Hildale Mayor Philip Barlow has made his appointment for justice court judge: attorney K. Jake Graff. He still has to be approved by the Utah Judicial Council at its May 29 meeting before the posting is official.

A St. George native, Graff went to law school in Las Vegas (on a full-ride scholarship, no less) after graduating from BYU. He joined the firm Bingham Snow and Caldwell in 2008, according to his bio from the Utah State Courts and the firm's website.

He has experience in commercial litigation, construction law, domestic relations and family law. The firm has offices in St. George and Mesquite, Nev.

Interesting to note: Bingham Snow and Caldwell partner N. ...

Warren Jeffs latest "revelations from God" sound some familiar notes: Let my people go, whirlwind judgements, tornados and floods, etc.

The first is dated May 1, and references the petition for discretionary review filed before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (the one that was denied a few days ago).

It seems to indicate he's aware of the outside world, specifically the appeals court timing.

Reading over the revelations filed before the high court, which were dated in November and December, I had wondered whether he'd actually sent them back then and the court had...

The Utah County Attorney, not surprisingly, would like to see the Brown family's bid to de-criminalize polygamy end sooner rather than later.

The office plans to file a motion for summary judgment, which means that most of the action in the federal case this summer will likely be on paper. A pretrial conference set for yesterday has been postponed indefinitely.

The polygamous reality show stars may answer with their own motion arguing the judge should quickly rule in their favor.

And the deadlines are: May 31, followed by replies due on June 29 and July 16.

Barring an act of God, Warren Jeffs is set to spend the rest of his life in prison after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to hear his case today.

He didn't honestly seem all that interested in his own case. He let it languish in front of the Third Court of Appeals until it was dismissed, apparently aiming instead for the high court with a series of bizarre, though now familiar, "revelations from God" warning the judges of biblical consequences if he wasn't freed.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has generally been savvy in the courts over the years, hiring top-notch attorneys. So why the rejection of that strategy?

You could...

I'm hitting the road today to go to this journalism conference in New Orleans, so I'll be out of the office until next week.

One thing that I'll miss is a briefing deadline Monday in the state's appeal of a judge's ruling to pay more than $5.5 million in debts owed to Bruce Wisan, the accountant appointed to run the property trust once controlled by Warren Jeffs after it was taken over by the state.

One of my esteemed colleagues will be taking a look at that brief and keeping you up to date on what's going on.

Have a good week!

First: Did you know Sister Wives is the highest rated show on TLC?! Over Cake Boss, Extreme Couponing, Say Yes to the Dress and What Not to Wear?

That's according to a press release announcing the third season of the show about the polygamous Brown family, which premieres Sunday (May 13).

Sounds like there's some drama coming up: First wife Meri has to decide whether to take fourth wife Robyn up on her offer to be her surrogate, third wife Christine's relationship with Kody is on the rocks, and there's the little addition to the family, Robyn's son Solomon.

I watched a media copy of the premiere, which opens as the 17-child family prepares for Christmas in Las Vegas, ...

Warren Jeffs has been reading up on foreign affairs.

In three new "revelations from God" received by the Utah Attorney General on Tuesday, the imprisoned polygamous sect leader admonishes the Syrian president to stop attacking the country's people (though, as I remember, he took a different stance on Libya,) Angola for sheltering an "rebel unholy leader" and, in a interestingly complex point, tells China to stop propping up the North Korean dictator.

Or, as he puts it: "empowering the North Korean power to launch way of bombing distant lands of weapon of great now destructive way."

Also, Italy. Apparently because of the Inquisition.

What? You thought God would ...

Here's the prison mug shot of Wendell Nielsen, one-time president of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who was sentenced to 10 years in a Texas prison for bigamy in late March.

He's being held at the Byrd unit in Hunstville.

Nielsen, 71, was convicted of marrying three middle-aged women. He rejected a plea bargain that could have spared him any prison time when Judge Barbara Walther made the conditions of his probation much stricter.

Nielsen was kicked out of the FLDS early last year, and I've gotten some conflicting info on whether...

