By Ed Firmage Jr.

Published: December 18, 2010 01:01AM
(Ed Firmage Jr. is a fine-art photographer in Salt Lake City.)

From the beginning, America has been a land of opportunity. And because of this, Americans dreamed big.

Our optimism comes from the unique experience of starting our national adventure with a continent of pristine land at our feet. America before Europeans was of course not uninhabited or untouched by people. But the native inhabitants practiced a mode of living that left the land intact. They, therefore, as much as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, are our founding fathers and mothers.

And so, unlike any people since the Stone Age, settlers in America enjoyed the benefit of a continent of unspoiled resources. For as long as the frontier remained, Americans could look West and see a future that was theirs to make and enjoy. As historian Frederick Jackson Turner observed, our character stems from our relationship with a frontier that seemed to be never-ending.

In the years following the “closing” of the frontier in 1890, Americans found themselves enmeshed in global problems (more…)

By Peggy Fletcher Stack

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: December 18, 2010 08:14PM

The LDS Church has made subtle — but significant — changes to chapter headings in its online version of the faith’s signature scripture, The Book of Mormon, toning down some earlier racial allusions.

The words “skin of blackness” were removed from the introductory italicized summary in 2 Nephi, Chapter 5, in describing the “curse” God put on disbelieving Lamanites.

Deeper into the volume, in Mormon, Chapter 5, the heading changes from calling Lamanites “a dark, filthy, and loathsome people” to “because of their unbelief, the Lamanites will be scattered, and the Spirit will cease to strive with them.”

In both cases, the text itself remains unchanged.

Members of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe founder Joseph Smith (more…)

By Julia Lyon

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: December 9, 2010 09:17PM

Following a nationwide trend, Utah saw poverty spike from 9.8 percent in 2007 to 11.7 percent in 2009, according to new data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

One of the largest increases came in Washington County, where the rate jumped from 8.9 percent in 2007 to 14.2 percent in 2009.

Ruben Garcia, director of the Dixie Care and Share Food Pantry in St. George, wasn’t surprised to hear the numbers.

“A lot of our donors from previous years are now clients,” he said. “There’s a lot of working poor in Washington County.”

The state’s most populous county, Salt Lake County, saw its poverty rate rise from 9 percent in 2007 to 10.7 percent two years later. The numbers were worse in Utah County, where poverty grew from 11.4 to 14.2 percent.

Economic recovery has been slow to arrive in Utah, where food pantries continue to report an increase of nearly 40 percent or more in requests for free food. Calls to the phone number 211, the statewide help line for everything from food to Christmas help, are numbering 600 to 700 each day. The slots for Christmas gift programs such as Toys for Tots filled up in two weeks this year, nearly twice as fast as in 2009.

Reach Salt Lake, an interfaith effort to provide children gifts in holiday stockings, is continuing to take requests for Christmas help, but only through this week.

“It’s really difficult for our call specialists to explain that to the families,” said Jessica Pugh, a spokeswoman for Utah Food Bank, which runs the 211 program. “It’s heartbreaking.”

The number of Utahns relying on food stamps to help feed their families remains high, coming in at 104,648 households for November, according to newly released estimates. That number may have dipped slightly from October, when an estimated 105,205 households relied on the benefits. Other than a few small dips, food stamp use in Utah has climbed steadily for more than two years — more than doubling since November 2007.

Later this month, the Census Bureau will make a major release of American Community Survey (ACS) five-year estimates from 2005 to 2009, which will provide more detailed information on all counties and school districts on social, economic, housing and other factors.

jlyon@sltrib.com

—

How much did poverty increase from 2007 to 2009?

Cache County •

12.9 percent to 16.7 percent

Salt Lake County •

9 percent to 10.7 percent

Summit County •

5 percent to 7.3 percent

Utah County •

11.4 percent to 14.2 percent

Washington County •

8.9 percent to 14.2 percent

For more information, go to census.gov.

By Paul Beebe

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: December 11, 2010 05:23PM

Cast your thoughts back to fall 2008, when the financial crisis was at its peak.

At the time, authorities from then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on down to community bankers across Utah believed the nation’s financial sector was perilously near a meltdown after the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Two years later, the Federal Reserve has revealed just how deeply it was involved in the crisis by releasing details of the $3.3 trillion in near-zero-percent-interest emergency loans and other commitments it made from December 2007 to this past July to stave off chaos and restart the economy.

In Utah, the amount injected by loans and loan commitments into Utah-based financial institutions was a staggering $6.6 billion — more than half the size of the current state budget of $11.9 billion — according to the central bank.

