Basketball - Utah Jazz news

• Mitt Romney to get vaccinated and he presses Congress to help others

  18-12-2020 23:51
  
  Sen. Mitt Romney on Friday decided to take a shot and give a shot. He received the COVID-19 vaccine. The one he gave was a renewed call for the members of Congress being vaccinated to pass a long delayed pandemic relief bill to help others.“Our most urgent task is to get emergency COVID relief across the finish line,” Romney said. “I look to congressional leadership to finalize the [relief] bill, hopefully in a way that is consistent with much of the bipartisan proposal we [a g
  
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• As Utah learns it will get less vaccine next week than expected, rate of new cases continues to slow

  18-12-2020 23:49
  
  Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to critical stories about the coronavirus. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every weekday morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.Utah will be receiving thousands fewer COVID-19 vaccine doses than the state previously was promised for its first round of vaccinations, state officials said Friday.“Like many other states, this afternoon we learned we will be rec
  
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• Bagley Cartoon: Playing Through

  18-12-2020 23:40
  
  This Pat Bagley cartoon appears in The Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2020. You can check out the past 10 Bagley editorial cartoons below:The ThinkerWorking PresidentTime of Good CheerLoyalty OafManspreader MansplainsMAGA Makes Their PointThe Straight PoopA Christmas StoryThe Trump Presidential LibraryBear NecessitiesWant more Bagley? Become a fan on Facebook.
  
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• Paul Krugman: The return of the phony deficit hawks

  18-12-2020 23:31
  
  It looks as if Congress will soon pass a much-needed economic relief (not stimulus) bill — something that will help distressed Americans get through the next few months while we wait for widespread vaccination to set the stage for economic recovery. That’s good news, because something is better than nothing, even though what we know about the legislation says that it’s going to be deeply flawed.But the way this debate has been playing out is ominous for the future. Even some of
  
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• Timothy Egan: Living through the darkest days and the longest nights

  18-12-2020 23:30
  
  Every five years or so I try to return to land’s end, the continent’s edge, where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific Ocean — the final heave of the River of the West. I prefer to go during winter solstice, the long night of the soul in the Northern Hemisphere.Off Cape Disappointment you look out at swells of 20 feet and struggle to walk in the face of a resolute rain and wind gusts that slap you silly. It’s exhilarating.This year, the mouth of the Columbia serves
  
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• BYU football became relevant again in 2020; here’s how the Cougars got their mojo back

  18-12-2020 22:49
  
  Provo • Back in early March, before the pandemic shut down everything, including the sports world, the Cougars opened up spring football practice in preparation for a season that looked daunting, to say the least.The Cougars were set to open the 2020 season against, in order, Utah, Michigan State, Arizona State and Minnesota, with Missouri and Stanford coming on the back end.In other words, it looked a lot like BYU’s previous schedules in its independent era — a handful of Power
  
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• New Jazz owner willing to play luxury tax

  18-12-2020 22:48
  
  Eric Walden: Ryan Smith, on his willingness to pay the luxury tax: “We’re in the luxury tax, so that answers that question. … We have a special group. Everyone knows where we’re at … We’re not gonna blink. We’re gonna go all-in and we’re gonna commit to this.”
  
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• New Jazz owner willing to pay luxury tax

  18-12-2020 22:48
  
  Eric Walden: Ryan Smith, on his willingness to pay the luxury tax: “We’re in the luxury tax, so that answers that question. … We have a special group. Everyone knows where we’re at … We’re not gonna blink. We’re gonna go all-in and we’re gonna commit to this.”
  
