POSTED // Dec 31,2008 - Missing CannonnIncoming U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is distinguishing himself faster than any Utah congressman in recent memory. In the face of the country’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression (a depression prolonged by then-President Herbert Hoover’s refusal to spend) Chaffetz says first item of business will be to co-sponsor a balanced budget amendment to forever ...

POSTED // Dec 31,2008 - So long, ’08, we’re glad to see you go,nSome moments were high, almost all were low.nLet us sift through this past year’s rubble,nFrom Wall Street greed to the housing bubble,nFrom honest Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi trick,n To the pyramid scheme of Val Southwick.nnSee him handcuffed, downcast without his rug,nSentenced to 17 years in the jug.nBut next to your average investment b...

POSTED // Dec 31,2008 - nAs a big-time enmolada fan, I was alarmed by news that a driver veered off west North Temple, smashed through a wall of the Red Iguana and into one of the restaurant’s dining areas on Monday, Dec. 29. Thoughts of a weeks- or months-long closure for repairs made me develop a sudden craving for delicious mole negro. nNot to worry: Two hours after the crash, the resourceful folks there had pat...

POSTED // Dec 31,2008 - nOn Tuesday, Jan. 6, from 10 a.m. to noon, Mayor Ralph Becker and the Salt Lake City Council will announce a citywide transparency initiative. Councilwoman Jill Remington-Love explains its importance.n n nWho or what is behind this initiative?nBoth Mayor Becker and the City Council have been working to create a more transparent government and engage our residents in the public process. Mayor Becke...

POSTED // Dec 31,2008 - n The Bureau of Criminal Identification reported 9,000 more guns were sold this past November than in November 2007. Gun owners cite economic uncertainty and fears that an Obama administration will ban certain firearms as reasons for increased sales. City Weekly asked Emily Hanna, hotel manager of the Alta Club, what she thought drove the gun sales:n n nI think the majority of [gun apprehension] c...

POSTED // Dec 24,2008 - “I don’t know who are the animals and who are the humans in this zoo,” the bare-chested man in yellow shorts shouts as he bounces on a trampoline inside a nondescript Salt Lake City warehouse. He suddenly stops and lies down, half covered by a blanket, on the trampoline surface. A woman with spiky red hair and wearing a red chemise starts bouncing up and down beside him. As other...

POSTED // Dec 24,2008 - Go ahead. Give a season's greetings shout-out to whomever you want.n n nJeremiah Smith: I wanna give a big shout-out to my boys in Redemption and their wives. Thanks for a fantastic year, peeps. Luv ya. n nManda Bull: A big “heeeeey!” to the reunited Ogden & PDX drinking teams. Best friends a girl could ask for. n nBrandon Burt: Happy holidays to the Happy Meejums. “I am not ...

POSTED // Dec 24,2008 - How many sitting congressmen could get away with boycotting a hometown newspaper for more than three years—refusing to be interviewed on any topic—and never face an ounce of criticism? nRep. Jim Matheson has, and it’s time to call him out. Matheson hasn’t spoken to City Weekly since August 2005. That was the month he came to our editorial office with his communications dire...

POSTED // Dec 24,2008 - Corroon Goes SolarnWhile Utah legislators ready the Beehive State for nuclear power (and, presumably, make plans to rope off of chunks of Utah for millennia’s worth of nuclear-waste storage), Peter Corroon sees a sunnier future. The Salt Lake County mayor’s just-announced solar plan calls for leasing the tops of county buildings to solar-power companies that would coat the roofs with s...

POSTED // Dec 24,2008 - Have I told you the story ...” he would begin. n“I’m not sure,” I would say. “But tell me again.” nMy dad (like everyone else, my siblings and I called him Parry) would then launch into the story about E.D. (his father) telling Ann (his mother) he wasn’t leaving the house to her in his will because he didn’t want her marrying some son-of-a-bitch who...