazis, we banned transphobes, we banned sexists, we banned homophobes — any and all hate speech.”

In his op-ed, Valentine wrote, “I do not create solidarity with hate speech and genocide deniers. I am not interested in breaking bread with those who can’t see the humanity of Palestinians. ... It’s not antisemitic to be anti-Zionist.

“... As an atheist, I don’t believe in a Jewish, Christian or Muslim state,” Valentine continued.

Is such a ban legal?

Rosky said Valentine may have violated public accommodations laws. They say that “if you have a business that’s open to the public,” the law professor explained, “you can’t discriminate against customers based on their race or religion.”

The issue may come down to how the ban could be enforced.

Distinguishing between Zionists and non-Zionists is impossible, Rosky continued, “because people don’t wear T-shirts saying, ‘I’m a Zionist’ or ‘I’m not a Zionist,’ right? It’s a political belief. And so, there’s a risk that [Valentine] would enforce this policy by targeting people who he thinks look like Zionists. Well, who’s that going to be?”

“You can also just imagine, for example, a person who wears a Star of David on a necklace walks down [to the bar]. Do they get banned because they’re a Zionist?” Rosky asked. “If there were any evidence that [Valentine] were enforcing this, or attempting to enforce it, in a way that would exclude people because they’re Jewish, then he would be violating federal and state public accommodations laws.”

On Weathered Waves’ Instagram account last week, the bar posted that it is “proud to stand in this moment in history firm as a little cidery and bar even if it means standing alone. ... If anything, this experience has only made us hate racism, nationalism, Nazis and Zionists even more.”

Opinion: The Supreme Court got it wrong: Abortion is not settled law.

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In his majority opinion in the case overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Samuel Alito insisted that the high court was finally settling the vexed abortion debate by returning the “authority to regulate abortion” to the “people and their elected representatives.”

Despite these assurances, less than two years after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, abortion is back at the Supreme Court. In the next month, the justices will hear arguments in two high-stakes cases that may shape the future of access to medication abortion and to lifesaving care for pregnancy emergencies. These cases make clear that Dobbs did not settle the question of abortion in America — instead, it generated a new slate of questions. One of those questions involves the interaction of existing legal rules with the concept of fetal personhood — the view, held by many in the anti-abortion movement, that a fetus is a person entitled to the same rights and protections as any other person.

The first case, scheduled for argument on Tuesday, F.D.A. v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, is a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s protocols for approving and regulating mifepristone, one of the two drugs used for medication abortions. An anti-abortion physicians’ group argues that the F.D.A. acted unlawfully when it relaxed existing restrictions on the use and distribution of mifepristone in 2016 and 2021. In 2016, the agency implemented changes that allowed the use of mifepristone up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, rather than seven; reduced the number of required in-person visits for dispensing the drug from three to one; and allowed the drug to be prescribed by individuals like nurse practitioners. In 2021, it eliminated the in-person visit requirement, clearing the way for the drug to be dispensed by mail. The physicians’ group has urged the court to throw out those regulations and reinstate the previous, more restrictive regulations surrounding the drug — a ruling that could affect access to the drug in every state, regardless of the state’s abortion politics.

The second case, scheduled for argument on April 24, involves the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (known by doctors and health policymakers as EMTALA), which requires federally funded hospitals to provide patients, including pregnant patients, with stabilizing care or transfer to a hospital that can provide such care. At issue is the law’s interaction with state laws that severely restrict abortion, like an Idaho law that bans abortion except in cases of rape or incest and circumstances where abortion is “necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.”

Although the Idaho law limits the provision of abortion care to circumstances where death is imminent, the federal government argues that under EMTALA and basic principles of federal supremacy, pregnant patients experiencing emergencies at federally funded hospitals in Idaho are entitled to abortion care, even if they are not in danger of imminent death.

These cases may be framed in the technical jargon of administrative law and federal pre-emption doctrine, but both cases involve incredibly high-stakes issues for the lives and health of pregnant persons — and offer the court an opportunity to shape the landscape of abortion access in the post-Roe era.

These two cases may also give the court a chance to seed new ground for fetal personhood. Woven throughout both cases are arguments that gesture toward the view that a fetus is a person.

If that is the case, the legal rules that would typically hold sway in these cases might not apply. If these questions must account for the rights and entitlements of the fetus, the entire calculus is upended.

In this new scenario, the issue is not simply whether EMTALA’s protections for pregnant patients pre-empt Idaho’s abortion ban, but rather which set of interests — the patient’s or the fetus’s — should be prioritized in the contest between state and federal law. Likewise, the analysis of F.D.A. regulatory protocols is entirely different if one of the arguments is that the drug to be regulated may be used to end a life.

Neither case presents the justices with a clear opportunity to endorse the notion of fetal personhood — but such claims are lurking beneath the surface. The Idaho abortion ban is called the Defense of Life Act, and in its first bill introduced in 2024, the Idaho Legislature proposed replacing the term “fetus” with “preborn child” in existing Idaho law. In its briefs before the court, Idaho continues to beat the drum of fetal personhood, insisting that EMTALA protects the unborn — rather than pregnant women who need abortions during health emergencies.

According to the state, nothing in EMTALA imposes an obligation to provide stabilizing abortion care for pregnant women. Rather, the law “actually requires stabilizing treatment for the unborn children of pregnant women.” In the mifepristone case, advocates referred to fetuses as “unborn children,” while the district judge in Texas who invalidated F.D.A. approval of the drug described it as one that “starves the unborn human until death.”

Fetal personhood language is in ascent throughout the country. In a recent decision, the Alabama Supreme Court allowed a wrongful-death suit for the destruction of frozen embryos intended for in vitro fertilization, or I.V.F. — embryos that the court characterized as “extrauterine children.”

Less discussed but as worrisome is a recent oral argument at the Florida Supreme Court concerning a proposed ballot initiative intended to enshrine a right to reproductive freedom in the state’s Constitution. In considering the proposed initiative, the chief justice of the state Supreme Court repeatedly peppered Nathan Forrester, the senior deputy solicitor general who was representing the state, with questions about whether the state recognized the fetus as a person under the Florida Constitution. The point was plain: If the fetus was a person, then the proposed ballot initiative, and its protections for reproductive rights, would change the fetus’s rights under the law, raising constitutional questions.

As these cases make clear, the drive toward fetal personhood goes beyond simply recasting abortion as homicide. If the fetus is a person, any act that involves reproduction may implicate fetal rights. Fetal personhood thus has strong potential to raise questions about access to abortion, contraception and various forms of assisted reproductive technology, including I.V.F.

In response to the shifting landscape of reproductive rights, President Biden has pledged to “restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.” Roe and its successor, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, were far from perfect; they afforded states significant leeway to impose onerous restrictions on abortion, making meaningful access an empty promise for many women and families of limited means. But the two decisions reflected a constitutional vision that, at least in theory, protected the liberty to make certain intimate choices — including choices surrounding if, when and how to become a parent.

Under the logic of Roe and Casey, the enforceability of EMTALA, the F.D.A.’s power to regulate mifepristone and access to I.V.F. weren’t in question. But in the post-Dobbs landscape, all bets are off. We no longer live in a world in which a shared conception of constitutional liberty makes a ban on I.V.F. or certain forms of contraception beyond the pale.

Melissa Murray, a law professor at New York University and a host of the Supreme Court podcast “Strict Scrutiny,” is a co-author of “The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents With Commentary.” Kate Shaw is a contributing Opinion writer, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and also a host of “Strict Scrutiny.” She served as a law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens and Judge Richard Posner. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Letter: Contrary to the Tribune editorial’s assertion, there is no ‘silver lining’ to Utah’s book ban

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As a school librarian, I was dismayed to read misinformation about the “silver lining of book bans” in the Tribune’s March 24 editorial. To quote the editors, “A powerful and humane book that might otherwise gather dust on the shelves of a school library (Do most kids even go to their school library anymore?) may now receive a lot of attention and find a new audience among thinking people who will now seek it out.”

First, yes, students come to the school library. The library is a vibrant, active part of our campus. Moreover, it’s a safe space for students who need the kind of empathy that our state’s book bans seek to destroy.

Second, your claim that banning books leads students to seek them out elsewhere ignores that, for many students, the school library is the only place they can go for books. Public libraries are too far, or require applications and documentation the student doesn’t have. Bookstores (yes, even Amazon) are beyond their financial reach.

Moreover, it is not borne out by sales data. Kyle Lukoff, the author of “Call Me Max,” which gained notoriety in Utah after it was read out loud in an elementary school, reported to CNN in October that he still hasn’t earned back his modest advance for the book. “If your book is kept out of libraries and schools in entire states — that does translate to a long-term consistent drop in sales.” His is just one example of many.

As grateful as I am to see the editorial board highlighting the harmful effects of Utah’s book banning bills, it is imperative that we stop perpetuating harmful myths about book bans and start focusing on hard facts. Book banning has no silver lining.

Carolyn Martinez-Ross, Millcreek

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Opinion: The online degradation of women and girls that we meet with a shrug

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Alarms are blaring about artificial intelligence deepfakes that manipulate voters, like the robocall sounding like President Joe Biden that went to New Hampshire households, or the fake video of Taylor Swift endorsing Donald Trump.

Yet there’s actually a far bigger problem with deepfakes that we haven’t paid enough attention to: deepfake nude videos and photos that humiliate celebrities and unknown children alike. One recent study found that 98% of deepfake videos online were pornographic and that 99% of those targeted were women or girls.

Faked nude imagery of Swift rattled the internet in January, but this goes way beyond her: Companies make money by selling advertising and premium subscriptions for websites hosting fake sex videos of famous female actresses, singers, influencers, princesses and politicians. Google directs traffic to these graphic videos, and victims have little recourse.

Sometimes the victims are underage girls.

Francesca Mani, a 14-year-old high school sophomore in New Jersey, told me she was in class in October when the loudspeaker summoned her to the school office. There the assistant principal and a counselor told her that one or more male classmates had used a “nudify” program to take a clothed picture of her and generate a fake naked image. The boys had made naked images of a number of other sophomore girls as well.

Fighting tears, feeling violated and humiliated, Francesca stumbled back to class. In the hallway, she said, she passed another group of girls crying for the same reason — and a cluster of boys mocking them.

“When I saw the boys laughing, I got so mad,” Francesca said. “After school, I came home, and I told my mom we need to do something about this.”

Now 15, Francesca started a website about the deepfake problem — aiheeelp.com — and began meeting state legislators and members of Congress in an effort to call attention to the issue.

While there have always been doctored images, AI makes the process much easier. With just a single good image of a person’s face, it is now possible in just a half-hour to make a 60-second sex video of that person. Those videos can then be posted on general pornographic websites for anyone to see, or on specialized sites for deepfakes.

The videos there are graphic and sometimes sadistic, depicting women tied up as they are raped or urinated on, for example. One site offers categories including “rape” (472 items), “crying” (655) and “degradation” (822).

In addition, there are the “nudify” or “undressing” websites and apps of the kind that targeted Francesca. “Undress on a click!” one urges. These overwhelmingly target women and girls; some are not even capable of generating a naked male. A British study of child sexual images produced by AI reported that 99.6% were of girls, most commonly between 7 and 13 years old.

Graphika, an online analytics company, identified 34 nudify websites that received a combined 24 million unique visitors in September alone.

When Francesca was targeted, her family consulted police and lawyers but found no remedy. “There’s nobody to turn to,” said her mother, Dorota Mani. “The police say, ‘Sorry, we can’t do anything.’”

The problem is that there isn’t a law that has been clearly broken. “We just continue to be unable to have a legal framework that can be nimble enough to address the tech,” said Yiota Souras, the chief legal officer for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Sophie Compton, a documentary maker, made a film on the topic, “Another Body,” and was so appalled that she started a campaign and website, MyImageMyChoice.org, to push for change.

“It’s become a kind of crazy industry, completely based on the violation of consent,” Compton said.

The impunity reflects a blase attitude toward the humiliation of victims. One survey found that 74% of deepfake pornography users reported not feeling guilty about watching the videos.

We have a hard-fought consensus established today that unwanted kissing, groping and demeaning comments are unacceptable, so how is this other form of violation given a pass? How can we care so little about protecting women and girls from online degradation?

“Most survivors I talk to say they contemplated suicide,” said Andrea Powell, who works with people who have been deepfaked and develops strategies to address the problem.

This is a burden that falls disproportionately on prominent women. One deepfake website displays the official portrait of a female member of Congress — and then 28 fake sex videos of her. Another website has 90. (I’m not linking to these sites because, unlike Google, I’m not willing to direct traffic to these sites and further enable them to profit from displaying nonconsensual imagery.)

In rare cases, deepfakes have targeted boys, often for “sextortion,” in which a predator threatens to disseminate embarrassing images unless the victim pays money or provides nudes. The FBI last year warned of an increase in deepfakes used for sextortion, which has sometimes been a factor in child suicides.

“The images look SCARY real and there’s even a video of me doing disgusting things that also look SCARY real,” one 14-year-old reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. That child sent debit card information to a predator who threatened to post the fakes online.

As I see it, Google and other search engines are recklessly directing traffic to porn sites with nonconsensual deepfakes. Google is essential to the business model of these malicious companies.

In one search I did on Google, seven of the top 10 video results were explicit sex videos involving female celebrities. Using the same search terms on Microsoft’s Bing search engine, all 10 were. But this isn’t inevitable: At Yahoo, none were.

In other spheres, Google does the right thing. Ask “How do I kill myself?” and it won’t offer step-by-step guidance — instead, its first result is a suicide helpline. Ask “How do I poison my spouse?” and it’s not very helpful. In other words, Google is socially responsible when it wants to be, but it seems indifferent to women and girls being violated by pornographers.

