Archive for March, 2008

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As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears Record

Monday, March 31st, 2008

From The New York Times:

Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s.

The number of recipients, who must have near-poverty incomes to qualify for benefits averaging $100 a month per family member, has fluctuated over the years along with economic conditions, eligibility rules, enlistment drives and natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, which led to a spike in the South.

But recent rises in many states appear to be resulting mainly from the economic slowdown, officials and experts say, as well as inflation in prices of basic goods that leave more families feeling pinched. Citing expected growth in unemployment, the Congressional Budget Office this month projected a continued increase in the monthly number of recipients in the next fiscal year, starting Oct. 1 — to 28 million, up from 27.8 million in 2008, and 26.5 million in 2007. (cont.)

Entire article here

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Farmers Expected to Plant Less Corn

Monday, March 31st, 2008

From The Associated Press:

Less Corn in the Ground Could Translate Into Higher Grocery Bills

WASHINGTON (AP) — Farmers are expected to plant less corn this year, which could mean higher continuing higher costs for consumers at the grocery store.Corn prices have skyrocketed in recent years, helped by the burgeoning ethanol industry, which turns the crop into fuel, and rising worldwide demand for food. The higher prices have hurt poultry, beef and pork companies, who use corn to feed their animals.

Farmers are expected to plant 86 million acres of corn this year, the Department of Agriculture predicted Monday, down 8 percent from 2007, when the amount of corn planted was the highest since World War II. The decreased supply could drive corn prices even higher — a cost for food producers that could be passed on to consumers.  (cont.)

Entire article here

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LDS Youth Pitch in to improve open space in Lichfield, UK

Monday, March 31st, 2008

From BirminghamMail.net:

A PATCH of open space has been spruced up to make it more appealing for Lichfield residents and wildlife.

Leyfields, on Dimbles Hill and Curborough Road, has benefited from a series of improvements following a funding boost.

Last June, North Lichfield Initiative received £10,000 from the BBC’s Breathing Places scheme to go with Lichfield District Council’s Community Pride Prize of £1,900.

Following a consultation to find out what the community wanted from their open space, North Lichfield Initiative proposed a number of improvements .

These included smartening up the area and encour-aging more wildlife to the spot. Since then, a major group effort has got the project of the ground.

Work started on February 1 when The Forest of Mercia Education team planted 15 ash and silver birch trees along with bamboo and snowdrops which they had rescued from across the district.

February 4 saw local children and residents and representatives from Home-Zone, The Forest of Mercia, Lichfield City Council and Lichfield District Council take part in a huge litter pick of the Leyfields site.

On February 24, Staffordshire Wildlife Youth Rangers planted 200 hawthorn buses around the edge of the site, and helped North Lichfield Initiative with useful advice about how to create a wildflower area and sensory garden.

Lichfield Landscapes has also been working hard to create pathways to make the Leyfields more accessible.

Then, on March 8, 120 young people from the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints worked all day to spruce Leyfields up, carrying out general cleaning, painting fences and digging. (cont.)

Entire article here

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Fire Breaks Out In College Apartments In Orem, Several Students Rescued

Monday, March 31st, 2008

From KUTV.com:

Crews helped residents descend four stories down ladders during a fire that broke out at the College Terrace Apartments in Orem.

A fire broke out in a college student apartment complex located near the UVSC campus in Orem. Firefighters rescued several people from the highest level of the building.

Crews responded to the College Terrace Apartments at 629 west, 1200 south at approximately 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

Firefighters say the fire started due to a lit candle on the third floor.

Many students were at church at the time, but several people on the fourth floor, which is the complex’s top level, escaped the flames by descending four stories on ladders.

No one was injured.

About 60 people were relocated due to the fire, but firefighters say that the community and the local LDS singles ward have found shelter for all those who were affected by the damage.   (cont.)