The memoir written by the Brown family, stars of the reality show Sister Wives, came out yesterday. I've read through the first half so far, which details the formation of the family — first a section on the development of each woman's relationship with Kody, then about their relationships with each other.

Man, having sister wives doesn't look easy! (though, of course, the book also details the rewards they find in those relationships.) I'm relatively new to marriage, but I do have sisters — and maybe sometimes those relationships are harder, even without any husband-sharing issues.

I'm really interested in the next portion, which promises to detail their decision to not on...

The May meeting of Utah's polygamy-focused Safety Net Committee meeting is tomorrow, from 9 a.m. to noon. There's not much specific on the agenda, but the annual conference, coming up next month and concentrated on youth in polygamous communities, will probably be a subject of discussion.

It's being held at 1385 South State Street, Salt Lake City and will be live-streamed here.

The Utah Supreme Court won't be saving the AG's office more than $5.5 million in polygamous property trust debt. They've dismissed an emergency petition seeking to halt a judge's order for the AG to pay the money owed to trust administrator Bruce Wisan and his contractors, primarily attorneys. (story here).

It's not a shocking conclusion, given the tone of the oral arguments — and anyhow, the AG had already wanted to abandon the petition. After they filed it in March, the judge pushed back her pa...

I'm at work on a Saturday, so I thought I'd try out a new reporting tool. Storify pulls quotes, posts and opinions from social media, including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook etc. and puts them all together in an easy-to-read format.

Social media can be powerful a communicator for journalists and everyone else, but information posted online is often a little ephemeral, disappearing as soon as the story is over, and the sheer volume of stuff out there can be overwhelming. Storify is a great way to distill it down and preserve those thoughts in an easy-to-read way.

Warren Jeffs' recent message from God to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has gotten a decent amount of coverage ...

Here are the "revelations from God" Warren Jeffs filed Tuesday with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest court. They're not ones we've seen mailed out before, but rather directed straight at the court.

This about a month after the appeal of his sexual assault of a child conviction was dismissed from the Third Court of Appeals because he didn't do anything with it.

In the new filing, Jeffs, who is acting as his own attorney, tells us he decided to skip the lower court and go straight to the top. He wants the judges to drop all the charges and let all the FLDS men in prison go free...

A new set of aerial photos posted at eldoradoflds.us shows a couple of new buildings at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas.

They're placed at either end of the shining amphitheater under construction, and look to be sheathed in the same white limestone.

Each is rectangular, with a smaller rectangle attached to one side. Though they are dwarfed by the amphitheater itself, even the the smaller side of each new building looks to be three or four times taller than a pickup truck.

There's also a set of metal beams constructed at what would be the entrance to the semi-circular structure. The start of the roof?

One thing tha...

As Mitt Romney closes in on the Republican nomination for president, there's been some conversation about the history of polygamy in his family. The families of many native Utahns, politicians included, have at least some history of polygamy, but Romney's family took it a bit further than the rest of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. His paternal great-grandfathers lived in Mexico and continued the practice after the church abandoned polygamy in 1890, according to a story we ran in 2006. Both men had multiple wives.

That was his family's last generation to practice polygamy, however. Mitt's grandfather had a single wife...

If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen the above picture pop up yesterday of my editor introducing me to a group of visiting journalist from Iraq.

And what did they want to know about? Polygamy, of course. Through a translator, they asked me about my job, whether I ever felt uncomfortable (not more than on any other reporting assignment) and whether I would let my husband take another wife (he's plenty happy with the one, thankyouverymuch!)

It was a fun, but short conversation - I was wrapped up in this interesting story <...

Warren Jeffs may have given up on his appeal, but he's still got things to say.

From the latest revelation, dated March 6: Basically, other Christian religions, including the mainstream LDS church, have "turned away," from polygamy to "grovel in apostasy."

Also, it should be illegal to have children without being married.

(Talk about a hard law to enforce.)

Read the revelation here and see the big Warren Jeffs revelations calender

The Hildale Justice Court judge nominating process is chugging along. A Utah State Courts committee picked three nominees:

• K. Jake Graff of Bingham Snow & Caldwell in Washington
• Honorable Karlin S. Myers, Hurricane Justice Court, Ivins
• Manuel M. Palma, retired, from the Department of Labor, Mine Safety & Health Administration in St. George

There's a comment period set to run through April 19. To comment, email Shari Veverka, Administrative Office of the Courts, at shariv@email.utcourts.gov.