“Google really has to take responsibility for enabling this kind of problem,” said Breeze Liu, herself a victim of revenge porn and deepfakes. “It has the power to stop this.”

Liu was shattered when she got a message in 2020 from a friend to drop everything and call him at once.

“I don’t want you to panic,” he told her when she called, “but there’s a video of you on Pornhub.”

It turned out to be a nude video that had been recorded without Liu’s knowledge. Soon it was downloaded and posted on many other porn sites, and then apparently used to spin deepfake videos showing her performing sex acts. All told, the material appeared on at least 832 links.

Liu was mortified. She didn’t know how to tell her parents. She climbed to the top of a tall building and prepared to jump off.

In the end, Liu didn’t jump. Instead, like Francesca, she got mad — and resolved to help other people in the same situation.

“We are being slut-shamed and the perpetrators are completely running free,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Liu, who previously had worked for a venture capital firm in technology, founded a startup, Alecto AI, that aims to help victims of nonconsensual pornography locate images of themselves and then get them removed. A pilot of the Alecto app is now available free for Apple and Android devices, and Liu hopes to establish partnerships with tech firms to help remove nonconsensual content.

Tech can address problems that tech created, she argues.

Google agrees that there is room for improvement. No Google official was willing to discuss the problem with me on the record, but Cathy Edwards, a vice president for search at the company, issued a statement that said, “We understand how distressing this content can be, and we’re committed to building on our existing protections to help people who are affected.”

“We’re actively developing additional safeguards on Google Search,” the statement added, noting that the company has set up a process where deepfake victims can apply to have these links removed from search results.

A Microsoft spokesperson, Caitlin Roulston, offered a similar statement, noting that the company has a web form allowing people to request removal of a link to nude images of themselves from Bing search results. The statement encouraged users to adjust safe search settings to “block undesired adult content” and acknowledged that “more work needs to be done.”

Count me unimpressed. I don’t see why Google and Bing should direct traffic to deepfake websites whose business is nonconsensual imagery of sex and nudity. Search engines are pillars of that sleazy and exploitative ecosystem. You can do better, Google and Bing.

AI companies aren’t as culpable as Google, but they haven’t been as careful as they could be. Rebecca Portnoff, vice president for data science at Thorn, a nonprofit that builds technology to combat child sexual abuse, notes that AI models are trained using scraped imagery from the internet, but they can be steered away from websites that include child sexual abuse. The upshot: They can’t so easily generate what they don’t know.

Biden signed a promising executive order last year to try to bring safeguards to AI, including deepfakes, and several bills have been introduced in Congress. Some states have enacted their own measures.

I’m in favor of trying to crack down on deepfakes with criminal law, but it’s easy to pass a law and difficult to enforce it. A more effective tool might be simpler: civil liability for damages these deepfakes cause. Tech companies are now largely excused from liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, but if this were amended and companies knew that they faced lawsuits and had to pay damages, their incentives would change and they would police themselves. And the business model of some deepfake companies would collapse.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and others have proposed a new federal regulatory body to oversee technology companies and new media, just as the Federal Communications Commission oversees old media. That makes sense to me.

Australia seems a step ahead of other countries in regulating deepfakes, and perhaps that’s in part because a Perth woman, Noelle Martin, was targeted at age 17 by someone who doctored an image of her into porn. Outraged, she became a lawyer and has devoted herself to fighting such abuse and lobbying for tighter regulations.

One result has been a wave of retaliatory fake imagery meant to hurt her. Some included images of her underage sister.

“This form of abuse is potentially permanent,” Martin said. “This abuse affects a person’s education, employability, future earning capacity, reputation, interpersonal relationships, romantic relationships, mental and physical health — potentially in perpetuity.”

The greatest obstacles to regulating deepfakes, I’ve come to believe, aren’t technical or legal — although those are real — but simply our collective complacency.

Society was also once complacent about domestic violence and sexual harassment. In recent decades, we’ve gained empathy for victims and built systems of accountability that, while imperfect, have fostered a more civilized society.

It’s time for similar accountability in the digital space. New technologies are arriving, yes, but we needn’t bow to them. It astonishes me that society apparently believes that women and girls must accept being tormented by demeaning imagery. Instead, we should stand with victims and crack down on deepfakes that allow companies to profit from sexual degradation, humiliation and misogyny.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

Can Utah State rebound from Danny Sprinkle’s exit? The head of the Aggies’ NIL collective weighs in.

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The co-founder of Utah’s State NIL collective, Eric Laub, settled into a reception the night before Stew Morrill’s name was etched onto USU’s basketball court back in February.

At the dinner that night, he saw the Aggies’ former head coach in the same room as then-head coach Danny Sprinkle.

“You see Stew Morrill there and you see Sprinkle and you think, ‘Man what could we build if you stay here for as long as Stew?’” Laub said. “I think you hold out hope.”

But a month later, Utah State has lost Sprinkle to Washington. The coach’s new deal comes with more money — six years and $22.1 million dollars worth — and a larger name, image and likeness war chest to piece together a championship-caliber roster.

Sprinkle spent just 11 months in Logan — winning the Mountain West and an NCAA Tournament game. He is the third consecutive Utah State coach to leave after making the tournament.

It’s left Utah State asking the same questions: Is the program’s current salary and name, image and likeness (NIL) situation giving it a chance to retain coaches and to make NCAA tournament runs? And how much did NIL specifically contribute to Sprinkle’s departure?

“It is probably a piece of it,” Laub, the head of USU’s Blue A Collective, said. “Number one is six years and over a $20 million contract. That is probably number one. But what I love about Danny is he wants to win. Wants to win a national championship. And in today’s college athletics, the NIL dollar is a big piece of that.”

Laub was frustrated, like many fans, when he saw Sprinkle on the move this week. He thought if any coach would stay in Logan — despite those NIL limitations — it would be Sprinkle. He is from Montana and coached for his hometown college, Montana State. Maybe he’d see some similar qualities in Logan, Laub thought.

“Unfortunately that is kind of the way it’s been at Utah State,” he said. “It is kind of getting used to this thing whether it is Gary Andersen or Matt Wells or Craig Smith or Ryan Odom [leaving]. It is frustrating. Not super surprised unfortunately.”

But he was also frustrated because he didn’t know what more the collective could do. He admitted NIL funding was nearly nonexistent when Sprinkle came into the program. He said the collective missed the entire recruiting cycle when Sprinkle got the job, only getting involved in the summer by the time the roster was essentially complete.

“We really weren’t set up until recruiting was done. [Guard] Ian [Martinez] came on late, we were a part of that,” he said.

But in the last year, the collective made strides to be competitive for Sprinkle’s future roster-building initiatives.

“You work so hard to raise the money and get the collective to where it needs to be,” Laub said. “They kind of express some needs and you meet those needs. And then you put such a good roster together that you win in the first year and then they are gone.”

Laub feels like USU’s NIL situation is in a sustainable spot, but there are still challenges.

He says they have “large donations committed over a couple of years” to ensure the next coach has runway to build a roster. The collective also has a monthly subscription model that brings in revenue.

While Laub did not say the dollar figure USU raises for NIL, he did say what he hears is expected in the Mountain West.

For a high-impact player, or a starter, he thinks the going rate is somewhere around $100,000. You would need $500,000 then to put together a starting five. He’s heard some schools in the Mountain West have $1 million committed to building a roster.

“The trouble is that a lot of coaches are such paranoid beings they hear one school is [offering] something and think they have to match it,” Laub said. “Then the third school has to be higher than that. It just gets out of control. I know the path that it’s on right now is not sustainable.”

Still, he feels USU is in a good spot to build a Mountain West roster.

But that brings him to the other side of the issue: getting a roster that can compete nationally and retain players.

Laub acknowledged that a big part of keeping coaches like Sprinkle, who want to win at the highest level, is being able to field a roster that can get to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. That means beating teams from the Big Ten, SEC, and ACC. Those schools, he knows, can poach players from the mid-majors and outbid for recruits in the first place.

“We are not going to be a high bid on kids,” he said. “They are going to have to come to Logan because they want to be there. We are able to make it a little bit better for them. We are not throwing up a million bucks for a kid.”

Creighton's Steven Ashworth (1) drives against Iowa's Josh Dix (4) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)
Creighton's Steven Ashworth (1) drives against Iowa's Josh Dix (4) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz) (Rebecca S. Gratz/)

He has already seen USU lose high-major talent on its roster to these larger schools. He pointed to guard Steven Ashworth, now in the Sweet 16 with Creighton. Ashworth is from Utah, went to USU for three years, but the Aggies couldn’t keep him after Odom’s departure.

“I think it is no secret that [when] Ashworth left Utah State he got several hundred thousand dollars to leave. That is for one player,” Laub said.

He often hears about players at USU getting offers from larger schools they can’t compete with.

“The dollar amount is hard,” he said. “The frustrating part is there are so many slimy agents and third-party people that will reach out to players that we have, both football and basketball, right now. They will say, ‘Hey, I’m not affiliated with this university. But if you come here, I’ve got $500,000 waiting for you.’ That’s the frustrating part with all the tampering in recruiting. You get a guy, develop him for two years and they have a breakout year, and then they can go get a half a million bucks somewhere.”

Because of that, he doesn’t know what to do with a coach like Sprinkle. He knows his career is “on a hell of trajectory” and he wants to get to Final Fours. To do that in Logan, USU has to keep players and bid for high-major talent. How can Utah State satisfy that in the future?

“I’m sure at Washington they have 50 guys ... that will throw in whatever they need,” he said. “The frustrating part is it’s kind of the same battle with coaches [that it is with players]. You got a good player and the next school will come and pay him.”

There is a more immediate problem for Laub. USU wants to keep its roster that just won the conference.

He doesn’t know how he will retain players like Great Osobor — who was the MW player of the year — and guard Ian Martinez.

“Osobor followed [Spinkle] from Montana. Looking at it logically, if he followed him from Montana State to Logan, I’d assume he’d go up to Washington with him,” he said.

He figured Sprinkle would make Osobor a priority.

“I’m sure Danny Sprinkle’s first call to the Washington people is, ‘Hey I need this guy with me.’ And here is X amount of money to get him up here,” he said. “So we can’t race to the top and get in a bidding war with these big schools. That part of it isn’t sustainable for Utah State. But if Great loves Utah State, loves Logan and wants to stay here, then we can certainly have a conversation.”

The two players he doesn’t want to lose for NIL reasons are local products Mason Falslev and Isaac Johnson.

“The thing I would really hate to see is Falslev or Isaac Johnson, the in-state kids we got, going to a Utah or a BYU,” he said.

He is “really worried about that right now,” in terms of roster retention, and doesn’t know what to do. If he is proactive in reaching out to players, it might go a long way. But he doesn’t want to overstep if the next coach doesn’t think they fit his system.

“You don’t want to interfere with the next coach’s plans,” he said.

All of it makes Laub’s job challenging right now.

When USU was playing Purdue in the round of 32, Laub saw a video circulating on the social media platform X that had a montage of Sprinkle’s introductory press conference last April. It had him believing, for a second, that maybe he’d stay.

“I was almost crying yesterday,” Laub said.

But now he will be back at another introductory press conference, and meeting another coach, next month. Hopefully, Laub said, it will be his last for a few years now that Utah State’s NIL pool is in a better spot.

But then again, the threat of the larger school looms.

“You have to have a good collective and a good coach,” Laub said. “We have the collective where it needs to be. So we have a lot of confidence in [athletic director] Diana [Sabau] to get the next guy here. Just hope we can do it all next year, but not lose a coach.”

Heads up, Cougars fans: There’s a new flight from Provo to Big 12 country

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New flights from Provo will be touching down in Dallas ahead of the kickoff to Brigham Young University’s football season late this summer.

Breeze Airways flights will start June 7 with twice-weekly service on Mondays and Fridays, offering Cougars fans the possibility of weekend getaways for the team’s Sept. 6 non-conference matchup against Southern Methodist University in Dallas and Sept. 26 bout with Baylor in Waco about 95 miles south.

While that Friday game against SMU doesn’t have a set kickoff time yet, BYU fans stand a decent chance of making it to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport ahead of the game. The flight leaves Provo at 7 a.m.

The new flight gets Utah County residents a third direct route to Texas out of Provo. Allegiant Air already flies to Austin and Houston. The additional service marks Breeze’s fourth direct flight out of the newly upgraded Provo airport, where the low-cost carrier operates flights to San Francisco, Santa Ana and Phoenix.

“Breeze continues to be a great partner with the Provo Airport,” the airport’s director, Brian Torgerson, said in a news release. “Since opening the new terminal, DFW has been a focus of our air service development efforts at the Provo Airport. Breeze is stepping up to make this important connection a reality. I am confident that this initial connection to DFW will open up significant opportunities for growth and continued success at the Provo Airport.”

One-way fares to Texas’s most populous metropolitan area will start at $69.

The carrier, headquartered in Cottonwood Heights, took flight in May 2021 and debuted in Provo in August 2022 with flights to San Francisco and San Bernardino.

Nearly a quarter of passengers flying through Provo Airport took Breeze flights last year, federal statistics show. Allegiant is the only other commercial airline that serves the Cougars’ hometown.

Both airlines also fly to Phoenix, and Allegiant offers flights to Orlando, giving BYU fans easy access to next season’s Big 12 road games at Arizona State and the University of Central Florida.


Commentary: A prayer for finding balance in the Holy Land

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God bless and protect the people of Israel; God bless and protect the people of Palestine.

God damn antisemitism; God damn Islamophobia.

Israelis are children of God; Palestinians are children of God.

Jews are children of Abraham; Muslims are children of Abraham.

Israelis have a right to a homeland and a state; Palestinians have a right to a homeland and a state.

