In my experience, doing the right thing rarely equates to the easy thing. Invariably, the right thing is the hard thing. With regard to the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump, the easy thing would be to simply acquiesce to the president’s and Senate Leader McConnell’s desire for a cursory review and quick acquittal vote.

But that’s not the right thing. Whether or not what the president did rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors, our elected senators owe it to the Constitution and the oath they swore to conduct a thorough and honest review of the facts and then to render an impartial judgment — no matter where that judgment falls.

Let’s hope we have at least some Republican senators who have the ethics and the spine to do the right thing, even though it clearly will be the hard thing.

James Jorgenson, Sandy

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Tyler Keith Wilson has danced in many ballroom competitions at Brigham Young University through the years, gliding with his partner over the glossy floors while she turned in a dress that looked like cotton candy.

The decorated dancer, a Utah native, will be there again this year, too, when the school hosts the nation’s top amateur ballroom championship. Except this time — for the first time at the Provo campus — Wilson will be dancing with another man.

The event will be historic for the conservative college, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To host the coveted showcase, which it has every year since at least 1997, BYU was required to lift its ban keeping same-sex couples from competing this spring.

Now, the thousands of collegiate and studio dancers from across the country who come to show their skills will be able to dance with whomever they choose.

For the private school, that was a major concession. The change goes against its strict Honor Code forbidding gay relationships, as well as “all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings.” Even in its own classes, BYU — one of the most renowned schools in the country for ballroom dance — doesn’t allow two men to dance together for practice.

But for Wilson, it represents a chance to finally be himself and choose his partner.

“This is everything,” he said. “For years, I haven’t danced how I’ve wanted to, with who I’ve wanted to. This is an event that will open people’s minds and change people’s concept of what dance looks like.”

It’s something he never thought would happen. Wilson had applied to BYU about 10 years ago, after receiving a scholarship to perform ballroom dance there. But during the required interview beforehand with a church leader, he said, he was told he couldn’t attend because he’s gay — even though he didn’t act on it, in accordance with the faith’s guidelines, and still danced only with female partners.

After that, he left the church and moved to New York to practice ballroom professionally. Now 27, Wilson is excited to return and make history where he was once rejected. Dancing with a man, he said, has just always felt more natural to him.

“And that’s what dance is about at the end of the day — it’s an expression of yourself and life.”

Fighting for inclusion

Ballroom dance has long been about tradition and rules, though. It began among the upper class in the 16th century, and it hasn’t shed much of its aristocratic origins. The community has clung especially tight to rigid gender roles.

“It’s all about the man and the lady,” Wilson said. “He leads and she follows. He wears a tail suit with a white bow tie and she’s in a ballgown.”

While some smaller dance groups have embraced different partnerships, the two largest ballroom organizations in the country have resisted any change — until last year.

Under the threat of a lawsuit and amid growing public pressure, the National Dance Council of America revised its policy in September so that “same-sex/gender neutral couples will be able to compete with opposite-sex couples in all dance genres included in championships, competitions and events sanctioned by the NDCA.” USA Dance, the other large organization, followed suit shortly after.

And this is where BYU comes in. The Utah school annually hosts the U.S. National Amateur Dancesport Championships, which is sanctioned by the NDCA and crowns the best competitors in the country in Latin, cabaret and rhythm dancing. To hold the March 2020 event, the school would have to abide by the new rules.

It decided not to.

In November — when registration was set to begin — BYU’s ballroom program made a surprise announcement on its competition website that it would forgo having the council officially sanction the event and would host it, instead, as simply “an all-amateur event” for collegiate and studio competitors. That way, it could create its own policies.

With no exceptions, BYU said, “A couple in the traditional Ballroom Dance genre is defined as a male and a female, with the male dancing the part of the lead and the female dancing the part of the follow.”

Crystal Song, a Ph.D. student in performance studies at the University of California, Berkeley, who researches ballroom dance, said that kicked off a monthslong fight over the rules. Many dancers posted online that they were disappointed by the decision. Others threatened to drop out if the NDCA rules weren’t observed.

“The school and the council have been couching all of this in this language of sanctions and regulations," Song said. "It was really, though, about homophobia and how long that has been a large part of the ballroom community.”

Song danced with another woman when she competed as an undergraduate in New York. But, she said, BYU has long been the model and “really definitive for standards in ballroom” across the country.

On the school’s website, it boasts about having “exposed the entire ballroom world to the influence and standards of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

The college has stricter “modesty” rules for costumes and requires women to have 1-inch straps on their dresses — which many competitors have to have specially made for showcases there.

Lee Wakefield was previously the artistic director for BYU’s ballroom team before he retired in 2014; and he still holds his position as ballroom director for the NDCA. When asked by The Salt Lake Tribune for comment this week, he declined and referred questions back to the college.

The NDCA’s president, first vice president and second vice president all did not return calls either, nor did the dance department chair at BYU.

A quiet change

By the end of November, the NDCA was fielding emails from dancers furious about BYU disregarding the rules and still getting to host the event. Several had written publicly about the school, including one anonymous dancer who said the school officials were living in the “dark corners of their fears.”

In a letter posted online, Wakefield said BYU was not required to follow the new NDCA rule allowing gender-neutral partnerships. The council turned off comments on the post.

Then, early this month, Katerina Lu and her dancing partner and husband of 19 years, Xingmin Lu, announced they would sit out the competition. The two are U.S. senior champions and have competed at BYU many times, winning multiple national titles.

Katerina Lu wrote on Facebook that even though she is not gay and dances in a traditional partnership, she believed BYU was discriminating against same-sex couples by not letting them perform. Any title awarded, then, would mean nothing to her if she wasn’t competing against all dancers and the best in the field.

“If you don’t let everybody who has the right to dance, then you’re not truly a national championship,” she told The Tribune this week. “You should be able to dance no matter your background, color or sexual orientation.”

A few days later, in a one-sentence statement posted on its site, the NDCA announced that the decision had been reversed: The event would be officially sanctioned and BYU would abide by the rules.

It’s unclear what changed. The school’s spokeswoman, Carri Jenkins, responded to an email and noted only that, “in consultation with the leadership of the National Dance Council of America, it was determined that the magnitude of the competition at BYU warranted a full sanction, which requires adherence to all NDCA rules and regulations.”

Now, for the first time ever, the school will allow two men or two women to dance together on its floors.

The rule will apply to the competition, overall, and those coming in from out of state, but BYU’s own standards haven’t changed. Students who attend classes there will still not be able to dance in same-sex partnerships.

‘Good dancing is good dancing’

To him, Wilson said, it was clear the decision was first made because of the faith’s policies on gay relationships. The LDS Church teaches that same-sex attraction is not a sin but that acting on it is.

“They were making it about religion," he said, “instead of dance.”

Many see the school’s decision as a positive sign, though, including Chicago duo Alex Tecza and Kato Lindholm. They started as a traditional couple and then moved to same-sex dancing after Lindholm, who is transgender, transitioned. As professionals, they won’t qualify for BYU’s amateur competition, but they welcome the change.

“We have been advocating for same-sex inclusion in ballroom dancing for some time,” Tecza said. “It seems like there is a sense of fairness and justice going on around in waves around the dance world.”

Lindholm added: “From our standpoint, we think technique is technique and good dancing is good dancing, regardless of the couple.”

Some have questioned whether having two men compete together is unfair in a sport that merits strength and form. In ballroom, a man is the lead, wearing a tuxedo and no embellishment while a woman follows his directions in a gown and exaggerated makeup. It’s at least partly about machismo and submission to it.

Song, the Ph.D. researcher, said some of that is changing as ballroom welcomes same-sex partners interested in challenging and re-creating the norms.

“It’s definitely an important step,” she said. “Even as more queer people become part of the ballroom space, a lot of it is still defined by that old image. And that’s been hard for people to let go of. I hope it’s part of a bigger conversation in the ballroom community.”

It’s already happening on a worldwide stage.

Jakob Fauerby and Silas Holst made history in winning a TV dance competition in Denmark similar to “Dancing With the Stars.” An Italian couple were in the finals of their country’s televised show, too. And there’s a same-sex ice skating couple on “Dancing on Ice.”

“It also helps to break down some of the really difficult stereotypes — not just in dance, but in society,” said Mark Hakes, who dances with his male partner, Elijah Jensen, in Minnesota.

