POSTED // Feb 13,2009 - Given his passion for motorcycles, I don’t doubt the guv is a regular speed demon on the open road. I was referring to Huntsman’s habit of hoarding his political capital and playing it far too safe on important issues. He had popularity ratings at that time beyond 70 percent.

POSTED // Feb 9,2009 - By most measures of small-business success in Utah, Tony Chlepas would be in the Hall of Fame. His mother, the late Helen Chlepas, was widowed with her four children still in grade school. In the early 70s, Helen secured a small loan to buy a ramshackle little tavern near the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

POSTED // Feb 3,2009 - By most measures of small-business success in Utah, Tony Chlepas would be in the Hall of Fame. nHis mother, the late Helen Chlepas, was widowed with her four children still in grade school. In the early ’70s, Helen secured a small loan to buy a ramshackle little tavern near the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Tony and his siblings grew up helping their mom, including in the bar’s tiny ...

POSTED // Jan 28,2009 - If state judges were measured by BCS standards, Christine Durham would have no problem busting her way into the big leagues. Like Florida, or Michigan, Utah’s Supreme Court Chief Justice would have her ranking secured. nAmong top legal minds, Durham is what Urban Meyer is to championship football: Bright and dead-set on moving the ball downfield. She’s confident in her game, and others...

POSTED // Jan 21,2009 - Three million people on the Washington Mall. CNN talking heads keep telling us this, during the final minutes leading up to the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States. How do you get your arms around that number? The 1963 March on Washington, for the cause of civil rights on this same site, brought out 250,000 people. Nothing in the history of this national gathering p...

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 7,2009 - Meet Graham’s penstemon, a brilliant purple Utah wildflower, standing 8 inches tall. It’s one of the scrappier survivors of current environmental politics—at least for now. nWhile the flower’s eligibility for listing as a federally protected endangered plant has been at issue for more than 30 years, conservationists say its future has been dicier than ever under the George ...

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 // 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 17,2008 - Ioana Cupsa was genuinely surprised the day I answered her e-mail. She wrote to me on Dec. 8, with “story idea” in the subject line. nBy far, most e-mail I get at City Weekly comes from commercial ventures or marketing firms and public relations experts hawking everything from a struggling band’s CD to a new line of organic baby food. Each e-mail is rarely distinguishable from th...