Entire article here

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LDS girls told to avoid temptation

Monday, March 31st, 2008

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

Young women from all over Utah perform hymns Saturday at the annual Young Women’s Meeting in the LDS Conference Center. (Stephen Holt/The Salt Lake Tribune )

LDS Church leaders cautioned young Mormon girls Saturday to avoid the world’s temptations such as pornography, immodesty, premarital sex, tattoos, immorality, and drug abuse, while keeping the Sabbath holy, reading their scriptures and using the Holy Spirit as a guide.

“You young women can stand as a witness of God by nurturing a spirit of faith, love, peace, and testimony in your homes now,” said Susan W. Tanner, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Young Women’s organization, which includes all female members ages 12 to 18 worldwide. “[It will prepare] you to do the same when you establish your own future homes.”

Tanner was one of four speakers at the annual Young Women’s Meeting to more than 20,000 girls and their female leaders in the LDS Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City as well as hundreds of thousands more watching via satellite in their local Mormon chapels. This year’s theme was: “Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works.”

Tanner described some of the challenges her own children had faced: One would not participate in a cheer competition held on Sunday; others had refused to watch pornographic movies or view sexual graphic magazines, another refused to succumb to bad, crass, vulgar language in her work environment, and still another refused liquor that his friend had stolen out of his parents’ locked cabinet. (cont.)

Entire article here

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Redefining the Mormon Empire

Monday, March 31st, 2008

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

Brigham Young called it “Deseret.”

To writer Wallace Stegner it was “the Mormon Empire,” a vast swath of Great Basin territory from Mesa, Ariz., in the south to Boise in the north, and from Reno, Nev., in the west to Grand Junction, Colo. in the east whose residents looked to Salt Lake City for religious and political guidance.

The profile of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in America is still centered in the Mountain West, where more than three-quarters of U.S. Mormons live. Mitt Romney’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination demonstrated their influence in the region as Latter-day Saints boosted him to easy primary victories in Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming. But today, more Mormons are moving east and west, setting up enclaves on both coasts. Pockets of LDS strength have sprung up in places such as Alpine County, Calif.; Blaine County, Neb.; Conejos County, Colo.; and Liberty County, Fla.

Meanwhile, new studies of American religious demography show Utah and surrounding states are no longer the cohesive religious paradise Stegner described in his 1942 book, Mormon Country, with their cooperative economics and small-town feel.

The Intermountain West has become “the most urban area of the country,” says University of Utah historian Paul Reeve. The region’s 19th century agriculture-based economy has been replaced by a service economy that increasingly attracts job-seeking outsiders.

Outside influences have diluted Salt Lake City’s dominance of the region. While southeastern Idaho’s population continues to mirror Utah’s, Mormons in Arizona, Nevada and Southern California have developed their own political and social patterns. (cont.)

Entire article here

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Mormon academy is centerpiece of Mexican community

Friday, March 28th, 2008

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

Academia Juarez is a private secondary school in Colonia Juarez, Mexico. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints went on a flurry of school construction toward the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, but Academia Juarez is one of just three such academies built in that period still under church control. The other two schools are Brigham Young University and BYU-Idaho. (Nate Carlisle/The Salt Lake Tribune)

COLONIA JUÁREZ, Mexico — Little pieces of Utah exist in this northern Mexico town.

There are the turn-of-the-20th-century brick homes that stand out from the conventional Mexican adobe dwellings. There are the street signs and phone directories that bear such common Utah surnames as Snow, Nielsen, Farnsworth and Robinson. There are the town residents, born and raised here, with white skin who speak perfect English with no hint of a Mexican accent.

Stand on a street corner long enough and you might even see a car with Utah license plates. Casey Monsen’s blue Toyota has them.

“It’s like heaven on Earth down here,” Monsen said as he stood in his driveway. (cont.)

Entire article here

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President Monson’s daughter speaks

Friday, March 28th, 2008

From The Deseret Morning News:

BYU-Idaho University Communications

REXBURG, Idaho — Ann M. Dibb, a member of the Young Women General Board of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the daughter of President Thomas S. Monson, spoke to Brigham Young University-Idaho students in a Feb. 19 devotional address about the extraordinary characteristics her father exemplifies.

