General News

Church Gets Wide Coverage of Freedman's Bank CD-ROM Release

The LDS Church got wide coverage for its release yesterday of a CD-ROM containing financial and family information on about 480,000 depositors in the short-lived Freedman's Bank. The Church held a 13-city press event at 12:30 yesterday (EST). According to Mormon News correspondent Christopher Rosche, more than 100 guests attended the event at Washington's National Press Club, and many others attended events in 12 other cities: Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Raleigh, Miami, and St. Louis.

Local News

Solomona Sentence Reversed, Family Seeking Bail

In a surprising turn of events, the conviction of Peter Solomona for fatally shooting the teenager who stole a plastic pumpkin from his yard in October 1999 was reversed Friday by the trial court judge. The reversal left Solomona's family scrambling to come up with $25,000 to get their father and grandfather released from jail pending a new trial in April. The judge ruled that he hadn't adequately instructed the jurors on the law.

Sports

Olympic 'Identity Crisis' in Salt Lake City says Christian Science Monitor

Today's Christians Science Monitor says that Salt Lake City is feeling an identity crisis as the 2002 Winter Olympic Games approaches. While the city has long been more moderate and diverse than the rest of the state, its religiously-based traditions are "under some attack," leading to an identity crisis as it decides "Is this a Mormon town, or a modern American 'everycity' that is ready to party?" The attacks come because almost everyone agrees that Salt Lake is more Mormon than "everycity."

Finally, Burgess Finds Success

Chris Burgess is reaping success. After turning down a chance to play at BYU and going to Duke, then leaving Duke to attend the University of Utah, Chris is overcoming injuries, self-doubt, and outside pressures to put together a string of solid performances.

Politics

Government's Census Reply Claims Utah Hasn't Suffered Damages

The federal government has weighed in on the 2000 census issue. The government filed a motion in SLC Distict Court which, if headed, would deny Utah its attempt to gain another seat in the House of Representatives. The seat in question was awarded to North Carolina by a margin of 857.

Church Tells King County: Rural Limits Unconstitutional

At the request of Elder Gordon Conger, an Area Authority Seventy in the Seattle area, the LDS Church asked its principal outside law firm, Kirton &McConkie, to review the county's attempt to limit the size of Church buildings in the county's rural areas, and learned that the attempt is unconstitutional. The review and its resulting six-page legal analysis came in response to King County Executive Ron Sims' proposal that nonresidential buildings outside the county's urban-growth boundary be limited to no more than 10,000 square feet.

Internet

Website for 'ex-Mormons' Spawns Conference

If faithful members of the LDS Church are dismayed that exmormons.org even exists, they will be more dismayed to know that the six-year-old website has also spawned an annual conference, now in its fifth year. The "Recovery from Mormonism" conference led to an article in yesterday's Las Vegas Sun, which looked at the website and conference and interviewed Las Vegas ex-Mormon Helena Broadbent.

People

Utah Med School Says BYU Grads Sexist

Complaints of harassment and sexist attitudes among BYU graduates attending the University of Utah's Medical School have led BYU to take steps to change the attitudes and worry that the medical school will accept fewer BYU graduates as a result. The complaints came to BYU's attention when the medical school's associate dean, Victoria Judd, complained to BYU officials about the attitudes. This led to an internal memo from BYU's Dean of Biology and Agriculture, Kent Crookston, sent to the college's staff and a letter of apology from 24 BYU professors.

Arts & Entertainment

Randy Bachman to Tour US with Guess Who

LDS rock star Randy Bachman's Guess Who collaborator Burton Cummings told the Canadian Press that the group is planning a US tour this year that will include shows in 50 cities. He also said that the group is working on an album of new material, their first since 1970. The tour and album come just months after the group finished a Canadian tour and a live album, released last fall.

Business

Tribune Wins Round in Ownership Lawsuit

The ball is now in the court of MediaNewsGroup Inc. in the last volley of legal actions by U.S. District Judge, Tena Campbell, who ruled in favor of the Salt Lake Tribune. The Tribune claims that two of their managers should not have been removed from their positions in the Newspaper Agency Corp. which acts as the business arm of the Tribune and its joint operating agreement (JOA) partner, The Deseret News.

The End of ZCMI

The ZCMI name is in the final days of hanging outside the fourteen stores that once made up the LDS Church-owned chain. Meier and Frank, the Oregon-based subsidiary of St. Louis' May Department Stores, announced this week the schedule for changing the names of the stores to Meier and Frank, and for opening the stores on Sundays.

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