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College targets LDS high school students, debate ensues

Billings Gazette - A recruitment letter sent by Northwest College President Paul Prestwich to students who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sparked controversy on campus. It also has led many to speak out about conflicts that students and teachers are having with the school’s top administrator. Earlier this month, Prestwich, an LDS church member, sent about 1,000 letters to LDS high school students touting the school’s benefits and “remarkable opportunities for LDS students.” First reported a week ago in the Northwest Trail campus newspaper, the letter was sent to a list of students provided by Fred Hopkin,...

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LDS 4-man bobsledder ready for Olympic Games

Deseret News - Chris Fogt was running track for Utah Valley University in Orem when a couple of men approached him and asked him a question that would take his well-planned life in a totally different direction. "After my race, some guys said, 'Hey you're pretty fast. Do you want to try pushing a bobsled?'" the American Fork High graduate recounts. "I didn't know anything at all about the sport." Which is why his parents were a little surprised he jumped at the chance to give it a try. "It was kind of out of the blue," said his mom, Janet Fogt. "He was...

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Utah liquor laws make national news

Business Week - Finding a cocktail in heavily Mormon Utah isn't likely to get any easier this year. Legislative leaders and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert's spokeswoman said Wednesday they remain opposed to lifting the cap on the number of establishments that can serve liquor, but that might not be the case next year. In Utah, the number of liquor licenses is tied to the state's population. As recently as Tuesday, some business owners who met all other state requirements were unable to get liquor licenses because of the quota system. They will have to wait until someone else goes out of business before they...

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Couple meets President Obama, gifts him 'Joseph Smith Papers'

Deseret News - Chase Walker and Helen Hovenier met President Barack Obama on Dec. 17, 2009. They brought the President a limited edition of "Journals: Volume 1" of the Joseph Smith Papers. Hovenier's father, Jeffrey Hovenier, works as director for Central and Eastern European affairs on the National Security Council, while Walker's father, Jeffrey Walker, works on the Joseph Smith Papers Project. ...

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Boston Globe: Concerns linger over planned Mormon chapel

The Boston Globe - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hopes to begin building a new house of worship in Brookline as soon as this summer to ease the strain of growing membership at the area’s Mormon meetinghouses. But some neighbors say the chapel, designed for two congregations, would overwhelm the 1.25-acre lot along Route 9 near Brookline Reservoir Park. "It’s like me trying to get into a men’s small shirt," said Gerry Oster, who lives next door in the Fisher Hill Estates. "It basically looks like a meetinghouse on steroids on that parcel." The church will need a special permit from Brookline’s...

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BYU fans respond (or don’t) to religious taunts from San Diego State

USA Today - Before Wednesday night's matchup between BYU and San Diego State in Provo, Utah, several BYU students had tried to call on fellow classmates to dress like missionaries while in attendance, according to a story written by the Deseret News' Jeff Call, via the Mormon Times. The plan was a retaliation of sorts stemming from BYU's trip to San Diego State on Jan. 23 when many SDSU fans dressed up in missionary clothing in an attempt to mock the Cougars' religious beliefs. ...

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Gold medalist Torah Bright example of faith, dedication

Deseret News - "So do you think Torah will be an inspiration for young girls who are interested in action sports?" Torah Bright waves from the podium after winning a gold medal in womens halfpipe.(Marcio Sanchez, AP) Marion Bright smiled at the man and then glanced at her daughter, Torah, who'd just won an Olympics gold medal in the women's half-pipe competition at Cypress Mountain. "You care about that," Marion said. "People are always saying, 'You must be proud of this' or 'You must be proud of that.' But we are more proud of the lovely person she is than the consummate athlete." Raising...

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Civility in politics

Newsweek - On Feb. 3, the day before the National Prayer Breakfast, Christian PR man Mark DeMoss had a 40-minute meeting with Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Barack Obama, and Joshua DuBois, the director of Obama's faith-based office. The subject of the meeting: civility. DeMoss was an unlikely visitor to the West Wing. The staunchest of conservative Republicans, his most famous client is Franklin Graham, who once quizzed Obama on the nature of his Christian faith. DeMoss worked for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in 2008, endeavoring to build bridges between the Mormon candidate and the conservative evangelicals who have traditionally formed such...

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'Because my Name is Lazarus, and I Live!'

Meridian Magazine - A friend told me of the news that a man had been found alive in the rubble in Haiti, after twenty-seven days buried. When he was asked how he survived without water he told them that a man in a white coat had brought him water. Whatever interpretation you wish to put on that, the message at the end is the same – the man lived, and was rescued. When I told another friend of mine about it, his immediate response was that the man must have something very important to do that God preserved him through such an ordeal. It...

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Elder Robert D. Hales: Preparing for adulthood

LDS Church News - Young Adults from across Cache Valley came to listen to Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak at the 67th annual Joseph Smith Memorial Fireside, held at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on the campus of Utah State University campus on Sunday, Feb. 20. The nearly 9,000 students in attendance heard Elder Hales teach them there are preparatory times in their lives that will make them ready for the challenges, tests and trials that are part of their earthly existence. "It would be well for each us to...