Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION-DISCRIMINATION
Utah leaders to meet with gay community Wednesday
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A bipartisan group of Utah lawmakers and elected officials are planning to meet Wednesday evening with a dozen residents representing gay and transgender individuals.
Salt Lake City Democratic Sen. Jim Dabakis and St. George Republican Sen. Steve Urquhart are hosting the event, which they say is a significant step for the state.
The meeting comes two weeks after 13 protesters were arrested at the Capitol while calling for a statewide anti-discrimination law that protects sexual and gender orientation.
Dabakis and Urquhart are pushing for the law but Republican leaders have called for a moratorium on any issues they fear could affect the state's pending legal challenge over its same-sex marriage ban.
Dabakis says some of those Republican leaders will attend Wednesday's meeting, along with Republican Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox.
GAY MARRIAGE-UTAH
Couples: Gay marriage ban 'cements discrimination'
(Information in the following story is from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Attorneys for three gay and lesbian couples have filed a brief with an appeals court contesting Utah's gay marriage ban, which a federal judge overturned in December.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the 118-page response was filed late Tuesday with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief says the ban "cements discrimination" into the state's Constitution and denies those families a "common vocabulary of family life and belonging."
The state appealed after U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby found the ban unconstitutional on Dec. 20.
More than 1,000 gay couples married in Utah before the U.S. Supreme Court granted the state an emergency stay in January.
Utah filed its opening argument Feb. 3, saying the ban is in the best interests of children.
Oral arguments are scheduled for April 10.
SUICIDE PREVENTION-GUNS
Utah gun safety bill aims to curb youth suicides
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah lawmakers have approved a measure to prevent youth suicides by giving gun owners information on how to store their weapons away from children and teens.
A House committee Wednesday voted unanimously to advance the measure from Sandy Republican Rep. Steve Eliason.
Eliason says the bill would provide brochures and pamphlets showing that many youth suicide attempts involve a gun belonging to a parent or family member, among other statistics.
The bill would also dole out materials on how to store the weapons in gun safes and use cable gun locks. It would give coupons for gun safes to state residents who apply for concealed carry permits.
The measure advances to the full House. It must also be approved by the Senate and signed by the governor to become law.
CAMPAIGN FORMS-LATE
Utah bill: fine lawmakers for late campaign report
(Information in the following story is from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A proposal in the Utah legislature would fine candidates who are late in reporting campaign contributions.
It would charge them $50 or 15 percent of the contribution, whichever is more, for donations not reported within a 30-day period. Current law requires legislators to send in the forms by the time the 30 days run out, but missing the deadline does not warrant a penalty.
West Valley City Republican Rep. Craig Hall sponsors the bill, which pertains to anyone running for a state office. He says it gives lawmakers an extra push to abide by the existing rule.
Another pending bill would bar anonymous campaign contributions over $50.
The Deseret News reports the bill concerning late disclosures now awaits a vote in the full House.
MORMONS BY STATE
6 in 10 Utah residents identify as Mormon
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A new Gallup survey shows six in 10 Utah residents identify as Mormon.
That's more than double the proportion in any other state. Idaho ranks second with 24 percent of its residents belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The survey is based on phone interviews with 500 adults in each state done in 2013.
Past Gallup surveys show the percentage of Utah residents who call themselves Mormon has held steady around 60 percent for the past six years.
Utah and Idaho are the only states where more than 10 percent of residents are Mormons. In Wyoming, 9 percent belong to the LDS church. About 4-5 percent of residents in Nevada, Montana, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii are LDS.
Utah has the smallest percentage of Protestants of any state.
MAN DIES DRIVING TO HOSPITAL
UHP: Man dies on way to hospital, crashes truck
CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) — A 49-year-old man who troopers say was driving himself to a southern Utah emergency room apparently died of a medical condition and crashed his truck before he arrived.
Utah Highway Patrol officials say the crash happened Monday on State Route 56, west of Cedar City.
UHP Sgt. Todd Royce says a female passenger in the vehicle confirmed the driver was in medical distress and was on his way to the hospital. Troopers say there were no skid marks or other evidence to suggest he died as a result of the crash.
Authorities say the Ford F-150 truck had minor damage, but stayed upright after drifting off the road.
The man's name and cause of death were not released.
JAILER SEX ABUSE
Ex-jailer gets probation in inmate sex abuse case
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A former Wasatch County sheriff's deputy accused of sexually assaulting female inmates has been sentenced to three years of probation, but no fines or jail time.
Christopher Stein Epperson was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge David Sam on Friday. He had pleaded guilty in August to two counts of deprivation of rights under the color of law.
Epperson had admitted that inappropriately touched two women in 2009 and 2010. The Salt Lake Tribune reports he faced up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.
The newspaper says Epperson was fired from his post at the Wasatch County Jail in October 2010.
Epperson also faces a civil lawsuit in the case. A hearing on that suit is set for March 3.
CONDOR BREEDING SEASON
Biologists have high hopes for wild-hatched condor
PHOENIX (AP) — Groups tracking the reintroduction of the endangered California condor celebrated last year when a record four birds hatched near the Arizona-Utah border.
This year has brought increased enthusiasm with the possibility that a condor hatched in the wild will produce the first second-generation wild bird.
Eddie Feltes of The Peregrine Fund says he and others are keeping their fingers crossed.
Breeding is underway for the condors in the Arizona-Utah flock and the captive flock at The Peregrine Fund's World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.
Biologists are watching from afar as adult condors incubate an egg in the Arizona-Utah flock nesting at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.
The captive flock is expected to produce up to 20 birds this season.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