A final candidate will selected by Hildale Mayor Phillip Barlow within a month. It will be approved by the Hidale City Council. The Utah Judicia...

Biography is taking on polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs. The show is set to air next Monday at 9 p.m. Eastern, (7 p.m. Mountain) and Tuesday at 1 a.m. Eastern, (11 p.m. Mountain).

It looks to be a survey of Jeffs' life, at least since he took over as leader of the church in 2002 and possibly before. Show page here.

(Though the first line in their description of the episode doesn't look quite right: "He was the "President and Prophet, Seer and Revelator" - the highest ranking official in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints." Make that an is, not a was

Young people are the focus of this year's Safety Net conference.

The topic is particularly relevant now, given the recent car crash deaths of five teens and one young adult who grew up in the Warren Jeffs-led FLDS and the discussions over home-school education in polygamous communities (read my story here).

Also on the agenda: A survey of polygamous sect youth, "repairing a child's attachment after trauma" and "embracing equality in plural comm...

I headed up to Weber State University this morning to listen to a lecture from Daniel Mach, who heads up the ACLU's program on freedom of religion and belief.

It was titled "Polygamy, Peyote and the Pledge of Allegiance: The Minority religious experience in America." Alliteration, polygamy, and a trip up to Ogden? I was sold.

Honestly, there wasn't much about polygamy after the Reynolds v. US case, which set the precedent that religious belief doesn't qualify as an exemption from the law. Still, some interesting stuff about everyone from Jehovah's Witnesses to ...

Signed by Nathan C. Jessop and John Wayman, the newest revelations from Warren Jeffs start off nice enough, talking about "glory-peace-love-joy" and such, then shift into the scary stuff: tidal waves in Asia, wind storms in North America, and a big ol' warning for Europe.

Read the revelations, dated March 17, here and the updated revelations calender here.

Education reporter Lisa Schencker and I had an interesting live chat today with several readers on Utah's home-schooling laws and how they relate to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whose members educate all their children at home. Check it out here.

Advocates say hundreds of children don't get a complete education, but Utah authorities stay out of home-schools. The law bars them from testing kids or otherwise checking in on home-schools.

Home-school advocates - mainstream and from polygamous communities - say the last thing we need is another law, and th...

The amphitheater floor looks almost done in the new pictures of the Yearning for Zion Ranch posted over at eldoradoflds.us.

But they seem to be neglecting the concrete pedestal thing, right? It doesn't seem to have changed much in months.

Also, Warren Jeffs appeal was dismissed today, essentially because he didn't file anything in the case. Is he purposely shutting down the appeal, as Willie Jessop said, for "damage control"? Or maybe he's just

A few interesting highlights from Matthew Waller's great live blogging of the first day of the punishment phase of the trial of Warren Jeffs' former No. 2, Wendell Nielsen:

— Nielsen sent Jeffs detailed letters with reports on each member of his family.

Examples: "Kathryn [one of Nielsen's wives]: (62) Improving; always accounting, quiet and pleasant."

And some notes on his children: "Requires more severe correction before responding," "working with her to be quicker with her in her obedience," "cannot be trusted," "sweet and peaceful."

— The defense looks to be focusing o...

A set of "expanded powers" for a Canadian special prosecutor could mean new charges against polygamists in and around the Warren Jeffs-led settlement of Bountiful.

Previous polygamy charges filed against rival leaders there crashed and burned amid concerns about religious liberty in 2009. Story here.

But then a judge took up the question of whether the law violates religious freedom - and last year decided it should stay.

A set of "expanded powers" for a Canadian special prosecutor could mean new charges against polygamists in and around the Warren Jeffs-led settlement of Bountiful.

Previous polygamy charges filed against rival leaders there crashed and burned amid concerns about religious liberty in 2009. Story here.

But then a judge took up the question of whether the law violates religious freedom — and last year decided it should stay.