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• District attorney says West Jordan officer justified in killing a 17-year-old

  18-12-2020 22:39
  
  The Salt Lake County District Attorney has ruled that a West Jordan police officer was justified in shooting and killing a teenager who had just shot another officer.West Jordan Officer Gage Hoogveldt killed 17-year-old Cyrus Carpenter on Aug. 2 during a shootout that quickly escalated from a stolen vehicle investigation.Dash cam video shown at the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office on Friday shows Hoogveldt and another officer, Taylor Jackson, approach the truck, which had been p
  
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• How you can track, attend and even protest Utah legislative meetings this January

  18-12-2020 21:37
  
  The Utah Legislature announced Friday how it plans to meet for its general session in January, as the pandemic rages on.And legislative leaders are working to be more accessible to the public than they have been during some of the meetings earlier this year.The public can attend in person but face masks are mandatory as is social distancing, which will limit the number of available spots, but the “blended” legislative session will also rely heavily on virtual access.There will be no
  
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• Utah coronavirus cases up 2,644 Friday, as the rate of new cases continues to slow

  18-12-2020 21:11
  
  Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to critical stories about the coronavirus. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every weekday morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.With 2,644 new coronavirus cases reported Friday, Utah’s rate of new diagnoses fell again — but with 14 new deaths, Friday marked the end of the virus’s deadliest two weeks in Utah.The Utah Department of Health on Frida
  
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• Whom would you choose for Utahn of the Year?

  18-12-2020 21:05
  
  The Salt Lake Tribune continues its annual tradition of choosing a Utahn of the Year. The person or persons are chosen based on their impact on the state during 2020. The Tribune will announce a winner on Christmas Day, but first we want to hear from our readers. Please pick one of our candidates (presented in alphabetical order), or nominate your own.Mike Brown • Salt Lake City’s police chief carried the burden of police reform in Utah, taking heat from his own officers for it. While
  
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• Heather Sundahl and Brenda Beyal: Pandemic threatens Indigenous cultural knowledge

  18-12-2020 21:00
  
  Perhaps you’ve heard the African proverb, “When an old person dies, a library burns to the ground.” Never has this seemed more real than when we got the news recently that our friend Lorraine Mariano, Navajo weaver, cultural standard bearer and Dine’ elder, died at 86 from COVID-19.While no one life is more precious than another, it is heartbreaking that Indigenous people are dying at such high rates, taking with them linguistic, cultural and spiritual knowledge that few
  
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• Maggie Cummings: Salt Lake City teachers working hard in pandemic conditions

  18-12-2020 20:56
  
  On Wednesday, while Rep. Brad Wilson and the Utah Legislature’s Executive Appropriations Committee met via Zoom to craft an education funding package to deliberately punish Salt Lake City School District teachers for providing “remote” education, the Meadowlark Elementary parking lot had teacher and staff cars in it from before 7 a.m. through past 5 p.m.Students with severe disabilities arrived via district buses at 8 a.m. to meet in small groups with special education teachers
  
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• Johnny Townsend: There is no need to ration our rights

  18-12-2020 20:00
  
  On Thanksgiving Day 1981, I was a Mormon missionary living in Naples, and our mission president allowed us to spend the holiday with Americans stationed at the U.S. Navy base near Capodichino. Sister Costantino had come with her American companion and spoke no English. But she was able to point out how romanticizing our superiority led us to ignore reality.When the radio played Neil Diamond’s “America,” she asked me to translate the lyrics. I’d hardly made it through thre
  
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• Salt Lake County will keep its art venues closed through February because of COVID-19 concerns

  18-12-2020 19:07
  
  Salt Lake County will keep its four downtown Salt Lake City arts venues closed through Feb. 28, 2021, the county announced Friday.The four venues — Abravanel Hall, the Capitol Theatre, Eccles Theater and Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center — were closed before Thanksgiving because of the surge of cases of COVID-19. The closure was to last to the end of December, but officials opted to extend it because of “an abundance of caution and an effort to reduce the impact on our medical
  
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• ATF offers reward for information about guns stolen in Utah

  18-12-2020 18:58
  
  Authorities are offering up to a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the people who stole 43 guns from three stores in Utah.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is working with the police in Layton, St. George and Salt Lake City to find the people who committed three burglaries:• Wasatch Guns in Layton was broken into on March 7, and 17 guns were stolen.• C-A-L Ranch Stores in St. George was broken into on Sept. 6, and 15 guns were
  
