UTAH News:

Mitt Romney - Religion - 2008 Election - South Carolina - Salt Lake City - Utah - North Carolina - Virginia - History - "Romney Shouldn't Equate Mormons, Christians, Evangelicals Say." ... "As [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney scours the South for endorsements from evangelical leaders, he is getting some unusual advice on how to explain his Mormon faith: Don't try to be one of us." ... "``I told him, you cannot equate Mormonism with Christianity; you cannot say, `I am a Christian just like you,''' said [Republican] Representative Bob Inglis of South Carolina, which is scheduled to hold the first primary among the Southern states. ``If he does that, every Baptist preacher in the South is going to have to go to the pulpit on Sunday and explain the differences.''" ... "This advice, which reflects the views of many Southern Baptists and other evangelicals, makes Romney's co-religionists bristle. ``The fact that we are Christians is non-negotiable,'' said Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City[Utah]-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." ... "Yet for [evangelical] conference-goers such as Noah Crowe, a Southern Baptist pastor from Robbinsville, North Carolina, there's nothing Romney can do to overcome their distrust of Mormonism. ``His faith is not the faith I believe in, teach and preach,'' said Crowe, who added that he studied Mormonism at his Bible college in a course called ``Cults and False Religions.''" ... "Yet for conference-goers such as Noah Crowe, a Southern Baptist pastor from Robbinsville, North Carolina, there's nothing Romney can do to overcome their distrust of Mormonism. ``His faith is not the faith I believe in, teach and preach,'' said Crowe, who added that he studied Mormonism at his Bible college in a course called ``Cults and False Religions.''" ... "For evangelicals, many of whom believe the Bible is the literal word of God, the Mormons' founding text, the ``Book of Mormon,'' makes it impossible for them to be considered Christians, according to Fred Smith, associate professor of Theology at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. " -By Hans Nichols and Christopher Stern -Bloomberg 

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Mitt Romney - Robert Lichfield - Political - Money - Child - Behavior - Schools - Utah - Massachusetts - Maine - 2006 Election - 2008 Election - "Businessman quits as fundraiser for Romney: Robert Lichfield of Utah is linked to the largest contribution in the 2006 Maine governor's race." ... "Robert Lichfield, a controversial Utah businessman linked to an organization facing civil allegations of child abuse and also connected to the largest contribution in the 2006 [election] Maine governor's race, has resigned from a fundraising position with [2008 election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney's presidential campaign." ... "Lichfield is named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by more than 100 families alleging that their teenaged children were mistreated at "behavior modification" centers associated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, an organization that Lichfield founded." ... "Until he resigned from the Romney campaign, Lichfield was co- chairman of its Utah finance committee." ... "Lichfield's role with the former Massachusettts governor's campaign has come under scrutiny since the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram reported in May on both the civil lawsuit and Lichfield's connection to contributions totaling $250,000 to a political action committee established in Maine by the Republican Governors Association. " -By Kevin Wack -MaineToday.com

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Mitt Romney - Robert Lichfield - Money - Politics - Child - Behavior - Schools - Utah - Massachusetts - 2008 Election - "Top Utah money man leaves Romney campaign." ... "A top Utah fund-raiser for [2008 election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney's presidential campaign - who has links to an organization facing a civil lawsuit alleging child abuse - is no longer part of Romney's state finance team." ... "Robert Lichfield of La Verkin [Utah], who founded the umbrella group called the Worldwide Association of Specialty Schools, brought in some $300,000 earlier this year for Romney during a single Utah event and has donated tens of thousands to the former Massachusetts governor and other Republicans in recent years." ... "Lichfield is named in a federal lawsuit charging that students of the "behavior modification" schools with ties to WWASPS were subjected to "physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse." The suit had 140 defendants at last count. " -By Thomas Burr -SLTrib.com

