Abc4 utah

What's happening with WRCNU and why? Listen in the Ogden Arts & Adventure podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV96rBI_vSw
ABC4Utah story: https://www.abc4.com/news/animal-rescues-struggle-to-keep-up-after-ogden-wildlife-rehab-center-closes-its-doors/
Easier to view TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTREKeYe5/
Right now there is NOWHERE in Northern Utah for native Utah wildlife to go if injured. For over a week now. Everyone who has ever touched a bird has their phone ringing off the hook. State and Federal agencies are sending the public to unlicensed rescuers who aren't set up for wildlife rehab.
TL;DR: Ogden Mayor surprised WRCNU with notice to vacate the space they thought they'd have forever. They sunk tens of thousands of dollars into the building and don't have capital funds to start somewhere new. City council had no idea Mayor was doing this. WRCNU is the ONLY federal/state licensed wildlife rehab in all of Northern Utah. Next closest licensed wildlife rehab is Great Basin in Spanish Fork, UT or Second Chance in Price, UT.

https://www.abc4.com/news/central-utah/suspect-identified-in-striking-spanish-fork-toddler-at-daycare-with-stray-bullet/amp/

ATLANTA

• Shereé Whitfield Refuses to Be Checked In a Skintight Black Catsuit (Shereé Whitfield Instagram/Bravo)
• You Won’t Believe What Kenya Moore Is Planning Next for Kenya Moore Haircare (Bravo Style & Living exclusive)
• RHOA’s Kenya Moore sets the record straight on her ‘great relationship’ with Israeli entrepreneur Roi Shlomo (The Sun U.S. exclusive)
• Kim Zolciak-Biermann Is Still Living with Ex Kroy: 'It Will Obviously Get Complicated' (Source) (People exclusive)
• Cynthia Bailey on motherhood, dating and specialty Mother’s Day cocktail (Vicky Ro for Access Atlanta)

NEW JERSEY

• Paulie Connell Confirms He’s Not Divorced ‘Yet’ Plus, Comments on Margaret Josephs’ Latest Dig about his Relationship With Dolores Catania (All About The Real Housewives exclusive)
• Antonia Gorga Has Officially Decided Where She’s Going to College (Antonia Gorga Instagram/Bravo)
• RHONJ Alum Kim DePaola Talks Current Cast Member Jackie Goldschneider's Bravo Future: ‘She’s Gone’ (Behind the Velvet Rope podcast/Heavy)

ORANGE COUNTY

• Mina Starsiak Hawk ‘Hangs Out’ With ‘Real Housewives’ Star Gretchen Rossi (Mina Starsiak Hawk Instagram/Heavy)

BEVERLY HILLS

• Lisa Rinna goes for a stroll with an oversized hat (Page Six Star Snaps)
• Teddi Mellencamp jokes she ‘could kill’ Tamra Judge for outing Matt Damon hookup (Page Six exclusive)

SALT LAKE CITY

• Utah Pride Center announces two brand-new events for pride (ABC 4 Good Things Utah)

The Loud and Queer Concert will happen after the rally at the state Capitol and march to Washington Square. The party officially blasts off with Icona Pop, Trixie Mattel, Anabel Englund, DJ Raffa Marfa, and hostesses Gia Bianca Stephens and star of Real Housewives of SLC, Whitney Rose.

• RHOSLC prisoner Jen Shah’s designer & counterfeit bags to be seized by government as she fails to pay $6.5M restitution (The Sun U.S. exclusive)

POTOMAC

• DC's SoNYa District? Why Neighborhood Renamings Hit a Nerve (NBC 4 Washington)

The founder of Monument Realty, Michael Darby — also known for appearing on several seasons of “The Real Housewives of Potomac” — said the company named the building SoNYa to indicate its location and draw attention to a changing area.
“I think people like to have an area within an area so they can call it their own. We were very comfortable giving it that name. I think it will take root. I think it has already. We’ll continue to push it so people feel like they’re a part of a small community,” he said.
“We’re all looking to identify where we are, and who says you can’t have a subsection within a subsection within a subsection?” he continued, referencing Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.
BRAVO

• Scheana Shay of ‘Vanderpump Rules’ talks ‘Scandoval’ in Toronto: ‘I was duped. We all were’ (Shinan Govani for The Toronto Star)
• Vanderpump Rules’ Stassi Schroeder and Husband Beau Clark Celebrate 1st Wedding Anniversary: ‘Sorry, No Refunds!’ (US Weekly)
• Andy Cohen Wants Caroline Manzo Back On ‘RHONJ’: Her Face-Off With Teresa Would Be ‘Incredible’ (HollywoodLife)
• Wendy Williams Pitched Herself To Join ‘RHONY’: Why Talks With Andy Cohen ‘Didn’t Go Anywhere’ (HollywoodLife)
• Amanda Batula Is the Most Normal Girl on Bravo (Stephanie McNeal for Glamour)
• Everything You Need to Know About the Husbands Seen on Dancing Queens (Bravo's The Daily Dish)

