This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Now:

" ... The 'Sister Wives" stars — husband Kody Brown and his wives Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn — filed an appeal to the 10th Circuit Court ruling in their attempt to have Utah's criminal bigamy statute declared unconstitutional. They also want U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups's December 2013 decision, striking down the polygamy portion of the statute, to stand. ..."

Then:

Judge wise to leave 'Sister Wives' family alone — Salt Lake Tribune Editorial, Dec. 17, 2013

"Kody Brown has the same number of legal wives today as he had last week: One.

"He still has no right to defraud women, children or the state, to have sexual relations with under-age girls or claim any rights, protections, recognition or government benefits that are not equally available to people who live with, are intimate with, or have children with people to whom they are not legally wed.

"What he does have, thanks to a wise and deeply thought-out ruling from Judge Waddoups, is some security that neither he, nor the woman he is legally married to, nor the other three women he has taken as wives under the tenets of his religious faith, nor any of the their children, will risk being torn asunder by a state prosecutor who might feel a personal, political or religious need to haul the lot of them into court. ..."

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Now:

Utah alcohol sales reach new highs in 2016 — Kathy Stephenson | The Salt Lake Tribune "With every major holiday, Utah liquor sales continue to reach new heights.

"On the Friday before Christmas, for example, Utah had its highest sales day ever, reaching $3.7 million, 'a record by $400,000,' said Cade Meier, deputy director of the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (DABC). ..."

Then:

One step forward and two steps back at Utah's DABC — Salt Lake Tribune Editorial, Oct. 3, 2016

" ... After years of reports and audits that reached the same conclusion, and blamed the low pay for high turnover and low customer satisfaction, it is hard to escape the notion that official Utah just finds the whole business of liquor sales distasteful and takes no pride in even trying to do it right. ..."

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Now:

— It's an open question if Trump can restore coal-country jobs — but he's brought hope — Mike Gorrell | The Salt Lake Tribune

" ... Carbon County, traditionally one of the state's few Democratic strongholds, gave Trump 66 percent of its vote to just 21.5 percent for Clinton. Sevier County, home to Utah's largest coal mine (SUFCO), went nearly 10-to-1 for Trump (78 percent to 8 percent), closely followed by Emery County, (79 percent to 9 percent), where Rocky Mountain Power has two coal-fired power plants. ..."

Then:

New president can't turn back time on coal — Salt Lake Tribune Editorial, Dec. 2, 2016

"President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to reverse the Obama administration's regulations on coal, including the moratorium on federal leases and the Clean Power Plan.

"That is bringing cheers from coal country in Utah and elsewhere, but the enthusiasm should be tempered by the reality that the coal industry's biggest challenge is not regulation. It's the cleaner alternatives — from natural gas to the sun — which have been beating coal on cleanliness while matching it on price. ..."

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Also, just about the time I was getting all misty-eyed remembering Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" Sunday ...

... a lot of folks were mourning the loss of a more recent author.

'Watership Down' author Richard Adams dies at age 96 — Gregory Katz | The Associated Press

" ... Adams served in the British Army during World War II. [His daughter Juliet] Johnson said his experiences in the war often turned up in his books.

" 'He missed terribly his friends who were killed in the war,' she said. 'It got worse as he got older.'..."