The two have been doing ballroom together for three years and also applaud BYU for allowing same-sex couples. “It’s fantastic," Hakes added. “It means my partner and I can dance together.”

Hakes and others believe it doesn’t have to be the exception to see same-sex couples flow across the floor together. Benjamin Soencksen, the president of the North American Same-Sex Partner Dance Association, said it’s not about aesthetic but reinventing who and when dance can be flowery or active or bold or even switch in the middle of a routine.

“It doesn’t come as a surprise that the organizers in Utah grappled with this and ultimately relented,” Soencksen suggested.

For Wilson, he’s never felt comfortable being in the lead position and enjoys being more feminine in his movements. He found a male dance partner in December and is learning now how to follow.

“Not everyone falls into those two boxes,” he said. “To be able to show myself for who I am is just going to be so liberating. I don’t have to be too girly. I can just be Tyler.”

It feels like “full circle,” he noted, for him to return to BYU now, being able to show who he is and dance how he wants. For years, he’s been putting the pain he experienced being rejected by the school and struggling with being gay into his choreography.

“It’s going to be a big shock for the people who are used to seeing classic ballroom,” he added. “I’m excited to see their reactions.”

At the school’s competition in March, there will be 3,000 couples competing. Wilson plans to be there in a tuxedo, standing across from his partner in another tuxedo.

They don’t believe women have a lower status than men in Utah. But they want to see more women become leaders in government and business. And they want the state to close its gender wage gap.

These are the views of women who identified as active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a statewide poll on women’s issues.

In early November, The Salt Lake Tribune and Suffolk University surveyed 400 women, age 18 and older, over cellphones and landlines across Utah through a grant from the Facebook Journalism Project and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. It included 143 women who identified as very active Latter-day Saints, 40 somewhat active and 36 not active.

Very active Latter-day Saints were less likely to say they believed that women in Utah had an overall lower status than men. According to the poll, 26% of very active members said women definitely or probably had a lower status, compared with 48% of somewhat active and 78% of not active.

The fact that only a quarter of very active members see a lower status for women is “striking,” said Susan Madsen, founder and director of the Utah Women and Leadership Project at Utah Valley University.

“But it is the teaching [of the church] that men and women ... are equal," said Madsen, a Latter-day Saint. “They just have different roles.”

That status question is “complicated” for Christine Clark, who grew up very active in the church in Utah. She sang in the Tabernacle Choir and her father was the late Elder Malcolm S. Jeppsen, who served in the faith’s Second Quorum of the Seventy from 1989 to 1994.

Clark’s husband worked while she stayed home with their children in the 1970s in Illinois. Clark protested there against the Equal Rights Amendment to protect traditional family values, she said.

Decades later, at 67, she is no longer a Latter-day Saint because of her concerns about women’s and LGBTQ issues, she said. Now living in North Salt Lake, Clark has helped efforts to ratify the ERA in Utah. She was at a rally in December at the state Capitol in support of Rep. Karen Kwan’s resolution that would do that.

What changed Clark’s mind about the ERA, she said, was becoming more aware of other women’s experiences. The breadwinner/homemaker model is great when it works for families, she said, but when it doesn’t, women need support. That’s why Clark and a nonprofit she co-founded, Fair Utah, are focusing on women, such as displaced homemakers, who are reentering or entering the workforce for the first time.

“We’re excited to help with these needs that aren’t being addressed," Clark said.

In the poll, very active Latter-day Saint women identified domestic violence and sexual assault as the biggest challenge for women, at 24% Nearly equal percentages cited cultural expectations about gender roles (22%) and low wages (21%).

About 8% chose low access to child care.

But 7% said the biggest hurdle was not included in the survey’s list of major issues, with another 19% undecided or refusing to answer the question. “That’s very high,” said Jana Riess, senior columnist for Religion News Service.

“What it suggests is that some people don’t want to acknowledge that there are any challenges for women in Utah at all. And when faced with a multiple choice question in which some possibilities were offered," Riess said, “it seems as though more than a quarter of very active respondents didn’t quite know what to do with that.”

(Riess clarified that she was cautious about drawing conclusions in her reactions to the poll, though, due to the small Latter-day Saint sample size.)

Somewhat active Latter-day Saint women chose low wages as the biggest challenge (40%), followed by domestic violence and sexual assault (28%). Inactive Latter-day Saints also chose low wages as the top challenge (39%), followed by cultural expectations about gender roles (33%).

An overwhelming number of all Latter-day Saints said they would like to see more women in leadership positions in government and business in Utah. The poll shows 81% of very active, 75% of somewhat active and 86% of inactive members wanted more women leaders in government, with the same or even higher percentages wanting more female leaders in business.

The question is whether these women see themselves filling these roles, Madsen said. “They’re saying we need more women in government. But then they need to say, ‘But it can be me.'”

Most Latter-day Saint women said they thought Utah leaders — in business and government — should take action to close Utah’s gender wage gap. About 70% or more, no matter their activity level, thought government leaders should definitely or probably take action, with slightly higher support for business leaders taking on the task.

Margaret Olsen, editor-in-chief of Exponent II, a magazine for Latter-day Saint women, said, “I was just really pleased to see the sort of across-the-board support for increased women in government, business leadership, closing the pay gap, all stuff that probably a lot of those women who wouldn’t identify as feminists are saying they support."

Most Latter-day Saint women said they had reached, or were reaching, their education goals, including 80% of very active, 73% of somewhat active and 81% of not active. And they overwhelmingly said their support networks, such as family, friends and faith, were supportive of their aspirations for higher education and a career.

Olsen said she found it interesting that very active Latter-day Saint women said they had the highest support for their career aspirations, with 93% feeling strongly or somewhat supported.

“That’s not what I would expect to see, given my own experience as a high schooler in Utah. I would think that [in] the more devout families, you would see less support. So, I’m guessing that that may be a difference in the definition of what support means and what career means, rather than that very active women actually did receive more support from their families."

Becky Poulter, 55, of Woodland Hills, said, “People in my life have looked at more what makes sense, what a person’s aptitude is for their job, as opposed to whether they’re a man or a woman."

Poulter grew up in a family of four girls and two boys, and said her dad “really encouraged education. He encouraged us to go to college. He encouraged us to move out and live away from home.” In high school, one of Poulter’s teachers noticed her aptitude for math, and he encouraged her to pursue it. She studied finance in college and then worked for a development consultant, who “gave me every opportunity." And her husband has been one of her biggest supporters, she said.

As a stake Relief Society president overseeing women in several Latter-day Saint congregations, Poulter and others helped evacuees during a wildfire in 2018 in their area. “There was a point during that time when I was a little frustrated with communication, and I felt like the Relief Society, the women, were not being utilized as well as we could be," she said. Poulter called the stake president, and he “immediately made a change and moved me into a communication chain.”

“That’s been his attitude," Poulter said. “We feel really valued.”

Clark said her husband has been very supportive of her pursuit of higher education. In 2016, Clark earned a doctorate from Utah State University in family and human development, with a focus “on living a more healthy lifestyle in an Alzheimer’s prevention context.”

According to the poll, most Latter-day Saint women have worked for pay outside the home in the past 10 years, including 68% very active, 70% somewhat active and 94% not active members.

Somewhat active (46%) and not active (68%) women were more likely to have worked full time, while very active worked both part time and full time (46%).

The women were split about whether they believed they had ever been paid less than a man who was doing the same job. Of very active women, 44% said they definitely or probably had, while 43% said they had definitely not or probably not.

“If you have only a quarter of very active LDS women saying that they believe that women in Utah have a lower status than men, but then nearly half saying that they themselves have personally been paid less than a man who is doing the same job, that’s a discrepancy," Riess said. “And that’s very interesting.”

Becky Jacobs is a Report for America corps member and writes about the status of women in Utah for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today.

As the Senate begins arguments in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, about half of Americans (51%) say he should be removed him from office, according to a new CNN poll. Also, nearly seven in 10 (69%) say the trial should allow testimony from new witnesses who did not testify in the House inquiry. [CNN]

Happy Tuesday!

