General News

Missionaries Evacuated From Solomon Islands Following Coup Attempt The eight LDS missionaries serving in the Solomon Islands have been evacuated to Brisbane, Australia, according to a press release issued by the LDS Church on Saturday. The six young men and senior couple were evacuated by ship along with the Australian citizens in the area.

Elder from China killed An LDS missionary that had recently arrived in the Provo Mission Training Center was hit and killed in a freeway onramp traffic accident early Friday morning. Elder Wen Ping Shi, 27, of Fujin, China was killed at about 1:14 am by a driver in a pickup truck. Since Shi was wearing a dark suit, the driver did not see him.

ACLU Says SLC Refused To Settle Main Street Lawsuit ACLU attorney Stephen Clark claims that Salt Lake City refused to settle the lawsuit over the sale of a block-long stretch of Main Street to the LDS Church. Clark said he was ready to settle weeks ago if the City would pay his client for the cost of filing the lawsuit. But City Attorney Roger Cutler says that is not an "appropriate and fair" basis for the city to consider.

Anti-gay marriage petition nears filing Proponents of the Nevada version of California's Proposition 22 plan to file their proposed amendment to Nevada's constitution next week. The Coalition for the Protection of Marriage announced Wednesday that it has collected "significantly more" than the 44,009 signatures needed to get the measure on the November ballot. According to the article, the effort is "heavily supported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

Local News

Suspect in Missionary Deaths Sentenced for Gun Violations Robert Elmer Kleasen, once convicted of murdering two LDS missionaries in 1974 and sentenced to death, was again convicted on Friday on weapons violations and sentenced to 3 years in prison. Kleasen's 1974 conviction was overturned when a search warrant was held invalid, but last year Police in England discovered his cache of illegal weapons and arrested him again.

Hinckley Birthday Tickets Gone in One Day Tickets to the birthday celebration for LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley's 90th birthday party, scheduled for June 23rd, were snapped up in hours yesterday. Those eager to attend the celebration began lining up at ticket booths Salt Lake, Ogden and Provo before dawn Wednesday. Reserved tickets were all distributed by 12:30 pm and a limited supply of standby tickets were gone in the early afternoon.

Mormon Family's Custody Challenged Because of Father, Not Mother's Disability An Ottawa Judge is expected to rule soon in the case of the newborn son of a Mormon couple taken from the couple just days after birth by the Ottawa Children's Aid Society. While the child's mother has cerebral palsy, The Children's Aid Society claims they took the child from the couple because the father's behavior places the child at risk.

11 church-member families lose their homes in the New Mexico fire 11 of the families that lost their homes in the recent fire in Los Alamos, New Mexico were members of the LDS Church, according to BYU's NewsNet service. The families were among 400 that either lost their homes or had their homes damaged due to the fire, which started as a controlled burn by the U.S. Forest Service that got out of control. Damage for the fire totals nearly $6.5 million.

Sports

Steve Young Retires NFL star and LDS Church member Steve Young will reportedly announce today that he is retiring from football. The news leaked to several news organizations on Thursday, and San Francisco 49ers general manager Bill Walsh confirmed the decision on Thursday. Young i the top-rated passer in NFL history and a two-time league MVP.

New MWC Schedule Has BYU Playing Mondays The league voted and now BYU will play basketball on Monday nights. Breaking a long-standing aversion, the university will participate in the Mountain West Conference's schedule, which will shift next season from a mainly Thursday-Saturday format to a Saturday-Monday format. The Conference announced the change Tuesday, saying that the change was meant to accommodate ESPN's nationally televised Big Monday late game and address problems with the schedule that many coaches called unfair.

People

Did MTV Stint Break BYU's Honor Code? The story that a BYU student was included on MTV's "Real World" continues to expand, with the Associated Press now distributing the story that Julie may not be allowed back to BYU. The school is looking at the situation because as part of the show, she lived in a house with four men and two other women, in violation of BYU's housing policy.

Arts & Entertainment

Medved Gives God's Army 3-1/2 Stars Nationally known film reviewer Michael Medved gave LDS film God's Army three and one-half stars in his review published on his website. Medved said he found the movie, "fascinating, riveting, and emotionally satisfying."

Needed Gilgal Funds Raised, But Purchase Snagged Over Boundaries The Friends of Gilgal have finally raised all the funds needed to purchase the garden, and is ready to hand the funds to the national Trust for Public Lands, which will buy the garden and three nearby homes and turn them over to the city. But, a new snag in the deal has appeared because of misunderstandings over the property lines.

Business

How A Mormon Salesman Brought Neon To Las Vegas An article in the magazine American History credits the introduction of Neon lights to Las Vegas to a Mormon salesman. The article covers the history of Neon in America, along with a little of its scientific and commercial development in Europe.

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