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UINTAH, Utah (AP) — VETERANS-HEALTH CARE-UTAH

UT vets, politicians split over VA resignation

(Information in the following story is from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah veterans and congressional representatives hold differing views over the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki (shin-SEHK'-ee) amid widespread troubles in the VA health care system.

Some veterans lamented Friday's resignation, but members of Utah's congressional delegation say he had to go to change the VA's culture.

Department of Utah Disabled American Veterans commander George Gutzmer tells the Deseret News he thinks VA problems are going to get worse, not better, with Shinseki's resignation.

Fellow Vietnam War veteran Terry Schow, who is former director of the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs, says the problems would have been solved faster had Shinseki stayed on.

But Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz says Shinseki should have been fired, and Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson calls Shinseki's resignation appropriate.

COLD CASE MURDER

Man pleads guilty to 1989 murder of Utah woman

(Information in the following story is from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man has pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 71-year-old woman in her South Salt Lake home 25 years ago.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Gary Hilfiker entered the plea in 3rd District Court on Friday, four weeks after he was charged with the cold-case 1989 murder of Flora Rundle.

The 56-year-old Hilfiker already is serving a life sentence at the Utah State Prison for the 1992 murder of his 38-year-old girlfriend, Marsha Haverty.

Hilfiker, a cabdriver who had given rides to Rundle several times, was charged with breaking into her home, stabbing her and taking a couple hundred dollars from her purse.

Investigators ran DNA evidence preserved from Rundle's death into a national database in January and came up with a match to Hilfiker.

WILDFIRE-PREVENTING MUDSLIDES

Mudslide risk reduced in wildfire-scarred area

(Information in the following story is from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com)

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Diana Witt expected the landscape surrounding her cabin in the mountains of northern Utah to be covered with gray ash and burnt trees.

Instead, she returned recently to find the land scorched by a wildfire last year was green, and she says the deer have come back.

Summit County Emergency Manager Kevin Callahan says that's the result of reseeding meant to prevent mudslides, about 10 miles outside the resort town of Park City. Without vegetation to hold the soil together, he says water and mud can be swept quickly across the land.

The Deseret News reports that the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources reseeded the mountainsides in October. Callahan says fencing also was installed.

The so-called Rockport Fire charred about 3 square miles before it was contained in August.

CASH ON HIGHWAY-MOTORCYCLIST

Biker's wallet lands on highway, scatters $1,300

(Information in the following story is from: Standard-Examiner, http://www.standard.net)

UINTAH, Utah (AP) — A motorcyclist's wallet popped out of his pack while he was riding on a Utah freeway and was run over by a semi-truck, scattering $1,300 in cash and other contents.

Weber County sheriff's Sgt. Lane Findlay says the Ogden man failed to properly zip the pack shut, and the wallet fell out of it and onto Interstate 84 near Uintah on Thursday afternoon.

He tells Ogden's Standard-Examiner the man didn't realize what happened until another motorcyclist caught up to him and told him something fell out of his pack.

The cash, credit cards and IDs were scattered across the freeway and a grassy field.

A sheriff's deputy stopped and helped the two recover most of the cash and other contents.

The man, whose name wasn't released, says he was on his way to the bank to deposit the cash.

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