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MORMON CONFERENCE
Mormon president urges members to love others
(Information in the following story is from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mormon church president Thomas Monson has urged members to follow Jesus Christ's example by showing love toward others.
Monson also stressed the importance of forgiveness during a talk Sunday in Salt Lake City during the faith's biannual general conference.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports the 86-year-old Monson said love should be "the very heart of family life," but often is not because of impatience and fighting.
Dieter Uchtdorf, Monson's second counselor in the governing First Presidency, says gratitude is the solution to bitterness and sorrow.
The conference brings more than 100,000 Latter-day Saints to Salt Lake City to find out church news and soak up words of guidance and inspiration from the faith's top leaders. Millions more watch worldwide.
MORMON CONFERENCE-ATHEISTS
Atheists march around Mormon Temple Square in Utah
(Information in the following story is from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — About 75 atheists, most of them former Mormons, marched around Temple Square in Salt Lake City on Sunday during the faith's general conference.
Many mailed resignations to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the end of the walk that was dubbed "the Mormon exodus and mass resignation event" by Atheists of Utah President Dan Ellis.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports the peaceful march took the atheists through about 100 Mormon faithful singing "'How Great Thou Art," a hymn praising God.
Afterward, the demonstrators gathered at a nearby park to hear David Silverman, president of American Atheists. The group will hold its national convention in Salt Lake City from April 17-20.
The Mormon church's general conference, which ended Sunday, brought more than 100,000 Latter-day Saints to Salt Lake City to find out church news and soak up words of guidance and inspiration from the faith's top leaders.
EDUCATION PANEL-VETO
Utah governor vetoes curriculum oversight bill
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah education officials say they're pleased the governor has vetoed a proposal seeking to have a parent panel field concerns about curriculum and class materials.
Gov. Gary Herbert on Wednesday vetoed the measure designed to address Utah families' concerns about a national set of education standards adopted in the state. His decision falls in line with previous urging from the State Board of Education, the Utah Parent Teacher Association and the parent committee itself.
The bill's critics warned the measure would have plucked the job from school districts, who already review curriculum and field families' concerns. Herbert says such complaints should go first to local school boards, which buy textbooks and choose other course materials.
State education board members on Friday echoed Herbert's message.
The measure would have assigned the duty to an existing parent committee tasked with reviewing a new set of standardized test questions going into Utah schools this spring.
BLM BUDGET-WILD HORSES
BLM budget focuses on wild horses, sage grouse
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Wild-horse fertility control and sage-grouse habitat conservation are among top priorities in the proposed $1.1 billion budget for the federal Bureau of Land Management.
President Barack Obama's request for the 2015 fiscal year calls for an increase of $2.8 million in funding for the agency's wild horse and burro program, and would allow it to continue studies to develop more effective contraceptive drugs and techniques.
The BLM has pledged to step up the use of fertility control as an alternative to controversial roundups of what it calls overpopulated mustang herds on U.S. rangelands in the West.
Agency officials say that if approved by Congress, the request would further the BLM's implementation of recommendations made by an independent panel of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013.
In a report highly critical of the BLM, the panel says the agency should invest in widespread fertility control of the mustangs instead of spending millions to house them.
It concluded the BLM's removal of nearly 100,000 horses from the Western range over the past decade is probably having the opposite effect of its intention to ease ecological damage and reduce overpopulated herds.
Records show the BLM treated about 1,000 mares in 2012 but only about half that last year, far short of the annual goal of 2,000 then-BLM Director Bob Abbey announced in 2011.
Anne Novak of California-based Protect Mustangs questioned the value of fertility control and called on Congress to embrace "holistic" land management by keeping mustangs on the range to rebuild soil and reverse desertification. She thinks the agency's horse roundups have caused the herds to have an increased birthrate.
JAZZ-WARRIORS
Curry, Thompson lead Warriors past Jazz 130-102
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Klay Thompson scored 33 points, Stephen Curry added 31 points and 16 assists, and the Golden State Warriors eased past the Utah Jazz 130-102 Sunday night to keep pace in the Western Conference playoff race.
The streaky shooting backcourt tandem helped the Warriors eclipse last season's win total and move 19 games over .500 for the first time in 20 years. Golden State remains 1½ games behind fifth-place Portland and 1½ games ahead of seventh-place Dallas in the crammed conference standings.
Trey Burke had 24 points and 15 assists, and Alec Burks added 24 points and five assists in the latest lopsided loss for the Jazz, who are in last place in the West.
The Warriors made a season-high 17 3-pointers on 33 attempts. They outshot Utah 57.8 percent to 45.3 percent from the floor.
Curry made his first four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points and six assists in the first quarter to give Golden State a 35-22 lead. After the Warriors went ahead 40-22 early in the second quarter, Utah took advantage of several misses and mistakes by Golden State's second unit to score 13 straight points.
Curry and Co. returned and restored order, ending the half with a 66-52 lead. Curry had 20 points and 11 assists at the break; Utah totaled 10 as a team during that span.
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