Topping the news: Tribune Washington correspondent Thomas Burr offers a guide to the Senate trial of Trump — and says that for a somber and historic moment, it’s going to be wild. [Trib]

-> Special interest groups supplied 93.5% of the money raised by Utah legislators last year, raising questions about what they receive for their spending. [Trib]

-> After a blunder included outdated commentary on race in a new LDS study manual, a church apostle tells the NAACP on Martin Luther King Day that the church condemns all racism past and present “and we disavow any theory that advances that black skin or dark skin is the sign of a curse.” [Trib] [DNews]

Tweets of the day: From @ChaseThomas89: “Any other Utah voters feel slightly (or very) offended that lawmakers assume that when we don’t agree with their actions, we “just don’t understand what’s in the bill?” #utpol #UtahEO

-> From @tomtomorrow: “So far I’m gonna say the Comic Con cosplayers are *way* more creative than these bozos in Virginia.”

-> From @CornelWest: “At one point, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was called the most dangerous man in America. Today we celebrate his life.”

Happy Birthday to former state Rep. Patrick Painter and James Seaman.

In other news: Sen. Mitt Romney said Monday that he is keeping an “open mind” ahead of President Trump’s impeachment trial but any decision on allowing witnesses should wait until mid-trial. [TheHill]

-> Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee anticipates President Donald Trump’s legal team will “pull no punches” defending the president in the impeachment trial. [DNews]

-> In a Utah visit Saturday, Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg said he may be the one who can turn Utah blue for the first time in more than 50 years. [Trib]

-> Utah women’s views differ widely by their age on topics such as their status compared to men and the biggest challenges they face, according to a Tribune poll. [Trib]

-> Proposed cannabis legislation will contain an expungement provision for patients prosecuted in the past for possessing the substance to treat their ailments. [Trib]

-> The Independent American Party — now the third largest party in the state — is growing rapidly, but it is unclear what is driving that. [Trib]

-> The National Park Service withdrew a nomination for 199 sites in Moab for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. [Trib]

-> Hillary Clinton is excited for an upcoming visit to the Sundance Film Festival to help promote a four-part documentary series titled “Hillary,” and she will take questions from audiences. [Trib]

-> The Utah Division of Motor Vehicles is facing more criticism after another vanity license plate with the word ‘FUHRER’ surfaced, even though residents complained about the plate in July 2019. [Trib]

-> The Utah Transit Authority declined to release an audit of its procedures on collecting fares, ordered after two employees were arrested for stealing more than $500,000 in fare money. [Trib]

-> Salt Lake City’s Catholic Diocese opposes a bill that would require clergy to report child sex abuse confessions to authorities. [Trib]

-> Hundreds marched to the Utah Capitol on Saturday to support women’s rights, and in remembrance of missing and murdered women.. [Trib]

-> What’s next for Hobbitville? Plans show 60 new units possibly coming to Sugar House. [Trib]

-> Amid worker shortages, skilled trade workers now make an average of $20 an hour in the Salt Lake metro area. [Trib]

-> Pat Bagley has a bone to pick with the Trump Administration’s decision to roll back Michelle Obama’s nutrition guidelines. [Trib]

-> Columnist Robert Gehrke says Utah is afraid to take risks to promote safe sex. [Trib]

Nationally: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell submitted a four-page resolution outlining plans for a speedy impeachment trial for President Donald Trump. [APviaTrib] [NYT]

-> The White House announced Monday that President Trump appointed several prominent Republican House members to advise his impeachment defense team ahead of the Senate trial. [TheHill]

-> Several Democratic presidential candidates marched together through the streets of South Carolina to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [NYT]

-> Conservative states seeking money for disaster relief balk at using the words climate change. [NYT]

-> With a strong police presence, thousands of pro-gun activists rallied in Richmond, Va. to protest proposed gun control. [NYT]

-> President Trump has made 16,241 false or misleading claims during his three years in office, according to The Washington Post’s Fact Checker. And they now are coming at a faster clip. [WaPost]

Got a tip? A birthday, wedding or anniversary to announce? Email us at cornflakes@sltrib.com. If you haven’t already, sign up here for our weekday email to get this sent directly to your inbox.

-- Lee Davidson and McKhelyn Jones

Davos, Switzerland • President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s led a “spectacular” turnaround of the U.S. economy and urged the world to invest in America, but had less to say about climate change issues that are a focus of this year’s gathering of top business and political leaders in the Swiss Alps.

Trump kept to his speech script and did not mention the historic impeachment trial that was set to reconvene in the U.S. Senate in Washington later Tuesday. But he couldn't resist when asked about the trial by the hordes of reporters covering the World Economic Form in Davos.

"It's disgraceful," Trump said of the proceeding.

Trump's two-day visit is a test of his ability to balance his anger over being impeached with a desire to project leadership on the world stage.

Trump reminded the audience that when he spoke here in 2018 "I told you that we had launched the great American comeback."

"Today I'm proud to declare the United States is in the midst of an economic boom, the likes of which the world has never seen before," the president said.

American economist Kenneth Rogoff took issue with Trump's comments, saying some of Trump's claims about the strength of the U.S. economy are true. But Rogoff noted that the economy wasn't doing badly when Trump took office. "It's been a good 10 years and his three years probably better than expected," Rogoff said, adding that he thought Trump was careful to keep his comments about climate change to a minimum to avoid getting booed.

Climate issues are a main theme at the forum and the phrase "Act on Climate" was written in the snow at the landing zone where Trump's Marine One helicopter set down in Davos.

Late last year, the Trump administration began pulling the U.S. out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement under which nearly 200 nations set goals to curb emissions of heat-trapping gasses that lead to climate change. Trump has called the Paris accord an unfair economic burden to the U.S. economy.

Trump's speech was met with virtual silence by the audience, apart from a brief flurry of applause when Trump said the U.S. would join a World Economic Forum initiative to plant 1 trillion trees worldwide.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has been criticized by Trump, said world and business leaders aren't taking the threat of global warming seriously.

"Planting trees is good of course but it's nowhere near enough," Thunberg said.

Trump's participation at the forum provided another conspicuous split-screen moment in his presidency. Before entering the hall to deliver his speech, Trump called the trial "disgraceful" and part of "the witch hunt that's been going on for years."

Asked whether Trump would tune in to the impeachment trial, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in an email that Trump has a "full day" in Davos "but will be briefed by staff periodically."

Trump spent nearly all of his approximately 30-minute speech describing U.S. economic gains under his leadership.

"America is thriving. America is flourishing and yes, America is winning again like never before," Trump said before talking about a newly signed trade deal with China and a pending U.S. trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. He also spoke of record low unemployment, stock market gains and millions of people removed from the welfare rolls.

Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz criticized Trump for failing to address the climate emergency beyond a commitment that the U.S. will join the trillion trees initiative.

"He managed to say absolutely zero on climate change," Stiglitz said. "Meanwhile we're going to roast."

Trump's appearance at the forum ends Wednesday when he travels back to a Washington that's consumed by the impeachment trial.

The Democratic-controlled House impeached the Republican president last month for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after it was revealed that he had pressed Ukraine's president to announce investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat and a Trump political rival. Trump withheld foreign aid that Congress had approved for the Eastern European nation and dangled the prospect of an Oval Office meeting as leverage.

Trump denies any wrongdoing and argues that Democrats want to remove him from office because they know they can't deny him reelection in November. Trump would be forced to leave office if convicted, but the Republican-controlled Senate is expected to acquit him.

Trump met Tuesday with the forum's founder and the new European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the first woman to hold the position. Trump zeroed in their first meeting on her reputation as a tough negotiator, saying that was "bad news for us."

"Trade right now and a deal between ourselves and essentially Europe is something that we all want to be able to make," Trump said.

Trump also was meeting Tuesday with the leaders of Switzerland and Pakistan.

Associated press writers Jamey Keaten and Pans Pylas in Davos contributed to this report.

Jerusalem • Shortly before they were rounded up by Nazi troops in Belgium and deported to Auschwitz in 1942, the parents of three-year-old Maurice Gluck placed their only child in the care of a local Christian family. Gluck forgot his Yiddish mother tongue and that he even had parents of his own.

After the war, his devastated father came to claim him and several months later he was introduced to a weeping woman who showered him with hugs and kisses.

"My father said: 'Look Maurice, this is your mother, Helen,'" he recalled.

Only years later, did Gluck discover that his birth mother had actually perished along with more than a million other Jews in the Auschwitz death camp. Helen was in fact his aunt.

