Long-rumored layoffs at the Deseret News became a reality on Aug. 30, when CEO Clark Gilbert announced a “bold new direction “that included 43 percent of the staff fired, Editor Joe Cannon and Publisher Jim Wall voluntarily stepping down and the remaining staff moving to the Triad Center. They will partner with KSL-TV for breaking news, and “enterprise” reporters will fill the rest of the news hole. Although Gilbert assured the staff that the paper will continue printing seven days a week, it’s difficult to imagine a viable daily newspaper after the paper fires half its staff. (Editor’s Note: Josh Loftin worked at the Deseret News for 10 years before coming to City Weekly).
After getting a firsthand taste of an arrogant justice court judge, Sheri Waln of Providence in Cache County told her story to the ultimate jury: the public. In an August 29 letter published in the Logan Herald Journal, Waln recounted her run-in with Smithfield Justice Court Judge Terry Moore that almost resulted in a contempt of court charge. Her crime? After her friend was jailed for failing to appear in court—three days after her friend had been in Moore’s court—Waln looked up Moore’s phone number in the phone book and called him at home to ask if there was anything he could do to help her friend. He allegedly told her to post bail, which would be refunded if her friend returned to court. However, when they appeared in court a few days later, the bail was not refunded and Waln was lectured, in court, by Moore for daring to call him at home. In her letter, she closes by saying she hopes that “something will be done about the mistreatment of American citizen.”
After a resident uprising stopped a new Walmart store at the mouth of Parley’s Canyon last year, the retail giant has returned, proposing a so-called “smaller, greener” store for the currently empty lot that previously housed a Kmart. Residents and city leaders, however, aren’t buying it. City Councilman Soren Simonsen told the Deseret News that “the proposals we’re getting are inconsistent with the message they’re putting out.”
Josh
Loftin:
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