Stories related to: Utah

The raid on the Texas compound of a polygamist sect has similar communities worried, reports the New York Times . Groups of polygamists belonging to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints live along the Utah-Arizona border and many fear that the crackdown on their Texas brethren means they could be next as the federal government leans on states to get tough on illegal practices. More »

About 15% of Americans drove under the influence of alcohol in the past year, and another 4.7% drove while on drugs, according to a new government survey. Wisconsinites were particularly hammered, with 26.4% driving drunk, followed closely by North Dakota (24.9%) and Minnesota (23.4%). Utah had the national low at 9.5%, Reuters reports. More »

American Idol favorite David Archuleta, 17, must skip his high school prom this weekend in Utah to stay in the game, TMZ reports. The reality TV show's strict rules mean that every contestant is on lockdown, including Brooke White, who had to skip her sister's wedding earlier this month. More »

Warren Jeffs' hand-picked, devoted settlers may refuse to testify against his polygamist compound in Texas, officials fear—making it tough to win cases of suspected child abuse. "All these girls are taught from the cradle not to trust anybody from the outside—especially the government," Utah's attorney general said. "We're the beast. We're the devil." More »

Texas authorities pulled 52 kids from the compound of a polygamous sect today after a girl said she was raped there, the Houston Chronicle reports. Eighteen of the children were bussed out by court order, based on claims of abuse or neglect, and put into temporary custody. State troopers are also seeking a suspect at the compound, which was founded by jailed polygamist Warren Jeffs. More »

John McCain and Mitt Romney buried the hatchet and hit the campaign trail together in Utah yesterday. Romney thumped McCain 90% to 5% in the state's Republican primary, but he's now stumping and fundraising for his former rival in a week-long trip through the West, AP reports. "We are united. Our job is to energize our party," McCain told a Salt Lake City audience with Romney at his side. More »

FBI agents yesterday searched the former Utah home of a man clinging to life after apparent ricin poisoning in his Las Vegas hotel room. Neighbors within a two-block area were evacuated but were later allowed to return to their homes.  Local residents described the man as a mild-mannered, down-on-his-luck loner who could be inexplicably vindictive at times. "I never felt comfortable around him," said one neighbor. More »

A couple stranded for 12 days in a snowy Utah canyon was finally rescued yesterday as they hiked out wearing snowshoes fashioned from car seat cushions, reports CNN. Thomas and Tamitha Garner had taken a trip to photograph wild horses when their truck broke down. They wrote out a will for their 19-year-old daughter as they rationed out groceries and waited for help. More »

Victorious only in his home state of Massachusetts, Utah, and five caucus states, Mitt Romney vowed last night to stay in the campaign—and is digging in for a long, hard battle, AP reports. Speaking in Boston, Romney pledged to fight all the way to the convention, casting his campaign as a struggle to save the nation's future. "It's not all done tonight. We're going to keep on battling," he said. More »

GOP hopeful Mitt Romney ducked Super Tuesday stumping today to attend Mormon Church President Gordon Hinckley's funeral in Utah, but a Mitt aide still parried concerns about the hopeful's beliefs, Reuters reports. "The governor is proud of his faith,” he said. "After the funeral is over, we'll get back to the campaign trail." Meanwhile Mitt joined thousands to mourn Hinckley, who died last week at age 97, Deseret Morning News reports. More »

Gordon B. Hinckley, at 97 the longest-lived president-prophet in the history of the Mormon church, died yesterday of complications of old age. Hinckley, whose energy and extensive world travels earned comparisons to Pope John Paul II, oversaw his church for 12 years during an era of unprecedented growth, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »

Two tiny towns on the Utah-Arizona border are pushing to restock the shelves of their library, reports the Deseret Morning News, in a first step toward healing rifts caused by imprisoned polygamist Warren Jeffs. With Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., firmly in the grip of the Mormon splinter group's leader, the library simply disappeared one day. More »

Everyone's gotten an unwelcome eyeful at the gym, but protesters want Gold's Gym to make sure members aren't getting it from music videos on TVs at two Utah locations, the Deseret Morning News reports. Calling rap videos like Ludacris' "Money Maker" pornographic, student and community groups say they'll picket gyms in Provo and Orem until changes are made. More »

A new study rejects the idea that women can be "bisexual until graduation," ABC News reports. Utah professor Lisa Diamond followed 79 women between 18 and 25 who identified as "lesbian, bisexual, or 'unlabeled'" for a decade. Throughout, she found that few changed their self-categorization. Diamond argues that the study shows bisexuality is not a “phase," but rather a unique preference. More »

Outdoor enthusiasts are bickering with the feds and each other over the use of federally owned lands in Colorado, Utah, and Montana, the New York Times reports. Off-roading fans of motorcycles, pick-ups, and ATVs are butting heads with quieter explorers who hike or ride horseback and want to preserve the landscape—and the federal government is caught in the middle. More »

A Utah Highway Patrolman who Tasered a motorist in the back has been cleared of wrongdoing, the Deseret Morning News reports. A public-safety panel found that cop Jon Gardner had been justified in zapping motorist Jon Massey as he was walking back to his car after a traffic stop. Gardner has been getting death threats since Massey posted a dash-cam video on YouTube, where it's been viewed over a million times. More »

It was the end of an era for the singing Osmond family with the death yesterday of patriarch George Osmond, who launched the musical careers of his children during a family trip to Disneyland 45 years ago, the Los Angeles Times reports. Osmond died at his Utah home of apparent complications of old age. More »

Judge Hilton Fuller has drawn ire for shelving a Georgia death penalty case, but other states are hitting the same snag: low funds for capital court costs, the New York Times reports. Georgia can’t afford the $1.2 million to defend Brian Nichols, charged with killing four in a 2005 courthouse shooting. Six other states can't afford capital trials, which need defenders to make “extraordinary efforts," the American Bar Association says. More »

Officials out West are worried about water, the New York Times reports, and not just for the short-term. In what the Times calls the " other water problem" caused by global warming, snowcaps that feed the the Colorado River—which quenches the thirst of 30 million people in seven states—are at  their lowest levels in 20 years. The "most optimistic" climate models suggest that 30% to 70% will be gone the second half of this century. More »

A mysterious dinosaur skull found in the Utah desert in 2004 is a new species, scientists say, and was "the Arnold Schwarzenegger of duck-billed dinosaurs." Gryposaurus monumentensis had such powerful jaws it could have chomped straight through tree branches, the New Scientist reports of the dinosaur, thought to have lived 75 million years ago in southern Utah.  More »