Co...

Matthew Waller's liveblogging Wendell Nielsen trial for the San Angelo Standard-Times is great. It's almost like being in the courtroom, only with more comfortable seating. Read it here.

Nielsen, a former high-ranking church elder, is accused of marrying three middle-aged women in Texas. A couple of things I thought were interesting from Waller's reporting today (not all of them are central to the case):

- Rebecca Musser testified that she went to Alta Academy, the private school where Warren Jeffs was a principal, from 2nd grade through high school. The teaching was religious, wo...

Eric Nichols, who prosecuted Warren Jeffs and 10 other polygamous sect men, was on "60 Minutes" last night.

This story, though, has nothing to do with polygamy - and this time around, Nichols is on the defense.

(Nichols is still prosecuting the remaining FLDS cases, including the Wendell Nielsen case underway now, but he's left the Texas Attorney General's Office and is in private practice otherwise).

He's representing a former Texas prosector who is under investigation for misconduct in a case that put an innocent man, Michael Morton, in prison for nearly 25 years.

Morton's attorneys won his exoneration with new DNA evidence that showed a career criminal bludg...

Warren Jeffs is still seeing apocalyptic things. March has actually been rather a slow month for receiving revelations from God packets. Check out the new revelations here; big Warren Jeffs revelations calendar here.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this latest set, as Paul Murphy with the Utah Attorney General's Office pointed out, is that they are signed by a couple of new faces: Richard Barlow and Edmund Barlow.

Usually the signers are Vaughan Tayl...

Have you seen the story about federal indictments filed against the guy who used to oversee a home for "Lost Boys" (aka young former members of the FLDS)?

If not, check it out here. Richard Parks, 64, is accused of defrauding AmeriCorps of more than $95,000 in overpayments to employees, including one who was his girlfriend (she later died of a drug overdose). It's a crazy story.

It turns out the problems that closed The House Just off Bluff a few years back were just the tip of the i...

First this tweet pops up of the polygamous sect leader's quarter-page "revelations from God" ad. (The ad has already been all over the U.S.)

Then our religion reporter, Peggy Stack, gets word of a similar ad posted in The News, an English-language daily in Mexico City.

Think they'll start appearing in every country mentioned in his revelations? If so, we can keep track with our handy Googl...

Do you love the "Sister Wives" on TLC but crave more of the Brown family than the reality show cameras can provide?

Well, you're in luck. Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn Brown are writing a book called Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage.

This listing for the Kindle edition popped up today on Amazon and the publisher indicates the hardcover version will be released on May 1.

I...

Police tell me they've not gotten word yet on results of the autopsies performed today on the five kids who died in a car wreck south of Colorado City Wednesday.

But in the meantime, I thought I would share a few extra thoughts about victim Rachel Colgrove, 17, from her aunt that didn't quite fit into Thursday's story. (In the picture, Rachel is the dark-haired girl on the right. Left is Monica Bistline, also killed in the wreck).

"She just struck me as being the sweetest litt...

The city of Hildale is looking for a new justice court judge.

Richard D. Carr, a senior justice court judge from Hurricane, has been the acting judge since the Utah Supreme Court removed Walter Steed for practicing polygamy in 2006.

Carr filled in there as needed — there were only 28 traffic citations and misdemeanor cases in Hildale last year — but in January the Utah Judicial Council decided the town needed a full-time judge.

A nominating commission of local legal and government officials will choose three to five nominees and send them to Hildale Mayor Phillip Barlow. His appointment has to be confirmed by the Hildale City Council and certified by the Utah Judic...

The two major story lines in the United Effort Plan trust case came together today when the A.G.'s office appealed a $5.5 million debt-payment order to the state's highest court.

The Supreme Court judges already have before them a decision that could bring a screeching halt to the federal side of the case, where the FLDS hope an appeals court will uphold a decision giving back control of their $114 million property trust for the first time in almost seven years.

So it's all in the Supreme Court's hands now. How might they rule? It's hard to say.

The...

The two major story lines in the United Effort Plan trust case came together today when the AG's office appealed a $5.5 million debt-payment order to the state's highest court.