“I’d like to tell you a little about my father, the prophet,” she said. “He is a great man, and you might be interested in learning about him.”

Recalling her father’s years of military service, Sister Dibb spoke of how he stayed true to the commandments given him.

“He honored and used his priesthood,” she said. “He made the choice to keep the Lord’s commandments. Because he did so, he qualified for the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and he received the promised blessings.”

Sister Dibb described President Monson as a happy man of great faith who always prays.

“His prayers are prayers of gratitude for the many blessings we receive,” she said. “As the family has grown, my father and mother still pray for each family member in their daily prayers.”

She also testified of her father’s discipleship and talked about the “most powerful testimony” she’d ever heard from President Monson.  (cont.)

Entire article here

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BYU-Hawaii Basketball Player Peterson Shines as All-Star

Friday, March 28th, 2008

From BYU-Hawaii Men’s Basketball web site:

Laie, HI—Brigham Young University Hawaii’s Paul Peterson excelled in his last collegiate basketball game tonight in Springfield, Massachusetts. Playing for the West squad in the annual National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) East-West All-Star game, Peterson dished out a game-high ten assists and scored seven points in just 19 minutes of playing time as the East defeated the West 103-97.

Peterson shot 3-8 from the field and 1-2 from three-point range and grabbed two rebounds and three steals during his limited playing time. But he showed his skills at setting up his teammates by recording nearly half of the West’s 24 assists in the game. He also gave up just one turnover while handling and distributing the ball.

Entire article here

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Olympians, NFL Players Join Steve Young at Snowbird Saturday

Friday, March 28th, 2008

From Firsttracksonline.com:

Snowbird, UT - The 22nd Annual Steve Young Ski Classic brings an impressive group of NFL players and Olympians to Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort on Saturday to ski, snowboard and raise money for the Wasatch Adaptive Sports Program.

Former San Francisco 49er and NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young headlines a group of NFL players, Olympians and Paralympians who will be on hand skiing in a fun race against Wasatch Adaptive Sports participants. The race, which begins at 10 a.m., will be a dual giant slalom on Snowbird’s Gad Valley Race Hill. There is no fee to watch this event, accessed from Snowbird’s Entry 1 or 2.

Presented by the Forever Young Foundation and Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort, the Steve Young Ski Classic includes an evening fund-raiser at the Cliff Lodge beginning at 5:30 p.m. with a silent auction and reception. Dinner, awards and
the participant program begin at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a live auction. The live and silent auctions will include international vacations, ski packages and more.

NFL players Lee Johnson, Chad Lewis, Shawn Knight, Mark Bellini and Jim Herrmann are on tap to join Young for the event. The cast of Olympians and Paralympians includes Lincoln DeWitt, Tristan Gale, Muffy Davis, Monte Meier, Chris Waddell and many more. (cont.)

Entire article here

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Accused murderer’s sister blames crime on antidepressants

Friday, March 28th, 2008

From KSL.com:

Tamara Ragsdale

Family members of murder suspect David Ragsdale on Wednesday proclaimed they believe he is innocent of the murder of his estranged wife, Kristy. They believe he was under the influence of antidepressants, which clouded his judgment and led him to kill his wife.

Through his sister, David Ragsdale issued a public apology for killing his wife on January 6, saying, “Words cannot describe how incredibly sorry I am for the death of my wife Kristy.” But at the same time, he appears ready to fight the murder charges against him, claiming he was on numerous medications, including antidepressants, when he shot his wife.

David Ragsdale had split with his wife Kristy several weeks before she was gunned down while going to church. Now his older sister believes the medications and the nurse practitioner who prescribed them are to blame.

Tamara Ragsdale, David’s sister, said, “She was writing him different prescriptions. He was on Paxil, Doxopine, Ritalin, Provigil; two of those are speeds, two are antidepressants, and he was on two forms of testosterone. He was having severe, adverse reactions before the shooting, blacking out and that sort of activity.”