But there was more.

Would you call this corporate welfare? Assuredly. The banks would have failed without it. And these are the Republican leaders of the state who bemoan any handouts to the poor.

Zions Bank received $1.4 billion of TARP money and another $5.2 billion in short term notes. How’s that for a welfare handout? And then they hoarded it (more…)

By Paul Beebe

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: December 9, 2010 08:18PM

A bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved the sale of AmericanWest Bank and its Utah-based Far West Bank division to a California investment firm.

SKBHC Holdings will pay $6.5 million for the shares of AmericanWest Bancorp., based in Spokane, Wash.

The sale is expected to close before Dec. 31.

Far West Bank, Provo, and AmericanWest Bank of Spokane, merged several years ago, just prior to the banking crisis that has resulted in hundreds of banks being closed.

Both banks were happy with the merger at the time, but they couldn’t survive the economic downturn (more…)

By Heather May

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: November 30, 2010 11:54AM
Updated: December 9, 2010 12:06AM

To keep his heart healthy, cardiologist Brent Muhlestein takes 5,000 units of vitamin D a day — a habit he will continue despite a new report claiming there is no evidence that the vitamin provides much benefit beyond strengthening bones.

Calling the Institutes of Medicine report released Tuesday “overly conservative,” Muhlestein points to his own studies at Intermountain Healthcare that suggest higher levels of vitamin D translate to better heart health.

Heads up folks. Dr. Muhlestein is an independent advocate for the higher dosage level because of his own very significant studies. Vitamin D appears to be a cheap source of good health.

“I tend to trust my own studies,” said the director of cardiovascular research at the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center. “Our observational studies still demonstrate a significant association between cardiovascular risk and vitamin D insufficiency.”

With media reports touting the vitamin for reducing the risks of diseases including autoimmune diseases, cancer and diabetes, an Institutes of Medicine committee assessed 1,000 studies and reports to clarify the benefits and offer advice on how much to take.

“This thorough review found that information about the health benefits beyond bone health — benefits often reported in the media — were from studies that provided often mixed and inconclusive results and could not be considered reliable,” says the report.

It also found that most Americans receive adequate amounts.

Muhlestein disagrees. Tapping medical records for more than 41,000 Intermountain patients, he (more…)

By Lee Davidson

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: December 8, 2010 01:31PM

A quarter of all Utah businesses are now owned by women, but that is one of the lowest rates among the states, according to new census estimates taken once every five years that were released Tuesday.

In fact, among the 50 most-populous counties in the nation, Salt Lake County ranked dead last for its percentage of women-owned businesses in 2007 at 25.6 percent — even though that was a bit above the statewide average of 24.9 percent.

“I think the driving force behind that is our state traditionally has a lot of stay-at-home moms” because of LDS Church beliefs that stress the importance of family, said Pam Okumura, program director for the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce Women’s Business Center.

Also, “Utah has a relatively low educational attainment on the part of women,” and is one of the few states where most college degrees (more…)

Published: Monday, Dec. 6, 2010 11:13 p.m. MST

The following editorial appeared in the New York Times Dec. 4.

Not all the political news this year involves the rise of partisan extremism and government by rage. There has been lots of that. But maybe there is a limit, a point when people of good sense and good will band together to say no. As they have just done in Utah.

Political, business, law-enforcement and religious leaders there have endorsed what they call the Utah Compact. It is a statement of principles meant to address, with moderation and civility, “the complex challenges associated with a broken national immigration system.” What a welcome contrast it draws with the xenophobic radicalism of places like Arizona.

The signers, who hope to influence the shape of state immigration policy, include the mayors of Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County, the state attorney general, two Republican former governors, a former United States senator, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, the Chamber of Commerce and a host of other civic groups and citizens. The prominent and powerful Mormon Church did not sign on but issued a “statement of support” calling the compact “a responsible approach to the urgent challenge of immigration reform.”

A clearer expression of good sense and sanity than Utah’s would be hard to find. It says immigration is an issue between the federal government and other countries — “not Utah and other countries.” It says local police agencies should focus on fighting crime, “not civil violations of federal code.” Because “strong families are the foundation of successful communities,” it opposes policies that unnecessarily separate them. It recognizes immigrants’ value as workers and taxpayers.

It ends by urging a humane approach (more…)

By Elizabeth Stuart

Deseret News

Published: Monday, Dec. 6, 2010 11:16 p.m. MST

SALT LAKE CITY — The New York Times’ gushing support of the Utah Compact on Sunday may win the state public relations points with the nation, but most agree it’s unlikely to affect the state’s immigration discussion.

