ProPublica looks at the troubled first month of Healthcare.gov.---

Top of the Alty World

“A Month in to Healthcare.gov, Real-Life Winners and Losers”--ProPublica

A drone operator suffering from PTSD and a Pakistani man whose mother was killed by a drone share their stories of trauma with a United Nations panel.--Rolling Stone

A Detroit financial manager has testified that bankruptcy in the troubled city was not actually necessary.--Metro Times

The Nation takes a look at the Obama administration's war on pot.--The Nation

Top of Alty Utah

A new group has launched to oppose the Count My Vote reform group.--Utah Political Capitol 

A moderate and a Libertarian are both vying for Salt Lake City Council District 7—KUER

Following layoffs and program cuts, new Utah Pride Center Board President John Netto promises change and transparency.--Q Salt Lake

"Natural" breast augmentation may be a new cosmetic trend in Utah, but it's not without side effects.--Salt Lake City Weekly

Candidates for Provo city Mayor and council square off in debate. [Video]--Provo Buzz

Rantosphere

Salt Lake City Weekly's Colin Wolf points out the obvious stupidity of Utahns donning black face for Halloween costumes.

"So, to the publicists, social-media directors and people who have yet to take a history class, by now you should know that blackface is the most efficient way to let others know you’re prone to ending conversations with “It’s OK, I have a black friend.” But more importantly, blackface, much like Klan hoods, is a symbol of a very unfortunate part of America’s past. Spawned from the pre-Civil War minstrel shows, these embarrassing spectacles basically portrayed how whites viewed blacks and revolved around white actors painting their faces black, speaking in a slow drawl and generally acting like half-human buffoons.”--Salt Lake City Weekly

The Long View

The Nation takes a look at death on the U.S.-Mexico border and its causes, including militias and minutemen.

"Most die of dehydration, hyperthermia or hypothermia, but over the years, migrants have testified to witnessing men wearing camouflage and driving civilian vehicles shooting and killing other migrants. Organized vigilantism started around 2000, when a group of ranchers in Cochise County, Arizona, began forming armed patrols of the border and issued a call for volunteers to join them. An anonymous flier was distributed among campgrounds in the Southwest, inviting outsiders to bring their RVs, scopes, guns, signal flares and halogen spotlights to have some “fun in the sun” by joining a “Neighborhood Ranch Watch.” The border became a magnet for white supremacists, Nazis, nativists and militia members, many of them from the diverse right-wing “patriot” groups that had gained strength in the United States throughout the 1990s, since the end of the Cold War."--The Nation