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Mitt Romney - Robert Lichfield - Money - Politics - US - Worldwide- Children - Behavior- Schools - Utah - New York - 2008 Election - "Romney Cans Golden Goose Over Abuse." ... "[2008 election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney has asked his Utah finance committee co-chair, Robert Lichfield, who is affiliated with a controversial network of schools for troubled teens and has been dogged by allegations of abuse and fraud, to step down, Radar has learned." ... "Lichfield was named in a June 2007 complaint filed in federal court in Utah by the families of 133 children who have attended schools associated with WWASP, alleging that they were subjected to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Plaintiff Chase Wood, who attended the Cross Creek Center for Boys [in Utah] (founded by Lichfield in the late 1970s) and another WWASP-affiliated school, claims he was fondled, forced to eat his own vomit, and locked in a dog cage." ... "According to a class-action lawsuit filed against him in New York in 2006 for fraud, Lichfield makes $90 million a year through a complicated network of businesses based around behavior modification and has owned or operated a total of 26 schools worldwide, some of which have been closed by local authorities for mistreatment. The lawsuit claims that the Academy at Ivy Ridge [in New York], a school that sits on land owned by Lichfield and for which he has provided consulting services, admitted students for five years without any accreditation as an educational institution from the state." -By John Cook -RadarOnline.com

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Larry Craig - Mitt Romney - Idaho - Utah - Law - Politics -  - 2008 Election - "Senator Craig withdraws from Romney campaign role." ... "[Idaho Republican] US Senator Larry Craig resigned tonight as Senate co-chairman for [2008 election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, within hours after news broke of Craig's guilty plea to disorderly conduct after an incident in a men's bathroom." ... "In February, Romney announced that Craig of Idaho and [Utah Republican Senator] Robert Bennett of Utah would serve as co-Senate liaisons." ... "In May, Romney's campaign announced that Craig would be co-chairman of the Romney for President Idaho Leadership Team." ... "After reports of Craig's arrest, the Romney campaign made private a YouTube video in which Craig also praised Romney." -By Foon Rhee -BostonGlobe 

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Government - Coal - Money - Workers - Safety - Utah - West Virginia - "Handling of mine disaster questioned: US safety agency may face scrutiny." ... "The government agency overseeing coal mine safety was supposed to have changed its ways after West Virginia's deadly Sago Mine disaster. Its handling of the cave-ins at Utah's Crandall Canyon Mine have some worried that the changes didn't go far enough." ... "[Republican President Bush's] Mine Safety and Health Administration director Richard Stickler had already come under fire for being slow to take public control of the scene." ... "Even though Stickler's agency is supposed to be in charge, the mine's co-owner, Bob Murray, has dominated news conferences, narrated video of rescue efforts for TV news, and -- despite safety concerns -- personally led reporters and family members on a tour of his mine." ... "The fact that the federal agency let anyone, including rescuers, into the still-dangerous mine is raising new questions. Others also predict greater scrutiny of the agency's decision to allow mining at Crandall Canyon at all, given what it knew about conditions that made the mine particularly unstable." -By Jennifer Talhelm -AP via -BostonGlobe 

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Utah - Worker - Safety - Political - Federal - Law - Coal - Industry - Disaster - Earth - Science - "Mine's dangers overlooked." ... "Although mine owner Robert Murray has taken an active role in the rescue effort, his judgment all along about the mine's safety has been questionable." ... "Crandall Canyon is a "retreat mining" operation, in which coal pillars more than a mile beneath the surface are removed to get the last remnants of coal, causing the tunnel ceiling to collapse - presumably after miners have retreated to safe ground. It is an inherently dangerous mining method. In fact, the collapse Thursday that killed the three rescuers was a "mining-induced settling of the mountain," according to University of Utah researchers." ... "There is plenty of legitimate criticism of the [Republican President Bush overseen] federal Mine Safety and Health Administration for allowing the mining to go on so long. "I'm surprised that (the mine owner) would try to take that last section," said Robert Ferriter, a mine safety expert. "I would've thought that would have triggered someone from MSHA to say, 'Wait a minute, let's take a look at this.' "" ... "Murray's assurances of the tunnel's safety, for both the mining and rescue operations, proved to be inaccurate. A controversial figure in mining, Murray has sought tax cuts for the industry and given generously to Republican congressional candidates, particularly those from mining states, through his company's political action committee." -SPTimes.com 

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Idaho - Nevada - Utah - Wildfire - Plants - Animals - Politics - "Western governors blame cheatgrass for 2007 wildfire woes." ... "Four Western governors declared war Monday on cheatgrass, a nonnative weedy grass they blame for filling the West's open spaces with flammable fuels feeding this summer's massive wildfires." ... "Still, their efforts could be complicated by a shortage of seeds of other grasses needed to restore the charred landscape before cheatgrass takes hold. In fact, some of the federal Bureau of Land Management territory where such seeds are collected has been burned." ... "And environmentalists are leery about the plans for replanting, fearing they'll concentrate on grasses that provide forage for livestock rather than native vegetation that helps wildlife such as sage grouse." ... "So far this year, wildfires in Idaho, Nevada and Utah have burned thousands of square miles, including the giant Murphy Complex fires on the Idaho-Nevada border that torched an area as large as Rhode Island." -By John Miller -AP via -SeattlePI