In its editorial the New York Times pointed to Utah as a place where “people of good sense and good will” have banded together to call for an end to “government by rage.” It goes on to praise the Utah Compact, a policy document designed to guide the state’s immigration debate toward civility, as a “clear expression of good sense and sanity.” It condemns Arizona-style immigration law enforcement as “xenophobic” and radical.

Such a pat on the back from one of the “most influential papers in the world” may help Utah’s image, said Kirk Jowers, director of the Hinckley institute of Politics at the University of Utah.

“Utah rightly or wrongly is maligned and misunderstood nationally and internationally,” said Jowers. “The positive impact of this editorial on Utah business, tourism and education cannot be underestimated. It is very important and very positive.”

States have a certain “caricature” that impacts their ability to attract tourists and businesses, Jowers said. Arizona, which has garnered a lot of national scrutiny for its tough stance (more…)

By Jamshid Ghazi Askar

Deseret News

Published: Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010 11:50 p.m. MST

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah-born and BYU-educated judge will find himself in the middle of a whole lot of hubbub when the case stemming from California’s controversial Proposition 8 lands back in court Monday morning for oral arguments before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Judge N. Randy Smith, 61, was born in Logan. He attended Utah State University before transferring to BYU, where he received a B.S. in accounting in 1974 and his law degree in 1977. Successfully nominated to the 9th Circuit by President George W. Bush three years ago, Smith still remains the most recent newcomer of the nearly 30 active judges on the 9th Circuit. He currently resides in Pocatello, Idaho.

It’s interesting that the Deseret News avoided mentioning that the judge is a Mormon and that the Mormons have a keen interest in the outcome of this hearing. We do not know whether he is a Mormon, or an active Mormon, but the fact that he was born in Logan and graduated from BYU is almost a slam-dunk assurance that he was at least once upon a time a Mormon.

The judge  graduated from BYU and was a student there while Apostle Dallin Oaks was president of the university. Oaks has been an outspoken opponent of same sex marriage, and the church has poured millions of dollars into the Prop 8 issue and has largely been credited with its passing.

Can a Mormon judge be judicious when it comes to Mormon matters? There are some valid differences of opinion about that.

Joining Smith on the three-judge panel are Judge Michael Daly Hawkins, 65 years old, nominated in 1994 by President Bill Clinton to the 9th Circuit, and 79-year-old Circuit Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt, who was nominated to the 9th Circuit in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. (Proposition 8 supporters filed a motion last week seeking Reinhardt’s disqualification from the panel because his wife is the executive director of the ACLU of Southern California and a financial donor to the “No on 8″ campaign, but Reinhardt declined to recuse himself.)

Apparently Judge Smith has also declined to recuse himself! Can a Mormon judge who repeatedly repeats oaths of allegiance (more…)

To help Utah’s uninsured, churches, hospitals and schools team up

By Lois M. Collins

Deseret News

Published: Monday, Nov. 29, 2010 11:02 p.m. MST

This is the final part of a Deseret News series that examines how Utahns are empowering our poor in three areas: homelessness, education and health care.

SALT LAKE — It’s 8 a.m. on a freezing-cold Sunday beneath the 500 South viaduct. Under the shelter of the overpass, a line of volunteers, their breaths clearly visible in the cold air, are serving breakfast on cardboard plates to the homeless.

But not everyone’s focused on the tempting aroma of the hot buttermilk pancakes and meaty gravy that’s being scooped over mashed potatoes. Bob, a tall, skinny man in a tattered gray coat, is searching for the nurse who sometimes shows up. He’s got a bad rash, he says, pushing up his sleeve to show a volunteer the angry red bumps from his wrist to his elbow. Sometimes the nurse gives him ointment that helps.

A few minutes later, a harried mom pushing an overstuffed stroller with a toddler sitting beside what looks like a trash bag full of clothes makes the same request. Did the nurse come?

Not today.

When you’re poor and uninsured or underinsured, health care can be a vexing problem.

Last year in Utah there were 387,100 people without insurance, including 100,500 (more…)

Education is key in helping low-income children move beyond poor

Published: Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010 9:54 p.m. MST

This is the second part of a Deseret News series that examines how Utahns are empowering our poor in three areas: homelessness, education and health care.

SALT LAKE CITY — He looks tough with his shorts sagging low, wearing a hooded sweatshirt decorated with drawings of human skulls, but it doesn’t take much to make 16-year-old Eric cry.

Just mention school.