Israeli civilians should not be targeted; Palestinian civilians should not be targeted.

Israeli children are precious; Palestinian children are precious.

Hamas should not hide in hospitals; Israel should not attack hospitals.

Israelis have a right to live in peace and freedom; Palestinians have a right to live in peace and freedom.

Hamas soldiers who attack Israeli civilians are terrorists; Israeli settlers who attack Palestinian civilians are terrorists.

Palestine cannot be “from the river to the sea”; Israel cannot be “from the river to the sea.”

Israelis need better leadership; Palestinians need better leadership.

Guns and bullets do not foster peace; food and water do not foster war.

Let the aid in; keep the weapons out.

Iran must stop arming Hamas and Hezbollah; the U.S. must stop arming Israel.

No more bombs; lots more bread.

War brings famine; peace brings prosperity.

Israel and Palestine must live together, or they will die together.

Cease-fire now; release the hostages now.

(Scott Sommerdorf   |  The Salt Lake Tribune)
Religion News Service columnist Thomas Reese speaks in Salt Lake City in 2015.
(Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune) Religion News Service columnist Thomas Reese speaks in Salt Lake City in 2015.

(The views expressed in this opinion piece do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

Why the Big 12 is hosting a conference pro day for the first time

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Brett Yormark brought the idea up in his job interview. The Big 12 was seeking a commissioner with a bold vision in summer 2022. Though he lacked the traditional background of a college athletics lifer, three decades in pro sports afforded him fresh perspective: Yormark looked into the Big 12 and noticed all the things it wasn’t doing.

Why do schools host pro days on campus? Why not make it a showcase event?

Three months into the job, Yormark hired Scott Draper from the AAC as his VP for football. This project was put on his plate from day one. What did he think when he first heard about it?

“Candidly, it was: I can’t believe no one’s ever done this before,” Draper said. “It’s a great idea. Let’s go.”

After 16 months of working closely with the NFL to turn it into a reality, it’s time to find out whether conference pro days just might be the future.

The first Big 12 Pro Day, an event bringing the conference’s draft-eligible talent together for a four-day showcase at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, kicks off Wednesday. It’s an unprecedented attempt to give 137 Big 12 players an improved opportunity to prove they belong in pro football.

The objective from the start was replicating the NFL combine experience on a conference basis. The setup inside the Dallas Cowboys’ Ford Center will look just like the one used in Indianapolis, with testing and position drills beginning Thursday with quarterbacks, receivers, tight ends, running backs and defensive backs. NoBull is providing the apparel. Zebra is bringing its player-tracking technology. NFL Network will be on-site to televise the event. For Big 12 players who weren’t invited to Indy, it’ll be as authentic of a combine experience as possible.

And most importantly, they will get to work out in front of and interview with more than 130 NFL scouts and staffers representing all 32 NFL organizations plus scouts from the UFL and CFL.

“I’m thrilled about it,” Yormark said. “I think it’s a big opportunity for us to showcase our football brand and how we do things and obviously provide a great platform for our student-athletes.”

All players who were on Big 12 rosters in 2023 were eligible to participate. SEC-bound members Oklahoma and Texas opted out of participating and hosted on-campus pro days earlier this month. The Longhorns held theirs on the same day as USC, Alabama and Ohio State. NFL coaches, GMs and scouts have long had to make tough decisions about which campuses to visit. The Big 12 is hoping to help fix that with its one-stop shopping experience.

Twenty-six of the Big 12 Pro Day participants went to the NFL combine, including seven players on Dane Brugler’s most recent top-100 big board: West Virginia center Zach Frazier (No. 36), BYU tackle Kingsley Suamataia (38), Kansas State guard Cooper Beebe (47), Houston tackle Patrick Paul (55), Iowa State cornerback T.J. Tampa (59), Kansas guard Dominick Puni (67) and Kansas edge Austin Booker (95).

Can a brighter spotlight help turn under-the-radar Big 12 prospects into late-round draft picks? Former Cincinnati linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. became not just a starter for the Vikings, but also a PFWA All-Rookie Team selection. Oklahoma State alum Jaylen Warren put up more than 1,100 yards in his second year with the Steelers. Both made it into the league as undrafted free agents.

Last year, Kansas State defensive back Josh Hayes was one of 35 players who did not get invited to Indianapolis but still got drafted. Hayes didn’t go to a major all-star game, either. But he did run a 4.44 40-yard dash at K-State’s pro day. The sixth-round pick made the Buccaneers’ roster and led all NFL rookies with 13 tackles on special teams.

Who has a shot to make that list this year? Among the most intriguing combine snubs coming to Frisco are defensive backs Kenny Logan Jr. (Kansas), Beanie Bishop Jr. (West Virginia) and Mark Perry (TCU), as well as tight end Mason Fairchild (Kansas), offensive lineman Doug Nester (West Virginia) and defensive lineman Jowon Briggs (Cincinnati). Three QBs are scheduled to attend: UCF’s John Rhys Plumlee, Kansas’ Jason Bean and Cincinnati’s Emory Jones.

“I think anytime those guys get to be side-by-side and you have a chance to compare them directly to the guys who did get invited to the combine, it’s a great opportunity for them,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said.

Over the past five years, the Big 12 has produced 124 NFL Draft picks. More than one-third of those selections came from Oklahoma (29) or Texas (15). The four schools the conference has already added — BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF — have produced 50 draft picks during the past five years. Incoming Pac-12 members Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah have had a combined 34 picks during that time.

But 52 percent of all NFL Draft picks from 2019 to 2023 came from schools that will be SEC or Big Ten members this year. If that trend holds true — that two conferences produce more than half of the draft picks, their players twice as likely to get selected as Big 12 players — it will inevitably have an impact on perception among recruits and players.

“The Big 12 needs to sell the Big 12,” Dykes said. “I think we’ve got a great story to tell. I think it’s a lot better product than people think. The way this stuff has gone with some of these conferences, it’s been interesting because I don’t think there’s always a real strong sense of reality when it comes to the way people perceive conferences in some ways. I think Brett’s the guy to be able to get that message out. You’ve gotta be good at telling your story and not only telling it but making sure people listen and pay attention. I think Brett’s the guy that can do that.”

Yormark knows they need to confront that challenge by doing things as a conference that nobody else is doing.

“How do we execute at a high level and differentiate ourselves from other conferences?” Yormark said. “I do think this is a big one, and hopefully our coaches can leverage it. I think that’s a critically important part of this whole thing.”

For Yormark, the goal is putting on a “world-class” event that sets players up for success regardless of what’s next for them after Big 12 Pro Day. Players will also attend sessions on mental health and brand building and a networking dinner with executives to build connections for their post-football careers.

It’s all common sense to Yormark but uncommon for the draft process. Proving that a conference pro day is a positive, practical improvement requires winning over many stakeholders. Scouts value the access they get during spring campus visits. Players like working out on their home turf. Agents and trainers need optimal conditions for their clients. Big 12 coaches can’t attend if they’re tied up in spring practice.

Draper comes from a football operations background and ran pro days during his 19 years at Michigan. He’s been on the phone nonstop with all of them in the weeks leading up to the event, knowing success is defined by everybody getting what they need out of the experience.

“The NFL has brought their resources, their expertise and their support in getting the clubs to understand this is new and different,” Draper said, “and providing guidance on the club side so the GMs and scouting groups are comfortable that what we’re doing is what they would be getting on campus – but it’s better and more organized.”

The Big 12 is aiming to make its conference pro day an annual event, and next year’s combine ought to be an even bigger deal based on who stayed in school. Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders is aiming to be the first quarterback selected in the 2025 draft. His two-way superstar teammate Travis Hunter will be draft eligible, too, and Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon II is the reigning Doak Walker Award winner. Draper said the league’s four incoming members are “all in” on participating next spring.

Their time to impress will come later. This week is about the hundred-plus Big 12 players getting their hard-earned and potentially life-changing audition.

“If this just gets them a little more exposure and gets them into a camp that then launches their career,” Draper said, “that’s what this is all about.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Utah football coaches say this is making it harder to get recruits on campus

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Sharrieff Shah has been in the recruiting business long enough that he can anticipate the negative tactics that will be used against his school.

“Oh, you don’t want to go to Utah,” the Utes’ cornerbacks coach said incredulously, launching into his best impersonation of opposing coaches. “It’s bad out there. … It’s so far.”

He paused and laughed at his hypothetical recruiting pitch for a second.

Shah can laugh because he knows the state and the program’s strengths. But for recruits who have never seen Salt Lake City, the thought of moving to the mountains — away from the recruiting hotbeds in Texas, Florida and California — can be daunting. And opposing coaches like to prey on that.

“Everyone else will say, ‘Utah is the LDS population. It’s this. It’s that,’” running backs coach Quinton Ganther concurred. “We are fighting all types of uphill battles, but we are fighting them.”

For the longest time, Utah’s answer to the negative recruiting war was to get players on campus. Let them see it for themselves. Even that has become more difficult, Shah and Ganther said.

Since the introduction of name, image and likeness, Utah coaches are finding it harder and harder to get recruits to come on unofficial visits. Coaches believe many top recruits are charging a fee just to visit. Recruiting and NIL experts say that is against the rules. But some Ute coaches feel, it is a reality that is making recruiting more challenging.

“It is a lot harder to get a kid to come unofficially,” Shah said. “That’s for sure.”

Thirteen years as the cornerbacks coach at Utah, filled with hundreds of hard-fought recruiting battles, will harden a coach. It will also refine a recruiting pitch, forcing you to nimbly predict what other programs will use against you and turn it into a strength.

Unofficial visits are key to building relationships with recruits, Shah said.

Each recruit is supposed to pay their way to the school on unofficial visits, where they can see the campus, and speak with players and coaches.

Then recruits lay the groundwork for setting up a handful of official visits before making a final choice.

The official visit is where the school can really roll out the red carpet. The school can pay for flights, hotels, food and sell a vision. But you have to get on a recruit’s official visit list for that to happen.

“[Unofficial visits are] huge,” Shah said, talking about Utah’s strategy. “You need to get here. Come see it. Every kid with reservations from another state, when they get here they say, ‘Man, I didn’t know Utah was like this. Utah is awesome. I didn’t know it was the city, the players, the coaches and the level of football and the offenses we get to go up against.’”

But now, coaches believe recruits are being paid NIL money to go on unofficials. And schools that don’t pay the going rate, won’t get as many opportunities to impress prospective student-athletes.

“Depends on where the kids comes from,” Ganther said of how much the going rate is now. “Because unofficial visits, like we can’t pay for those. Those are kids supposed to be on their own. But when a kid is going on 20 unofficial visits …

“That is just how the game is right now. I don’t have many unofficial visits for running backs, if that lets you know anything. I don’t have a lot of unofficial visits.”

Bill Carter, a University of Vermont lecturer who teaches about NIL, said a third-party NIL collective paying a recruit for an unofficial visit would be against the rules. It would be considered an inducement, something outlawed in the NIL space.

“It’s not allowed, right?” Carter said. “What’s allowed is the school to pay for travel, hotel, meals, tickets [on official visits]. There’s almost hardly anything outside of that allowed.”

Still, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Carter said NIL has seeped into almost every step of the recruiting process — especially with high-end prospects being recruited by multiple SEC schools. It drives the market price up as they compete against themselves.

And in this example, it might even cost Utah more to garner a visit from a high school player being sought after by SEC schools.

“If it’s costing Ole Miss $10,000 to get that kid on campus, then is that kid going to do the same visit to Utah for $10,000? No,” Carter said.

It becomes a case of Utah fighting over four- and five-star recruits with the top schools in the country, when it does not have the same war chest or inherent easy selling points.

“You don’t need to be on the campus at Notre Dame if they make an offer, you want to go there,” he said. “... It’s that half-step down [program] outside of the, say, the top 15 programs in the country [that are fighting for visits and players]. They’re fighting like hell. They are fighting the recruiting battles every day to get some kids not to go to those top 15 schools.”

Carter noted NIL rules aren’t being enforced because of a federal court injunction. So even though inducements for visits are against the rules, there is nothing the NCAA can do about it at the moment.

There is some hope, Carter said. Last year, the NCAA did lift the restriction on the number of official visits a recruit can go on. In theory, that decreases the value of unofficial visits.

But just because a player has an unlimited amount of visits, it doesn’t mean they will come to every school. Players are still selective about which schools get a final audience, in many cases predicated on previous relationships and past visits. And the dollar value in the NIL space to get on campus still matters.

It makes Utah’s job more difficult.

“The kids you are competing with, you have to get them on campus,” Ganther said. “Because if you don’t get them on campus, you’ll never get them. … You have no shot.”

Letter: No thanks to Utah’s GOP lawmakers, St. George will get a much needed underpass. How about giving the Democrats some credit?

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I read with interest a recent article in The Salt Lake Tribune about the state of Utah receiving $87.6 million in federal funds from the “Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program” to help fund a much needed freeway underpass on both 900 South and 400 East in St. George. “State and St. George officials are overjoyed,” the article said.

This program receives its funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, both proposed by President Biden and subsequently passed by Congress, and signed by President Biden. Not a single Republican in Congress voted for the latter, and on the former, while it did have some bipartisan support, only Sen. Mitt Romney voted for it. Sen. Mike Lee and all four of the Utah House representatives, including Chris Stewart whose district St. George is in, voted no.

Perhaps when the construction starts, St. George should put up signs saying something to the effect that “This project was made possible via funding passed by President Biden and the Democrats in Congress.” It seems to me that conservative states (like Utah) and conservative cities (like St. George) should acknowledge that they do in fact “belly up to the feeding trough” and enthusiastically make use of funding primarily supplied for them by Democrats in Congress. Not acknowledging that is abject hypocrisy.