"She discovered that her sister had died so she looked for ways to find me immediately," Gluck explained, choking back tears. "She was my only mother and will always be my mother."

Seventy-five years after Auschwitz was liberated, Gluck is one of 75 Holocaust survivors featured in a commemorative photo project that Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial produced along with award-winning German portrait photographer Martin Schoeller.

The exhibition, opening Tuesday before German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Ruhr Museum in Essen, is just one of the various events marking the anniversary and commemorating its victims as the notorious camp's few and aging survivors slowly disappear. Yad Vashem is also unveiling its online iRemember Wall, a six-language interactive platform linking users to the memorial's vast database of victims.

The main ceremony will be the World Holocaust Forum on Thursday, in which dozens of world leaders will arrive in Jerusalem for the largest-ever gathering focused on commemorating the genocide and combating modern-day anti-Semitism. Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, Britain's Prince Charles and the presidents of Germany, Italy and Austria are among the more than 40 dignitaries who will be attending the event.

It comes amid a global spike in violence against Jews and in a climate in which a survey showed that 80% of European Jews said they felt unsafe in the continent. Tel Aviv University researchers reported last year that violent attacks against Jews grew significantly in 2018, with the largest reported number of Jews killed in anti-Semitic acts in decades. They recorded 400 cases, with the spike most dramatic in western Europe. In Germany, for instance, there was a 70% increase in anti-Semitic violence. In addition to the shooting attacks, assaults and vandalism, the research also noted increased anti-Semitic vitriol online and in newspapers, as extremist political parties grew in power in several countries.

"I grew up with this incredible sense of guilt and shock, which led me to question my own identity. How could people from my country commit these horrendous crimes?" said Schoeller, explaining the impetus for the photo project. "It is very scary to see what is happening in Europe right now, that anti-Semitism has come back so strongly."

Schoeller, a former assistant to Annie Leibovitz who is also renowned for his 'hyper-detailed close ups' of celebrities, took a series of intimate portraits of the 75 survivors that highlighted their weathered faces. Among those he bonded with during the photo shoots was Gluck, today an 80-year-old retired diamond merchant who lives in northern Israel.

Gluck's own life story is directly connected to Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi death camp whose very name has become almost synonymous with the Holocaust.

His parents were captured and sent there shortly after the Van den Stock family of Brussels took him in and sheltered him for three years. They were later recognized by Israel for their actions as Righteous Among the Nations, the country's highest honor for non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews. Their descendants maintain a relationship to this day with Gluck and his children.

Gluck's father, Eugene, survived a series of camps and the notorious "Death March" out of Auschwitz in its waning days. His wife Sara died there in 1943, among more than 1.1 million Jews who were killed in Auschwitz and the adjacent Birkenau death camp in gas chambers or from starvation, disease and forced labor in the meticulous Nazi effort to rid Europe of its Jews. Overall, the Holocaust claimed 6 million Jewish lives, wiping out a third of world Jewry.

When Sara's sister Helen also emerged from the camp, she was determined to track down her nephew and raise him as her own. She eventually married Gluck's father, moved with him to Israel and they had two other children together. Only at Gluck's bar mitzvah, when according to Jewish tradition he became a man, did she tell him the truth.

"I ran away and cried all night," recalled Gluck, now a grandfather of 10. "But in the morning, I went back to her and told her that it didn't matter. She would always be my mother."

Despite the early life trauma, Gluck said he considers himself among the lucky ones since he was raised with love.

“Do not forget but try to forgive,” he said of his lessons from the Holocaust. “In this world there are good people and bad people. Try to find the good ones.”

A man has been stabbed to death in what West Jordan police are calling a homicide.

According to Sgt. J.C. Holt, there was “an altercation between two men” outside a home near 9250 South and 3825 West between 4-5 a.m. on Tuesday morning and “one of the men was stabbed.”

The victim — Adam D. Cross, 27 — “was transported to a local hospital by a family member,” Holt said, “and he passed away from his wound.”

No arrests have been made. “We have some leads and we’re following up on information we’ve received,” Holt said.

Our detectives are on scene of a homicide at approx 9200 s 3825 w. PIO on scene, media staging are is at 9335 s 3825 west. One male deceased from a knife wound.

— West Jordan Police Dept. (@WJPD_PIO) January 21, 2020

This story will be updated.

Washington • The U.S. Senate plunged into President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Tuesday with Republicans abruptly abandoning plans to cram opening arguments into two late-night sessions and Democrats arguing for more witnesses to expose Trump’s “trifecta” of offenses.

The turn of events was a setback for Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and the president's legal team, exposing a crack in the GOP ranks and the growing political unease over the historic impeachment proceedings unfolding amid a watchful public in an election year.

Chief Justice John Roberts gaveled open the session, with House prosecutors on one side, Trump's team on the other, in the well of the Senate, as senators sat silently at their desks, under oath to do “impartial justice.” No cellphones or other electronics were allowed.

Opening day stretched deep into the night. Senators remained as the clock passed 9:30 p.m., while Democrats pursued what may be their only chance to force senators to vote on hearing new testimony.

However, Republicans turned back Democratic amendments to subpoena documents from the White House, State Department and budget office, with more votes expected rejecting key witnesses with a front-row seat to Trump’s actions. By the same 53-47 party-line vote, senators turned aside the Democrats request to subpoena acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

[Read more: The Tribune’s Washington correspondent’s observations from the first day of the impeachment trial]

McConnell stunned senators and delayed the start of proceedings with his decision to back off some of his proposed rules. Republicans were said to be concerned over the political optics of “dark of night” sessions.

Instead, 24 hours of opening arguments for each side will be spread over three days, for a moment swelling Democrats' momentum as they push to break the standoff over calling new witnesses.

As the visitors' gallery filled with guests, actress-and-activist Alyssa Milano among them, and Trump’s most ardent House allies lining the back rows, the day quickly took on the cadence of a trial proceeding over whether the president's actions toward Ukraine warranted removal from office.

“It’s time to start with this trial,” said White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, the president's lead lawyer, voicing impatience as the proceedings opened in public after weeks of delay.

Cipollone scoffed that the House charges against Trump were “ridiculous,” insisting the president “has done absolutely nothing wrong.”

The White House legal team did not dispute Trump's actions, when he called Ukraine and asked for a “favor,” which was to investigate Democrat Joe Biden as the U.S. was withholding military aid the ally desperately needed as it faced off with hostile Russia on its border. But the lawyers insisted the president did nothing wrong. “Absolutely no case,” Cipollone said.

Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, opened for the prosecution saying America's Founders added the remedy of impeachment in the Constitution with “precisely this type of conduct in mind — conduct that abuses the power of office for a personal benefit, that undermines our national security, and that invites foreign interference in the democratic process of an election."

Said Schiff: "It is the trifecta of constitutional misconduct justifying impeachment.''

The other lead lawyer on Trump's team, Jay Sekulow, retorted, “I'll give you a trifecta,” outlining complaints over the House Democrats' impeachment inquiry process.

The impeachment trial, unfolding in an election year, is testing whether Trump's actions toward Ukraine warrant removal at the same time that voters are forming their own verdict on his White House.

All four senators who are presidential candidates are off the campaign trail, seated as jurors. “My focus is going to be on impeachment,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, told reporters.

The day began as a debate over rules, and it was only when the clerk started reading the dry language of the resolution that the hand-written changes became apparent.

McConnell made the adjustment after encountering resistance from Republicans during a closed-door lunch meeting. Senators worried about the public reaction to cramming the 24 hours of opening arguments from each side into just two days.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Lisa Murkowksi of Alaska, along with a substantial number of other Republicans, wanted to make the changes, according to people familiar with the situation. Some senators argued that the two-day limit would have helped Democrats cast Republicans as squeezing testimony through in the dead of night.

Collins and Murkowski, who often ally to buck GOP leadership, sat side by side in the Senate through the day's proceedings.

The turnaround was a swift lesson as White House wishes run into the reality of the Senate. The White House wanted a session kept to a shorter period to both expedite the trial and shift more of the proceedings into late night, according to a person familiar with the matter but unauthorized to discuss it in public.

“READ THE TRANSCRIPTS!” the president tweeted from overseas, at a global leaders conference in Davos, Switzerland.

That's the transcript of his phone call in which he asked new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for “a favor.” The Democrats cite that transcript as solid evidence against Trump, though he repeatedly describes it as “perfect.”

