POSTED // Nov 19,2008 - While working at another Salt Lake City newspaper a lifetime ago, I got an e-mail from a perfect stranger that made my day. Made my whole week, actually. It was rare to receive correspondence in that writing job that didn’t drip with sarcasm or rage, so I knew I wouldn’t soon forget this e-mail. nI had written about my forthcoming marriage to a man with five grown children and a whole ...

POSTED // Nov 19,2008 - Power PlaynA coalition opposed to planned nuclear power plants in Utah has filed a protest with the state engineer over the massive amounts of water that would be needed for the project. Transition Power Development, the outfit proposing the nuclear power plants, has secured more than 30,000 acre feet of water for eventual plant operation. Whether or not you think rebranding Utah “the nuke s...

POSTED // Nov 19,2008 - We caught up with Todd Palin, Alaska’s First Dude and consort to beauty queen and politician Sarah Palin, at the Salt Lake City International Airport, where he had a stop-over en route from Anchorage, Alaska, to Paris, France. Mr. Palin insisted we have our chat in the glassed-off smoking section so he could enjoy a few cigarettes before his 10-hour flight to Paris (throughout the interview,...

POSTED // Nov 19,2008 - nWhen a quantity of a white, powdery substance was mailed to the LDS Salt Lake Temple last week, some LDS Church members surmised, with characteristic paranoia, that it was the work of “gay terrorists” in retaliation for the church’s role in funding a campaign that eliminated the rights of California gays and lesbians to marry. nTurns out the substance is harmless, according to ...

POSTED // Nov 19,2008 - nEight recent cutbacks at [your office here] necessitated by the “downward economy”:n8. Office Christmas party postponed until May 2009. nn7. “Casual Friday” replaced with “Fight for Your Accounts Cage-Match Monday.”nn6. Overtime wages now paid out in positive reinforcement and hugs.nn5. Web development department downsized to “guy who won’t give up ...

POSTED // Nov 19,2008 - nGov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is pressing for the state school board to be direct-vote elections. Currently, members of the board are not elected directly but are vetted first by a governor-appointed nominating committee and then voted on by the public. Some say that, for technical school-board positions, this is the best way to get qualified candidates. City Weekly asked Kyra Laveder of the downtown Pie...

POSTED // Nov 19,2008 - nSalt Lake City comedian Marcus came in second on NBC’s Last Comic Standing last August; since then, he’s been on a national tour with the show’s finalists. In September, he filmed a solo stand-up concert at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in Ogden to be released as the cleverly titled Second to None DVD. On Friday, Nov. 21 and Saturday, Nov. 22, Marcus will host a pair of DVD rel...

POSTED // Nov 13,2008 - nBonnie K. Baxter is director of the Great Salt Lake Institute and associate professor of biology at Westminster College. On Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m., she will head up a discussion of Great Salt Lake issues with the Wasatch Front Forum in the Gore auditorium at the Vieve Gore School of Business (1840 S. 1300 East, 832-2682).nnHow can a stinky lake overrun with brine flies be considered a sta...

POSTED // Nov 12,2008 - If you could launch a boycott against another state, which would would it be, and why?nSusan Kruithof: Ohio, for sure. What right does it have to have so damned many urban centers? Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo and Sandusky. And it has two kick-ass amusement parks. Who the F do they think they are? Spread the wealth: Nebraska needs something, anything, for Christ’s sake. nn...

POSTED // Nov 12,2008 - Allen and Jade Sarver-Eskelsen have found a bit of peace in a place you wouldn’t figure for a gay-friendly city in Utah: Eagle Mountain, Utah County. nCensus figures from 2007 reveal that 89.9 percent of Eagle Mountain residents define themselves as “religious.” Of those, 88.1 percent identify as LDS—members of the same church that urged congregations to actively work again...