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• Utah football opts out of bowl game; Saturday’s home date vs. Washington State will be season finale

  18-12-2020 18:50
  
  Utah’s Saturday home date against Washington State will be its final game of the season.The team announced Saturday that Utes players have collectively decided to skip any potential bowl game, owing to a long 2020 season that has hit multiple obstacles due to the pandemic.Utah coach Kyle Whittingham and school athletic director Mark Harlan both said they support the players’ decision.“Our number one priority is the well-being of our players, and wesupport the decision they have
  
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• Malcolm Miller to Jazz

  18-12-2020 18:45
  
  Blake Murphy: Malcolm Miller is signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Utah Jazz, per a source.
  
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• Gordon Monson: What drives the Utah Jazz’s new owner and his big plans for the team

  18-12-2020 18:28
  
  Friction.That’s the word Ryan Smith uses to describe the resistance that exists between him and what he wants to achieve, the climb between where he is and where he wants to be.The 42-year-old billionaire who built the mega-tech company Qualtrics, and the man who, along with his wife, Ashley, just bought the Utah Jazz from Gail Miller, gaining official approval from the NBA Governors on Friday, knows the beginning from the end.Check that. He doesn’t know the end, because, as he says
  
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• Mitt Romney blasts Trump for his silence over massive Russian hack

  18-12-2020 18:26
  
  Sen. Mitt Romney says a newly discovered massive hack into government data was the high-tech equivalent of “Russian bombers repeatedly flying undetected over the entire country.”And he is blasting President Donald Trump for not protesting or punishing Russia for it.“Not to have the White House aggressively speaking out and protesting and taking punitive action is really quite extraordinary,” Romney told OlivIer Knox on SirusXM radio on Thursday.pic.twitter.com/iEsWD1V4KI&
  
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• LDS handbook adds warning against prejudice and misinformation, revises entries on sex abuse, conversion therapy, stillborn babies and more

  18-12-2020 17:52
  
  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unveiled new wording Friday for the faithful on a host of social issues — from sexual abuse to conversion therapy, cremation to stillborn babies, counseling to HIV infection.The Utah-based faith also added two significant sections to its “General Handbook” — one decrying “prejudice,” building on recent speeches against it by church leaders, and the other on “seeking information from reliable sources.”
  
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• Utah’s unemployment rate creeps up, but, at 4.3%, it remains well below the nation’s 6.7%

  18-12-2020 17:49
  
  Utah’s employment outlook during the pandemic continued to outperform the rest of the country last month, with a jobless rate of 4.3%.That ticked up slightly from 4.1% in October but remained well below the national rate for November of 6.7%, as reported by the Department of Labor. That U.S. jobless rate, meanwhile, dipped last month from October’s 6.9%.Utah now has the sixth lowest jobless rate in the country, behind Nebraska (3.1%), Vermont (3.1%), South Dakota (3.5%), Iowa (3.6%)
  
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• Utah Jazz sale approved

  18-12-2020 17:46
  
  Ian Begley: NBA Board of Governors unanimously approves sale of Jazz to group led by Ryan Smith: pic.twitter.com/tLbsjHL7to
  
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• Ryan Smith approved as new Utah Jazz owner by NBA’s Board of Governors

  18-12-2020 17:25
  
  Back on Oct. 28, Gail Miller announced that after 35 years of her family owning and running the Utah Jazz, they would be selling the team to Qualtrics founder Ryan Smith.On Friday morning, it became official, with the NBA announcing that the league’s Board of Governors had unanimously approved the sale, which will give Smith the majority ownership stake in the team.The final sale price — which will see the Miller family retain a minority share — is for a reported $1.66 billion,
  
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• Bob Sawatzki: I can’t do without my daily source of information

  18-12-2020 17:00
  
  “People don’t actually read newspapers,” media theorist Marshall McLuhan famously noted, “they step into them every morning like a hot bath.”Indeed, reading while bathing has ever been my choice. No matter if the edges wrinkle from wet fingertips or a page slips out and drowns. Paper will dry. But losing your laptop in the tub while reading online is certain disaster. Score one for old media.Other great advantages to printed matter are portability and foolproof tech
  
