News

  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published an article on its website last week taking an in-depth look at its past practice of refusing to ordain black men to its priesthood.  But a historian who’s studied the issue says there’s more to the story.

Newell Bringhurst has published several books on the history of the church’s denial of the priesthood to men of African ancestry – a ban that ended in 1978 with a revelation announced by then-church President Spencer Kimball. 

For Real Salt Lake, the Major League Soccer season came to a disappointing end. The winner of the MLS Cup was never previously determined by as many as ten rounds of penalty kicks. But that’s what happened Saturday night against Sporting Kansas City. 

Salt Lake City’s three-day New Year’s Celebration will be chock-full of fan favorite activities this year as organizers celebrate the festival’s 5th year anniversary. It will also cost families more to attend.

Now that healthcare.gov is working better, more Utahns are going online to sign up for insurance. KUER’s Andrea Smardon reports that it’s affordable for some, expensive for others, and not available at all for more than 100,000 Utah citizens.

Four hundred and fifty-four Utah Residents from 83 different countries became U.S. Citizens at Abravanel Hall today and for many, taking the Oath of Citizenship was a profound experience.

The candidates stood and raised their right hand as Julie Wierschem the Deputy Clerk of the U.S. District Court led the oath. The ceremony featured Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams as Guest Speaker. He asked the new citizens to exercise their voting rights and share ideas and cultural contributions with the community. He says their voices are important to him as a public servant.

  The Union Pacific Railroad is planning to start repair work on its causeway across the Great Salt Lake.  But it means closing off the culverts that allow water to pass between the north and south arms of the lake. 

The causeway was built in the 1950’s, cutting off much of the natural flow between the two arms of the lake.  As a result, the north arm is much saltier and about a foot lower in elevation than the south arm.

Attorneys and law enforcement personnel at University of Utah are reacting to recent attacks by so-called cyber-squatters. Thousands of University employees are being targeted by an internet scheme making fraudulent purchase orders with sites that attempt to appear to be representing the U. Valoree Dowell is the interim communications director for the University of Utah. She says right now the purchasing department is busy alerting suppliers to the scam.

The personal information of thousands of Utah residents has been compromised.  Those who use the UCard to collect benefits from the Department of Workforce Services are affected by the data breach, DWS officials announced today.  JP Morgan Chase, the company tasked with delivering benefits through the digital payment card discovered a network breach that reportedly began in July and was contained in September.

  No matter where you go in Salt Lake City this time of year, the holiday spirit is out to get you -- and Dan Nailen says there are good reasons to get swept up in it. Dan Nailen reports on entertainment for KUER and blogs at slcene.com

Transit officials and local government leaders praised the hard work went into the creation of the new Sugar House streetcar at a grand opening ceremony Thursday afternoon.

After more than six years of planning and $37 million dollars in construction costs the Sugar House streetcar, or S-Line, will open to the public on Sunday. Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker says the streetcar ushers in an exciting time of growth and development that will benefit the community for years to come.

Some of Utah’s healthcare powerbrokers are honing in on a plan to expand Medicaid that they think the state legislature might approve. At a healthcare conference in downtown Salt Lake City Thursday, former lieutenant governor Greg Bell - now president and CEO of the Utah Hospital Association – laid out his vision.

Bell says the state’s decision on Medicaid expansion will really be decided by the Utah legislature.  

  Bad air is bad for business – that’s the message from a roundtable discussion at the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

Air quality on the Wasatch Front can be a problem for agencies trying to persuade businesses to come here.  That was among the the points discussed at Thursday’s meeting.  Mike O’Malley with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development says companies looking to relocate take air quality into consideration.

With the 2016 election more than two and a half years away, Republican Mike Lee accepted his first official re-election endorsement at Salt Lake City’s Grand America Hotel Wednesday. Members of the California-based group Tea Party Express put their support behind Utah’s junior senator.