David Child, St. George

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Letter: Remembrance in Layton is a reminder that America should never forget the Vietnam vet

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“Kiss me goodbye and write me while I’m gone. Goodbye my sweetheart. Hello Vietnam.” — Johnny Wright, ( from the song, “Hello Vietnam,” 1965)

March 29 is Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day. It is a day to honor the service and sacrifice of those men and women who served in our Armed Forces during the Vietnam War. According to the Department of Defense, America’s involvement ended on this date. The war itself was finally concluded with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

National Commander Daniel Seehafer of the American Legion said in the March edition of the Legion’s periodical, “On this day, we say ‘welcome home’ to the men and women who were at times jeered and disrespected because they answered their nation’s call.” He reminds us that more than 3 million Americans served in and around Vietnam. 58,318 died during the war, and are memorialized on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

A replica of the wall is now permanently located at Layton Common Park in Layton. It is there that a remembrance ceremony will be held on March 29, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm. Among the featured speakers are Dennis Howland, USMC, Vietnam veteran, and state president of the Vietnam Veterans of America; Nancy Espinosa, Army veteran, and national commander of the Disabled American Veterans; Mayor Joy Petro of Layton; and Sterling Poulson, USAF and Vietnam veteran, TV personality and respected champion of the veteran community.

We American service members were not welcomed home when we returned from the war. Many who served with us died — from ailments associated with Agent Orange, PTSD, and wounds incurred during the war — without the welcome they deserved. It is not too late, however, to welcome those Vietnam veterans who are still alive. America should never forget the Vietnam vet.

Luciano S. Martinez, Murray

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‘Mormon Land’: What LDS women want — in the wake of a controversial ‘priesthood power’ speech

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A decade after the Ordain Women movement within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made national news, another feminist issue is getting lots of media attention.

During a March 17 meeting to celebrate the creation of the church’s Relief Society, J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the faith’s global women’s organization, declared that “there is no other religious organization in the world that I know of that has so broadly given power and authority to women.”

Dennis went on to say that “other faiths ordain women to roles like priest or pastor, but those individuals represent a small minority when compared to the total number of women within their congregations.”

In the Utah-based church, all women “who choose a covenant relationship with God in the House of the Lord are endowed with priesthood power directly from God.”

It is a sentiment that has been expressed previously by Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the church’s governing First Presidency, and by Sheri Dew, a former counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency. But when the church posted Dennis’ quote on Instagram, a flood of responses from women ensued — more than 15,000 comments. And, in an unusual acknowledgment, the church’s social media team promised to share the “thoughts, feelings and experiences” with the faith’s leaders.

On this week’s show, discussing this speech, the overwhelming response it generated and the role of women in the church, are Julie Hanks, a Latter-day Saint therapist in Utah, and Amy Watkins Jensen, a Latter-day Saint middle school humanities teacher in Oakland, California, who created the Women on the Stand letter-writing campaign in the wake of women’s leaders being removed from the stand at worship services in the Bay Area.

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Two former Utah State coaches facing off in the NIT share a bond forged through their sons

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When the NIT quarterfinal matchup between Utah and Virginia Commonwealth was set, Runnin’ Utes coach Craig Smith received a text message. It was from his buddy Ryan Odom, who coaches the Rams.

“I think our boys might’ve willed this game to happen,” the text message read.

Smith and Odom’s teams will face off Wednesday at the Huntsman Center for a chance to advance to the NIT semifinals in Indianapolis. They’ve only known each other a few years due to them both having previously coached at Utah State.

The pair became close when Odom took the job over for Smith in 2021, when Smith left the Aggies to join the Runnin’ Utes. Smith’s son, Brady, finished high school in Logan. Odom’s son, Owen, went to the same school.

So when Smith explained what has kept his friendship with Odom going while the two lived across the country from each other, his answer was simple.

“It’s through our kids,” Smith said.

Smith coached the Aggies there three seasons, from 2018-2021, and led the team to three consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, though they didn’t play in 2020 due to the pandemic. Odom coached from 2021-2023. Before leaving last season, he led the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament.

“Certainly it’s pretty ironic, right?” Odom said Tuesday of the pair’s Utah State connection.

(Eli Lucero | The Herald Journal via AP) Utah State head coach Ryan Odom, center, celebrates with players in the locker room after defeating Nevada in an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023, in Logan, Utah.
(Eli Lucero | The Herald Journal via AP) Utah State head coach Ryan Odom, center, celebrates with players in the locker room after defeating Nevada in an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023, in Logan, Utah. (Eli Lucero/)

Smith said he and Odom “check in randomly” and that he sent his congratulations when Odom got the VCU job. He added that Odom once rented his house for about a month.

But it’s really the bond between their sons that has kept Smith and Odom’s friendship going strong. The boys used to stay at the other’s house frequently. On VCU’s trip to Salt Lake City, Owen Odom will stay at Smith’s house, Smith said.

“You’re staying out of my office because you don’t need to find the game plan,” Smith said he joked to Owen Odom.

Smith also said his son, Brady, spent many nights sleeping in Odom’s guest room while he finished high school in Logan.

“They just nicknamed it ‘Brady’s Room,’” Smith said. “I’m forever indebted to him and his family for really taking in Brady and welcoming him with open arms.”

But when it comes to competing against each other, friendships and past player-coach connections go out the window. “It’s just basketball at that point,” Odom said.

VCU will have to contend with a “balanced” and “impressive” Utah team and rely on its 3-point defense, Odom said. Smith said the Runnin’ Utes will be “really tested” against the Rams defense.

“I have this feeling tomorrow it’s going to feel like we’re playing five against seven because they’re everywhere,” Smith said.

VCU guards Max Shulga and Sean Bairstow also played under Smith at Utah State. They stayed when Odom came on, and transferred to VCU when Odom left Logan to take that job.

Smith said it will be “interesting” seeing and playing against his former players. He recalled doing a home visit in Brisbane, Australia, while recruiting Bairstow.

“It’s really unique, quite frankly, but super cool,” Smith said Sunday after Utah beat Iowa. “Really proud of those guys and what they’ve been able to do. They’ve both had great college careers.”

Playing against friends is nothing new for Smith and Odom, who have coached long enough to have to compete against a former player or mentor or staff member. What Smith will be eyeing, though, is how their boys are going to comport themselves during the game between their dads.

“I’m sure they’ll have it out and they’ll have fun,” Smith said. “I’d be interested in how they handle it. You want good entertainment — because they’re both really funny and outgoing — you should put a microphone on those guys during the game because that’s probably more of where you’ll see it.”





Gordon Monson: ‘Can you name just one itty-bitty thing the LDS Church does right?’ That’s the wrong question.

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After writing nearly a hundred columns about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I received a number of sarcastic messages recently from a few followers of that faith asking, in so many words, if I could do them the solid of detailing something, anything, just one itty-bitty thing the church does right.

This, of course, is the wrong question.

First, it implies that I haven’t already done so, which is incorrect. See, for instance, examples here, here and here. And second, it reveals an all-too-common mix of thin skin and insecurity among some regarding the misunderstood but healthy process of looking at church things as they really are and trying to improve upon them.

The proper question then, would be this: What does the church do perfectly? Anything and everything that isn’t perfect, after all, can be improved upon, right?

Hmm. What does the church do without a single flaw?

Bueller? … Bueller? … Bueller? … Anyone? … Bueller?

Almost nothing.

Even if you believe the church is run from a holy office up in the high heavens, it’s administered down here on the ground by a comparative bunch of knuckle-dragging members. Which is to say, it gets messed up sometimes. A lot of times. It’s a basic state of the human condition to see some slippage betwixt the mortal lip and the divine cup. What we essentially have is, as the famous line from the film “Cool Hand Luke” says, a “failure to communicate.”

And what ensues thereafter is revision, or, in common church terms, ongoing revelation. How many times have Latter-day Saints been told that the gospel’s restoration is a matter of yet-unfinished business? Every time a mistake becomes obvious.

I know what the fervent will say: “That’s for ordained ecclesiastical leaders to handle, not some idiotic sports/religion columnist who can’t even accurately guess whom the Jazz should select in the upcoming NBA Draft.”

They would be correct … about that last part.

Asking questions

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Red Cliffs Temple, left, was dedicated March 24, 2024. The nearby historic St. George Temple was rededicated Dec. 10, 2023.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Red Cliffs Temple, left, was dedicated March 24, 2024. The nearby historic St. George Temple was rededicated Dec. 10, 2023.

But to ask regular followers of the faith, those who are trying to be faithful, trying to do the right things, as they stumble and bumble and fumble their way through this earthly existence to turn a blind eye to what they experience in this life, to what this life teaches them to be true by way of hard and soft knocks, to simply shut down their minds and just do what they’re told because that’s what a church preaches and proscribes, what it puts forth as policy or part of a program, somehow seems ungodly.

In other words, if you have a brain, there’s no condemnation in using it as it pertains to spiritual matters. If you believe in prayer, you can use it. If you believe in personal inspiration, you can use that. Even if you just believe that good ideas can drop down upon you like dew from heaven, you need not ignore it.

If a regional church leader orders respected women leaders off the stand during Sunday meetings, saying it’s not their place to sit there, you can have and express a dissenting opinion about that. If the church has a system in place for legal purposes that possibly puts abused children at prolonged risk, who should tamp down personal concerns about that? If the church has $265 billion in total wealth, but it asks a single mother of three who works 50 hours a week for $30,000 a year to honorably keep a roof over her kids’ heads and food in their mouths to fork over her 10% in tithing to remain in good standing, a righteous mind can wonder about that. If a talk is given at General Conference stressing that only the ultra-righteous will make the Celestial Kingdom in the hereafter and have the opportunity to be together with loved ones through the eternities, and faithful parents who have children choosing different paths subsequently question and worry even more about that line of thinking, are they justified in doing so? Can God’s love for those same children give hope for eternal progression in forever families in the great beyond?

There are a lot of nuances and mysteries in the application of spiritual principles, even if some Latter-day Saints prefer to paint everything largely in black and white. You’re faithful or you’re not. You’re righteous or you’re not. You’re obedient or you’re not. You’re worthy to enter temples or you’re not. For them, it’s as though Jesus’ Atonement never happened, or that, in the wake of it, his forgiveness is only begrudgingly given. It’s now or never.

Thing is, not even top church leaders always agree with one another on issues affecting the faith and the people in it. Two general authorities have told me that discussion among that leadership is hardy and varied, as it should be, different opinions formed by and for different folks. And numerous biographies of church presidents support their statements.

Do top church leaders present a united front? Yeah, but that doesn’t mean their personal opinions evaporate. They often remain and maybe one day, with enough persuasion, will be incorporated into doctrine, principles and practices across the faith.

It’s true that chaos cannot reign within a church if it wants to stay cohesive and effective with its faithful. But the fact that even believing church members must accept that the Almighty lets women and men of God develop their own ways of viewing issues and solving problems and following commandments is really a thing of beauty.

That alone is something the church is imperfectly perfect at: granting individuals the space and opportunity to have eternal and non-eternal truths come to their souls. That’s the perfect part. The imperfect part comes in the judging and rejecting of church members who interpret things slightly differently, even as they feel the same spirit of revelation.

Perfecting imperfections

(Leah Hogsten  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Jorge Cocco Santángelo's Getsemani or "Gethsemane," is displayed in 2016. Columnist Gordon Monson says that for some orthodox Latter-day Saints it’s as though Jesus’ Atonement never happened, or that, in the wake of it, his forgiveness is only begrudgingly given.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jorge Cocco Santángelo's Getsemani or "Gethsemane," is displayed in 2016. Columnist Gordon Monson says that for some orthodox Latter-day Saints it’s as though Jesus’ Atonement never happened, or that, in the wake of it, his forgiveness is only begrudgingly given. (Leah Hogsten/)

The church is perfect in teaching its members to love one another as Jesus loves all, to help one another, to lift one another, to bear one another’s burdens, and in teaching those members to love people of other faiths and people of no faith, too.

Imperfections creep in.

Were Latter-day Saints before 1978 wrong, the ones who believed Black members should have every privilege of participation inside and outside the church that other members had? Some protesters were inspired long before certain church leaders gained that same inspiration.

When Latter-day Saints today call for women to be equal to men inside and outside the faith, are they sinning? What about those deeply concerned about the welfare, acceptance and treatment of their LGBTQ brothers and sisters, daughters and sons, moms and dads, aunts and uncles, and friends?

The church teaches that aforementioned perfect Christlike love and sometimes it teaches it perfectly. But there’s still that human element persisting in the air, when individuals don’t fit the church’s mold of the moment.

The faith perfectly stresses the importance of service to all people, but again, falls short in the extensions of that charity.

Why? Because the church is made up of imperfect people, imperfect leaders, imperfect interpreters of God’s will, imperfect believers. It’s made up of sinners — from the loftiest pulpits to the lowliest pews.

Not even the church, then, thinks it’s perfect. If it thought it was, and if it, in fact, were, it wouldn’t have to change. But it does change. And it will change even more. Wait and see.

Maybe that right there is a slice of perfection. Knowing it needs to evolve, realizing it will evolve. It’s just that some of us knuckle-draggers, and that’s precisely what we are, wish it would fully restore itself a little quicker, get and do everything right. Even then, we’re bound to mess it up.

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Opinion: Why has Obamacare worked?

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We’ve just passed the 14th anniversary of the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare — although many of the law’s provisions didn’t take effect until 2014.

In its early years, Obamacare was the subject of fierce criticism from both the left and the right. Actually, politicians on the right are still saying the same things they said a decade ago, pretending that their predictions of doom haven’t been falsified by events. But Obamacare has survived, greatly expanding health insurance coverage without busting the budget. Critics on the left complain that it hasn’t produced truly universal health care, which indeed it hasn’t. But it has done a lot and has become quite popular.