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• Bagley Cartoon: The Thinker

  18-12-2020 16:04
  
  This Pat Bagley cartoon appears in The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday, Dec. 18, 2020. You can check out the past 10 Bagley editorial cartoons below:Working PresidentTime of Good CheerLoyalty OafManspreader MansplainsMAGA Makes Their PointThe Straight PoopA Christmas StoryThe Trump Presidential LibraryBear NecessitiesTreading CoronavirusWant more Bagley? Become a fan on Facebook.
  
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• Rudy Gobert has not asked for the full supermax

  18-12-2020 15:22
  
  The Rudy Gobert contract extension situation took another interesting turn today, with a new report of negotiation details. On today’s episode of ESPN Podcast Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective Tim MacMahon reported that Rudy Gobert did NOT ask the Jazz for a supermax extension. “I don’t have precise contract figures. I have been told that he did not ask for the full supermax, I know there has been some reporting in Utah that he did, I’ve been told that is not true
  
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• Marina Gomberg was going to list the things in 2020 that didn’t suck, but changed her mind

  18-12-2020 15:15
  
  December with a Santa-believing kid is pretty special. The depth of gleeful anticipation coupled with the power to encourage good behavior makes for a very magical month.And we’ve needed it. The last nine haven’t been so sweet.I’m actually a bit taken by how much fun we’re having. This unrelenting joy. It’s not that kids loving presents is a big surprise, but that anything could fracture my newly-hardened shell is an unexpected and quite welcomed relief.It got me th
  
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• Robert Kirby: In praise of porches — places where neighbors schmooze and thieves ‘shop’

  18-12-2020 15:00
  
  No one knows who invented the American front porch. Historical researchers agree that the idea caught on sometime in the middle of the 19th century.Before that, the front of a house consisted of just a door to keep out the dirt and larger vermin. After a long day in the fields, you staggered through it, stuffed a meal into your face, and then immediately fell asleep.Thanks to advances in technology, Americans eventually found time to sit outside and enjoy the day’s end, watch the kids, and
  
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• Jana Riess: ‘Lo, a virgin shall conceive’ ... or not, depending on the translation

  18-12-2020 15:00
  
  “Lo, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” Every December, this verse from the prophet Isaiah is featured in “Messiah” sings and splashed across Christmas cards. It’s a beloved text for Christians the world over.One problem, or at least a complication: That’s not what Hebrew says.In their new book “The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Story Differently,” biblical scholars Amy-Jill Levine (Vanderbilt University)
  
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• Why Utah Republicans are standing firm on their teacher bonus plan, leaving Salt Lake City out

  18-12-2020 14:00
  
  Utah’s legislative leaders turned cash bonuses for teachers into a cudgel to pressure the Salt Lake City School District to return to class and the move did not catch everyone off guard.House and Senate Republicans were informed of the forthcoming bonuses during a closed caucus meeting Tuesday. The plan to possibly cut Salt Lake City out of the bonuses sprung from those conversations after members vented their frustrations that the district was the lone holdout in returning to in-person cl
  
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• Scott D. Pierce: ‘The Mandalorian’ is kind of repetitive and a bit boring

  18-12-2020 14:00
  
  At the risk of committing “Star Wars” heresy, I’ve found myself sort of bored by Season 2 of “The Mandalorian.”Although I’ll readily admit that might be at least partly my own fault, for the way I’ve watched it.There’s no denying that the Disney+ series looks spectacular. The effects are positively theatrical — far better than what we saw in the original trilogy back in the olden days (1977-83), because the technology has advanced so much in
  
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• Fact check: Are Utah politicians — and others — jumping the COVID-19 vaccination line?