Next year, thousands of Americans will take the GED test and obtain a certificate that’s equal to a high school diploma.  But come January 1st the test will be a much different experience. The GED Testing Service has announced a new exam for 2014 that focuses more on college and career readiness and less on high school completion. 

Utah Governor Gary Herbert released his 2015 budget proposal today at Utah Valley University in Orem and its main focus is on increased education funding.

For the 2015 fiscal year the Governor’s office of Management and Budget projects the state will receive $338 million dollars in new money. Governor Herbert’s proposal calls for more than 75% of it to go towards education.

  The state of Utah missed a deadline a year ago to submit a plan to the Environmental Protection Agency for meeting new standards for the smallest particles in the air – the so-called PM 2.5 pollutants.  This plan includes new rules on industrial polluters and on wood burning in urban counties.  It also depends heavily on improvements in auto emissions as cleaner cars replace those now on the road.

Kathy Van Dame, who’s a leader of the group Breathe Utah and a member of the Air Quality Board, likes this plan much better than the one they rejected a year ago.

The Spanish Fork City attorney’s office filed a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct against a Spanish Fork Junior High School teacher accused of kicking one of his students. Meanwhile Utah State School Board members are considering beefing up teacher discipline standards. 

At midnight on Monday John Swallow officially became the former Attorney General of Utah. And while there are several Republicans vying to become the appointed replacement, the Governor won’t make that decision for another few weeks. Until then, Major General Brian Tarbet will be the acting Attorney General and dealing with the transition won't be easy.

Community groups around the state have been holding events to educate people about the Affordable Care Act, but Utah Pride is trying something different Wednesday to reach their target demographic - healthcare happy hour.

  Last week, a judge in Price ruled that Utah’s state engineer acted properly in allowing a development company to lease water rights in the Green River for a proposed nuclear power plant.  Blue Castle Holdings is now planning to move ahead with the next step -- applications to federal regulators  for the plant itself. 

Blue Castle has agreed to lease rights to more than 53,000 acre-feet of water to operate a 3,000 megawatt power plant near Green River.  Environmental groups had challenged the agreement, and they may yet appeal the court’s ruling. 

Archeologists at an open pit coal mine in Spain have discovered the most well preserved ankylosaur, ever found in Europe, but the discovery has roots right here in Utah.

Dr. James Kirkland is the state paleontologist at the Utah Geological Survey. He’s been studying dinosaurs for 40 years. Recently, he’s been working on reclassifying all of the wide, heavily armored kind of dinosaurs. So when researchers in Spain called him up to ask his help identifying newly discovered fossils, he didn’t hesitate to say yes.

  Over the weekend, somebody vandalized the Hannukah menorah in front of a synagogue in Salt Lake City.  But the rabbi doesn’t think it was meant as a hate crime.

A Brigham Young University student will be recognized by a national suicide prevention organization this week for his work with the lesbian and gay community in Utah. BYU Senior Adam White will be receiving the ‘Youth Innovator’ Award at the Trevor Project's annual dinner in Los Angeles. Past honorees at TrevorLIVE include Lady Gaga, Neil Patrick Harris, and Queen Latifah.

Elf the Musical opens next week on stage at Pioneer Theater Company in Salt Lake City. It’s the first time the production has been done in Utah since the contemporary classic film Elf was released 10 years ago. Pioneer Theater’s Artistic Director, Karen Azenberg says “family” is at the heart of the story, and believing in something good.

  Residents of Layton are expressing shock after the unexpected death of Mayor Steve Curtis at the age of 58. 

City Council member Mike Bowhuis says Mayor Curtis died in his sleep after enjoying Thanksgiving with his family.  Curtis was just finishing his second term as mayor.  Prior to that, he served ten years on the Layton city council.  Bowhuis says city employees held him in high regard.

  Green Day's musical American Idiot and Plan B Theater's annual radio drama are on Dan Nailen's list of entertainment this week in Salt Lake City.

Dan Nailen reports on entertainment for KUER and blogs at slcene.com