CHESHIRE

• 'I can't stand injustice... it really gets my back up!' Natasha Hamilton claims 'bullying' she saw in RHOCH castmates reminded her of 'tough' school years (Daily Mail exclusive)

Links to this week's episode discussion posts:

• VPR S10E14 🍸
• RHONJ S13E14 🍝
• RHOA S15E1 🍑

So I realize it's apples and oranges but I just read through this short history on the Lagoon amusement park in Utah and one piece stuck out to me. It's tragically entertaining that the owner fought against Jim Crow to allow access to all of the park for all races well before the LDS church changed its policies. Like even an amusement park was 'ahead' of the church in the fight for civil rights.
https://www.abc4.com/news/wirth/the-history-of-lagoon-137-years-of-entertainment/?fbclid=IwAR2vOzryejAcGToCnIE3f92dxY4KqbgcK88SGkAefK8sTv6S5R1R8bu9YA0

https://doenetwork.org/cases/1440ufnv.html
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Lander County Jane Doe was a disabled indigenous or Hispanic woman, thought to be between twenty-five and forty, found deep in the mountains of Lander County, Nevada, fifteen miles (25 km) from Interstate 80 on February 25th, 1990, six months to two years after her homicide. Her remains were notably scattered, and investigators suspect that she was dismembered. The only personal artifact found of hers was a handmade sterling silver with turquoise and coral triangular inlays in a women's ring size 8.
She had a healed injury to her right femur that likely impacted her gait and may have caused pain in her leg and hip.
The Doe Network notes that she had melorheostosis, a condition caused by a gene mutation where dense new bone grows over the original leading to a waxy appearance upon X-ray and chronic pain in the affected area. However, I cannot find this noted elsewhere. Until recently, Lander County Jane Doe was believed to be male, and many archived sources still list her as such.
Today, Lander County Jane Doe was identified as Judy Manzaneras, who was around nineteen years old when she disappeared from Salt Lake City, Utah. Manzaneras had been missing since 1989, though not much about her disappearance has been released. She was identified by Othram through genetic genealogy.
Edit:
Judy Manzaneras was reported missing in SLC around the time of her disappearance.
--
https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/woman-found-by-hikers-3-decades-ago-identified-investigators-rule-homicide/
https://dnasolves.com/articles/nevada-state-lander-county-judy-manzaneras/

Trigger warning! In his note he talks about how the churchs teachings influenced his actions. Striving for "the ideal eternal family"

Disclaimer: I am no free speech expert, but the dialogue of the last couple days related to Elder Holland and his scheduled SUU speech have me thinking more and more about attempts to curb speech (in general) and how these efforts relate to Mormonism. What I will attempt to convey will be walking close to breaking our "no politics" rules, but I will try my best to avoid explicit conversation on those divisive matters. This topic is also highly relevant to our sub, because (ideally) it is a space for individuals of any flavor of Mormonism to converse civilly. I especially want user's feedback related to this subject.
I was a student at UC Berkeley when the 2019 Ann Coulter protests took place. I went down to Sproul and Wheeler to see this in person, after hearing about what transpired on campus over the course of 2017 when Shapiro, Coulter, Milo, Bannon and such were scheduled to speak at various times (by invitation of several on-campus groups) I couldn't help but become a primary witness of the event. What I witnessed was hundreds of students protesting (including ANTIFA and BAMN), mostly due to Coulter’s ideologies and the insistence that the university was a sanctuary to be kept from her perspective. An extensive deployment of police officers were present with the expectation of physical violence and property damage, made manifest in their gear, dogs, and barriers. Over the course of the afternoon, a human chain of protestors, with arms locked, surrounded the entirety of the building Coulter was scheduled to speak in. Their goal: to prevent anyone from entering the lecture hall where she was scheduled to speak. Many were arrested. Despite these efforts, a couple hundred were able to make it in. As expected, this spectacle made its rounds in the news as pundits questioned the validity and principles of the “so-called” birthplace of the free speech movement. Debates continue to this day whether protests, such as this, are valid in a society that values first amendment rights of free speech and expression. Events like this have resulted in the research of Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Haidt is often name-dropped here in our sphere when referring to ‘elevation emotion’ and such, but his extensive work related to social psychology, politics, and religion are invaluable to this conversation (The Righteous Mind, The Coddling of the American Mind). We are witnessing a modern phenomenon related to the formal and informal suppression of expression in both public and private institutions (evident with Twitter over the last couple months and big tech in general). Again, debates related to this topic rage on. According to Mark Storslee:

