General News

LDS Church Aids Ethiopia The LDS Church is shipping 4,000 tons of wheat to famine-stricken areas of Ethiopia. 220 twenty-foot containers of wheat are being packed and shipped from an LDS-Church-owned farm near Cambridge, England, with the assistance of volunteers from local LDS units.

LDS Church says it's neutral on China trade bill An LDS General Authority expressing strongly-held personal views apparently led some journalists to wonder if the LDS Church had taken a position on the Chinese free trade bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday. Elder Donald L. Staheli of the Seventy met with some members of Congress prior to the vote on the measure and expressed his personal opinion of the leglislation. But at least one of the members of Congress that he spoke to said that Elder Staheli made it clear that the Church wasn't taking a position.

U.S. Senate Confirms Two LDS Judges In the wake of a deal struck Monday between Democrat and Republican leaders, the US Senate confirmed 16 Federal Judges, including LDS Church members Roger L. Hunt and Kent J. Dawson. Both men are from and will serve in Nevada, and were nominated by President Clinton at the suggestion of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) who is also an LDS Church member, leading some in Nevada to criticize the nomination.

Local News

Fight Club Phenomenon Spurs BYU Review of Housing Policies The demise last month of the Provo Fight Club didn't put an end to the practice by any means. Now a video of two coeds fighting in an apartment complex that is approved for BYU students has appeared on local newscasts, prompting BYU to again review its policies, this time reviewing the policies for approved housing.

Special Collections named in honor of Elder L. Tom Perry The Special Collections Department in Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library will be named in honor of Elder L. Tom Perry of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during ceremonies on Friday (May 26).

Sports

What's Happening With LDS Baseball Ace Vernon Law LDS Church member and Cy Young Award winner Vernon Law remembers some of the special moments of his baseball career. He recalls some of the tactics used by the professional scouts to recruit him to their team. He eventually decided on the Pittsburgh Pirates after their agent showed up with dozen roses, a box of chocolates and a special recruiter in reserve.

People

LDS Author Takes On Rich Indian Tribe An LDS author has taken a look at the richest tribe of American Indians and called foul. Jeff Benedict, a Boston law student, says in his new book, "Without Reservation" that Connecticut's Pequot tribe is a farce, contending that tribe leaders decieved the Federal government to gain recognition as a tribe, millions in Federal funding and permission to open a casino in the state.

BYU Coed In MTV's The Real World A 20-year-old BYU coed will be one of the cast members of the upcoming season of MTV's reality-based show "The Real World." To produce the hit show, MTV dumped seven strangers in a house in New Orleans and filmed them for five months to see what transpires among them. The resulting 2,135 hours of tape were then cut into 22 half-hour episodes for the cable channel's next season. The new season begins June 13th.

Arts & Entertainment

Terry Tempest Williams' Leap Gets Strong Reviews Mormon naturalist Terry Tempest Williams' latest book is getting strong reviews in major newspapers and magazines like the Chicago Tribune and Time. Williams' book, Leap, looks at Mormonism more than her previous books, "Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place" and "Desert Quartet: An Erotic Landscape." In Leap, Williams uses a trio of paintings by 15th Century Flemish painter Hieronymus Bosch, "The Garden of Delights" as a jumping-off point for her examination of both.

Business

Could KSL Loose BYU Sports Broadcasts? LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University has reportedly solicited a bid from Clear Channel Broadcasting for the rights to broadcast BYU's football and basketball games. The rights are currently held by LDS Church-owned KSL, which has traditionally broadcast the games.

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