General News

LDS Church Starts Perpetual Education Fund

More that a year after President Gordon B. Hinckley mentioned a planned "Perpetual Education Fund" in a speech at the National Press Club, he officially announced the fund in the Priesthood Session of the LDS Church's General Conference. The Fund, modeled on the Church's Perpetual Emigration Fund that was operated from 1849 to 1887, will provide funds to assist needy Church members, generally in third world countries, to assist them in obtaining marketable skills.

Young Women Urged to Remain Chaste; Working Mother Cited

President Gordon B. Hinckley of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke Saturday night at the annual Young Women's meeting, urging young women to get an education and remain chaste, citing as an example a working mother. Hinckley spoke in the LDS Church's Conference Center to 20,000 young women and many thousands more around the world along with the members of the Church's Young Women's Presidency.

PBS News Program Looks at LDS Missionaries

The PBS weekly news program Religion and Ethics Newsweekly spent 10 minutes of its half-hour program this weekend looking at the missionary program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reporter John Dancy interviewed Elder Earl C. Tingey, Executive Director of the LDS Church's Missionary Department. President David Wirthlin of the Provo Missionary Training Center and several returned missionaries. The program even drew on the film "God's Army" to get a picture of the Church's missionary program.

Local News

BYU Suspends Two 'Chaste' Homosexuals

Two men suspended for homosexuality by BYU criticized their suspensions in a Salt Lake Tribune article today. Richard "Ricky" Escoto and Matthew Grierson claim that they were suspended despite refraining from sexual encounters and say BYU chose to believe in alleged romantic encounters that they deny. BYU's suspension letters specify incidents in which both men allegedly had amorous contact with other men, or visited homosexual internet chat rooms.

Sports

Madsen's Mission an Asset in NBA, But Not on the Court

It took the media six months once NBA rookie Mark Madsen landed in Los Angeles to discover he had an advantage no one had noticed. Now that advantage means the rookie Madsen gets interviewed frequently after games. A returned missionary who served in Spain, Madsen speaks Spanish fluently, and its LA's Spanish-language media badly need Spanish-speaking players that they can talk to.

LDS Mission May Keep Athlete from Playing in Division I

Serving an LDS mission has become common enough in NCAA athletics that most LDS athletes will return from a mission to play on their college team. But for LDS high school student Mark Davis, serving an LDS mission probably means giving up the chance to play on an NCAA Division I team ever. The source of Davis' difficulty isn't is ability, its the sport he plays.

Politics

Census Arguments Made, But Panel Raises Doubts About Counting LDS Missionaries

A three judge panel in Salt Lake City heard arguments Wednesday from the state of Utah, the US Census Bureau and the state of North Carolina over the count of overseas US citizens in the 2000 census. But the court made clear that it was not inclined to include LDS missionaries in the count. And while Utah then argued that federal employees living abroad should then also not be included in the census, the Bureau and North Carolina vigorously disagreed.

Huntsman Named Ambassador and US Deputy Trade Representative

US President George W. Bush has named Jon Huntsman Jr. a US Deputy Trade Representative, an ambassadorial rank, with responsibility for trade with Asia. The appointment ends months of speculation about Huntsman, a strong Bush supporter and significant Republican donor, including reports that he would be named Ambassador to China.

Internet

LDS Church Says to Shutter Local 'Official' Websites

The LDS Church's Presiding Bishopric has sent a letter to local units directing them to shut down the websites they sponsor for their units. The instruction came in a letter dated March 15th to stake, mission, and district presidents, as well as bishops and branch presidents, at least some of whom read the letter in local meetings on Sunday. But the instructions have also led to some misunderstanding as members assume the Church is asking for all sites about the LDS Church to be shut down.

People

Prominent Mormon Ecologist Arthur Hasler, 93

Arthur Davis Hasler, prominent ecologist and limnologist, member of the National Academy of Sciences and pioneer LDS Church member in Madison, Wisconsin died Friday, March 23rd in Madison. Hasler is best known professionally for his discovery of "olfactory imprinting," the mechanism salmon use to migrate back to the stream in which they were born. Hasler served an LDS mission to Germany, gaining there a life-long love of the German language, and also was an accomplished musician, playing the horn in the Madison Symphony for 25 years.

Arts & Entertainment

The Salt Lake Temple and Architecture

Marilyn Karras, a reporter for the Deseret News, recently emailed 12 Salt Lake City architects and asked them which city buildings were the five best and five worst from an architect's point of view. Surprisingly, only two of the eight respondents choose the Salt Lake Temple as one of the best.

After the Massacre

The Salt Lake Tribune's Martin Naparsteck recently reviewed "The Ferry Woman" a recent novel by Gerald Grimmett that, in spite of a slightly inaccurate subtitle, explores the aftermath of the Mountain Meadows Massacre and its affect on a fictional wife of John D. Lee. Lee is widely considered the scapegoat for the September 1857 massacre of a wagon train of more than 120 men, women and children on their way to California.

Business

Iowa State Employees Question Use of Covey

Mormon management guru Stephen R. Covey's book is coming under criticism from some state employees who claim the book pushes a religious message that shouldn't be paid for by the state. A recent article in the Des Moines Register airs the complaint after Covey's seminars and book were presented to state employees.

ZCMI Stores Broken Up

Not all former ZCMI stores will carry the Meier and Frank name, as an announcement Wednesday made clear. Arkansas-based Dillards, Inc., announced then that it had reached an agreement to purchase four former ZCMI stores in Utah and Idaho from May Department Stores, the corporate parent of Meier and Frank. May purchased the ZCMI chain from the LDS Church in December 1999.

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