  18-12-2020 14:00
  
  Utah’s front-line health care workers are getting the state’s first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and there are tracking safeguards to make sure no one cuts in line, say state and hospital officials.Phase 1 of Utah’s distribution plan gives the vaccine to health care workers who are in contact with COVID-19 patients, then staff and residents at long-term care facilities, followed by health care professionals who work outside hospitals.Dr. Angela Dunn, the state epidemiologist,
  
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• Dio Tararrel: In gratitude for the print paper and the op-ed section

  18-12-2020 14:00
  
  When I was a kid, we lived across the alley from our grandparents. They had a subscription to the local paper, so every day after school I would make my way over.Eventually, I got scolded for not even bothering to say hi before I took their paper and headed to the brown living-room carpet, facedown, to immerse myself in ink and newsprint.The first section would always be the comics (as Grandma called them, “the funnies”), then every word of the sports section, all the way down to the
  
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• Letter: Hollywood needs to work on LGBTQ representation

  18-12-2020 13:30
  
  I am writing in response to Scott Pierce’s “While James Corden’s performance in ‘The Prom’ is offensive, straight actors can play gay characters,” from Sunday’s paper. Mr. Pierce argues that, while Corden’s performance is offensive, there is no overall problem with straight actors playing gay characters, and in only casting actors as characters whose sexual orientation matches theirs, we are “limiting” and “destroying” the c
  
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• Letter: Give restaurants and bars a break

  18-12-2020 13:00
  
  We all know that this has been a rough year for restaurants and bars. A liquor license from the state of Utah costs thousands of dollars to renew each year. The renewal date was extended to Dec. 20, so many bar and restaurant owners are getting ready to write a substantial check to the state of Utah while the state sits on $307 million in CARES Act funds. A miniscule portion of that could have been used to give bars and restaurants a little break during a time when we are pinching every penny to
  
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• The Triple Team: Jazz shot the Clippers’ eyes out to get into the Christmas spirit

  18-12-2020 08:26
  
  Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 125-105 win over the Los Angeles Clippers from Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.1. The 3-point shooting, againThis team is just going to be fun to watch.The Jazz led the league in 3-point percentage last year. I think this year, they’ve realized what that means: It means they can take all manner of threes, both when it’s comfortable and when it’s not, and it’s going to be a good shot.I went back and watched 51 of the 52 threes attempted
  
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• Yogi Ferrell joins Jazz

  18-12-2020 08:06
  
  Shams Charania: Free agent guard Yogi Ferrell has agreed to a deal with the Utah Jazz, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
  
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• Utah Jazz sizzle from the outside, rout L.A. Clippers 125-105 to end preseason

  18-12-2020 06:42
  
  Back when training camp started, Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder said he wanted his players to be even more aggressive from 3-point range this coming season. Days later, Bojan Bogdanovic lit up recounting how Snyder had promised to turn him loose behind the arc this year.Then, after the Jazz’s first preseason game, Snyder joked that even a less-than-genius individual such as himself could figure out the most efficient deep-ball team in the league should increase its volume from outside.Notice
  
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• Letter: The old Tribune

  18-12-2020 06:30
  
  I am in my 87th year and have enjoyed The Tribune all my life. I was raised in a small ghost mining town called Ophir in the Oquirrh Mountains, about 20 miles from Tooele. The paper came by mail during the week, and on Sunday the local grocer drove to Tooele to pick up the papers. I loved to stop after school at the post office for the paper. I read the comics, of course, but also loved to read the other articles so that I could learn new words.As I became a teenager, we moved to Deseret Chemica
  
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• ‘This gives us a fighting chance’ — Utah lifts alcohol curfew at bars, restaurants

  18-12-2020 05:18
  
  Utah’s 10 p.m. curfew on alcohol service at bars and restaurants will be lifted starting Friday, the governor announced, but with the longer service hours come stricter social distancing standards for patrons.In short, no walking around when you’re sipping a beer, a cocktail or a glass of wine.The hospitality industry is among the hardest hit during the pandemic, Herbert said Thursday during the final monthly news conference of his gubernatorial tenure. Lifting the alcohol restrictio
  
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• Hundreds of religious leaders call for end to LGBTQ conversion therapy