A whistleblower's complaint led the House to impeach Trump last month on a charge of abuse of power for pushing Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Biden and his son Hunter Biden as the White House was withholding military aid from Ukraine. Trump also was impeached on a second charge, of obstruction of Congress, in the House probe.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Republican senators “felt the heat" and it "shows that they can make other changes, and that we can get documents and witnesses.”

Schumer offered the first of several amendments to the rules — to issue subpoena for to the White House for “all documents, communications and other records” relating to the Ukraine matter.

It was rejected on a party-line vote, as were the others.

Trump's legal team, absent its TV-showcase attorneys, Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Starr who were not in the chamber, argued that in seeking new evidence the House was bringing a half-baked case that would be thrown out in any other court of law.

But Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, one of the House managers and the first woman to argue for the prosecution in a presidential impeachment trial, said the House wasn't asking the Senate to do the job for them. “The House is asking the Senate to do its job, to have a trial,” she said. "Have you ever heard of a trial without evidence?''

The White House had instructed officials not to testify in the House inquiry, and refused to turn over witnesses or documents, citing what is says is precedence in defiance of congressional subpoenas.

The ambassadors and national security officials who did appear before the House delivered often striking testimony, highlights that were displayed on television screens during the Senate proceeding.

One manager, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, showed Mulvaney's own press conference comments about Trump's rationale for withholding the Urkaine aid.

At one point, Democrat Schiff displayed video of Trump himself suggesting there should be more witnesses testifying.

“Don't blind yourself to the evidence," Schiff told the senators. “The facts will come out in the end,” he said. “ The question is, will it come out in time?”

Legal scholars have long insisted the framers of the Constitution provided impeachment as a remedy for “other high crimes and misdemeanors," a particularly broad definition that doesn't mean simply specific criminal acts.

Democrats point in particular to a General Accountability Office report that found the White House violated federal law by stalling money to Ukraine that had been approved by Congress.

No president has ever been removed from office by the Senate. With its 53-47 Republican majority, the Senate is not expected to mount the two-thirds vote needed for conviction.

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Eric Tucker, Alan Fram, Laurie Kellman, Andrew Taylor, Matthew Daly and Padmananda Rama in Washington and David Pitt in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

The leader of a referendum campaign seeking to overturn recent changes to the state’s tax laws declared an early, and unofficial, victory Tuesday shortly after the deadline for submitting petition signatures to county elections offices.

Fred Cox, a former state lawmaker, said internal tracking showed that campaign volunteers collected roughly 152,000 signatures statewide — exceeding the 116,000 required to qualify for the ballot — and meeting minimum signature thresholds in at least 18 counties.

“The people have finally been heard,” Cox said. “And that’s what they really want. They want the Legislature to hear what they’re saying, and the answer is ‘no.’ ”

A successful signature drive would put on hold a bill approved by lawmakers during a December special session that cuts overall taxes by $160 million through a combination of tax cuts and increases. The state’s voters would then be able to vote in November whether to enact or repeal the legislation.

But a formal count of the campaign’s signatures was not immediately available Tuesday — it could take up to two weeks for county elections office to verify petition forms. Individuals who added their names to the campaign’s petition will also have an opportunity to remove their signatures following that formal count, which could further trim the number of verified signatures.

The Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office announced that as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, only 58,000 signatures had been verified. But Justin Lee, state elections director, said that total does not yet include all of the petitions submitted Tuesday, including a significant number collected in Salt Lake County.

The most up to date numbers as of 5 P.M. show that the Tax Restructuring Revisions Referendum has a total of 58,437 verified signatures.

— Vote Utah (@ElectionsUtah) January 22, 2020

Throughout Tuesday afternoon, a system of couriers and volunteers used by the referendum campaign generated a steady stream of signature packets being delivered and submitted to the Salt Lake County clerk’s office.

Claudine Peterson was stationed outside the office for the bulk of the afternoon and estimated that there had been 200 different petition dropoffs, some with large numbers of packets collected at grocery stores and others with only partially completed forms collected by individual volunteers.

Peterson also collected signatures as she stood at the curb, and said she had added about 40 names to the petition rolls.

She said there are some elements of the tax legislation that she could support, but that more work is needed before enacting a package of reforms.

“I’d like to see it rewritten,” Peterson said.

Included in the bill approved by lawmakers are cuts to income taxes, an expansion of the per-child dependent exemption and increases to the sales taxes on food, fuel and some services. The bill also creates a series of new tax credits for low- and middle-income Utahns, which are intended to mitigate the effect of the increased taxes on purchases.

The changes translate to an overall tax cut of $160 million to the state, but critics say the bill will negatively impact residents and small businesses through higher taxes on food, fuel and some services.

The referendum effort received a boost of public support from the Utah-based grocery chain Harmons, which came out in opposition to the Legislature’s tax changes — particularly an increase to the tax on groceries — and made its locations available for signature gathering. The grocer also took out full-page ads in the state’s major newspapers opposing the grocery tax and encouraging readers to add their signatures to the referendum effort.

Harmons Chairman Bob Harmon said Thursday that there was a risk to joining the referendum effort, but that it was a risk worth taking.

“It wasn’t a very difficult decision for us to make,” he said. “We care about all of the communities that we serve.”

Judy Weeks-Rohner, one of the sponsors of the referendum campaign, said it was common for there to be lines of residents waiting to sign packets at the grocery store locations.

“Let me tell you,” she said, “they were coming to us.”

Weeks-Rohner said she was concerned about the tax legislation’s effect on groceries and gasoline, and how the cut to state revenue could affect public education. She also said she worries about the less-publicized “hidden aspects” of the bill, such as how it directs state agencies to begin preparing for toll roads and other vehicle-user fees as a means of funding state transportation projects.

And after weeks working to collect signatures, Weeks-Rohner said she was looking forward to taking a break, whether or not the campaign qualifies for the November ballot.

“Because of this, I have not had a chance to buy my grandchildren a Christmas present,” she said.

Lawmakers are set to convene later this month in their annual 45-day session, which will include passing budgets for the coming year. The tax referendum, if it successfully qualifies for the ballot, could complicate those negotiations by halting implementation — and potentially repealing outright — of changes to the state’s revenue collections.

Cox said that budget challenges existed before the referendum, and will continue during and after. He said the state continues to collect surplus funds, and suggested lawmakers could save tax revenue in state reserve accounts if necessary until the public vote.

“There is money they have to fund our state,” Cox said. “And they don’t have to raise any taxes to do it.”

Farmington, N.M. • One of Arizona’s largest utilities is seeking companies to build solar plants to provide up to 400 megawatts of power, including 200 megawatts from Navajo Nation facilities, officials said.

Salt River Project issued a request for proposals Jan. 15, The Farmington Daily Times reported.

The energy produced will be delivered to customers in central Arizona, SRP officials said.

The request from the Phoenix-based utility asked for proposals for plants that can produce between 100 and 200 megawatts.

"Once contracted, the 400MW will position SRP to achieve its goal in acquiring 1,000MW of new solar energy by 2025," SRP said in a statement.

SRP has been transitioning its energy portfolio from coal-fired power plants to renewable energy and natural gas sources in response to industry and environmental regulation changes, the company said.

The Navajo Nation plants could be located anywhere within its territory that can connect to the SRP grid, spokeswoman Patty Garcia-Likens said.

Navajo Nation includes areas of northeast Arizona, northwest New Mexico and southeast Utah.

"We are looking for companies to provide bids to build the plants and SRP will purchase the energy from the plants. The 400 megawatts can serve up to 100,000 SRP customers," Garcia-Likens said.

The request for proposals was formulated through a collaboration with a working group formed by the Navajo Hayoolkaal Proclamation, officials said.

The April 2019 proclamation calls for the tribe to diversify its energy portfolio and create jobs from clean energy projects.

“This project is critical as it moves us forward in our goal to invest in more solar energy projects and offer our customers a diverse mix of affordable, emission-free power," SRP CEO Mike Hummel said in a statement.

"We are also proud to work with the Navajo Nation as they facilitate further development of renewable energy,” Hummel said.

The action opens new opportunities for the tribe, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said.

“We recognize that coal-based energy provided many benefits for the workers and their families, but times are changing, and energy development is changing,” Nez said in a statement.