So why has Obamacare worked as well as it has?

The thing is, critiques of Obamacare from the left have a point. If your goal is to give people access to health care, why not just give them access, by instituting a single-payer system in which the government pays the bills? This was, in fact, what we did for seniors when Medicare was created in the 1960s.

The ACA, however, created a complicated system in which people have to buy their own insurance, although in many cases the government picks up much of the tab. And the complexity of the system, combined with the fact that important parts of it are run by state governments, some of which are controlled by conservatives who want Obamacare to fail, means that a lot of people fall through the cracks: 8% of the U.S. population is still uninsured, although that’s a lot better than the pre-ACA situation.

Why, then, didn’t we go for single-payer? Politics. It wasn’t just a matter of buying off the insurance industry by keeping it at the center of American health care, although that was part of it. More important, I believe, was the perceived need to avoid disturbing Americans happy with their existing health coverage, mostly those getting insurance via their employers. Rather than reforming our whole health insurance system, Obamacare sought to fill the holes in our system by adding new stuff. In particular, it tried to create a working marketplace in which individuals not covered by their employers could find affordable health insurance.

Many people, especially but not only on the right, expected this effort to fail. I don’t want to get too deep into the weeds here, but the ACA prohibited insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums to people with preexisting medical conditions. This kind of regulation can cause a “death spiral”: Too few healthy people buy insurance, so the risk pool gets worse, which drives up premiums, which drives out still more relatively healthy people, and so on.

Initially, the ACA included a “mandate” — a penalty on Americans who didn’t have insurance — but it’s not clear how effective the insurance mandate ever was, and Republicans eliminated the penalty in 2017.

Yet Obamacare didn’t collapse. Why not?

Here’s how I’d put it: In practice, Obamacare has ended up functioning a lot like a single-payer system after all — and such systems aren’t subject to death spirals.

First, a large part of the rise in health coverage came from an expansion of Medicaid, the government health insurance for lower-income Americans — single-payer, although less generous than Medicare.

Second, individual purchase of insurance on the ACA-created marketplaces is subsidized. In fact, last year 91% of marketplace enrollees were receiving so-called premium tax credits. In many cases these credits cover a large part of an individual’s premium. Also, crucially, the subsidies don’t take the form of lump-sum credits. Instead, the law specifies a maximum percentage of income that enrollees can pay for insurance (that percentage itself depends on your income) and makes up the difference if premiums exceed that maximum.

This isn’t single-payer, exactly, but it does mean that the government is the marginal payer, in the sense that even if premiums rise, most people don’t pay more — the government picks up the extra bills. This in turn means that a death spiral basically can’t happen, because even if healthy people drop their insurance, costs for most enrollees don’t rise.

This is smart policy design; among other things it protects the ACA from hostile politicians. Soon after taking office in 2017, Donald Trump declared that “the best thing politically is to let Obamacare explode.” And while his attempt to repeal the law failed, his administration engaged in acts of sabotage, in effect trying to induce a death spiral. But the subsidies frustrated this plan. In 2019, I asked Nancy Pelosi about how politicians like her had interacted with the clever policy wonks who devised such a robust system. “I am a wonk,” she replied.

Obamacare, then, has defied the doomsayers. But what about warnings that it would prove unsustainably costly? Federal spending on health care is currently considerably lower than the Congressional Budget Office projected before the ACA went into effect, despite the expansion of coverage. How was this possible?

Part of the answer is that before Obamacare went into effect, the uninsured in America consisted disproportionately of relatively young adults — and the health costs of younger people are, on average, much lower than those of seniors (who were already covered by Medicare). So covering many of the uninsured was never going to cost all that much, unless the policy design was fatally flawed, which it wasn’t.

Beyond that, the enactment of the ACA coincided with a sustained slowdown in the growth of overall health care spending.

We don’t know exactly why this happened. The ACA contained a number of measures intended to control costs, which may partly explain the bending of the curve. It’s worth noting, however, that health costs have leveled off across the advanced world. It’s possible that the direction of technological progress in medicine has shifted, generating fewer ways to treat the previously untreatable and more ways to deliver care more cheaply. And to some extent we may be seeing the effects of Stein’s Law: If something cannot go on forever, it will stop. Health spending couldn’t absorb an ever-growing share of national income, so at a certain point insurers and providers began to take cost control seriously.

In any case, Obamacare has worked. It didn’t provide universal coverage, but it did provide health insurance to millions of Americans, some of whom desperately needed that safety net — and it did so without breaking the bank. Predictions that the ACA would be unworkable have been proved wrong. At this point, the only serious threat the program faces — and it is a serious threat — is political: People who kept insisting, wrongly, that health reform would die of its own accord may simply step in to kill it.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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Opinion: There is a twisted logic to Trump’s obsession with Al Capone

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In recent months, Donald Trump has been trying out a new routine. At rallies and town halls across the country, he compares himself to Al Capone. “He was seriously tough, right?” Mr. Trump told a rally in Iowa in October, in an early rendition of the act. But “he was only indicted one time; I’ve been indicted four times.” (Capone was, in fact, indicted at least six times.) The implication is not just that Mr. Trump is being unfairly persecuted but also that he is four times as tough as Capone. “If you looked at him in the wrong way,” Mr. Trump explained, “he blew your brains out.”

Mr. Trump’s eagerness to invoke Capone reflects an important shift in the image he wants to project to the world. In 2016, Mr. Trump played the reality TV star and businessman who would shake up politics, shock and entertain. In 2020, Mr. Trump was the strongman, desperately trying to hold on to power by whatever means possible. In 2024, Mr. Trump is in his third act: the American gangster, heir to Al Capone — besieged by the authorities, charged with countless egregious felonies but surviving and thriving nonetheless, with an air of macho invincibility.

The evidence of Mr. Trump’s mobster pivot is everywhere. He rants endlessly about his legal cases in his stump speeches. On Truth Social, he boasts about having a bigger team of lawyers “than any human being in the history of our Country, including even the late great gangster, Alphonse Capone!” His team has used his mug shot — taken after he was indicted on a charge of racketeering in August — on T-shirts, mugs, Christmas wrapping, bumper stickers, beer coolers and even NFTs. They’ve sold off parts of the blue suit he was wearing in that now-infamous photo for more than $4,000 a piece (it came with a dinner with Mr. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort).

Commentators have long pointed out that Mr. Trump behaves like a mob boss: The way he demands loyalty from his followers, lashes out at rivals, bullies authorities and flaunts his impunity are all reminiscent of the wiseguys Americans know so well from movies and television. As a real-estate mogul in New York, he seems to have relished working with mobsters and learned their vernacular before bringing their methods into the White House: telling James Comey, “I expect loyalty”; imploring Volodymyr Zelensky, “Do us a favor”; and pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state, “Fellas, I need 11,000 votes.” But before, he downplayed the mobster act in public. Now he actively courts the comparison.

Mr. Trump’s audacious embrace of a criminal persona flies in the face of conventional wisdom. When Richard Nixon told the American public, “I am not a crook,” the underlying assumption was that voters would not want a crook in the White House. Mr. Trump is testing this assumption. It’s a canny piece of marketing. A violent mobster and a self-mythologizing millionaire, Capone sanitized his crimes by cultivating an aura of celebrity and bravery, grounded in distrust of the state and a narrative of unfair persecution. The public lapped it up. “Everybody sympathizes with him,” Vanity Fair noted of Capone in 1931, as the authorities closed in on him. “Al has made murder a popular amusement.” In similar fashion, Mr. Trump tries to turn his indictments into amusement, inviting his supporters to play along. “They’re not after me, they’re after you — I’m just standing in the way!” he says, a line that greets visitors to his website, as well.

Mr. Trump clearly hopes that his Al Capone act will offer at least some cover from the four indictments he faces. And there is a twisted logic to what he is doing: By adopting the guise of the gangster, he is able to recast his lawbreaking as vigilante justice — a subversive attempt to preserve order and peace — and transform himself into a folk hero. Partly thanks to this framing, it seems unlikely that a criminal conviction will topple his candidacy: not only because Mr. Trump has already taken so many other scandals in his stride but also because, as Capone shows, the convicted criminal can be as much an American icon as the cowboy and the frontiersman. In this campaign, Mr. Trump’s mug shot is his message — and the repeated references to Al Capone are there for anyone who needs it spelled out.

In an essay from 1948, “The Gangster as Tragic Hero,” the critic Robert Warshow sought to explain the unique appeal of gangster fables in American life. He saw the gangster as a quintessentially American figure, the dark shadow of the country’s sunnier self-conception. “The gangster speaks for us,” Warshow wrote, “expressing that part of the American psyche which rejects the qualities and the demands of modern life.”

It is easy to see why gangster fables appeal to so many Republican voters today. They are stories of immigrant assimilation and success, laced with anti-immigrant sentiment and rivalry. Their heroes are creatures of the big city — those nests of Republican neuroses — who tame its excesses through force but never forget God or their family along the way. In many ways, minus the murder, they are ideal conservative citizens: enterprising, loyal, distrustful of government; prone to occasional ethical lapses, but who’s perfect?

Mr. Trump knows that in America, crooks can be the good guys. When the state is seen as corrupt, the crook becomes a kind of Everyman, bravely beating the system at its own game. This is the cynical logic that the gangster and the right-wing populist share: Everyone’s as bad as anyone else, so anything goes. “A crook is a crook,” Capone once said. “But a guy who pretends he is enforcing the law and steals on his authority is a swell snake. The worst type of these punks is the big politician, who gives about half his time to covering up so that no one will know he’s a thief.”

It’s a worldview powerful enough to convince voters that even the prized institutions of liberal democracy — a free press, open elections, the rule of law — are fronts in the biggest racket of them all. This conceit has a rich pedigree in reactionary politics. “Would-be totalitarian rulers usually start their careers by boasting of their past crimes and carefully outlining their future ones,” Hannah Arendt warned.

The gangster’s brutality also taps into what Warshow and others of his generation saw as the sadism in the American mind: the pleasure the public takes in seeing the gangster’s “unlimited possibility of aggression” inflicted upon others. The gangster is nothing without this license for violence, without the simple fact that, as Warshow put it, “he hurts people.” He intimidates his rivals and crushes his enemies. His cruelty is the point. The public can then enjoy “the double satisfaction of participating vicariously in the gangster’s sadism and then seeing it turned against the gangster himself.” “He is what we want to be and what we are afraid we may become,” Warshow wrote. Reverence and repulsion are all wrapped up.

Capone’s rise, demise and exalted afterlife don’t hold happy clues for Mr. Trump’s opponents. Dethroning a mob boss is never easy. “He was the 1920s version of the Teflon man; nothing stuck to him,” Deirdre Bair wrote in a 2016 biography of Capone. After he was arrested in 1931 for tax fraud, his mob continued to prosper for another half-century, and Capone himself, who was released after six and a half years in prison for health reasons and died from a stroke and pneumonia in 1947 at age 48, achieved a type of immortality. Mr. Trump will see in his story many reasons to be cheerful. “I often say Al Capone, he was one of the greatest of all time, if you like criminals,” Mr. Trump said in December. It was an interesting framing: “if you like criminals”? Mr. Trump has a hunch, and it’s more than just projection, that many Americans do.

Samuel Earle is the author of “Tory Nation: The Dark Legacy of the World’s Most Successful Political Party.” This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Latter-day Saints lead the way in church attendance, but the numbers may not reflect reality

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Here’s the church. Here’s the steeple. Open the doors and see … only handfuls of people.

There was a time, in the late 1950s, when half of Americans regularly attended church, the highest percentage in U.S. history. Today, according to a new Gallup report, that number clocks in at 3 in 10.

Based on tens of thousands of phone surveys conducted over the past three decades, the report makes one thing as clear as a Wasatch Mountain spring: Latter-day Saints are not to blame for empty pews.

(Christopher Cherrington  |  The Salt Lake Tribune)
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

According to the study, which did not provide a margin of error, 67% of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in the United States went to church at least most weeks between 2021 and 2023.

This number, based on more than 600 Latter-day Saint respondents during the two-year period, matches a new study from the B.H. Roberts Foundation, which put the activity rate for those within the “Mormon Corridor” at 71% and 65% for those without.

Research published in 2014 and 2016 put the overall rate in the United States at 77% and 74%, respectively.

For regular Latter-day Saint churchgoers familiar with their congregations’ rolls, these lofty percentages might raise a few eyebrows.

And, in fact, there is one critical weakness shared by all of these studies. All four rely on self-reporting. And, as sociologists will tell anyone who will listen, what people say they do and what they actually do, don’t always line up.

Sure enough, a new report using cellphone data harvested from 2.1 million Americans from April 2019 to the pre-pandemic month of February 2020, indicates the true percentage of Latter-day Saints who attend regularly may be closer to 15% — a jaw-bruising 52 percentage points lower than the number who reported doing so to Gallup just a year or two later.

Latter-day Saints are not the only ones who appear to be grading themselves on a Mount Timpanogos-size curve, either. The same cellphone study put the overall activity rate of U.S. adults at 5% for that same 2019 to 2020 stretch, a sixth of what Gallup measured for 2021 to 2023.

A constant does emerge from all this disparate data, however. No matter how you slice it, Latter-day Saints smoke the competition in terms of turnout.

Rewind the clock 10 years and that was still the case, according to Gallup, which found that 75% of Latter-day Saints attended church regularly from 2011 to 2013, compared to 38% nationwide. The faith also held the top spot for 2000 to 2003, when 68% of Latter-day Saints attended worship services regularly — compared to 42% of all U.S. adults.