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Lisa Murkowski - Ted Stevens - Money - Politics - Alaska - Salt Lake City - Utah - "Senator's land deal scrutinized." ... "[Alaska Republican Senator] U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is drawing criticism this week over Kenai River property she bought late last year from real estate developer and political supporter Bob Penney." ... "The national political Web log tpmmuckraker.com raised the issue Monday when it quoted government watchdogs questioning whether the senator should do business with Penney, who has also been a business partner with [Alaska Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska." ... "In 1998, Stevens invested $15,000 with Penney and other partners to develop a subdivision outside Salt Lake City [Utah]. Stevens later sold his interest in the property for $150,000, according to press accounts at the time." -By Brandon Loomis -ADN.com 

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US - Vietnam - Military - History - France - Academic - Mitt Romney - 2008 Election - Politician - Utah - "Mormon church obtained Vietnam draft deferrals for Romney, other missionaries." ... "As the Vietnam War raged in the 1960s, Mitt Romney received a deferment from the draft as a Mormon "minister of religion" for the duration of his missionary work in France, which lasted two and a half years." ... "Before and after his missionary deferment, Romney also received nearly three years of deferments for his academic studies. When his deferments ended and he became eligible for military service in 1970, he drew a high number in the annual lottery that determined which young men were drafted. His high number ensured he was not drafted into the military." ... "The exemption for Mormon missionaries created controversy at the time. Non-Mormons in Utah filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 1968. The suit was still in court two years later, at a time when "the church and the Selective Service System work hand-in-hand in deferring the missionaries," according to an article from the period published by The New York Times." ... "Richard Leedy, the lawyer who brought the suit, said in a telephone interview that he did so because "the substantial number of deferments to missionaries made the likelihood of us non-Mormons going to Vietnam a lot more likely."" -By Michael Kranish -Boston/Globe

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2008 Election - Politics - Utah - Massachusetts - Missouri - "Romney’s Run Has Mormons Wary of Scrutiny." ... "In this wide [Utah] valley where the twin spires of the Mormon temple dominate the landscape and some neighborhoods have a Mormon chapel every few blocks, [2008 election Presidential candidate] Mitt Romney’s bid for president is both a proud sign of progress and a cause of trepidation." ... "John Hatch, 30, a history student at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, said, “What most Mormons desire is acceptance.”" ... "“We see ourselves as normal,” Mr. Hatch said. “We struggle with those outsiders who see us as weird — the magic underwear stuff,” a reference to the ritual garments that Mormons are supposed to wear under their clothing." ... "Some Mormons have watched with concern how Mr. Romney has responded to grilling by interviewers about his church’s distinctive doctrines." ... "Mr. Romney has been questioned about the Mormon definition of God, polygamy, the location of Jesus’s arrival when he returns to earth, and even a mysterious saying attributed to Joseph Smith Jr. called the “White Horse Prophecy,” which some interpret as a prediction that when the American Constitution is hanging “by a thread,” a Mormon will rescue the nation." ... "Mr. Romney’s tendency to gloss over Mormonism’s history and distinctive tenets has upset some fellow Mormons. Some said they cringed when Mr. Romney said on “60 Minutes,” “I can’t imagine anything more awful than polygamy.”" ... "Another case arose when George Stephanopoulos of ABC News asked Mr. Romney about a Mormon teaching that Jesus will come to the United States when he returns to reign on earth. Mr. Romney responded that the Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, “the same as the other Christian tradition.”" ... "[Utah radio host Tom] Mr. Grover said some of his radio listeners were astounded." ... "“They were just in disbelief, saying that’s not true, Jesus is coming back to Missouri,” Mr. Grover said. “It’s the L.D.S. [Latter Day Saints] Church’s 10th article of faith that Zion will be built upon the American continent.”" (1, 2) -By Laurie Goodstein -NYTimes 