The Utah Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that the suspect in the killing of one man and the wounding of two others at a “friendsgiving” gathering in South Jordan died after he was shot in the arm by his own gun.

The South Jordan Police Department released a statement that investigators believe Joshua Perez-Garcia, 26, was “shot by his own gun during a struggle” early on Nov. 28. About a dozen friends had gathered at a home when a dispute of some kind broke out.

Efrain Castro, 23, was shot approximately eight or nine times; he died of his wounds almost two weeks later. Two other people were wounded; they were released from the hospital to recover at home.

According to police, Perez-Garcia “was considered the main suspect” in the shootings of Castro and the two other victims. His body was found on Dec. 2 in a construction area near 6200 West and 11000 South. His cause of death, according to the medical examiner, was the gunshot wound to his left arm, “with intoxication and exposure to the elements as significant contributing factors.”

In a news release, police wrote that “there are no additional suspects in this case.”

After getting ejected late in Saturday night’s loss at Arizona State, Larry Krystkowiak calmly made some negative comments about the officiating.

On Tuesday, the Pac-12 acted in kind, reprimanding the Utah head coach for what he said about a questionable technical foul on freshman center Matt Van Komen in an 83-64 Sun Devils win.

“The Pac-12 membership has established rules that prohibit our coaches from publicly commenting about officiating,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott in a statement. “We have an obligation to our members to enforce approved Conference rules. As a part of our officiating program, there is a protocol in place for our coaches to provide feedback directly to the coordinator of officials.”

With 1:23 to play Saturday night, the 7-foot-4 Van Komen dunked, then briefly hung on the rim in what appeared to be an attempt to allow a defender to clear out from underneath him, before he could land safely.

It had been a spotty second half for the officials and it culminated in the refs giving Van Komen a technical for hanging on the rim. Krystkowiak admittedly did not give the officials time to explain before becoming livid. Krystkowiak quickly picked up two technical fouls of his own before being ejected by Mike Reed.

“Well, I saw a 7-foot-4 guy dunk the ball, and somebody is underneath him, and you’re allowed to hang on the rim,” Krystkowiak said postgame Saturday night. "That’s all I got, it just wasn’t the proper call to make at that time, and I had no problem with the officiating... I like all those guys, but I think that was BS at the end.”

During his standard Tuesday morning news conference, Krystkowiak said he knew the reprimand was coming later in the day, but did not harp on the subject, stating he was ready to move on. A reprimand is a warning and comes with no fine or punishment.

Utah (10-7, 1-4 Pac-12) has lost four straight and five of six with the University of Washington visiting the Huntsman Center on Thursday (6 p.m., Pac-12 Networks). The matchup with the Huskies will mark the Utes’ first home game since Jan. 4, a 69-64 loss to then-No. 4 Oregon.

Provo • Coach Shawn Olmstead would never label 2019 as a failure, but it wasn’t a typical BYU men’s volleyball season. Riddled with injuries, the Cougars finished with a 13-12 record.

BYU had made it to the Final Four the year prior and played in the championship game the previous two seasons, but didn’t even make the NCAA Tournament in 2019.

Now, it seems, BYU has bounced back — even if Olmstead won’t say it just yet. The Cougars (6-0) are off to their best start since going 12-0 at the beginning of the 2008 season.

“It’s so early (in the season) and I don’t ever like to get ahead of the horses,” Olmstead said. “We’ve got a lot of area to improve upon — that’s the exciting thing and that’s what we keep talking to these guys about. They’re not complacent. They’ve been in the gym, we haven’t taken a day off other than Sundays, so that’s a good thing about these guys.”

Next, No. 2 BYU will next face No. 5 UC Irvine on the road Wednesday and Friday. The Anteaters are the fourth ranked opponent the Cougars will have faced thus far. BYU beat then-No. 11 Loyola Chicago 3-1 in the season opener Jan. 3, beat then-No. 6 Lewis 3-1 the following day, and swept then-No. 15 Penn State twice at the Smith Fieldhouse Jan. 10 and 11.

Besides dealing with injuries last season, the biggest blow being the ankle injury of setter Wil Stanley, the Cougars were also relatively young. The team lost the leadership of Brenden Sander, Price Jarman and Leo Durkin.

“I see it as a learning experience,” junior opposite hitter Gabi Garcia Fernandez said. “In order to become great in sports, you need to have your downs. Last year, we lost a lot of guys … all captains in the team, that kept the team together. Other people like me (and) Felipe (de Brito Ferreira) had to take those roles and then we had to bring the new guys in.”

One of the newcomers Garcia Fernandez helped was outside hitter Davide Gardini, an international product from Italy who had to learn the American system. The team also had to help Brody Earnest come in midway through the season to take over for Stanley.

But all the adversity the team faced last year has helped the Cougars this season. It also helped that after that rough 2019 season, the team only graduated one player — Taylor Richards.

“Now, everybody’s got experience," Garcia Fernandez said. "Everybody came back this year. And now it’s like, ‘ok our team is ready. Lets go.’”

Gardini said the 2019 season weighed heavily on the team, but they took full responsibility for their results. And it also inspired the group to work harder throughout the offseason to get ready for the 2020 season.

For Gardini, his goal was to become the best on the team and go from there. Gardini doesn’t think he’ll reach that goal any time soon, he’s just trying to improve as much as he can.

“I think once season started we were all ready to go because of that,” Gardini said. “We knew we worked hard, so we wanted to show that we're ready and we can do great things.”

Either way, win or lose, Olmstead hopes his team is able to learn and having to deal with adversity last year helped in that regard.

“They’ve grown from that and matured,” Olmstead said. “But it’s credit to those guys really going, ‘OK, you know what we went through? We can do this better.' ”

It’s not as big as Coachella, but the band The National Parks is launching a one-day musical festival this spring at the edge of Zion National Park.

The indie folk-pop band, which hails from Provo, announced Tuesday it’s launching the Superbloom Music Festival, at the O.C. Tanner Amphitheater in Springdale on Saturday, April 25.

Tickets for the event go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at 24Tix.com.

"We feel really lucky to be a band from Utah and to be surrounded by such natural beauty,” Brady Parks, the band’s lead vocalist and guitarist, said in a statement. He added that the amphitheater in Springdale “is one of those strikingly beautiful places. … We played a show there a few years ago and ever since then we've been dying to go back.”

The National Parks will headline the festival, which will run from 2 to 10 p.m., with gates opening at 1 p.m. Also on the bill:

• Folk-rock singer-songwriter Joshua James, who lives part-time in American Fork.

• Alt-rock band The Strike, also from Provo.

• Folk-rock band Tow’rs, from Flagstaff, Ariz.

• Alt-rock duo The Federal Empire, from Los Angeles.

• Utah-raised singer-songwriter Ellee Duke.

• Indie-rock band Brother, also from Provo.

Tickets are $45 for general admission, with a $5 discount for those buying “early bird” tickets (between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday). Tickets to the first five rows are $65 each.

For $100, fans can buy VIP tickets that includes seating up front, pit access, a meet-and-greet, an album bundle, a festival poster, and access to a special private show the night before, on Friday, April 24.

In February, The National Parks — consisting of Brady Parks, vocalist/keyboardist Sydney Macfarlane, violinist Megan Parks and drummer Cam Brannelly — will announce the release date for the band’s fourth studio album.

Real Salt Lake finally has some depth at its left back position.

The club announced Tuesday that it signed defender Ashtone Morgan, a nine-year veteran of Major League Soccer and a left back on the Canadian National Team. He will likely compete for time with Donny Toia, who was RSL’s starting left back for the majority of last season.

“Ashtone is a player who has tremendous MLS and Champions League experience at a very good organization in this league,” RSL General Manager Elliot Fall said in a statement. “He’s won a championship in this league and he’s been on our radar for a long time. We’re really excited to add him to our defensive group, which we feel is already excellent and will only get better with his addition.”

Morgan won an MLS Cup championship in 2017 with Toronto FC, where he has spent the entirety of his domestic career. He also helped Toronto win five Canadian championships.

Morgan also has 18 appearances with the Canadian National Team.

“Ashtone brings experience at left back and comes in to battle for a position so we can get the best out of that position,” coach Freddy Juarez said. “We think we have a very good left back in Donny, but bringing in Ashtone hopefully brings the best out of both of them. We expect him to come in and be a leader, incorporate himself into the group and add some quality to keep us going forward.”

