General News

Hinckley Warns Youth Against Tattoos, Body-Piercing At the first church-wide fireside directed to LDS youth in many years, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley repeated his call for youth to avoid pornography, tattoos, body-piercing and "lascivious" rock music. Hinckley's remarks repeated his recent calls in the LDS Relief Society's general meeting September 23rd and the Priesthood session of General Conference on October 8th, for parents to keep their children from these practices.

Local News

West High Teacher's Story: Student's Were Disruptive The West High School teacher who had three students escorted from her class, says that the students refused to follow instructions and were disruptive, according to a press release from the Salt Lake Teachers' Association, the union which represents teachers in Salt Lake City and which is giving the press the teacher's version of the incident. Her claim is significantly different than the claims of the students, who say the teacher didn't want them reading the Book of Mormon during a free reading time in class.

New BYU Earring Policy Hits National News BYU's one-word change to its honor code has made national news, appearing in today's Boston Globe and elsewhere through the Associated Press' wire. The policy change, which limits women to one set of earrings, came in the wake of a series of talks by LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley that advised church members to avoid body piercing and tattoos.

Sports

LDS Golfer Weir Closes Year With $1,000,000 Win Pro golfer Mike Weir ended the PGA Tour season yesterday with a win in the WGC American Express Championship at the Valderama Country Club in Spain. Finishing at an 11-under-par 277, Weir picked up a $1,000,000 check and frustrated golf phenomenon Tiger Woods' attempt to earn an unprecedented $10 million and become the first player in 50 years to win 10 Tour events in a season.

Speculation On Edwards Successor Shifts From Reid To Crowton Philadelphia newspapers speculated for weeks on the possibility that Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid would become the replacement for BYU legend LaVell Edwards before Reid denied the possibility and put the rumors to rest. Now Chicago newspapers are speculating that Crowton is on the top of BYU's list. But unlike Reid, Crowton has admitted talking to BYU about the job.

Politics

LDS Church One Of Religions Attacked By Russian Education Ministry A report last week by the Kenton News Service says that Russia's Education Ministry launched an attack in August and September on 700 "foreign" religious groups, apparently including the LDS Church, urging directors of institutions of higher education to "prevent [the] infiltration [of their schools] by such religious groups." A letter from the ministry sent to these directors included an attachment naming the LDS Church, the Jehovah's Witnesses and many others as involved in "military espionage and encouragement of separatist activity."

Business

Dispute Over Whether Mormons Are Christian Hits Internet Directories A survey by Mormon News of Internet directories shows that the fight over whether or not Mormons are Christian has affected how Mormonism is classified on some sites. While most of the directories and classification systems analyzed by Mormon News classify Mormonism under Christianity, a handful do not.

People

'Mr. Mac' New Head Of MoTab F. MacRay Christensen, known to Salt Lake City residents and thousands of former LDS missionaries as "Mr Mac" is the new president of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, succeeding Wendell M. Smoot. Like his predecessor, Christensen will be the administrative manager of the Choir, helping to negotiate recording contracts and arranging Choir tours.

Arts & Entertainment

LDS Animator Honored, Video Released Mormon animator Don Bluth was credited with starting the animation industry in Ireland in a Dublin Irish Times article as his latest work hit video stores. The Irish Times looked at Bluth as part of a review of Ireland's animation industry. The fifth Irish Animation Festival started in Dublin this week.

Business

Novell Drops Donations To Scouts Over Homosexuality International network software maker Novell, Inc. has decided to stop matching employee donations to the Boy Scouts of America, the company announced recently. The company cited the BSA's victorious Supreme Court case this past June as evidence that the Scouts discriminate as the basis of several orientation. The company's policy prohibits donations to organizations that do so.

Will Huber Remain Richest Mormon? With the stock price of his company, Corvis Corp., dropping to a more realistic level, LDS billionaire David Huber's personal net worth is also dropping, so much that he may not remain the world's richest Mormon. The value of Huber's personal holdings in Corvis has dropped by $5.5 billion from its late August high, to a value of $4.3 billion, just a little above Forbes magazine's estimated net worth for Jon Huntsman, who is currently the Mormon with the second largest net worth.

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