According to Tamara, David tried to see that nurse practitioner because of the side effects, but the shooting happened before his appointment. “Some of them he had been on for a year or so and others just a couple of months. And, ironically, Kristy is the one who was seeing this nurse practitioner first and pretty much pressured David into going in to this nurse practitioner and putting his faith and trust in her. This nurse practitioner also does marriage counseling,” Tamara said. (cont.)

Entire article here

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Rice Shortages Creating Fears of Unrest in Asia and Higher Prices Here

Friday, March 28th, 2008

From The New York Times:

HANOI — Rising prices and a growing fear of scarcity have prompted some of the world’s largest rice producers to announce drastic limits on the amount of rice they export.

The price of rice, a staple in the diets of nearly half the world’s population, has almost doubled on international markets in the last three months. That has pinched the budgets of millions of poor Asians and raised fears of civil unrest.

Shortages and high prices for all kinds of food have caused tensions and even violence around the world in recent months. Since January, thousands of troops have been deployed in Pakistan to guard trucks carrying wheat and flour. Protests have erupted in Indonesia over soybean shortages, and China has put price controls on cooking oil, grain, meat, milk and eggs.

Food riots have erupted in recent months in Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen. But the moves by rice-exporting nations over the last two days — meant to ensure scarce supplies will meet domestic needs — drove prices on the world market even higher this week.

This has fed the insecurity of rice-importing nations, already increasingly desperate to secure supplies. On Tuesday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines, afraid of increasing rice scarcity, ordered government investigators to track down hoarders.

The increase in rice prices internationally promised to put more pressure on prices in the United States, which imports more than 30 percent of the rice Americans consume, according to the United States Rice Producers Association. The price that consumers pay for rice has already increased more than 8 percent over the last year. (cont.)

Entire article here

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Mormon church will push for landmark status at massacre site

Friday, March 28th, 2008

From SignOnSanDiego.com:

SALT LAKE CITY – The Mormon church said Friday it will seek National Historic Landmark status for Mountain Meadows, the southern Utah site where 120 people were massacred on their way to California in 1857.

The disclosure came during a meeting of descendants and representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Carrollton, Ark.

“It just sort of guarantees that the site at Mountain Meadows … will be a sacred place,” Elder Marlin K. Jensen, church historian, said in a telephone interview from Arkansas.

In December, the Mountain Meadows Massacre Descendants, the Mountain Meadows Association and the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation had asked the church to pursue landmark status for the site, 35 miles northwest of St. George, Utah.

The announcement was a major shift after church leaders had rejected similar appeals in 1999 and 2007.

“This is a huge step forward,” Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation President Phil Bolinger said. (cont.)

Entire article here

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New Mormon Tabernacle Choir director has been called ‘one of our most important composers’

Friday, March 28th, 2008

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

New director Mack Wilberg, who joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as associate music director in May 1999, replaces Craig Jessop, who resigned earlier this month. (Tribune file photo)

Mack Wilberg has been named the new director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
He replaces Craig Jessop, who resigned earlier this month.

LDS Church officials made the announcement at a press conference this morning at the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

Wilberg, who grew up in rural Emery County, already had been acting director of the choir, an organization he joined as associate music director in May 1999, according to the choir’s Web site.

He is a Brigham Young University music professor and is active as a composer, arranger, guest conductor and clinician.

His compositions and arrangements are performed and recorded by choral organizations worldwide. In addition to the many compositions he has written for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, his works have most recently been performed by such artists as Renée Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, the King’s Singers, Audra McDonald, and narrators Walter Cronkite and Claire Bloom, the Web site said.

In a Salt Lake Tribune interview last spring previewing the premiere of Wilberg’s “Requiem,” Todd Waldman, U.S. music editor for Oxford University Press, called Wilberg “one of our most important composers.” (cont.)

Entire article here

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