"The First Amendment applies only to the government, not to private organizations. In general, that means that while public universities are required to comply with the requirements of the First Amendment, private universities are not." (Stanford Magazine)

This is a very general ground rule for the topic at hand: free speech in public and private settings. Things only get more complicated when you throw religion into the mix. My hope here is not to quibble about constitutional law, but to discuss the cultural and religious phenomenon that brought us to the point where Elder Holland speaking at a public university has resulted in incessant pushback. My theory, related to our small tradition, is that Mormonism has a lot to do with it.
The LDS Church (a private institution) has a rich history of suppressing expression, speech, and conscience. The divine mission of the Church, in fact, requires the suppression of critical voices. We are taught not to convey criticism of the Brethren, even if the criticism is true (Oaks). We have also been taught that simply thinking the Brethren have weaknesses is considered sin (Eyring). We are taught to rely on the voices of, truth filled, believing men and women (Nelson) and even to question everything anyone has to say, except for the Prophet (Wendy Nelson). The Church claims freedom of choice (expression) and, of course, claims individuals are accountable for the consequences of their actions and thoughts (covenants). The Church’s leaders outline these arbitrary consequences. Naturally, this results in formal institutional discipline as the leaders of the Church (God) determine what forms of expression are valid in their eyes (almost always more restrictive than the laws of the land). For a more detailed inquiry of the Church and its control tactics, refer to Peter Bleakley’s 10 part series: Mormon Civil War. Dissent has always been suffocated by discipline and ostracization. Examples of the Church (God) limiting expression:

• Many attribute the downfall of the Prophet Joseph Smith to the pressure he placed on the Nauvoo City Council to deem the Nauvoo Expositor (an uncorrelated newspaper critical of Smith) a nuisance. This municipal target instigated by the prophet/president of the Church resulted in the destruction of the press. Regardless of the text, free expression was thwarted. Smith’s downfall would only accelerate after this tragic mistake.
• Brigham Young condemned Lucy Mack Smith’s (Joseph Smith’s mother) biographical sketch of Smith and the origins of the Church. Young insisted all copies be destroyed. The reasoning behind the order to destroy and revise copies of Smith’s history remains under debate, but clearly Young did not find aspects of her history beneficial (i.e. faith promoting) to his branch of Mormonism.
• In the 1970s, the ecclesiastical leadership of the Church put the kibosh on Arrington’s Sesquicentennial history of the Church. The fear of fundamentalists, such as Packer, Benson, and Peterson, related to the transparency of information and the expression of trained historians. Freedom of thought was inhibited by the Brethren’s insistence on controlling the output of endorsed information. We are continually witnessing the fateful consequences of suppression as members decipher uncorrelated histories online, resulting in the mass reevaluation of Mormon theology associated with prophetic authority.
• Elder Oaks shared at the 2018 “Be One” celebration that he actively suppressed his internal confirmation that the explanations given for the Priesthood and Temple ban were not of God. He instead, “...determined to be loyal to our prophetic leaders and to pray — as promised from the beginning of these restrictions — that the day would come when all would enjoy the blessings of priesthood and temple.”. Oaks actively surrendered his conscience to the arbiters of truth, Mormon prophets, seers, and revelators (something we are all urged to do).
• CES has extensively limited the expression of its faculty by requiring all employees to pass the, what I call, “extended temple recommend” interview instituted by Clark Gilbert last year. In addition to the typical requirement to hold a temple recommend, further submission to the CES paradigm is required of all employees. They are inherently limited in research abilities, expression on social matters, and criticism of the board of trustees.
• In October of 2022, Ahmad S. Corbitt, gave a firestorm of a talk outlining the limitations of expression as it relates to the Church and its leaders. “Activism Toward the Church” (ATC) was condemned while simultaneously praising historic movements of protest (ex. MLK Jr.). He taught that, in the Church, public criticism (freedom of expression) is not tolerated. He reiterated Oaks’ claim that a “loyal opposition” does not exist in the Kingdom of God.
• A majority of the public excommunications that take place in the Mormon Church are related to the suppression of expression (activism). Sonja Johnson was axed for her public organization efforts related to the ERA. The September 6 were disciplined for their uncorrelated publications related to Mormon doctrine. Kate Kelly was excommunicated for her regular and public petitioning of the Brethren. Sam Young, John Dehlin, and Bill Reel were all excommunicated for open and persistent criticism of the Brethren (all to various degrees). They all learned that if a criticism is true and valid, it should not be made public. This is active and overtly deliberate suppression of expression. The Church justifies these actions with the consequences of sin. You can believe whatever you want in this Church, just don’t say what you believe out loud (unless it conforms to the correlated narrative).
• We regularly witness degrees of suppression here on reddit as we attempt to discuss Mormonism with diverse variations of orthodoxy and adherence. Many have been banned from communities that have more restrictive rules related to freedom of expression. Lines are drawn. Communication is limited with varying justification (granted these are all private forums).

