PRESIDENT - The Salt Lake Tribune

U.S. acknowledges killing four Americans in drone strikes

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:01:45 MDT

U.S. acknowledges killing four Americans in drone strikes

By Pete Yost The Associated Press

Updated May 22, 2013 04:01PM MDT

Washington • The Obama administration acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009 in Pakistan and Yemen. The disclosure to Congress comes on the eve of a major national security speech by President Barack Obama. In conducting U.S. counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida and its associated forces, the government has targeted and killed one American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, and is aware of the killing by U.S. drones of th...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Independent prosecutor

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Independent prosecutor

Updated May 22, 2013 01:01AM MDT

The reprint of The Washington Post editorial “Obama is no Nixon, but misdeeds not trivial” (Opinion, May 20) misses one very important point. In the beginning, we were not aware that Nixon was Nixon. It took a long time to dot the i’s and cross the t’s before we all knew who President Richard Nixon really was. We have no evidence that President Barack Obama has taken the same path, but that is exactly why we need an independent prosecutor to investigate all of these allegations and scandals an...

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Colangelo out as Raptors GM, still president

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:54:32 MDT

Colangelo out as Raptors GM, still president

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 21, 2013 11:54PM MDT

Toronto • Bryan Colangelo is still president of the Toronto Raptors, but he’s no longer the club’s general manager. The Raptors announced Tuesday that while Colangelo’s contract as team president is being extended, a new general manager will be hired within the next 30 days. The changes were announced by Tim Leiweke, who is the incoming CEO of team owner Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Leiweke also said he is moving up his start date from July 1 to June 3. Leiweke was hired last month...

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GOP overplays its hand

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

GOP overplays its hand

By Dana Milbank

Updated May 21, 2013 01:01AM MDT

WASHINGTON — By the end of a truly dismal week in his presidency, President Obama remained lucky in one crucial category: his opposition. It has been only a matter of days since two scandals — the IRS harassment of conservative groups and the administration’s seizing of AP reporters’ phone records — have dropped into the Republicans’ lap. But instead of playing the public outrage to their advantage, Republicans have already begun overreaching, turning legitimate areas of inquiry into just some ...

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More Obama aides knew of IRS audit; Obama not told

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:06:06 MDT

More Obama aides knew of IRS audit; Obama not told

By JULIE PACE and CHARLES BABINGTON The Associated Press

Updated May 20, 2013 10:06PM MDT

Washington • White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior advisers knew in late April that an impending report was likely to say the IRS had inappropriately targeted conservative groups, President Barack Obama’s spokesman disclosed Monday, expanding the circle of top officials who knew of the audit beyond those named earlier. But McDonough and the other advisers did not tell Obama, leaving him to learn about the politically perilous results of the internal investigation from news...

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Funeral set Thursday for Frances Monson, wife of Mormon president

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:04:53 MDT

Funeral set Thursday for Frances Monson, wife of Mormon president

By Bob Mims The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 21, 2013 01:04PM MDT

Funeral services are set Thursday in downtown Salt Lake City’s Tabernacle for Frances J. Monson, wife of LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson. No public viewing was planned but the public is invited to attend the noon funeral, officials of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Monday. Further details on the funeral, including speakers and burial plans, will be released later this week. Frances Monson died Friday at age 85 after having been hospitalized for several weeks. Th...

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News roundup: Some Clinton loyalists vow to sit out 2016

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:43:02 MDT

News roundup: Some Clinton loyalists vow to sit out 2016

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 20, 2013 07:43AM MDT

Clinton loyalists too scared for a 2016 run. Bennett: Swallow should take a leave. Utah GOP rejects convention changes. Happy Monday. Four key advisers to Hillary Clinton say they will not take part in a 2016 presidential bid, saying they remain too scared from her 2008 showdown with eventual President Barack Obama and one offered some unsolicited advice to her former boss: "She shouldn't run as a front runner." [WaPost] Topping the news: Utah Republican delegates once again reject an atte...

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White House insists Obama was not involved in IRS

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:09:57 MDT

White House insists Obama was not involved in IRS

The Associated Press

Updated May 19, 2013 11:09PM MDT

Washington • A top White House adviser insisted Sunday that President Barack Obama learned the Internal Revenue Service had targeted tea party groups only “when it came out in the news” while Republicans continued to press the administration for more answers. Trying to move past a challenging week that put the White House on the defensive, senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer was scheduled to appear on five Sunday news shows to repeat the administration’s position that no senior officials were involved ...

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Obama is no Nixon, but misdeeds not trivial

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:09:57 MDT

Obama is no Nixon, but misdeeds not trivial

By XXXXXX The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 19, 2013 11:09PM MDT

Standing before reporters Thursday, President Obama declined an invitation to compare the recent scandals weighing down his administration with those that forced President Nixon to resign in 1974. So allow us to do the work for him: There is no comparison. Nixon, in a series of crimes that collectively came to be known as Watergate, directed from the White House and Justice Department a concerted campaign against those he perceived as political enemies, in the process subverting the FBI, the IRS...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Chaffetz and the I-word

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:09:58 MDT

Chaffetz and the I-word

Updated May 19, 2013 11:09PM MDT

Re “Chaffetz: Obama impeachment ‘possible’ over Benghazi attack” (Tribune, May 14): I accept Rep. Jason Chattetz’s blowhard grandstanding on almost every issue. His smug pronouncements don’t help solve problems, but they appeal to his political base. They add a lot more heat than light. That’s politics. But mentioning the political nuclear weapon of impeachment for what may be incompetence but probably is just impotence is totally irresponsible. It shows how unfit Chattetz is for the big tent. W...

