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SMALL BUSINESS FRAUD SETTLEMENT
Big company settles claims of defrauding small biz
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A large Arizona construction company is paying nearly $1 million to settle allegations that it stole government work from the small Utah firm it was supposed to be mentoring.
The Department of Justice announced the settlement Friday with Tempe-based Okland Construction Co. Saiz Construction in Salt Lake City will get about $150,000.
Prosecutors say Okland enrolled in a Small Business Administration program that pairs small and big companies. The goal is for more experienced companies to jointly bid on contracts with their protégés, giving the smaller company a better chance of winning.
Authorities say Okland never fully partnered with Saiz, and broke rules by not giving Saiz at least 15 percent of the work and pretending that Okland employees were Saiz employees.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA-KIDS
Utah Gov. signs pot extract for epilepsy bill
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Under a new state law signed by Gov. Gary Herbert, families of Utah children with severe epilepsy will soon be able to obtain a medical marijuana-derived extract they say helps with seizures.
Herbert's office announced Friday that the governor had signed the measure allowing the extract to be brought into Utah under state law.
The extract oil is believed by many to help children with a rare form of epilepsy. It's now produced in Colorado.
The law allows Utah families to bring the oil back to Utah if they have a neurologist's consent.
YOUTH HUNTING PERMITS
Utah governor signs youth hunter permit bill
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Gov. Gary Herbert has signed legislation that allows Utah youth to get a hunting permit without first taking a training course if they're accompanied an adult.
The measure allows someone as young as 11 to receive the permit.
It bars them from using a gun or archery equipment unit they are 12 years old.
It also requires minors with the trial permit to be accompanied by a licensed hunter who is at least 21.
Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources has said there are similar programs in other states.
Utah hunter education courses cost $10 and require at least 12 hours.
BYU GROPER
1 arrested in BYU assault, but not groper sought
(Information in the following story is from: KUTV-TV, http://www.kutv.com/)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Police at Brigham Young University say they have arrested a man on suspicion of sexually assaulting a student after breaking into her apartment.
But they say the man arrested Friday is not the groper they seek in connection with over a dozen recent attacks.
They are still searching for a jogger in his early 20s with blond, spiky hair, who has been running up to women on campus and then grabbing them since January.
Police video cameras have captured at least one case of the groping, in which the jogger maintains his stride as he grabs a woman from the right side.
Police say in each instance reported, the man was wearing athletic gear.
They are cautioning women to take note of their surroundings and avoid talking on the phone.
LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATES
More Utah women needed in politics, advocates say
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A group says Utah needs more women in elected office.
The state currently has its lowest percentage of female legislators in over a decade and a half.
Real Women Run, a group focused on drawing more women to politics, is looking to change that statistic.
Real Women Run holds workshops focused on social media in campaigns, how to run a staff and how to raise money. One such class at the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics last week drew 20 percent more attendees than last year.
In Utah, fewer than one in five legislators are women. That's behind the national average of about one in four. No women in Utah hold a statewide or congressional office, though two women, former Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love and current state Sen. Democrat Luz Robles, have filed to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Utah House candidate Holly Richardson says Utah's cultural focus on family, leading many mothers to choose not to work, could explain its low rate of women in the Legislature.
POLYGAMIST SECT-LAWSUIT
Jury sides with family in polygamist sect lawsuit
(Information in the following story is from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An Arizona jury on Thursday agreed that a polygamous sect on the Utah-Arizona border discriminated against a family that doesn't belong to the church and awarded them $5.2 million.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports the jury in Phoenix's U.S. District Court ruled that the family was denied a household water connection for religious reasons.
Ronald Cooke said his family was discriminated against when they returned in 2008 to his boyhood town of Short Creek — a collective name for Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
Lawyers for the towns argued the family was denied utilities because they did not fill out paperwork correctly. The lawyers said they're considering an appeal.
The Cookes' attorney, William Walker, said the jury awarded $650,000 each to Ronald Cooke and his wife, Jinjer Cooke, plus another $1.95 million each for retaliation and interference.
The jury also ruled that the cities had a pattern of discrimination against multiple residents in the area, which violated Arizona's fair housing law.
Hildale city attorney Blake Hamilton and Colorado City attorney Jeffery Matura said the family did not get utilities because they did not fill out the correct forms.
They argued that religious issues were a distraction from that problem.
NCAA-WEBER ST
Weber State falls to Arizona 68-59 in West
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Weber State jumped on Arizona early and fought back when the top seed in the West Regional tried to run away.
The Wildcats couldn't finish it off, but it should serve as a nice foundation for the future.
Weber State held Arizona without a field goal for the opening 5 minutes and rallied most of the way back from a 21-point deficit before falling to the Wildcats 69-59 on Friday.
Arizona closed in around Weber State, shutting down the Wildcats during two big first-half runs, seemingly putting the fairy tale to bed.
Instead of running away, the Wildcats backed off, allowing Weber State to trim a 21-point lead down to nine in the closing minutes.
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