Morgan will occupy an international roster spot.

Bodie Reeder sat with Utah State football coach Gary Andersen and talked about basketball.

Andersen was interviewing Reeder for the offensive coordinator job left vacant by Mike Sanford, who took a position at the University of Minnesota. But in describing how he likes to run an offense, Reeder used an analogy from his days playing prep hoops.

“If I was guarding a guy that came from the opening tip going a million miles an hour, my mind and my body sped up to his pace,” Reeder said. “But if I was going to guard a guy that was constantly changing pace — he was herky-jerky, he was going to shuffle-step me — that was tough. I think that plays in the hands of the offense, if they can change the pace of the game.”

That exchange was just one of the reasons Andersen hired Reeder, who was officially introduced last week as USU’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Reeder’s hire is part of a restructure of the coaching staff that included Frank Maile and Stacy Collins becoming co-defensive coordinators.

Reeder, once a prolific quarterback at Eastern Illinois University and Mahomet-Seymour High School, last coached at North Texas University — the same school the Aggies thumped in the 2018 New Mexico Bowl.

That bowl game was played as Reeder wrapped up his second successful season at Eastern Washington, where he manned one of the most prolific attacks in the Football Bowl Subdivision. He then moved on to North Texas, where Mean Green coach Seth Littrell fired him and defensive coordinator Troy Reffett after just one season. He said he was attracted to Utah State and Andersen’s history of success.

“Talking to people in the profession, there’s not a better guy to work for,” Reeder said. “I’ve had some connections on staff, guys that I knew prior, and I knew it was a great group of guys to come in and blend with. Outside looking in, a program like this is tough, and they work hard and earn every inch that they get. That’s the type of program that I want to be a part of.”

Andersen descried Reeder as “a grinder” and was impressed with his success at every stop in his coaching career.

“We were looking for somebody that is a great quarterback teacher, can run a room, can be the general manager of the offense and is tough,” Andersen said. “That’s what we’ve got.”

Reeder’s offensive vision is similar to what Andersen said he wants to see in the 2020 version of the Aggies: different paces. Reeder summed up his vision by calling it a “multiple-pace, multiple-personnel offense.”

“We’re going to make sure that we have different schemes that can attack the defense from sideline to sideline and vertically down the field,”Reeder said.

Reeder’s Eastern Washington averaged 43.1 points per game in 2018 under Reeder, with 255.9 rushing yards and 272.3 passing yards. Under Sanford, the Aggies averaged only 29.2 points and 152.2 rushing yards per game.

For the past two seasons, Utah State has been known for pushing the pace on offense, oftentimes calling plays without using a huddle. There will be some speed under Reeder, but it won’t be the team’s top priority.

“I think that we’re going to have the ability to go fast, but we’re going to dictate the pace of play,” Reeder said. "We’re going to make sure that we’re playing complementary football and taking care of everyone in the locker room and making sure that we can change speeds.”

With Reeder in the fold and the shakeup he made to the staff, Andersen believes he will be a more effective head coach next season. And together, he said, they’re ready.

“I promise this whole staff is all-in on this and we’re ready for the battles that are ahead of us,” Andersen said.

As the Jazz were reeling off one win after another while Mike Conley sat on the sidelines with a hamstring strain, a narrative started to gain traction among a not-insignificant faction of the fanbase: Maybe this team is better off without the guy intended to be its starting point guard. Maybe the inevitable return of a guy shooting less than 40% from the field is just going to throw a big ol’ monkey wrench into what’s become a fine-tuned machine.

Well, Conley is back, and granted, it’s only been two games, but the Jazz’s high-performance engine has not yet ground to a sputtering halt. Nor do the Jazz expect it to.

Were they playing well without Conley? Undeniably. Had they found an effective synergy with Joe Ingles back in the starting lineup, splitting ball-handling duties with Donovan Mitchell, while Emmanuel Mudiay stepped up and juiced the second unit? No doubt.

And yet, Conley’s teammates never bought into the idea that the 13-year vet who’d been such a key component of all those undermanned-but-overachieving Memphis Grizzlies teams was now somehow an impediment to Utah’s own success.

“We need him,” Rudy Gobert said simply, after Conley made his comeback Saturday against the Kings. “Like I keep repeating, if you want to go as far as we want to go, which is winning a championship, he’s a key piece of what we do.”

Rudy Gobert, on the return of Mike Conley: “We need him. Like I keep repeating, if you wanna go as far as we wanna go, which is winning a championship, he’s a key piece of what we do. We don’t want to rush him, but it’s great to have him back.” pic.twitter.com/orlutEF9ve

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) January 19, 2020

He’s shown that much in the Jazz’s past two victories.

In Saturday’s easy win against Sacramento, he played 15 minutes and 14 seconds, and was clearly content to sit back, not force anything, and try to fit into the broader scheme of what his teammates were doing. He attempted only three shots and made just the final one, though it was a timely 3-pointer that stopped cold the Kings’ burgeoning momentum. Meanwhile, he totaled three assists, and impressed his teammates.

“There’s a lot of guys that, when they come back from injury, they are trying to get their rhythm back [by] hitting shots,” noted Bojan Bogdanovic. “He’s just ... trying to involve all of us and be patient. So it’s big-time for us to have him back.”

Bojan Bogdanovic, on the return of Mike Conley: “There’s a lot of guys that, when they come back from injury, they are trying to get their rhythm back (by) hitting shots. He’s just ... trying to involve all of us and be patient. So it’s big-time for us to have him back.” pic.twitter.com/O7UjBJpBi7

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) January 19, 2020

Donovan Mitchell added, “The biggest thing I noticed was his competitiveness on the defensive end.”

Conley’s approach certainly didn’t go unnoticed by his coach, either.

“Mike is as much a part of our group and kind of the identity that we have built. Even though he has been out for a bit, that is who he is,” Snyder said. “The bucket that he hit was a big bucket, too. It was a momentum play and kind of gave us a bit of a boost. It says a lot about him that he isn’t thinking about himself at all, not that I would even expect that.”

On Monday night, in a higher-stakes blowout victory vs. the Pacers, the point guard made his presence felt in far more demonstrable fashion.

In 17:56 of game time, he powered the second unit with his shooting stroke, draining 6 of 8 attempts — including two key back-to-back buckets in the third quarter — en route to 14 points. He also fit in seamlessly as part of a lineup that included playing alongside newcomer Jordan Clarkson.

For his part, Conley credited his teammates for always believing in him, for encouraging him through his rehab, for not losing faith in him when his initial comeback from a five-game absence was halted after only 19 minutes on the court, leading to another 14 games missed.

Mike Conley, on the support from his teammates: “Man, we’re a family. Those are my brothers, and they mean everything to me. They’re the ones pushing me through even when I’m not able to be there with them. ... That support is something you don’t find on most teams.” pic.twitter.com/UpEfOZ6U3Z

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) January 19, 2020

“Man, we’re a family. Those are my brothers, and they mean everything to me. They’re the ones pushing me through even when I’m not able to be there with them. ... That support is something you don’t find on most teams,” he said. “…These guys have been pushing me through all season, and that is how we do. We just lift each other up, have fun when we play, and that is why we love playing together.”

Asked in the wake of Royce O’Neale’s contract extension how the Jazz might yet most improve with the trade deadline on the horizon, Dennis Lindsey, the executive vice president of basketball operations, noted “the most obvious answer is Mike’s re-integration into the team.

“The team changed, not only externally but internally, with a few different players playing, so Quin has adjusted tactics and strategy, especially offensively. We’re doing a few different things with our spacing, with our bigs. Mike’s been around that, but Mike hasn’t been in it with his teammates, so that’s the biggest piece for us moving forward, getting him comfortable,” Lindsey added on Sunday. “Without Mike, the schedule was set up as such that we were going to win a few games. … We’re anxious to mark ourselves against some of the better teams as our schedule’s turning. It’s time for us to see what that level looks like.”

A Utah judge has upheld the state’s lewdness law after a challenge by a West Valley City woman who is facing charges for being topless in her own home in front of her stepchildren.

Third District Judge Kara Pettit denied Tilli Buchanan’s motion to declare the lewdness statute unconstitutional in a ruling filed Tuesday. Buchanan’s attorneys had argued that the law targets and discriminates against women making it illegal for them to show their breasts.