He’s a bright boy — so bright, in fact, that after cruising through elementary school with nearly straight A’s, he jumped straight from fifth grade into seventh. Life circumstances, though, haven’t made studying easy, and his grades have since hit rock bottom. He’s spent his childhood watching his parents, who didn’t graduate from high school, hop from minimum-wage job to minimum-wage job. Since he was 9 years old, the family, unable to afford rent, (more…)

By Jamshid Ghazi Askar

Deseret News

Published: Monday, Nov. 29, 2010 10:56 p.m. MST

SALT LAKE CITY — When Proposition 8 gets its latest day in court on Monday, one of the three judges hearing the case will be a BYU alumnus.

C-SPAN will broadcast the hearing, which begins at 11 a.m. and is scheduled to last two hours. The first hour will be devoted to deciding whether the parties filing the appeal have a right to do so. If that threshold is met then the second hour will include oral arguments from both sides about the constitutionality of Proposition 8.

The upcoming hearing before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco stems from the August decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, when U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Proposition 8 violates equal protection rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Judge N. Randy Smith, 61, will be one of the three judges to hear the case. He earned his bachelor’s degree from BYU in (more…)

Salt Lake Tribune Editorial

Published: November 29, 2010 05:45AM

The fight over public access to Utah streams that flow over private property is far from over. A group of fly fishermen and river runners has filed suit to overturn the law the Legislature passed this year that tipped the balance in favor of private property owners.

In the meantime, the Legislature’s Waterways Task Force is preparing to launch an enhanced program that would use federal and state funds to pay for walk-in access for the public to private lands that abut and underlie public waters.

We seldom disagree with a Tribune editorial, but we take strong exception to this one.

The Trib has it wrong. Streams do not flow over private property. Streams, lakes, and reservoirs and reasonable access are public property as ruled by the Utah Supreme Court. We should never give in on that point. Adjacent private property owners should have no right to prohibit the public from reasonable access to the public waterways. That should be understood whenever anyone buys property adjacent to public waters.

The idea that an individual or group can buy property around our rivers and streams and bar the public from access is repugnant. In essence they are simply co-opting public property for their own private use. Theoretically, if one (more…)

A giving heart: Providing housing first helps homeless the most

by Lois Collins

Published: Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010 9:21 p.m. MST

Editor’s note: This is the first part of a Deseret News series that examines how Utahns are empowering our poor in three areas: homelessness, education and health care.

OGDEN — The kitchen of the triplex is a disaster at the moment as the Christiansen girls — Victoria 9, Evelyn, 7, Julia, 6, and even baby Hanna, 4 — stir up breakfast to “surprise” their mom and dad.

They are making waffles and their mom, Angie, is smiling as the sweet smell wafts through the three-bedroom apartment where they’ve just moved. She’s crying a little, too. But they are tears of joy. The family is cooking their own meal in their own space and they are together.

When they lived in St. Anne’s Center homeless shelter not far from here, Angie’s husband Victor had to leave them every night to sleep in the men’s unit, one floor below. They couldn’t cook meals, decide their own hours, or even enjoy the simple pleasure of making a breakfast mess and then cleaning it up.

As the girls cook, a puppy follows Angie from room to room. Avery is one-fourth collie, three-fourths lab and 100 percent symbolic. The little dog is Angie’s declaration that this family will become self-sufficient — whatever is asked, whatever will work, whatever it takes. Though the odds sometimes seem stacked against them, on this gray, snow-streaked November day, she believes it.

Most of us are oblivious to homelessness. We know it happens far too often, but we have become immune to it. We have basically decided that it will always be with us and that the problem needs to be solved by a combination of government and private charitable groups.

This series by the Deseret News should make us better aware of the situation and what we can do to help solve the problems.

They were homeless for months and it is too soon to declare their problems solved, though (more…)

By Judy Fahys

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: November 24, 2010 09:47AM

Federal environmental regulators are cracking down on the Utah air-quality rules that cover times when companies release unplanned pollution.

If the state Division of Air Quality cannot fix its regulation in a year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can restrict new building in high-pollution areas and even block federal highway funds statewide. But Utah officials and the EPA say they are trying to find a workable solution before it comes to that.

“It’s our expectation, we’ll have this resolved before those sanctions would be triggered,” said Carl Daly of EPA’s air office in Denver.

Jeremy Nichols, who works with the environmental group WildEarth Guardians, is applauding the crackdown. The group sued the EPA to force it to close what it calls a state loophole that gives Utah’s 1,200 air-pollution permit holders a “blanket exemption to clean-air limits” when their plants have “unintentional breakdowns.”

