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News about Mormons, Mormonism, and the LDS Church |
General News |
Ignoring LDS Suggestion, Vermont House Supports Gay 'Civil Unions'
Acting because of a Vermont Supreme Court
edict last fall requiring that the state give same-sex couples equal
benefits to those enjoyed by heterosexual couples, the Vermont House
of Representatives passed a bill creating 'civil unions' for same-sex
couples, but specifying that marriages are limited to heterosexual
couples. The controversial bill passed on a vote of 76 to 69 and now
moves to the state Senate where it is expected to be approved.
Vermont Governor Howard Dean has indicated that he will sign the
legislation. |
Hinckley's Mountain Meadows Efforts Made Limited Progress
While the LDS Church sought last fall to
heal the wounds opened for 142 years, the legal and practical issues
of the attempt limited what could be said and how it could be
delivered. That, combined with the accidental discovery of the
remains of 29 of the victims thwarted much of what was gained by
building the memorial. |
UVSC To Study Mormons; College to pioneer LDS cultural program
Utah Valley State College will kick-off a new Mormon
Cultural Studies program tomorrow, starting with a day-long
conference on Mormonism. The program is unique at colleges and
universities in Utah, and makes UVSC the first to embrace Mormonism
as a subject worthy of study. The program will be part of a new
religious-studies program to be housed in the college's Center for
the Study of Ethics. |
Local News |
Man Convicted Of Slaying LDS Missionaries In 1974 Faces English Charges
Robert Elmer Kleasen, once convicted of killing
two LDS missionaries, will face charged Friday in a British court for
lying to police when he applied for a gun dealer's license. Kleasen,
a U. S. citizen and former LDS Church member, spent time on Texas'
death row for the murder of Elder Mark Fischer and Elder Gary Darley
in 1974. Released when a search warrant was declared invalid, Kleasen
spent 15 years in prison for gun charges in New York. When he was
released, Kleasen went to England. |
Two Buses of LDS Members, Missionaries Were On Bridge That Collapsed
A temporary Bailey-type bridge connecting
the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa with its sister city, Comayaguela,
collapsed early in March, endangering 98 LDS Church members and
missionaries on two buses on the bridge. The bridge, constructed by
the U.S. military last year to replace the Juan Ramon Molina bridge
washed away by Hurricane Mitch, collapsed as the busses, two trucks,
a taxi, a pick-up truck and a jeep combined to exceed the 40-ton
weight limit on the bridge by 20 tons. |
LDS Doctor Had Cache Of Illegal Weapons, But Nothing Connected To Attack On Business Partner
When police searched the home of the late Larry
C. Ford, the LDS Church member and Biofem executive suspected in the
attack on his business partner, they did find a cache of 17 illegal
weapons, 40 to 50 more legal weapons and thousands of rounds of
ammunition. But the weapons were rusting and hadn't been used for
several years, leaving investigators without any connection between
the weapons and the attack on Biofem's James Patrick Riley. The
weapons did not include the gun used on Riley. |
Sports |
Two LDS SLOC Execs Could Face Charges
After federal prosecutors filed a plea
agreement with former U.S. Olympic Committee official Alfredo LaMont,
speculation has centered on whether or not LDS Church members Tom
Welch and Dave Johnson will be prosecuted for their role in the Salt
Lake Olympic bid scandal as a result. Documents on file with the U.S.
Department of Justice say that Salt Lake bid committee "Officers 1
and 2" conspired with LaMont. |
People |
Most Eligible LDS Bachelor Gets Married
The most eligible LDS bachelor, Steve
Young was scheduled to get married today. Young was to marry
girlfriend Barbara Graham in the new Kailua-Kona Temple in Hawaii.
The location of the wedding had previously been kept secret to avoid
publicity. |
Arts & Entertainment |
LDS Film God's Army Reports Strong Local Box Office Revenue
According to Salt Lake Area Box Office
Statistics provided by ACNielsen EDI, Inc., the LDS film God's Army
is currently #2 and rising in the region. The film is just slightly
behind the nationally released film "Mission to Mars," and is
expected to take over the #1 slot by the end of the week. "God's
Army" is a film by LDS director Richard Dutcher is about LDS
missionaries serving in the Los Angeles area. |
'Standing for Something' Joins Another Bestseller List
President Gordon B. Hinckley's book "Standing
for Something" remained at #4 in the Advice, How-to, and
Miscellaneous category of the New York Times Book Review's Best
Seller's list and also appeared on the Publishers Weekly bestseller
list. In addition, it has seen an upsurge in sales on Amazon.com that
placed it at #28 in its sales ranking last week. |
Business |
Tribune Purchase Of Times-Mirror Leaves LDS CEO Rich But Tainted
The $6.5 billion purchase of Times Mirror,
parent of the Los Angeles Times by the Chicago-based Tribune Co.,
parent of the Chicago Tribune, leaves Times Mirror CEO Mark Willes, a
member of the LDS Church and nephew of President Gordon B. Hinckley,
without a job after five years of trying to change the way the Times
is run. Willes leaves Times Mirror a multimillionaire, if he wasn't
before, with his stock alone valued at more than $46 million. But the
deal also leaves Willes somewhat tainted, both because of his
controversial attempts to break down the 'chinese wall' between the
editorial and business sides of the newspaper publishing business and
because he failed to meet his goal of raising the circulation of the
Times by 500,000 or 1 million subscribers and increase revenue. |
Will Zions-First Security Merger Fall Apart?
In the wake of a poor earnings report from
First Security Corp. and the subsequent stock drop, Goldman Sachs
Group, Inc. announced Monday that investors could no longer rely on
its February 17th opinion that the merger is a good deal for Zion's
shareholders. The announcement puts the merger in doubt and may
require that it be reconfigured if not cancelled. |
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