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Abuse of power

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:09:58 MDT

Abuse of power

Updated May 19, 2013 11:09PM MDT

I totally agree with Rep. Jason Chaffetz that whoever is found guilty of abusing their power at the Internal Revenue Service should be prosecuted and sentenced to prison (“IRS officials should be jailed for tea party scandal, Chaffetz said,” Tribune, May 14). I suggest that Chaffetz begin legal proceedings against former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for war crimes, lying to the American people and starting a needless war that has cost our country and the world untold...

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Obama exhorts good deeds by Morehouse graduates

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:25:02 MDT

Obama exhorts good deeds by Morehouse graduates

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE The Associated Press

Updated May 19, 2013 12:25PM MDT

Atlanta • President Barack Obama, in a soaring commencement address on work, sacrifice and opportunity, told graduates of Morehouse College Sunday to seize the power of their example as black men graduating from college and use it to improve people’s lives. Noting the Atlanta school’s mission to cultivate, not just educate, good men, Obama said graduates should not be so eager to join the chase for wealth and material things, but instead should remember where they came from and not “take your de...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Obama agenda marches on despite controversies

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:39:02 MDT

Obama agenda marches on despite controversies

By DAVID ESPO The Associate Press

Updated May 18, 2013 11:39PM MDT

Washington • Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama’s agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office. “Absolutely not,” Steven Miller, the recently resigned acting head of the Internal Revenue Service, responded Friday when asked if he had any contact with the White House about targeting conservative gr...

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The president and the senator

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

The president and the senator

By michael harold paulos

Updated May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

During the recent effort to pass gun-control legislation, President Obama and his Democratic counterparts strategically framed the issue as an opportunity to protect America’s children from harm’s way. Certainly not the first politician to deploy this thread of argumentation, Obama and his surrogates’ recent appeal to Congress to pass “common-sense” gun-control reforms was strikingly similar in style and substance to the political rhetoric used by U.S. Sen. Reed Smoot of Utah, the Mormon apostle...

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Interim Southern Utah U. president named, public meetings set

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:39:28 MDT

Interim Southern Utah U. president named, public meetings set

By Lindsay Whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 19, 2013 05:39PM MDT

A former state higher education boss will serve as interim president at Southern Utah University during the search to replace Michael Benson, who is leaving to become president of Eastern Kentucky University. Richard Kendell, who takes over July 8, served as Utah’s commissioner of higher education for five years before retiring in 2007. Prior to that, he was deputy of public education under Gov. Michael Leavitt and superintendent of the Davis County school district. Kendell holds a bachelor’s d...

There they go again: House voting on ‘Obamacare’

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:57:02 MDT

There they go again: House voting on ‘Obamacare’

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR The Associated Press

Updated May 16, 2013 11:57AM MDT

WASHINGTON • There they go again: The House is debating another GOP bill to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law. Republicans are making their 37th attempt in a little over two years to eliminate, defund or scale back the Affordable Care Act. The government is months away from the rollout of coverage for uninsured Americans., Democrats say it’s a big waste of time, since the Democratic-led Senate and the president will simply ignore the House vote, as they have most of the others. But...

Obama promises action on a trio of controversies

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:55:10 MDT

Obama promises action on a trio of controversies

By JULIE PACE The Associated Press

Updated May 16, 2013 11:55AM MDT

WASHINGTON • President Barack Obama confronted a trio of controversies Thursday, pledging to work with Congress to ensure the IRS doesn’t abuse its power, urging legislators to provide more money to strengthen security at U.S. diplomatic outposts and promising to seek “a balance” between national security and a need to protect freedom of the press. “I think we’re going to be able to fix it,” Obama said, speaking in particular of the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny. He ...

Robert McKay, businessman, son of Mormon prophet, dies at 92

Tue, 14 May 2013 20:59:43 MDT

Robert McKay, businessman, son of Mormon prophet, dies at 92

By dawn house The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 14, 2013 08:59PM MDT

From a tiny shop on Main Street in downtown Salt Lake City, Bob McKay was always ready with a big smile, decade after decade. In 1949, McKay and wife Frances opened their first jewelry shop. Two years later they moved McKay Diamonds one block south, to 157 S. Main St., where it became a familiar site for more than a half century. That same year, in 1951, his father, David O. McKay, became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving nearly 20 years. The family’s notorie...

Kerry expects Syrians to attend transition talks

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:31:03 MDT

Kerry expects Syrians to attend transition talks

By LARA JAKES The Associated Press

Updated May 14, 2013 05:31PM MDT

Stockholm • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a stern warning Tuesday to Syria’s government, saying that new help will be given to opposition forces should President Bashar Assad’s regime decide to back out of upcoming negotiations aimed at ending Syria’s two-year war. Kerry said he has every expectation that both sides in the conflict, which has left more than 70,000 dead, will participate in an international conference to negotiate a peaceful transition in Syria. The conference, which ...

U. president’s salary climbs in national ranking

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:51:08 MDT

U. president’s salary climbs in national ranking

By Lindsay Whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 14, 2013 10:51AM MDT

Salary sweeteners designed to keep David Pershing in the University of Utah president’s chair pushed his compensation to 44th in the country last year, a jump for the U. in a national ranking of public institutions released by the Chronicle of Higher Education on Monday. Pershing’s compensation totaled just over $624,000 in fiscal 2012, but he didn’t receive it all immediately. Instead, he’ll get $175,000 of that total paid from an endowment five years into his tenure, said Cathy Anderson, assoc...