Utahns would rather have bad air and poor health than comply with federal agents telling them how to live. The problem with Utahns is they think that it’s Utah air and not federal air. Utahns don’t mind living in thick, unhealthy air (more…)

By Alan Fram

Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010 11:12 p.m. MST

WASHINGTON — Tea party backers fashion themselves as “we the people,” but polls show the Republican Party’s most conservative and energized voters are hardly your average crowd.

According to an Associated Press-GfK Poll this month, 84 percent who call themselves tea party supporters don’t like how President Barack Obama is handling his job — a view shared by just 35 percent of all other adults. Tea partiers are about four times likelier than others to back repealing Obama’s health care overhaul and twice as likely to favor renewing tax cuts for the highest-earning Americans.

Exit polls of voters in this month’s congressional elections reveal similar gulfs. Most tea party supporters — 86 percent — want less government intrusion on people and businesses, but only 35 percent of other voters said so. Tea party backers were about five times likelier to blame Obama for the country’s economic ills, three times likelier to say Obama’s policies will be harmful and twice as apt to see the country on the wrong track.

These aren’t subtle shadings between tea party backers and the majority of Americans, who don’t support the movement; they’re Grand Canyon-size (more…)

Published: November 13, 2010 01:01AM

Re “LDS half-measure” (Forum, Nov. 10):

The idiom “beating a dead horse” comes to mind each time I read a letter about non-acceptance of homosexuality by churches, religions, government leaders and the public in general.

Using examples of early American slavery or mistreatment of Jews throughout history to apply to non-acceptance of a lifestyle is ludicrous and an injustice to the memory of those events.

Religions have centuries-old doctrines and creeds that provide lifestyle guidelines to their adherents. Many religions — Christian, Eastern, Asian and others — do not view homosexuality as an acceptable practice.

Accusing individuals of intolerance or political incorrectness for not changing the beliefs that define their faith is the mirror image of homosexuals crying non-acceptance of their beliefs.

We all have the choice to accept or not accept lifestyles of others, while still maintaining kindness, compassion and civility. As we learned in junior high and high school, acceptance by one group or another should not define who we believe we are.

Bonnie Stone

Eden

Bonnie, gays aren’t trying to change church doctrines, just their behavior toward them, like perhaps trying The Golden Rule!! Gays are not mistreating religions. Religions are mistreating gays by restricting

By PAUL ROLLY

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: November 20, 2010 01:01AM

Utah Republicans, like their counterparts throughout the nation, had a stellar election year in 2010, but the conservative armada failed to slay one of its most coveted targets — Utah State School Board member Kim Burningham.

The fact that the right-wing arm of the Republican Party spent so much time and resources trying to defeat a school board member — who used to be a Republican legislator — in a nonpartisan race says much about the priorities and the agenda of that cabal. The fact that all its might could not defeat the incumbent board member speaks to the disconnect between that conservative wing and rank-and-file Republicans when it comes to education issues.

Burningham has been a target of the Republican Party power base since, as school board chairman, he opposed the Legislature’s attempt to give tax-credit vouchers to parents who enroll their children in private schools. He supported the citizens referendum that repealed that legislation in 2007.

But there are other reasons not related to education that made the GOP want Burningham’s scalp.

He is hated by the right wing in the Legislature for his leadership role in Utahns for Ethical Government, which is attempting to put an initiative on the ballot to create an independent ethics commission. To counter that effort, the Legislature passed its own ethics reform legislation that voters approved Nov. 2 as a constitutional amendment.

And he supported an initiative to take the authority to create legislative and congressional districts out of the hands of the Legislature.

Tea Party Republicans revile Democrats, but they reserve their most vitriolic words for what they call RINOs (Republicans In Name Only.) They consider centrist Republican Kim Burningham to be a RINO, but even worse, he is against vouchers, in favor of ethics, and wants fair boundaries to determine (more…)

By Ross A. Collier

Published: November 20, 2010 01:01AM

Ross A. Collier is a registered pharmacist and lives in the Holladay area.

Prior to the election, this newspaper submitted to candidates questions concerning personal faith and published their responses (“Religion and politics: Where Utah candidates stand,” Tribune, Oct. 23). Professor James L. Clayton objects (“Questions about religion don’t belong in politics,” Opinion, Nov. 7).

Personally, I want to know when religious beliefs influence the policy preferences of government officials and candidates. My justification for the appropriateness of this line of inquiry from the public and the press is as follows.

People in government make decisions that affect our lives. Decisions are based on beliefs. All beliefs aren’t shared across the electorate. This leads to disagreement about which policy choices promote the general (more…)