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Voting Machine Problems - Indiana - Illinois - Ohio - Florida - Utah - Kentucky - 2006 Election - Politics - "Voting machine problems bedevil multiple states." ... "As both parties revved up their massive get-out-the-vote operations across the nation, programming errors and inexperience dealing with electronic voting machines caused some early problems:" ... "• Election officials in Delaware County, Ind., planned to seek a court order to extend voting after an apparent computer error prevented voters from casting ballots in 75 precincts. Delaware County Clerk Karen Wenger said the cards that activate the machines were programmed incorrectly. "We are working with precincts one-by-one over the telephone to get the problem fixed," Wenger said." ... "• Illinois officials were swamped with calls from voters complaining that poll workers did not know how to operate new electronic equipment[.]" ... "• In Ohio, some machines wouldn't function."We got five machines — one of them's got to work," said Willette Scullank, a troubleshooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, elections board." ... "• In Florida, voting was briefly delayed at four districts because of either mixed up ballots or electronic activators being unintentionally wiped out, according to Mary Cooney, spokeswoman for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections. Voters were forced to use paper ballots after an electronic machine broke in the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park." ... "• In Utah County, Utah, workers failed to properly encode some of the cards that voters use to bring up touchscreen ballots." ... "• In Kentucky, a school board race was inadvertently left off the touchscreen ballot in two precincts in Bourbon County, requiring the county clerk to make paper ballots on the spot. " -By Douglas Stanglin with contributions by Bill Nichols, Kathy Kiely, and David Jackson -AP via -USATODAY 

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- US - Iraq - Government - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Politics - Noteworthy - Religion - Human Rights - Law - History - Salt Lake City - Utah - Ross C. Anderson

Ross C. Anderson, Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah
Challenging the Culture of Obedience.
 

"A patriot is a person who loves his or her country. Who among you loves your country so much that you have come here today to raise your voice out of deep concern for our nation--and for our world?

And who among you loves your country so much that you insist that our nation's leaders tell us the truth?

Let's hear it: "Give us the truth! Give us the truth! Give us the truth!"

Let no one deny we are patriots. We love our country, we hold dear the values upon which our nation was founded, and we are distressed at what our President, his Administration, and our Congress are doing to, and in the name of, our great nation.

Blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism.

A patriot does not tell people who are intensely concerned about their country to just sit down and be quiet; to refrain from speaking out in the name of politeness or for the sake of being a good host; to show slavish, blind obedience and deference to a dishonest, war-mongering, human-rights-violating President.

That is not a patriot. Rather, that person is a sycophant. That person is a member of a frightening culture of obedience--a culture where falling in line with authority is more important than choosing what is right, even if it is not easy, safe, or popular. And, I suspect, that person is afraid--afraid we are right, afraid of the truth (even to the point of denying it), afraid he or she has put in with an oppressive, inhumane regime that does not respect the laws and traditions of our country, and that history will rank as the worst presidency our nation has ever had to endure.

In response to those who believe we should blindly support this disastrous President, his Administration, and the complacent, complicit Congress, listen to the words of Theodore Roosevelt, a great President and a Republican, who said: The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole.

Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

" -By Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson, mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah speech, Challenging the Culture of Obedience. - Ross C. Anderson

US - Iraq - Utah - Terrorism - Election 2006 - "Hatch says Demo win could help terrorists." ... "[Utah Republican] Sen. Orrin Hatch, who continuously decries the bitter partisanship in Washington, implied this week that Democratic success in November's [2006] election could result in terrorist attacks on America." ... "Hatch was quoted in Tuesday's Tooele Transcript Bulletin as saying Middle East terrorists are "waiting for the Democrats here to take control, let things cool off and then strike again."" ... "Democrats are criticizing Hatch for what they see as "ridiculous" partisan hyperbole." ... "Hatch's challenger Democrat Pete Ashdown said the senator continuously goes too far." ... "The comment "is a further example of the demonization and the divisiveness Senator Hatch uses to win campaigns."" ... "[Vermont Democrat Senator Patrick] Leahy's spokesman, David Carle, combated the perception that Republicans have kept America safe through their actions in Iraq." ... ""The gross mismanagement of the war in Iraq has handed the terrorists the biggest recruiting and training ground they have ever had, making us less secure than before," he said." -By Matt Canham -SLTrib.com

