POSTED // Jan 14,2009 - Marian Robinson moves into the White House next week, along with her son-in-law Barack Obama, daughter Michelle and granddaughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7. In its Jan. 12 edition, the president-elect’s hometown Chicago Tribune called 71-year-old Robinson “head of the grandkids’ transition team.” She’s also been called “grandma-in-chief,” and “first g...

POSTED // Jan 14,2009 - Chaffetz AgainnUtah 3rd District Congressman Jason Chaffetz loves publicity and seemingly doesn’t care if getting it means painting Utah as a racist, xenophobic backwater. That’s exactly what Chaffetz accomplished in a recent appearance on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report where the host recommended Chaffetz anti-immigrant plans include coating Mexicans with fluorescent, paint...

POSTED // Jan 14,2009 - Our office has been inundated by calls from ordinary citizens alarmed by the presence in downtown Salt Lake City last week of hordes of men walking around in various states of distress. Some had furrowed brows and trembling chins, some were biting their lips, others had eyes welling up with tears, and still others had tears streaming down their cheeks or mucus dripping from their noses. You saw me...

POSTED // Jan 14,2009 - nIt seems like National Amber Alert Day comes earlier every year. nThis year, however, it’s really something special. The Department of Public Safety and the American Football Coaches Association have presents for K-12 students in every county in Utah: identity kits. nUnfortunately, an “identity kit” is not as much fun as, say, the Identikits used by law enforcement agencies to ...

POSTED // Jan 14,2009 - nEight signs of economic cutbacks at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival: n8. The Pussycat Dolls are headlining at the Big Lots! Party Lounge. n7. Swag bags downsized to swag vouchers, redeemable at the Big Lots! Party Lounge. n6. Buyers more carefully considering commercial appeal of films about gay quadriplegic heroin addicts in North Dakota. n5. Official festival transportation provided by “G...

POSTED // Jan 14,2009 - nState Sen. Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, believes more could be done to separate or hide drink mixing in restaurants, citing the barlike atmosphere of Chili’s on 668 E. 400 South. He’s proposed redesigns of restaurants to shield the eyes of children from the sight of liquor being poured. City Weekly asked Sammy Lofland of the Mutiny Ink tattoo parlor if he agreed: nThat’s ri...

POSTED // Jan 14,2009 - n Igor Limansky volunteered for and then worked as a field organizer for the Obama campaign. He is now volunteering to help organize the National Day of Service on Jan. 19. Visit USAService.org to learn about local service opportunities.n n nJanuary 19 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday—which usually means sleeping in, skiing, shopping and movie. Why a National Day of Service?n...

POSTED // Jan 7,2009 - New Orleans is a fantastic, fun city—in parts. What’s your favorite fun town?n n nBen Rosch: New Orleans is fun. I peed my name on a wall there. However, I think that Austin, Texas, is in the top “fun” towns of the country. n nManda Bull: Amsterdam! It’s a beautiful, walkable city that has many adult substances and activities to choose from. Plus, you can play the &ld...

POSTED // Jan 7,2009 - The joy of my holiday season included a stop at the state’s newest wine store (which also offers a smattering of upscale spirits and beers for good measure). A low-slung, smoke-gray building on the east side of 300 West at 1600 South in Salt Lake City, the store is a grand little oasis in a heavily industrial neighborhood. Good signage is missing, but then that’s typical of all state l...

POSTED // Jan 7,2009 - Return of the Zion CurtainnFirst, Utah Senate President Mike Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, defended Utah’s private club law by saying the state needed to be able to identify drinkers through the membership lists that bars are required to keep of their patrons. Now the Senate’s Administrative Rules Committee is talking about forcing restaurants to erect walls to shield impressionable childr...