Only two groups — Jewish and Muslim Americans — saw their activity rates increase during the study’s 20-year span, both by single digits.

(Christopher Cherrington  |  The Salt Lake Tribune)
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

So what has America’s congregations deflating like a punctured balloon?

According to the Gallup study’s authors, the major driver has to do with the growth in the number of “nones,” Americans with no religious affiliation — 9% in 2000 to 2003 versus 21% in 2021 to 2023. Younger and more politically liberal, this fast-growing cohort overwhelmingly opts out of community worship, if not necessarily a belief in a higher power.

Other studies, meanwhile, suggest COVID-19 likely served as a minor accelerant to preexisting downward trends, with many believers skipping rolling out of bed for weekend services in the wake of the pandemic.


Faith groups team up, argue Huntsman’s tithing case against the LDS Church endangers religious freedoms

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Top U.S. religious groups say a lawsuit alleging fraud by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a danger to all faiths and violates the U.S. Constitution.

In new legal briefs, lawyers for the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and those representing 11 major faith groups filed briefs urging a federal appeals court to reject James Huntsman’s legal accusations that the Utah-based church misused tithing.

Huntsman’s high-profile case is now set for September oral arguments before the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as part of an “en banc” rehearing granted earlier this month.

The high-profile case “is infused with religious significance,” opponents to Huntsman’s lawsuit argue in their latest pleadings, stating that the First Amendment’s protections of religious freedom and church autonomy bar legal review and should derail his challenge.

“Fundamentally religious issues, in which secular courts may not become entangled, underlie every aspect of Huntsman’s claims,” Becket contends in its brief filed Friday.

“Just because there may be secular aspects to a religious dispute, that does not open the door to turning the dispute into a secular one for courts or juries to resolve,” echo attorneys arguing on behalf of an array of faith groups, including a variety of Christian and Jewish faith organizations.

The U.S. Supreme Court, they contend, “has consistently refused to allow courts to hide theological elephants in secular mouse holes.”

Parties behind the filing include the Christian and Missionary Alliance; the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists; the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty; Church of Scientology International; the General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church; and others.

Huntsman is seeking $5 million-plus

Huntsman, who heads a film distribution company based in California, resigned his church membership in 2020 and sued the faith in March 2021, asserting that Latter-day Saint leaders misled members about how tithing was being used by saying it went only to charitable purposes while spending on commercial ventures.

A brother of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., James Huntsman is seeking to recover $5 million of his own donations plus interest and penalties.

His attorneys have successfully argued so far that the fraud case is a secular matter not precluded by the First Amendment and that pursuing it does not require the courts to rely on or interpret religious questions.

A U.S. District Court tossed out the case in late 2021, but a 2-1 decision by a panel of the 9th Circuit reinstated it last August.

Two of the three appellate judges found that a “reasonable juror” could conclude that Latter-day Saint leaders — particularly then-President Gordon B. Hinckley — misrepresented how $1.4 billion in church dollars was used to build the City Creek Center shopping mall in downtown Salt Lake City.

That ruling was vacated March 1 when the full 9th Circuit agreed to review the case.

Legal analysis in Huntsman’s lawsuit has come to center on comments made by Hinckley, who told attendees at April 2003 General Conference that tithing funds “have not and will not be used” for City Creek Center. Hinckley said the money instead came from “commercial entities owned by the church” and the “earnings of invested reserve funds.” Much may hinge on what exactly the Latter-day Saint prophet-president meant by those and other terms.

Opening questions of faith to legal review?

Deciding even basic questions as to what Hinckley meant, and how Huntsman interpreted those statements, according to the latest two briefs, would require an impermissible review of basic ecclesiastical questions by the courts. Opponents say letting Huntsman’s case proceed also endangers faith groups by opening religious practices to being second-guessed by aggrieved members and illegally putting courts in charge of deciding internal faith questions.

“Any time a religious organization, via one of its leaders or an official publication, says something about the religious status and use of donated funds that can be contradicted by an allegation from a disgruntled former employee or member,” one of the latest filings contends, “a jury or judge (under the panel’s reasoning) will now get to decide which party has the better theological understanding.”

They also point to a series of nearly identical lawsuits filed since Huntsman’s case was revived last summer, each of them alleging fraud and seeking the return of tithing funds. The 2-1 ruling that reinstated his case, faith groups say in their new brief, “has spawned copycat litigation throughout the nation — posing an additional risk to all organizations of faith.”

Five recent suits — in Utah, Illinois, Tennessee, Washington and California — have since popped up. They seek class-action status over allegations that tithing was spent contrary to how Latter-day Saint leaders said the money was being used.

In nearly identical language, plaintiffs argue that their allegations don’t implicate religious beliefs, doctrines or how the church is organized or governed, but rather the faith’s financial practices.

Huntsman’s case — which is not seeking class-action status — and these other suits cite sworn testimony from whistleblower David Nielsen, a former portfolio manager with the church’s investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors, that leaders knowingly misled members on the faith’s spending.

The cases also all note a February 2023 settlement between the church and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which found top church officials had approved the creation of 13 shell companies partly to evade public reporting laws and obscure the size and scope of the faith’s investment portfolio.


Utah Voices: Renters vent frustrations with ‘untenable’ market

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Earlier this week, we asked Utahns to share their experience with renting in the state. Here’s a sampling of what you said.

Let us know what you think here or in the form below, and subscribe to Top Stories to share your insight.

  • “It’s been great so far. I moved here a month-and-a-half ago and was very surprised with how affordable it was in Sugar House, when considering the fantastic neighborhood and amenities nearby. I am in a 750-square-foot one bedroom apartment. Comparing such a large apartment in such a great location to many, many other cities, I think it’s a fair price, though I do think I got a winter special price due to the slower season. However, even now I think it’s a good deal for the current prices. The complex I live in feels safe, in good repair and high quality. I’m very happy here.” — Max, Salt Lake City
  • “I don’t rent in the traditional sense. I live in a mobile home. I own my home but rent the land. My rent is $1,000 a month just for the space. They charge extra for the water and trash. I do not know how my neighbors with mortgages afford to live here. Before we sold our single family home, my mortgage was $1,100. I am frustrated that I pay so much for so little.” — Kim, Sandy
  • “I literally pay more per month now for my college student’s shared room at a student housing complex near UVU than I did for my family to rent a 2-bedroom apartment in a fourplex in SLC 15 years ago. When my family moved back to Utah from New York City a few years back, I was astonished to find that many apartments in Orem cost nearly as much as our apartment in Queens, but without any of the benefits of public transit, walkability, proximity to resources, etc., that we had in NYC. We’re moving back to upstate New York soon, and a house that is 25% larger than our house in Orem is 40% less than our house in Utah is valued at. Housing in the urban/suburban areas of this state (and likely the rural areas as well, but I’ve no experience there) are completely untenable.” — Sandra, Orem
  • “We struggled with rent being expensive, so we decided to rent a house with a family member so that we could split the cost. We like our location and landlord.” — Katie, Lehi
  • Earlier this week, I looked at a duplex (2 br 1 ba, w/d in unit) in Ephraim for $900/month plus utilities. The owner told me he’d had 20 applicants within a week of listing the unit. The market is tight for renters, even in some of the rural counties of the state.” — Clinton, Ephraim
  • “I’ve had nothing but good luck, but I’m a special case. My landlords are my parents.” — Michael, Midvale

The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. We rely on your insight to do this. Find out how to share your opinion here, and email us at voices@sltrib.com.

Retro ski suits are making a comeback on the slopes. Here’s why.

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Park City • The model strode down the catwalk outside the Alf Engen Ski Museum looking like John Travolta in “Urban Cowboy,” only more glamorous.

The wide collar of her white, lightly padded jacket came to a point at the shoulders. Blue denim swaths and red gingham checks accented the triangle snap pockets and the wide cuffs, which gave way to stoplight red, leather workman’s gloves. Underneath the outfit, made by Levi’s in 1977, peeked a pair of form-fitting, boot-cut denim overalls.

Skiing in jeans has never been so appealing.

Each winter, ski resorts and industry associations spend countless dollars on marketing and promotions to bring people into the sport. Sometimes, though, the same task can be accomplished by something as simple as a pretty coat or a pair of well-fitting stretch pants — perhaps in a blue jean pattern.

(Bethany Baker  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) A model shows off a ski outfit design from Levi during the Vintage Skiwear Fashion Show at the Alf Engen Museum at Utah Olympic Park in Park City on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A model shows off a ski outfit design from Levi during the Vintage Skiwear Fashion Show at the Alf Engen Museum at Utah Olympic Park in Park City on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Bethany Baker/)(Julie Jag | The Salt Lake Tribune) A model shows off vintage ski wear at a fashion show kicking off Ski History Week held at the Alf Engen Ski Museum in Park City on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
(Julie Jag | The Salt Lake Tribune) A model shows off vintage ski wear at a fashion show kicking off Ski History Week held at the Alf Engen Ski Museum in Park City on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

“I don’t know that people think of fashion or fashion shows as promoting the sport of skiing, but they do,” Barbara Alley Simon, aka the “First Lady of Ski Fashion,” once said.

“Seeing good-looking people in appealing outfits certainly attracts attention, and it is my personal conviction that stretch pants played a great part in the growth of skiing. Everyone looked sexy in them … and wanted to try this new sport of skiing”

Decades after her own fashion shows brought national attention to slope styles, Alley Simon sat in the front row Wednesday watching dozens of the vibrant, vintage outfits she’s donated to the museum parade down the catwalk. Other ensembles — some blindingly bright neon, some combining classic colors and chevrons — came from designer Wini Jones, who also served as the event’s MC, and private collectors.

More than 200 people, several of whom once held a role in the ski fashion industry, attended the show, which served a dual purpose. It kicked off Ski History Week and raised money for a $388,000 museum remodel that, in part, makes room for the display of more vintage ski apparel.

(Bethany Baker  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Barbara Alley Simon, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Ski Fashion," stands in front of some of her favorite designs displayed in an exhibit at the Alf Engen Museum at Utah Olympic Park in Park City on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Barbara Alley Simon, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Ski Fashion," stands in front of some of her favorite designs displayed in an exhibit at the Alf Engen Museum at Utah Olympic Park in Park City on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Bethany Baker/)

The clothing display already enjoys a prominent spot at the entrance to the museum. That coincides with what Connie Nelson, the ski museum’s outgoing director, said is a close-knit relationship between ski fashion and the sport’s popularity.

“Ski fashion has really helped bring awareness to the sport,” she said, “and encouraged people to go have fun in these great outfits.”

Alley Simon got her start in the fashion industry through events like this. With the encouragement of Jerry Simon, a promoter and U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame inductee who would become her husband, she held her first fashion show at a ski show. The shows grew in size and complexity, evolving from mannequins to models to trained dancers. She eventually created a TV tour called “What’s New in Skiwear” that ran for 11 years and gained appearances on the “Today” show and “Oprah.”

In 2020, she joined Simon in the Hall of Fame when she was inducted as a “builder” of the sport.

“My favorite ones were fabulous and colorful,” Alley Simon told The Tribune on Wednesday. Parkinson’s Disease has made her more feeble than when she was touring, but she still lights up when she talks about the designs. “But they also had to be technically sound, because they have to keep you warm.”

That’s what made winter apparel so interesting to Jones.

She designed for Roffe Ski Wear for 30 years before retiring in 1996. Now serving as the vice president of the Ski History Association, she offered a glimpse behind the scenes of the design process. Once, she said, she asked 3M for an insulated stretch fabric. They gave her a light version of a filter that they’d made to stretch over a car engine.

In her endeavors to create wearable, functional art, however, she did hit a few snags.

(Bethany Baker  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Models show off ski outfits from the 1960s during the Vintage Skiwear Fashion Show at the Alf Engen Museum at Utah Olympic Park in Park City on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Models show off ski outfits from the 1960s during the Vintage Skiwear Fashion Show at the Alf Engen Museum at Utah Olympic Park in Park City on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Bethany Baker/)

Retailers wanted to return neon outfits, for example, because the colors faded so quickly that after a week in the display window, the front was a different shade than the back. Working with someone called the Senior Bunny Mother at a Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, led her to design her popular “cutout bust” jumpsuit. And once, after buying thousands of yards of a nylon print for an outfit that didn’t sell well, she said had no choice but to offload it to an umbrella company.

In addition to being on the cutting edge of the ski wear fashion industry, both Alley Simon and Jones could be considered at the forefront of an upswell of women’s participation in winter sports.

Over the past decade, women have accounted for roughly 40% of visits to resorts by skiers and snowboarders, according to both National Ski Areas Association and Snowsports Industry Association statistics. However, the overall number of visits has been growing, which SIA said in 2016 accounted for a 7% jump in women’s participation. Moreover, 60% of new skiers last year were women, according to the NSAA.

(Bethany Baker  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) A model carries matching ski gear during the Vintage Skiwear Fashion Show at the Alf Engen Museum at Utah Olympic Park in Park City on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A model carries matching ski gear during the Vintage Skiwear Fashion Show at the Alf Engen Museum at Utah Olympic Park in Park City on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Bethany Baker/)

Nelson said there’s probably a reason luxury brands like Coach and Prada now sell ski and snowboard gear, and why bright, even iridescent, fabrics and one-piece ski suits are making a comeback on the slopes.

“Products go where the money is,” Nelson said.

“[Fashion] has brought attention to the sport because it’s fun,” she added. “And it might have really encouraged a lot of women to go try it, because it’s typically seen as a man’s sport, and it isn’t. It’s for all of us.”

Maybe ski fashion isn’t just a fad. Maybe it’s in our jeans.

The Alf Engen Ski Museum is seeking donations to help it pay for its two-phase expansion, the first phase of which is underway. Visit engenmuseum.org to donate.