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US - Mexico - US Immigration - Utah - "Supreme Court's tough line on deportees: Thursday's ruling, expelling a man deported two decades ago, could penalize thousands of illegal immigrants." ... "In a case with implications for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants and their families, the US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a strict immigration measure requiring prior deportees to be automatically expelled from the country applies to any illegal immigrant who reentered the US, regardless of when." ... "The ruling comes in the case of Humberto Fernandez-Vargas, a Mexican truck driver who was deported from the US several times in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1982, he returned and spent the next 19 years living and working illegally in Utah. He started a trucking company, raised a son, and got married." ... "But when he applied to become a permanent resident, immigration officials had him detained under a 1996 law that requires anyone previously deported from the US be immediately expelled." ... "Lawyers for Mr. Fernandez-Vargas argued that the 1996 law should not apply retroactively to their client since he illegally reentered the US in 1982 - prior to passage of the 1996 measure." ... "The Supreme Court rejected that view. In an 8-to-1 decision, the high court said the law applies to anyone who illegally reenters the US after being deported." -By Warren Richey -CSMonitor

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Political - Hacking - Technology - Business - Voting Machine Risks - Utah- California - Pennsylvania - "Debating the Bugs of High-Tech Voting: Test of Software in Machines Renews Security Concerns." ... "A coalition of voting rights activists and prominent computer scientists argues that some of the machines are not sufficiently secure against tampering and could result in disputed elections, while voting machine vendors and many election officials say that view is exaggerated." ... "The latest dispute occurred several weeks ago after it was discovered at a test in Utah that someone with a reasonable knowledge of computer code could gain access to and tamper with the system software on a popular brand of voting machine manufactured by Diebold Election Systems. The developments prompted California and Pennsylvania to send urgent warnings to counties that use Diebold's touch-screen voting systems to take additional steps to secure them." ... "In California, David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who consults with the state on its elections, said he was "stunned when he found out" about the vulnerability identified in the Utah test and agreed with the "frequently expressed opinion that this is the worst vulnerability that we have ever seen."" -By Zachary A. Goldfarb -WashingtonPost 

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-  - TX - Salt Lake City - Utah -  - "Bush Tells Veterans That Iraq Policy Will Make U.S. Safer." ... "President Bush defended his policy in Iraq today, a crucial moment for that emerging country, telling a gathering of veterans in Utah that the struggle to build a new nation amounts to "the first war of the 21st century."" ... "The president left his ranch in Crawford, Tex. [Texas], to fly to Salt Lake City [Utah], where he told an audience from the Veterans of Foreign Wars that the sacrifices of Americans in Iraq would be remembered just as the heroism shown in World War II and Korea was commemorated." ... "Oddly, Mr. Bush faced war protests in Utah, where he took 71 percent of the vote in his 2004 re-election race, making it the reddest of Republican-red states. But Salt Lake's mayor, Ross C. Anderson, a Democrat, organized a protest in a park near the V.F.W. convention, calling on people who oppose Mr. Bush's Iraq and environmental policies to gather around him." -By David Stout -NYTimes 

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Utah -  - "With boy safe, searchers celebrate." ... "After four days lost in the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah, Brennan Hawkins wanted an 11-year-old's essentials when rescuers found him about noon Tuesday: food, water and Mom." ... "Brennan, from the Salt Lake City suburb of Bountiful, was found several miles from the Boy Scout camp where he vanished Friday evening. His disappearance in the rugged mountains about 100 miles from Salt Lake City spurred an intensive search by county rescue crews; 3,000 volunteers came on Father's Day." -By Tom Kenworthy with contributions by the -AP, Brandon Stump and Tom Vanden Brook -USATODAY 

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Mother's-Day - Homes - Florida - Georgia - Austin - TX - IL - Des-Moines - IA - Connecticut - Oklahoma - WA - Nebraska - Phoenix - AZ - Virginia - CA - Utah - North Carolina - "Women helping build homes." ... "Women Build is a partnership of Habitat for Humanity and the Lowe's chain of home improvement stores. It is an annual event that gives women a chance to help needy families. Female crews have built 650 Habitat houses in the United States." ... "[Along with Pensacola, Florida] Other cities with Mother's Day Women Build projects are Atlanta [Georgia]; Austin, Texas; Chicago [Illinois]; Des Moines, Iowa; Hartford, Conn. [Connecticut]; Oklahoma City [Oklahoma]; Olympia, Wash. [Washington]; Omaha, Neb. [Nebraska]; Phoenix [Arizona]; Richmond, Va [Virginia].; San Francisco [California]; Salt Lake City [Utah]; Tacoma, Wash. [Washington]; and Winston-Salem, N.C. [North Carolina]" -By Bill Kaczor -APvia -NJ.com

