General News

Mauss Says LDS Church Growth Brings Problems Too Sociologist Armand Mauss, who has made a career of studying the LDS Church, gave the inaugural lecture on Mormon Culture at Utah Valley State College last Wednesday. The lecture is the first in a series on Mormon Culture sponsored by UVSC's Religious Studies program. Mauss addressed the well-known prediction that the LDS Church will pass 250 million members by 2080, telling attendees Wednesday that many hurdles lie in the way of reaching that milestone.

LDS Church, Tanners To Settle Lawsuit Over GHI The LDS Church and its long-time critics, Jerald and Sandra Tanner, are poised to settle the Church's lawsuit over the Tanner's publication of 17 pages of the General Handbook of Instructions (GHI) on their website. The Tanners, who run the Utah-based Utah Lighthouse Ministry, posted the GHI chapter on church discipline to their website in July 1999, to aid those trying to leave the LDS Church, and the Church sued to get the pages, and links to the GHI elsewhere, removed from the website.

Local News

LDS Journalist In Philippines Murdered In Political Hit A local radio journalist, called the leading media personality in Pagadian City, was murdered November 17th in a hit apparently meant to silence his on-air criticisms. Olympio Jun Jalapit, Jr., who was apparently an LDS Church member, was shot in the head as he left a Parents-Teachers Community Association meeting, where he served as president of the board. The still-unsolved murder has led to cries of protest from local journalists.

West High School Book of Mormon Dispute Resolved The dispute that left three West High School students claiming they had been kicked out of class for reading the Book of Mormon has been resolved, says the Salt Lake City School District and the Salt Lake Teachers Association. The teachers and administrators say the incident was simply a misunderstanding and no one is at fault.

Sports

Forbes Says Checketts' Knicks & Rangers Most Valuable The newest issue of Forbes Magazine puts LDS Church member Dave Checketts atop the two most valuable sports franchises in the NBA and NHL. Checketts, a native of Bountiful, Utah, is president of Madison Square Garden Corp., a wholely-owned subsidiary of Cablevision Systems, Inc. As such, he controls not only the arena in which the NBA's Knicks and the NHL's Rangers play, but also the teams themselves.

Politics

LDS Members in Canada's Parliament Reduced By 1 The two known LDS MPs (members of parliament) have been reduced to 1 in yesterday's national elections in Canada. While incumbent N. Grant Hill was re-elected with 70% of the vote in the MacLeod riding (election district), controversial LDS MP Jack Ramsay was resoundingly defeated in his bid to retain his seat representing the Crowfoot riding, even after he won an appeal of a rape conviction earlier this year.

People

LDS Musician's Homeless Choir Changes Lives A LDS immigrant from France has made a difference in the lives of 20 homeless men in a unique way -- by making them into a choir. Since Pierre Anthian formed the Accueil Bonneau Choir (aka Montreal Homeless Choir) in 1996, the choir members have gained attention and appreciation worldwide, both for the extraordinary nature of the choir and for the enthusiasm they bring to their music. And choir members have gained, too, splitting the proceeds of their concerts and gaining stability from simply participating.

Arts & Entertainment

'Savior of the World' Premieres In New Conference Center Theater "Savior of the World" will premiere Tuesday, November 28, at the new state-of-the-art Conference Center Theatre in downtown Salt Lake City. Utah fans will be part of the welcome party for the new 911 seat LDS Conference Center Theater that fills a void left almost four years ago by the closing of the Promised Valley Playhouse.

LDS Playwright's 'Joyful Noise' Opens In Atlanta Playwright Tim Slover's account of the creation and first performance of George Frideric Handel's masterwork, "The Messiah" has opened in a new production in Atlanta, for a Christmas-time four-week run at the 14th Street Playhouse. The play opened off-Broadway in New York City last May to positive reviews.

Business

How Jonathan Coon Started $100 Million Business in BYU Dorm Room LDS Entrepreneur Jonathan Coon is a millionaire now, but even he didn't see it coming when he started selling disposable contacts from his BYU dorm room. Coon's inspiration, reached when he saw another retailer's flier and decided he could do the same thing from his room, is now known as 1-800-CONTACTS, a publicly traded company with sales during the first nine months of 2000 in excess of $100 million.

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