Correction • March 27, 12:45 p.m.: This article was corrected to state that John Travolta starred in “Urban Cowboy.”


Bagley Cartoon: Cross Purpose

Dedican templo de Red Cliffs, el segundo en St. George

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El presidente Henry B. Eyring, Segundo Consejero de la Primera Presidencia de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días, dedicó el Templo de Red Cliffs el 24 de marzo de 2024, casi cuatro años después de que comenzara la construcción.

“Encontrarán un gozo en su servicio aquí que no se puede obtener de otra manera”, dijo el presidente Eyring en la primera de dos sesiones dedicatorias del templo en St. George, Utah.

“Mi fe se fortalece cada vez que vengo a esta zona”, añadió el presidente Eyring. “Este terreno se volvió sagrado para mi familia y para mí gracias a la fe de nuestros antepasados que ahora se encuentran en el mundo de los espíritus. Su fe en Dios, en los templos y en los profetas los ayudó a superar los tiempos difíciles que surgen en cada vida. Mi bisabuelo, Henry Eyring, fue uno de los pioneros del área de St. George. Sirvió como registrador en el Templo de St. George, Utah. Sólo puedo imaginar su alegría al saber que ahora hay un segundo templo en St. George”.

Muchos miembros de La Iglesia tienen una conexión profunda con el Templo de St. George, Utah, que fue nuevamente dedicado recientemente y tiene 146 años; el templo en funcionamiento más antiguo de la Iglesia. El Templo de Red Cliffs Utah es el segundo templo en St. George.

El presidente Eyring estuvo acompañado por el élder Patrick Kearon, del Cuórum de los Doce Apóstoles, y su esposa Jennifer, el élder Kevin W. Pearson, presidente del Área de Utah, y su esposa June, junto con el élder Jonathan S. Schmitt, de los Setenta, y su esposa. Alexis.

El presidente Eyring dijo que la fe en Cristo y el amor familiar aumentan mediante la asistencia al templo. “A medida que ejercites la fe en Jesucristo y reúnas los requisitos para entrar al templo, encontrarás que tu corazón se llena de amor hacia las personas que te rodean y hacia tu familia”.

En la oración dedicatoria, el presidente Eyring bendijo a los santos para que sintieran más la presencia de Dios. “Que [el templo] sea siempre sagrado para quienes entran en él y para todos los que lo miran”, oró. “Bendícelos para que sientan Tu presencia y un sentimiento de esperanza y deseo de acercarse a Ti y a Tu Hijo”.

El Templo de Red Cliffs Utah, anunciado por primera vez en octubre de 2018, es uno de los 28 templos dedicados, en construcción o en renovación en Utah. La ubicación se anunció en 2019. En abril de 2020, se publicó una representación oficial del Templo de Red Cliffs. Varios meses después, la construcción comenzó con una ceremonia de colocación de la primera piedra del templo de tres pisos y 96,277 pies cuadrados.

Los motivos interiores y exteriores del templo se asemejan al entorno que rodea el área de St. George y se inspiraron en los grandes álamos del sur de Utah y sus numerosas montañas y cañones. Una entrada bordeada de palmeras conduce al edificio sagrado. Esta casa del Señor se alza frente a las pintorescas montañas de Red Cliff como un faro de serenidad y paz para todos los que entran.

El presidente Eyring describió cómo los Santos de los Últimos Días pueden invitar a la compañía del Espíritu Santo mediante un patrón de asistencia al templo y cumplimiento de los convenios de por vida.

“La participación frecuente en las ordenanzas del templo puede crear un patrón de devoción al Señor de por vida”, dijo. “Cuando guardamos nuestros convenios del templo y los recordamos, invitamos a la compañía del Espíritu Santo, que nos fortalece y nos purifica”.

Nota del editor • Esta artículo se publica a través de una asociación para compartir contenido entre Telemundo Utah y The Salt Lake Tribune.

Two Utah boys accused of killing man, dumping body in field on St. Patrick’s Day

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Two Utah teens have been charged as adults with murder in connection with the killing of 21-year-old Alexzia “Alex” Franco, who was fatally shot and whose body was later dumped in a Utah County field on St. Patrick’s Day.

The boys — Rohan Sharoon and Pedro Alexis Romero-Bustos, both 17 — each face charges of murder and aggravated robbery, first-degree felonies; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and abuse or desecration of a body, a third-degree felony.

Sharoon, of Salt Lake City, was also charged with possession of a gun by a restricted person, a second-degree felony. He turned 17 the day after the killing.

Another teen, who turned 16 on Tuesday, is also being investigated in connection to the killing. Authorities suspect the 16-year-old pulled the trigger. The boy was in custody as of Wednesday but had not been charged as an adult, 3rd District Court records indicate.

Before the killing, Franco had planned to buy a gun from the teens. On March 17, Franco got into a white Jeep near 3800 West and 5700 South, Franco’s girlfriend told police. The three teens were inside the vehicle.

At some point, Franco and the three boys “appeared to be arguing,” the girlfriend said. As the Jeep sped away with Franco still inside, she heard “a loud noise” that “sounded like a gunshot,” according to court documents.

(Jenkins-Soffe Funeral Chapel) Alexzia “Alex” Franco, who was killed on March 17, 2023. Two 17-year-olds have been charged as adults in connection with his killing.
(Jenkins-Soffe Funeral Chapel) Alexzia “Alex” Franco, who was killed on March 17, 2023. Two 17-year-olds have been charged as adults in connection with his killing.

Police obtained surveillance video of the Jeep driving away, which captured a sound “consistent with a gunshot.” According to a probable cause statement, Franco was killed by a single gunshot to the left side of his head, which was fired at close range.

Franco’s girlfriend identified the Jeep’s driver as Sharoon through social media, court documents state.

Later that day, police found the Jeep at a Salt Lake City home. The floor of the vehicle was stained with blood, police noted.

The lower portion of the vehicle had also been painted blue — the paint was still wet and “showed visible brush strokes.” The now-16-year-old later told police he painted the Jeep.

His girlfriend, who had loaned him the vehicle, told police the teen said he shot Franco because Franco was going to rob him. She also told police that she and the then-15-year-old painted her Jeep at the direction of one of Romero-Bustos’ uncles, “who instructed them to paint and then burn the vehicle.”

While seeking search warrants for the home where the Jeep was found, police learned that Sharoon had turned himself in to Taylorsville police. He led officers to a field off State Route 73 in Utah County, where Franco’s body had been dumped.

Sharoon told police that he was the driver and that the then-15-year-old shot Franco.

Once taken into custody, the youngest teen told police he picked up Sharoon and Romero-Bustos and told them he had a “play” to sell Franco a gun.

Romero-Bustos, of West Valley City, told police that he, Sharoon and the then-15-year-old decided to rob Franco. The youngest teen was sitting in the back seat when Franco climbed in to join him there, where the two began to argue.

Romero-Bustos said that when he turned around to look in the back seat, he was pepper-sprayed, then heard a loud bang and saw Franco slouched in the back seat with his head down.

After driving to Utah County to dump Franco’s body, the three split the money Franco had given Sharoon for the gun, according to Romero-Bustos, who added that his share was $100.

Romero-Bustos, Sharoon and the now-16-year-old are all being held without bail, court records indicate. Sharoon made his first court appearance on Wednesday; Romero-Bustos is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Thursday.

According to his obituary, Franco “lived his life without fear and was compassionate about the people he loved.”

“He stood up for those who needed a friend, a shoulder to cry on, and you could always count on him putting a smile on your face,” the obituary states. Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday.

Utah Pride Center’s leader is leaving, after just 6 months in the job

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Editor’s note • This article has been updated with comments from Utah Pride Center officials.

The head of the Utah Pride Center is leaving the post for health reasons, just over six months after taking command of the embattled LGBTQ+ nonprofit and promising “to restore trust” after the organization built up large amounts of debt.

Ryan Newcomb’s departure was announced Wednesday in an email message sent from Jess Couser, chair of the Utah Pride Center’s board of directors, to “our esteemed benefactors, stakeholders, community leaders and supporters.”

Couser’s letter also announced that the center is selling its headquarters building near Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City, and moving to a new location near City Creek Center downtown.

With the building sale, Newcomb said Wednesday in an email to The Tribune, “our debts will be fully rectified. … Our financial position has been restored.”

Since joining the center in September 2023, Couser wrote in her letter, “Ryan’s commitment to the success of [the Utah Pride Center] has been extraordinary ... so extraordinary that it has taken a toll on his health.” His resignation from the post, the letter said, will take effect Monday.

Newcomb said, “we are, have been and will continue to deliver on the public promises made to rectify the mistakes of past leadership.”

Taking over as interim executive director, Couser wrote, is Chad Call, who was director of the Utah Pride Parade in 2022 and 2023 and is the Utah Pride Festival and parade’s 2024 volunteer director. Newcomb will partner with the board to bring Call on, the letter said, and will serve as a volunteer on the Pride steering committee “for as long as Chad would like.”

Call applied for the executive director job last September, the letter said, and was one of the four finalists for the post. Call will act as interim executive director through the middle of June.

Couser wrote that the board hopes to name a new permanent executive director just before this year’s Pride Festival, so that person can shadow Call during the event.

In a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune, Couser said, “Our board of directors of eight have worked really hard together and we’re really proud of the work that Ryan did, and mostly we’re proud of the fact that this community came together and allowed this transition to be seamless.

“The focus is to put on a festival and parade that benefits the whole community and we’re really excited to be able to do that,” Couser continued.

In a note from Newcomb included with Couser’s letter, he wrote, “While I deeply regret that my health is requiring such a drastic change in my life, I am tremendously proud of our entire staff, board and volunteer team that led [the Utah Pride Center] through the last six months of change and crisis. …

“Together, we have (as some have observed) ‘turned the Titanic around’ through more transparency, instilling best practices and proper governance — and righting our financial ship, while starting to repair relationships community-wide,” Newcomb continued.

Recovering from ‘financial crisis’

Newcomb, 38, arrived at the Pride Center in September, and worked behind the scenes before his hiring was announced on Nov. 15. He had previously worked as chief development officer at Park City’s The People’s Health Clinic.

“We aim to get Pride back on track to the financially sustainable entity that it was only 18 months ago,” Newcomb said at a news conference to introduce him and to announce the center’s new board.

After Newcomb’s departure was announced Wednesday, Jonathan Foulk, a former executive director for the Utah Pride Center, said the “constant changes” the center has gone through are “heartbreaking.”

“There was so much press and effort put around the new [executive director] about promises … and then this happens, right? And so, now we go back to square one again, and we’ve been doing this for 10 years,” he said.

In Wednesday’s letter, Couser also announced that the Utah Pride Center has sold its building at 1380 S. Main in Salt Lake City, its home since 2018, “to recover from our 2023 financial crisis.” A private buyer made an offer, Couser said, and the sale is expected to close around April 18.

The center, Couser wrote, will move to a space on the top floor of the McIntyre Building, at 68 S. Main St. in downtown Salt Lake City. The new office, the letter said, is “steps away” from the City Creek TRAX station and one block from the start of the Utah Pride Parade.

The center also announced a new partnership with Flourish Therapy, a mental health group that focuses on providing therapy to LGBTQ+ people and their families. The center’s new office will have room for mental health providers, two large gathering spaces, and room for programming and events, the letter said.

“We need the Pride Center, and we need the programs and services that it offers,” Foulk said. “... I’ve always wanted what’s best for the center, and I hope that they can get their leggings back on and be able to provide the life-saving programs and services that they have offered, and hopefully can continue to offer.”

Foulk said he hopes Newcomb “takes care of himself because his health comes first.”

Pride Festival ‘full steam ahead’

Foulk added that he hoped the news of Newcomb leaving didn’t “hurt” the 2024 Pride Festival and Parade. But the letter said both events are “full steam ahead.”

This year’s festival, set for June 1-2 at Salt Lake City’s Washington Square Park, “will be a tribute to years past, when it was accessible to small businesses and large sponsors alike,” the letter stated. The center is taking applications online for entertainment, food vendors, exhibition vendors, volunteers and parade participants.

The center faced criticism during the 2023 Pride festival from some local creators who were angry because of higher booth prices.

This year, Newcomb said in his email, “we will have much more progressive pricing tiers for all participants, vendors and individual attendees.”

The center was also criticized last June for spending $300,000 on security — an expense Foulk said at the time was a response to rising threats against Utah’s LGBTQ+ community.

Newcomb said in November that the center spent about $1.5 million more on the 2023 festival than it did the previous year, “while revenues remained flat, leaving this organization hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.” He called running up that debt “to put it mildly, indefensible and egregious.”

Two rounds of job furloughs in August and September reduced the center’s staff of 19 down to just two employees. A statement posted on the center’s Instagram account in August, and then quickly deleted, said the center was in “massive financial turmoil” and that “the Center might close, revive, or reset.”

In November, Newcomb said his “top priority … is to be as transparent as possible, and that starts today — to restore trust and build an inclusive, welcoming center that our entire queer community deserves.”

Newcomb promised an internal review of the center’s finances, which would be made public when completed. And he vowed to “establish new financial and ethical guardrails” for the center’s employees.

He called the 2024 Utah Pride Festival and Parade “the crown jewel of our work,” and vowed “to deliver a 2024 Pride that is responsive to our community, and continues to be a conduit for all UPC programming that is going forward.”

Victim services director says Cache County attorney candidate threatened her for supporting his 2024 election opponent

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Logan • Terryl Warner, the director of Cache County’s Victim Services Division, said she was threatened by a man running for Cache County attorney after she began supporting another candidate. She also contended her concerns were not taken seriously by the county’s top leader.