Inherent in this tradition of suppression is a superiority complex of the suppressors and a distrust in the abilities of the masses to discern truth from error (Holy Ghost must not be that reliable after all). The control of information and its accessibility is an integral lever of power. Those in power believe they can guide the masses to safe havens of approved resources and self-interests. This fundamental faithlessness and intellectual pride reveal the inherent fears of the bourgeoisie (leaders of the LDS Church in this case). This is active coddling of the Mormon mind, the insistence on limiting alternative voices. This is distilled and institutionalized confirmation bias at its finest. Hear what you want to hear. Feel what you want to feel. See what you want to see. Ensure your surroundings conform to your preconceived world view, if they don’t, either change your surroundings, or leave. Leaders insist on this strategy. Lay members adhere to this pattern. In that vein, the authors of a recent Deseret News piece illogically claim we should oppose the suppression of critical voices while their parent organization (The Church) relies on this very same suppression to keep Mormons correlated. The hypocrisy is laid thick as Church representatives insist public institutions permit the freedom of expression, as required by law, while they actively limit voices in their own private spheres, all in the name of Elder Holland (representative of private institution) being permitted to speak at SUU (a public institution) and maintaining their tax exempt status.
The programmed logic of the brain does not change much after a reevaluation of faith. Our tried and true neural patterns persist beyond a “faith crisis”. I am seeing the insistence to restrict speech extend into post-Mormon spaces. Don’t get me wrong, this plague has permeated all corners of modern thought, not just Mormonism. This is the result of the natural ‘want’ to limit voices that are contrary to our preconceived world view as well as fear of retribution from our peers. The only difference now is the insistence that words are violent, not just actions. This is false. The news of Elder Holland speaking at SUU has revealed this fundamental flaw in civil discourse. Yes, valid arguments are out there pertaining to Holland’s past discourse regarding the LGBTQ+ community and BYU. People were hurt by what he said, regardless of intent on his part. This should be acknowledged. This is something SUU administration will hopefully factor in after the inevitable protests and persistent media coverage related to their choice of commencement speaker. Seek input from the student body first, invite dialogue, compromise, and once all parties are in the know, make a decision. For now, let Holland speak. He was invited by a public institution. That is their right. Regardless, the student body should protest. That is their right. Dialogue, as a result of this conflict, will ideally result in healthier processes to ensure the interests of students, minority groups, and administrators. Open reconciliation is greater than isolated infighting. Authoritative direction (a fundamental tenet of Mormonism) typically does not result in positive outcomes. It results in Reed Smoot hearings. Theocratic directives do not mesh with democratic consensus.
We can do better at promoting the free discussion of civil ideas. We all know too well the challenge this is on reddit. We care about open dialogue without the overarching arm of moderation. I suppose most of us are here on mormon for this very reason. Many of us got tired of the thought control the LDS Church instigates as well as the echo chambers we find in online discourse. Hope of a contrary, yet civil, opinion exists here. Let's foster that hope and encourage civil dialogue. The Brethren don’t have this hope in members’ ability to filter the truths and/or flaws of critical voices, constantly insisting we should seek out truth filled sources that they find acceptable.
This sub has had relentless debates on the subject of “approved sources” recently. You want to know why there is no easy answer? Because truth conflicts with correlated teachings. Because whoever is sitting in those 15 red chairs at General Conference is the “approved source” (a moving target). No other “source” trumps the words of those men. All other voices must be compared to what these men have to say. They actively coddle the Mormon mind. Break that clot. Idealogues with imposed self-interests actively filter the information you are fed. Maturity is the ability to sift data, reject unsupported dogma, and accept truth. Trust in your ability to decipher. Actively…read FAIR, read LDS.org, read Hales, watch Saints Unscripted, listen to the Cwic Show, tolerate Thoughtful Faith and MS podcast, watch Midnight Mormons, listen to At Last She Said It, watch Zelph on the Shelf, watch NEMO, listen to RFM and Reel, read Dialogue, watch MHA webinars, attend Claremont Graduate University Lectures, read the Tanners’ work, read Kimball, read Nibley, read all the Ostler’s works, read Bushman, Read Brody, read Givens, read Palmer, listen to Sunstone, read the Tribune, read Deseret News, watch the Murph, watch Bennett, read the BOM, read Vogel, read Metcalf, read LDS Discussions, follow Deznat, follow Chino, sub to lds, ladasa, mormon, and exmormon, read Dawkins, read Dennett, read Hitchens, read Marx, read Lenin, read Skousen, read Kendi, read Coulter, read Shapiro, read Peterson, listen to Maher, listen to Oliver, listen to Hannity, read Brown, listen to MoTAB, listen to the Grateful Dead, watch CNN, read Reuters, listen to NPR, go to your library, read your local paper, listen to your neighbors, and formulate your own opinions based on your interpretation of the world. Don’t rely on dogmatic pundits to vicariously exercise your mind. Refuse to burn books. Promote civil expression. Don’t fall for what the LDS Church vehemently relies on.
Additional Resources:
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
Atlantic - September 2015 - THE CODDLING OF THE AMERICAN MIND
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
Atlantic - July 2017 - Why It's a Bad Idea to Tell Students Words Are Violence
The Guardian - Arrests made after more than a thousand protest Ann Coulter speech
Oaks - April 2021 GC - Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution
Deseret News - We’ve witnessed campus cancellation campaigns. Elder Holland deserves to be heard at Southern Utah University
AP - Everywhere and nowhere: The many layers of ‘cancel culture’
ACLU - Speech on Campus
Stanford Magazine - What the Law Says About Campus Free Speech
LA Times - Mormon Speech Curb Rejected
Exponent II - The LDS Church should stop curbing free speech and start embracing advocacy
NY Times - Mormons Expel Founder of Group Seeking Priesthood for Women
NY Times - Two Activists in Mormon Church Threatened With Excommunication
NY Times - Mormon Church Expels Outspoken Critic
Deseret News - Here’s why Sam Young faces discipline from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
ABC4 - Former LDS bishop excommunicated over podcast
Washington Post - Sonia Johnson
LA Times - Six Facing Censure Accuse Mormon Church of Purge