  18-12-2020 04:41
  
  In a show of unity aimed at fighting for the rights of LGBTQ people, more than 370 international spiritual leaders have signed a declaration demanding a global ban on disputed conversion therapy.The declaration also asked that nations find a way to end the criminalization of people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. It also called for an end to violence against LGBTQ people.The pledge was signed by religious leaders from more than 35 countries. It was led by the Global Interfa
  
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• Letter: Distrust in direct democracy

  18-12-2020 04:30
  
  The Greek philosopher Plato was suspicious of “democracy,” and for good reason. Read his famous analogy “Ship of Fools” (Ship of State), imagining a sea voyage where all of the travelers feel entitled to run the ship. Those who shout the loudest, yet know nothing of the skills of navigation, are at the helm. Discipline and order go overboard and what results is a kind of drunken pleasure cruise, rather than a rational, well-organized journey. Does that sound familiar?Actu
  
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• Utah joins antitrust lawsuit against Google accusing the tech giant of illegally suppressing rivals

  18-12-2020 03:51
  
  Utah became one of 30 states that added to Google’s mushrooming legal woes Thursday, accusing the Silicon Valley titan of illegally arranging its search results to push out smaller rivals.One day after Utah and nine other states accused Google of abusing its dominance in advertising and overcharging publishers, and two months after the Justice Department said the company’s deals with other tech giants throttled competition, the bipartisan group of state prosecutors said in a lawsuit
  
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• Man shot in Salt Lake City marks 30th police shooting in 2020 — tying 2018 for record highest

  18-12-2020 03:36
  
  When state agents shot a man on Thursday in Salt Lake City, it marked the 30th shooting this year and tied a nearly 2-year-old record for the most police shootings in Utah in recent memory.The shooting happened after agents with the State Bureau of Investigation doing “covert work” spotted someone in a silver Mercedes van “participate in some alleged narcotic activity,” Department of Public Safety spokesman Lt. Nick Street said.The agents tried to pull the person over, bu
  
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• Jana Riess: Are you ‘Doomscrolling’ much? It’s probably bad for your soul.

  18-12-2020 03:14
  
  This year will be remembered as the year we relied on screens more than ever to do our work, educate our kids and “doomscroll” about the global pandemic. But in a new book written long before lockdowns, Amy Crouch and her father, Andy Crouch, were already sounding an alarm about identifying too strongly with our devices.Last month, Amy released a sequel to her father’s 2017 book, “The Tech-Wise Family,” with Andy chiming in between her chapters. “My Tech-Wise
  
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• Utahns react to Biden’s history-making choice of Interior secretary

  18-12-2020 03:10
  
  Utah’s tribal leaders, Indigenous groups and conservationists celebrated reports Thursday that Rep. Deb Haaland, D-New Mexico, will be President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to become secretary of the Interior. If confirmed, she’d be the first Native American to serve in any presidential Cabinet.Some industry groups and conservative lawmakers in the state offered their congratulations as well as their concerns that she’ll move to reverse the decisions of President Donald Trump.
  
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• ‘This give us a fighting chance’ — Utah lifts alcohol curfew at bars, restaurants

  18-12-2020 02:35
  
  Utah’s 10 p.m. curfew on alcohol service at bars and restaurants will be lifted starting Friday, the governor announced, but with the longer service hours come stricter social distancing standards for patrons.In short, no walking around when you’re sipping a beer, a cocktail or a glass of wine.The hospitality industry is among the hardest hit during the pandemic, Herbert said Thursday during the final monthly news conference of his gubernatorial tenure. Lifting the alcohol restrictio
  
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• Letter: Join a community focused on fighting climate change

  18-12-2020 02:30
  
  In 2020, this paper has published a steady drumbeat of articles about climate change. Whether those articles make you worried about climate risks, frustrated by delay in addressing the problem, angry about denialism, or hopeful about solutions, 2021 is the year to do something about it.Joining a community focused on climate change is a good place to start. You can approach climate change from any perspective (environmental, business, conservative, liberal, religious, secular or anything else) an
  
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