At Tuesday night’s Cache County Council meeting, the longtime county employee read text messages sent to her last month by Cameron Cox, a public defender who is also running for county attorney.

He’s running against Taylor Sorensen, the interim county attorney. Cox is a contracted public defender in Cache County, whose role is to defend people who can’t afford a lawyer and who are facing criminal charges. Victim services advocate for those who have been harmed and ensure they are cared for and included as a case goes through the court system.

Cox doesn’t dispute sending the text messages, but he told The Salt Lake Tribune they were not intended to be threatening.

In the texts, he alleges the victim services budget has been mismanaged, something he won’t ignore if elected as the county’s top prosecutor. Warner addressed those allegations publicly to the council, saying Cox had inaccurately portrayed expenditures by her office.

“I am deeply concerned about the threats, the intimidation, the hostility that exists in Cache County,” Warner told the council Tuesday night.

“I want to know if you’re willing to change this current culture of bullying threats, intimidation and retaliation toward Cache County employees, or if you’ll remain silent,” she added.

Warner also publicly rebuked County Executive David Zook in front of the council for, she said, not addressing the threats made by a county contractor. Zook questioned, however, whether the county had authority to conduct a personnel investigation — because Cox is a contracted public defender, not a county employee.

Warner told The Tribune she also reported the threatening messages to the state’s top elections official, the lieutenant governor’s office, because the threats related to this fall’s county attorney race. Warner said she’d been contacted by Davis County investigators in relation to the threats.

The text messages

The first text Warner shared with the County Council on Tuesday was a message she received on Feb. 9. In the text, Cox wrote he was displeased with Warner supporting Sorensen.

“I’ve learned you are campaigning for Taylor and saying things about me that are not true,” the message read. “Best of luck. I’m an honest and good person. If I don’t win this election, I will [win] the next one and make the next four years a self-reflecting experience.”

After receiving the text, Warner said she reported it to Zook, who, according to Warner, said the text was unacceptable, but nothing needed to be done.

Warner said she received another message from Cox on Feb. 14. In the text, which Warner also shared in council chambers Tuesday night, Cox accused her of mishandling county funds and not sending victim advocates to Logan’s municipal court, a critical component of her job.

“I see you are forwarding my text around,” Cox said in the text, while also alleging that Warner had been mismanaging the victim services budget and not fulfilling grant requirements. “Best of luck Terryl. [I’m] sure Taylor will keep that all and more under wraps as your puppet, but I will not.”

Warner said she supports Sorenson, but added she hasn’t outright endorsed him. She told The Tribune she has shared some of his campaign signs with people and attended a town hall. “That’s about it,” she added. “I really haven’t done much, but yes, people know I am supporting Taylor.”

Cox told The Tribune he sent the texts to Warner as a way to defend himself from “slanderous statements” made by her.

“I never threatened anyone in my campaign, including Terryl Warner,” Cox told The Tribune. He also said that his “self-reflection” text was not meant as a threat, but he was trying to express the reality of what a new county attorney would be for her office.

Warner denies saying anything slanderous about Cox, adding, “I have only been positive about him.”

“I never said anything negative and it would be nice if he could tell all of us who told him I did,” Warner told The Tribune.

A complaint to the lieutenant governor’s office

In a letter Warner sent to human resources dated Feb. 23, which was shared with The Tribune, she wrote, “I also made the difficult decision to report this text to the Lt. Governor’s Office/Elections Department.”

Warner said she contacted the lieutenant governor’s office because state law says it’s unlawful to, “interfere with the free exercise of the elective franchise of any voter…”

A spokesperson for the Utah lieutenant governor’s office confirmed the office received a complaint from Warner, but declined to comment further.

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Warner told The Tribune her complaint was then fielded by the Davis County Sheriff’s Office, adding members of the office have since interviewed her. Stephanie Dinsmore, the public information officer for the Davis County Sheriff’s Office, said that while the county doesn’t have standing agreements to handle cases involving conflicts, “it is not uncommon for us to ask or be asked by other agencies to handle cases with potential conflict.”

“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on any open or active investigations our agency or any other agency is handling,” Dinsmore added.

Who has the authority to investigate a public defender?

Worried for her safety, Warner said she reported the texts to Zook — and alleges those concerns were brushed aside. She also reported to the Cache County’s human resources department.

The department head, Amy Adams, said during Tuesday’s council meeting that she sent Zook a contract for an outside department to begin an investigation, but that contract has not been signed.

Warner’s allegations Tuesday were met with support by members of the County Council.

Chair David Erickson agreed with Warner’s call to change the county’s culture of “bullying, threats, intimidation and retaliation toward Cache County employees …”

“This county means too much to me to keep going through this kind of malarkey,” Erickson said during the Tuesday meeting. “We should not in any way bring this county to that level … There’s too many good people here.”

Zook said Tuesday night that the threats are being investigated by county human resources and public defenders’ office. However, he doesn’t believe it should be the county who investigates the matter, and said, “My interpretation of the law is that the managing public defender is the one — the only one — who has authority to investigate a public defender.”

He also shared a letter with The Tribune from Matthew Barraza, executive director of the Utah Indigent Defense Commission, which echoes Zook’s concern that a county should not be the entity investigating a public defender.

“We believe that any disciplinary action of a public defender should be addressed through that person’s Managing Defender, rather than through a County Attorney’s office,” Barraza wrote in the letter.

In another letter Zook shared with The Tribune, Mike McGinnis, the manager of Cache County’s public defenders, wrote to the County Council on March 7 and cited a line of county code that states, “the Managing Defender shall have independent authority in administering and overseeing public defender contracts.”

When reached Wednesday, McGinnis declined to comment further on the situation.

“We understand that this situation is outside the scope of Mr. Cox’s position as a public defender and is actually related to the political contest between Mr. Cox and Taylor Sorensen,” McGinnis wrote to council members. “Therefore, the matter should still be dealt with within the bounds of the county code.”

‘I think we can win it all.’ Utah men’s basketball aching for chance at NIT title

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Deivon Smith worked his way into the paint and pump faked a layup. Two Virginia Commonwealth defenders bit on the fake, leaving Utah’s Keba Keita wide open.

Instead of laying the ball up himself, Smith gave it to his teammate. “I knew he was going to destroy the rim,” the point guard said.

Keita’s ferocious dunk was an exclamation point to the way the Runnin’ Utes blew out the Rams to advance to the NIT semifinals.

Utah beat VCU, 74-54, on Wednesday at the Huntsman Center. The tournament moves to the Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, where Utah will face Indiana State on Tuesday at a time to be determined.

(Trent Nelson  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes guard Gabe Madsen (55) celebrates a three-pointer as Utah hosts Virginia Commonwealth in the NIT quarterfinals, NCAA basketball in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes guard Gabe Madsen (55) celebrates a three-pointer as Utah hosts Virginia Commonwealth in the NIT quarterfinals, NCAA basketball in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (Trent Nelson/)

But at least one Utah player was already seemingly itching to get to Indianapolis to make a statement.

“Just being on a neutral site, I think we could beat anybody,” Smith said. “I think can win it all, honestly.”

The Runnin’ Utes had the benefit of homecourt advantage for their three wins to reach the tournament’s semifinals. As the Utes prepare for a trip to Indianapolis, head coach Craig Smith spoke on what needs to travel for Utah to continue its run.

“Defense travels,” Craig Smith said. “I think your mindset travels. I think your preparation travels. And being locked in ... like super locked in and dialed in.”

Gabe Madsen said defense and rebounding have to travel to Indianapolis. But in the same breath, he exuded confidence in how the Runnin’ Utes have been playing.

(Trent Nelson  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes guard Deivon Smith (5) celebrates the win as Utah hosts Virginia Commonwealth in the NIT quarterfinals, NCAA basketball in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes guard Deivon Smith (5) celebrates the win as Utah hosts Virginia Commonwealth in the NIT quarterfinals, NCAA basketball in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (Trent Nelson/)

“I feel like everybody talks about defense and rebounding has to travel, and that’s definitely true,” Madsen said. “But I feel like we’re playing our best basketball right now. I think everybody’s just excited to get there. I’m not expecting a dip or anything.”

Smith notched his fifth triple-double of the season with 15 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds. That marks the most triple-doubles ever in a Pac-12 season, a record previously held by Jason Kidd.

Madsen scored 18 points for Utah, while Branden Carlson added 17.

Utah exploded out of the gate with an 18-2 run in the first few minutes of the game. But the Rams cut their deficit to 23-20, forcing the Runnin’ Utes to miss eight straight shots.

Three-pointers by Carlson and Madsen brought Utah’s lead back up to nine with 4 minutes left in the first half. Smith’s 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer gave the Runnin’ Utes a 36-26 lead.

Utah started the second half on an 11-2 run and never looked back. Its biggest lead was 29.

Indiana State came close to making the NCAA Tournament. Carlson said the Runnin’ Utes have to take that into account on Tuesday.

“They have a chip on their shoulder and we have to come out with a lot of motivation to go for that game,” he said. “We’re excited to play them.”

(Trent Nelson  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes center Keba Keita (13) dunks as Utah hosts Virginia Commonwealth in the NIT quarterfinals, NCAA basketball in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes center Keba Keita (13) dunks as Utah hosts Virginia Commonwealth in the NIT quarterfinals, NCAA basketball in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (Trent Nelson/)

The Triple Team: There’s good news and bad news about the Jazz’s locker room vibes after loss to San Antonio

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Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 118-111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. The vibe of the locker room

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that the locker room vibes are way better than they were six weeks ago, when I sent this tweet about the locker room being incredibly frustrated after the trade deadline. Spirits have lifted significantly. Some players laugh and joke and chat postgame, others just change pretty quickly and head home.

The bad news is that it’s because none of the players really care if they win or lose anymore. Now, it’s not full zero: the players still compete. They still want the best for themselves and the Jazz, and they’d certainly prefer to win than to lose. But the sting of losing is absolutely gone.

That was on pretty full display tonight, as the Jazz lost this game from the opening tip. There was a significant turnover problem, there was a significant 3-point defense problem, and there was a significant Victor Wembanyama problem. But while the Jazz made the game closer as the game ended, the Jazz’s win probability never went above 25% in the second half and never went above 10% in the final 10 minutes.

Will Hardy has an impossible job here — try to maintain buy-in and team-first thoughts in this environment. Without it, player development is next to impossible. But there’s just no real reason to put wins first if you’re a player — after all, Danny Ainge and co. aren’t.

The Jazz have now lost 10 of their last 11, and they have nine remaining games. They’ll likely be favored in none of them.

2. Markkanen plays the whole second half

Lauri Markkanen played just over 42 minutes tonight, including the entire second half. This was a little surprising, given that Markkanen has been in and out of the lineup due to injury management after getting a significant contusion to his quad/knee area.

“We talked a bunch and he said that he was feeling pretty good and wanted to keep going. So we just let him ride,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “Obviously it’s good for Lauri to feel those experiences. As you’re aiming towards like the future of the team, you get in the playoffs and the best player plays a lot.”

Markkanen was happy to have played the extra minutes — he said he wanted to strengthen the bench unit. Having him out there with the bench also gives him the chance to use more possessions and get more shots up, and Markkanen possessions are typically much more efficient than those used by other players.

That being said, he also did feel tired by the end. “I haven’t done that in a in a while. So just coming back to playing, there was a little fatigue,” Markkanen said. “I think took a couple of bumps there at the end. So we’ll see how we move on from here, but as of now I feel fine.”

How the Jazz have treated their injury report since the All-Star break has been a little befuddling at times. Line items like John Collins (rest) or Kris Dunn (rest) point 100% towards tanking. But then why did the team bring Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson back for Monday night’s game? Is Clarkson really experiencing left lower back soreness? And why are they playing the injury maintenance game with Markkanen, only to have him play 42 minutes?

I don’t really understand. They haven’t done anything that’s super problematic in either direction, but the approach hasn’t been especially consistent.

3. Jazz eliminated from playoffs

Tonight, the Jazz were officially eliminated from the playoffs.

In Utah Jazz history, the longest the Jazz have gone without making the playoffs is four years. It’s happened twice: once when the team first moved to Utah, and once in the Ty Corbin/Quin Snyder transition period.

This is now year No. 2. When can the Jazz make the playoffs again?

Obviously, there’s no crystal ball here, and making the playoffs now is easier than it used to be since the advent of the Play-In Tournament. But things do look pretty bleak for the Jazz.

Earlier Wednesday, I was doing my weekly guest appearance on ESPN700 with Spence Checketts, and he asked me: is this the worst Jazz team ever? I don’t think there’s really any true argument that there is: the 2013-14 Jazz and 2004-05 teams were clearly worse record wise, and I think clearly worse talent-wise as well. The Jazz’s bad record through this point I think is largely because they’ve given up.

What I think is possible is that this is the point in recent memory where the Jazz’s immediate future looks most bleak. After the 2013-14 season, the Jazz had a top-5 pick and great lottery odds for what looked like a 3-superstar draft in 2014, with Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, and Joel Embiid. The Jazz didn’t win that lottery, but there was a path towards immediate improvement. After 2005-06, the Jazz drafted Deron Williams.

In next year’s draft, the Jazz will likely have the No. 8 or No. 9 selection, but in the worst draft in a decade, one where All-Star talent is in either short or nonexistent supply. The upside is that the Jazz do seemingly have some promising rookies, like Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, and Brice Sensabaugh, who look like at least nice NBA players. And of course, there’s the treasure trove of picks they have — but those won’t turn the team around immediately.

A quicker turnaround could be possible, if the Jazz use those picks to trade for a star this summer. Without that deal, though, it’s going to be a long road.

The Triple Team is back! But this time, as an emailed newsletter, sent to your inbox after every game. To sign up to read future iterations of all three of Andy Larsen’s points, put your email address in below:

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