Case details: https://floodlit.org/a/a577/
News sources:

• KSL
• ABC4

On March 14, 2023, a 23-year-old returned LDS missionary was arrested in Salt Lake County, Utah.
On March 17, he was charged with 10 second-degree felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
He admitted to investigators that he had possessed and shared child pornography, and that he had had sexual fantasies for many years about having sex with male children as young as infants to teens in his Mormon ward.
Per ABC4, he "admitted to engaging in sexually-charged fantasy conversations where he discussed sexually abusing male children in his church congregation. He also said he engaged in religiously-themed sexual fantasies, such as LDS missionaries sexually abusing children."
Also per ABC4, he "admitted he had possessed animated child porn depicting a young Joseph Smith, founder of the LDS church in sexual situations."
Prosecutors have requested that Westrup be held without bail in the Salt Lake County Jail pending trial.
FLOODLIT has confirmed via social media profiles, obituaries and court documents that the accused was raised in an active LDS family in California and served an LDS mission in approximately late 2018 to late 2020 in the St. Louis, Missouri area, part of which he spent in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
He attended high school in the Sacramento, California area.
If you knew him or have any information about this case, please let us know. We will continue to keep you updated on this and hundreds of other Mormon sexual abuse cases.
Thank you for shining a light.

https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/group-files-referendum-petition-against-new-utah-state-flag/
I hope that 134,298 people sign the referendum. Literally the worst re-design I've seen, what a waste of money. I gotta find the referendum and sign it.

In reference to the Chuck comment about SLC being a boring place and the recent billboard post in response, I got thinking about what SLC could do to become a more fun city.
I want know, what do you want to see added to the SLC scene?
Here are a few of mine:

• Pub scene - London has tons of pubs throughout the city, each one with a slightly different vibe. I love being able to have a place where I can go hang out with friends in a chill environment, order a drink, don't have to shout over music, and I have plentiful options of new pubs to try. Pubs make a lot of sense to me in Utah as we have long winters and need things to do indoors.
• Art Museum(s) - I'd love to see SLC bring in some more interesting art. I know we have a couple of small museums, but honestly, most of the exhibitions that come through are not that interesting. I want to see popular exhibitions come through town that are meant for adults, not children. We won't ever be NYC or LA in terms of having an art scene here, but it would be nice to have a more high-profile museum.
• Late Night Restaurants - I love eating out and trying new restaurants. Places close down really early here, but it would be fun to have options to go out late and grab a bite to eat.