The Supreme Court judges already have before them a decision that could bring a screeching halt to the federal side of the case, where the FLDS hope an appeals court will uphold a decision giving back control of their $114 million property trust for the first time in almost seven years.

So it's all in the Supreme Court's hands now. How might they rule? It's hard to say.

They dismissed the case when it came before them two years ago, siding with the state.

But they did it because the FLDS...

While the bill that could have disbanded the Hildale town marshals was dead on arrival at the Utah Legislature, the text was still interesting, mostly because it was significantly different from what Attorney General Mark Shurtleff described last month.

Read the first story I did back in mid-Feburary here.

Now read the text of the bill as proposed here.

Shurtleff — only one of several people who had input into the bill — initally said the proposal would put the department's six officers through the decertifi...

The big discussion at Safety Net today was about whether the committee should have authors speak about polygamy-related books.

Last month, the committee decided they shouldn't have writers come in and promote their work, but committee members took up the issue again Thursday for about an hour, discussing whether such a prohibition could deprive the committee of information — and whether they should bar regular attendees and speakers, like Love Times Three co-author Alina Darger, from ever mentioning their books.

How did this come up? A couple months ago, there was a suggestion that Sam Brower ...

The mysterious amphitheater at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas is growing grander. The latest set of images at eldoradoflds.us, shot yesterday, show a set of 35 white columns set around the semi-cirular structure, about three "steps" from the outer wall.

Another set of four thicker columns have been constructed near what looks like it would be the entrence to the building.

I'm no construction expert: Are these columns for decoration or to support a roof? Anyone have an estimate on how much this project might be costing?

The Utah Attorney General's Office was successful in getting the federal fight for control of the polygamous sect property trust bounced back to Utah. Read my story about Friday's ruling by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver here.

What does this mean? Well, it's something of a setback for the FLDS side of things. Also, there will most likely another hearing before the Utah Supreme Court. (They declined make a decision on this issue last year. Read that story here.)

It'll be i...

It now looks like Warren Jeffs and presidential candidate Rick Santorum have something in common as well: Opposition to contraception.

From Jeffs' latest purported revelations from God, written in his Texas prison cell, then copied by his followers and sent out to thousands of governments and libraries all over the country: "Contraceptive way of limiting ability to bring forth children is unholy way."

Santorum has said "artificial birth control" is "harmful" to women and society. Watch here

In the case of Jeffs, the contraception talk may also be aimed at his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day S...

It looks like polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs is weighing in on sex education.

"Let schools be purified," he writes from his Texas prison cell in the latest set of purported revelations from God, which his followers copy and mail out by the thousands. "Cast out all immoral way of teaching to be unclothed before one another, for such promoteth evil in youth from youngest years."

In related news, the Utah House of Representatives just passed a bill allowing schools to drop sexual education classes (aka abstinence-only.)

As of Thursday afternoon, the Utah attorney general hadn't yet filed an appeal of Monday's ruling ordering it to pay four years of debts owed to administrators of the UEP Trust within 90 days. Read the story here.

Of course, they didn't file an appeal for months after Judge Denise Lindberg first ordered them to make the payment in August, (read August order story here and appeal story here) but th...

A Utah senator plans to introduce a bill this week that could disband the Colorado City/Hildale Marshals Office. Read my story here

A.G. Mark Shurtleff told me the proposal, which hasn't hit the legislature yet, would suggest investigating the six members of the Marshal's office to see it they're fit for duty. If half of the officers fail, the department could go away, to be replaced by the county.

By the way, back in 2004 a Hildale decertification investigation started ...

The 18-page complaint seeking $100 million to compensate for damage to Willie Jessop's excavating business is really a fascinating read, with more detail from him on what caused his break with/expulsion from the church and on the nighttime break-in at his business.

(Read the part where Lyle Jeffs allegedly threatens to publicly accuse Willie of adultery, then Willie claims that he knows that Lyle Jeffs and another church leader fathered children with wives who had been reassigned to them — after the women were supposed to have been back with their original husbands. Drama.)

It'll be interesting to see how this suit goes down. Think we'll see a legal response from th...