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• Habitat.org/wb

- Utah - "Blame flies after [Utah railroad tanker] spill: Federal probe: The tanker that leaked toxic waste carried corrosive acids it apparently was not designed to haul." ... The tanker's owner, Kennecott Utah Copper Corp., contends the car should only have been holding one chemical: sulfuric acid." ... "The Salt Lake Valley Health Department determined Monday that the tank also contained at least six others, including hydrofluoric acid -which Kennecott officials believe could have corroded the protective coating inside the tanker." ... "Officials from the company believed to have filled the tanker, Houston-based Philip Services Corp., claim the rail car was properly loaded and labeled for shipment when it left their command in Fernley, Nev., near Reno." -By Matthew D. LaPlante and Lisa Rosetta -SLTrib.com

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- Utah - "[Utah railroad tanker chemical spill] Site cleanup should be completed today." ... "Trucks filled with fresh dirt arrived Monday afternoon to replace earth contaminated when thousand of gallons of acids spilled out of a railroad tanker in South Salt Lake on Sunday." ... "Under the city's hazardous material recovery ordinance, the recovery costs, estimated between $350,000 and $400,000, are the responsibility of the companies involved - in this case, Union Pacific, Kennecott Utah Copper and Philip Services Corp., Foote said." -By Justin Hill and Lisa Rosetta -SLTrib.com

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- "Utah Chemical Spill Forces Evacuations: Toxic Chemical Spill Forces Evacuation of More Than 6,000 People Near Salt Lake City." ... "Officials were angered that they could not pin down what was in the tank and the information they were given conflicted with their own observations." ... "The tanker car's manifest said it was sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids; the company told them it was hydrochloric, hydrofluoric, nitric and sulfuric acids. Late Sunday, the company corrected itself, saying the contents were phosphoric, acetic, sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids, and ammonia all at a concentration of only 10 per cent." ... ""What's concerning to us is the concentration level," Foote said, saying the waste appeared to be of a much higher concentration." (1, 2) -By Leon D'Souza -AP via -ABCNEWS.com 

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-  -  - Utah -  - "Underwater bike ride to launch students' eight-week crime spree." ... "Starting in the liberal state of California, they hope to evade the attention of local police officers when they ride a bike in a swimming pool and curse on a crazy-golf course." ... "In the far more conservative - and landlocked - state of Utah, they will risk the penitentiary when they hire a boat and attempt to go whale-hunting." ... ""There are thousands of stupid laws in the United States, but we are limiting ourselves to breaking about 45 of them," said Richard Smith, from Portreath, Cornwall." -By Gerard Seenan -Guardian.co.uk

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Search Google:
• <Elizabeth Smart-[News]>

- "‘Miracles Do Exist’:  Elizabeth Smart Found Alive With Drifter; Two People in Custody." ... "Elizabeth Smart, the Salt Lake City teen kidnapped at gunpoint from her bedroom nine months ago, was found alive today with a drifter who once worked for her family as a handyman." ... "Elizabeth, [now] 15, was found in Sandy, Utah — just about 15 miles from her home — with drifter Brian David Mitchell and a woman identified as Wanda Eileen Barzee, police said. The girl's blond hair was concealed by a veil and a wig, police said." -ABCNEWS.com 

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- "Utah: Center for Foreign Language Training:  Utah is now a hotbed for training foreign language interpreters, who help intelligence agencies intercept potential terrorist communications. Weekend All Things Considered host Lisa Simeone talks with NPR's Howard Berkes."-NPR /News / ATC 

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• "The original Utah State Flag was adopted by the State Legislature in 1896 and revised in 1913. The beehive on the shield stands for hard work and industry. The date 1847 is the year the Mormons came to Utah. A bald eagle, the United States national bird, perches atop the shield and symbolizes protection in peace and war. The sego lily is a symbol of peace and a U.S. flag appears on each side, symbolizing Utah's support to the nation. The Utah State Flag, as we know it today, was originally designed for the battleship Utah in 1912. It was later made the official flag of Utah when Governor William Spry signed House Joint Resolution I in 1913."