Buchanan’s attorneys noted in their arguments that her husband had been in the same state of undress when her stepchildren saw her breasts — the couple had stripped down after installing insulation in their garage — and he was not charged with any crime.

They leaned on a recent 10th Circuit Court ruling, where the appeals court sided with two Colorado women who sued the city of Fort Collins. The women are part of “Free the Nipple Fort Collins,” a group arguing that the city’s ban on female toplessness violated their right to equal protection.

But the judge ruled that the ordinance in Colorado and Utah’s lewdness statute were “significantly different.”

In Fort Collins, the ordinance outlawed a woman from showing her breasts in public. It did not include language indicating that exposure was unlawful for men, and it did not require any specific intent or mental state.

The portion of the law that Buchanan is charged under is much different, Pettit ruled. It prohibits lewd behavior by both women and men in front of children, and also requires prosecutors to show that the defendant exposed themselves and knew their actions would either cause “affront or alarm” to the children or “with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desires” of either party.

West Valley City prosecutors had argued that Utah's law is based on what society deems to be nudity — and Pettit agreed with that analysis.

“It is the prerogative of the Legislature to establish laws incorporating contemporary community standards regarding lewdness,” the judge wrote. “It is not for the court to decide whether the Legislature’s enumeration of lewd conduct is wise or sound policy.”

City Prosecutor Ryan Robinson applauded the judge’s ruling in a statement Tuesday.

"We are pleased that Judge Kara Pettit agreed with our arguments about the constitutionality of Utah's lewdness in the presence of a child statute," he wrote. "We support the court's finding in this case that 'the government has an important interest in enacting laws to protect the health, safety, welfare, and morality of children, and to prevent them from being exposed to lewdness.'"

Buchanan is represented by attorney Randy Richards, and an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah also argued on her behalf during a November hearing. Richards did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday, and the ACLU said in a statement that it was “disappointed."

“We are still reviewing the order and consulting with our client about next steps,” said spokesman Jason Stevenson. It’s not clear whether Buchanan will appeal the judge’s decision. If she does not, the case will now move toward a trial.

Buchanan faces three class A misdemeanors, and if she is convicted, she faces possible jail time and would be required to spend 10 years as a registered sex offender.

Buchanan told The Salt Lake Tribune in September that she had been installing insulation with her husband in their garage on the day of the incident. The couple had stripped off their clothes just inside their home to get the itchy materials off their skin. She was topless when her stepchildren came downstairs and saw them.

She said her stepchildren seemed embarrassed — but Buchanan told them they shouldn’t treat her differently because she was a woman. She told them a woman’s chest wasn’t inherently sexual, and that if they were comfortable seeing their dad’s chest, it shouldn’t be different for her.

But West Valley City prosecutors say the situation wasn’t quite that innocent. They accuse Buchanan of stripping down in front of her stepchildren after making a statement about how if her husband could take off his shirt, then a woman should be able to as well.

They further allege that Buchanan, while “under the influence of alcohol,” had told her husband that she would only put her shirt back on if he showed her his penis.

The police became involved in the situation after the Division of Child and Family Services began an investigation involving the children that was unrelated to Buchanan. Though it was not the focus of the initial investigation, prosecutors say in court papers, the children’s mother reported the incident to authorities because she was “alarmed."

Buchanan said she hadn’t thought about the incident much since it had happened — until a police detective called her earlier this year and asked about it. Then, weeks later, the charges were filed.

“I was devastated,” she said in September. “Because the moment I took to teach the kids, it was kind of smashed. Like you can’t teach kids this. In fact, you’re going to be charged for even bringing this up.”

A Colorado attorney who represented the Fort Collins women in their lawsuit has promised to sue West Valley City on Buchanan’s behalf, but no lawsuit had been filed as of Tuesday.

A new Primary Children’s Hospital campus is going up in Lehi, and pediatric services are expanding throughout Intermountain Healthcare with a $50 million gift from Gail Miller and her family.

“I know that, for a young mother, the need is great to have the people caring for your children understand you and what you’re going through, and how hard it is to face that kind of trauma alone,” Miller said in a news conference Tuesday.

In addition to the Lehi campus, the gift will support an advanced fetal care center to provide certain fetal surgical procedures for the first time in Utah; an expanded cancer treatment center; pediatric research; more remote consultations and rural services; more mental and behavioral health services; and an enlarged neonatal intensive care unit.

Miller choked back tears recalling her first visit to Primary Children’s, after her eldest son suffered bleeding on his brain due to a fall when he was 5 months old.

"He had to have two surgeries to remove blood clots from his brain and save his life. I was very ignorant as to the seriousness of what he was dealing with," Miller said, gesturing toward her eldest son, Greg. "I'm grateful today; as you can see, he's a strong, healthy, fulfilled and wonderful contributor to our family, our business and the community."

In recent months, Miller's grandson and great-grandson both were born prematurely and received treatment at Primary Children's NICU.

The upgrades to the neonatal care unit are particularly "near and dear to our hearts," Miller said.

Intermountain Healthcare plans to complete the Lehi hospital by 2023, said spokeswoman Jennifer Toomer Cook. The five-story, 66-bed hospital will offer trauma and emergency services, behavioral health, intensive care and surgical and clinic services.

The new hospital will help manage critical health needs for Utah County’s growing population of children, said Intermountain CEO Marc Harrison. The new hospital, as well as expanded rural and remote services, will help keep families close to home while obtaining treatment for their children.

"We're going to bring care right to people where they need it," Harrison said. "It is an unbelievable burden for families to be away from [their] community."

Altogether, the new services are designed to improve long-term health outcomes for children, addressing immediate treatment needs and providing support for them to cope when they are older.

"We need a model that creates an interconnectedness across the entire continuum of kids' health," said Katy Welkie, Primary Children's CEO.

That includes psychiatric services for children and teens, with new clinic locations, “telehealth” and partnerships with community organizations; transition support for teenagers learning to manage chronic conditions like diabetes and cystic fibrosis as they become adults; and support for Utah schools and community groups to intervene when children are experiencing trauma that could imperil their health in the future, Welkie said.

“It doesn’t just mean they’ll be healthier. It means they’ll graduate from high school. It means they’ll stay out of jail,” said Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, who appeared at the conference. “That’s what we’re talking about. It’s not just about health care; it’s about life care.”

The governor has selected a longtime advocate for ending child abuse to fill the latest vacancy on the Utah Board of Education — marking the fourth person he’s appointed in the last year to what is designed to be an elected body.

Laurieann Thorpe, currently the executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Utah, will step into the seat that opened after former member Linda Hansen announced she would retire in early December. If confirmed by the Utah Senate, Thorpe would represent District 3, which covers Granite School District, part of West Valley City and Juab and Tooele counties.

“I am confident she will serve her district well and bring new thoughts and ideas on how to improve education for all Utah students,” Gov. Gary Herbert said in a statement announcing the choice Tuesday.

The Board of Education oversees K-12 public schools in the state and has recently seen a record number of resignations. Four members have left since last January. Now, nearly a third of the 15-person body has been appointed by Herbert, who gets to choose the replacement when someone leaves.

In his budget proposal earlier this month, Herbert said that he supports changing state statute — with a constitutional amendment question on the ballot — to make the board entirely appointed by the governor rather than elected. He suggested that when he steps down from office this year, his successor should work toward instituting that model.

Even without that, elections will be significantly different after the Utah Supreme Court ruled that candidates for the state school board can run on party tickets.

Thorpe’s seat will be up for election in November — as will those of the other three appointees that Herbert has appointed this past year.

Before picking Thorpe, Herbert’s selections shifted the gender makeup of the board as he replaced the three women who stepped down with three men: Shawn Newell, Mark Marsh and Michael Haynes. His picks also moved the body more toward the middle, ideologically, after it lost two extremely conservative members.

Thorpe more closely aligns with the member she is filling in for. Hansen was perhaps the strongest advocate on the state board for students with disabilities. And Thorpe previously worked for the state board in an unelected position as a special education specialist.

“I am thrilled to be appointed to serve on the Utah State Board of Education,” she said in a statement. “I care deeply about education and the power it has to transform lives.”

Thorpe, a foster parent, also served as the past president of Foster Families of Utah. The Senate will likely take up her confirmation when the legislative session begins later this month.