General News

Mormons relent on resignation

Two days after a San Francisco Examiner article on a San Francisco man's effort to leave the LDS Church without being excommunicated, his bishop has called-off a disciplinary court scheduled for Sunday. Owen Edwards asked to have his name removed from the Church's rolls in February, saying he was gay and took offense at the Church's position on California's Knight Initiative. He decided to make his case public after he received notice of the disciplinary court on July 8th.

LDS Church Pulls Most Missionaries From Volatile Fiji

In the wake of threats by rebel leader George Speight to lead new efforts against ethnic Indians in Fiji, the LDS Church has pulled all non-Fijiian missionaries from the country. Following Speight's May 19th coup, the Church had moved missionaries to the west side of the island, away from the capital.

Local News

ex-LDS high priest sentenced in molestation Former LDS Church member Gene A. Guinn, 68, was convicted Wednesday of indecency with a child and sentenced to 68 years in prison. Since Guinn will not be eligible for parole until half his sentence has been served, the sentence is effectively for the rest of his life. Guinn was excommunicated from the LDS Church because of the offense.

Sports

LDS Rookie Football Player Quits Before First Practice John Frank, picked by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 6th round of the NFL draft, quit Sunday, returning a $63,000 signing bonus and voiding a $300,000 per year 3 year contract. Frank's action shocked the Eagles, who were already surprised at his failure to show for practice, just hours after attending the team's Saturday night rookie meeting.

LDS Senior PGA Pro Summerhays Stops Streak To Caddy for Daughter Bruce Summerhays, an LDS professional golfer on the PGA's senior tour, ended his streak of 36 straight senior tour starts in order to be a caddy. Summerhays carried his daughter Carrie's clubs as she competed as an amateur in her first US Women's Open. Carrie plays for BYU's women's golf team and is the youngest of the eight children in the Summerhay's family.

People

LDS Group Helps Zimbabwe Fight AIDS With Frank Talk A detailed article in today's Salt Lake Tribune describes the efforts of nonprofit Deseret International (Zimbabwe), a group of LDS Church members in Africa, to fight AIDS. The program, called "Education for Life" trys to get teenagers to change their behavior through education about sexual behavior.

Arts & Entertainment

Voice Male performing next weekend in Provo and Layton In this era of manufactured teen pop, angst rock and hardcore rap, it is refreshing to find a group that simply sings good songs.In 1994, six friends from Logan got together to do just that. Six years and five albums later, Voice Male is stronger than ever.

Business

Mormon Stock Index Drops Slightly In Volatile Market The performance of the stocks in the Mormon Stock Index varied widely in the week ended July 14th as 1-800 Contacts and Micrel Semiconductor jumped more than 10 and nearly 20% while Caldera Systems and Ten Fold dropped 19 and 35% amid the release of several company earnings reports. The index itself managed to stay relatively stable, dropping just 1/2 percent to 129.85, from 130.54.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]