This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.

A long-standing collaboration between the Utah Arts Council and the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control's wine store in downtown Salt Lake City is coming to an end due to budget cuts and loss of interest.

For years, the store has showcased the works of area artists on a rotating basis, giving them exposure and sales opportunities while providing a more interesting space for customers.

But when the display of landscape artist Valerie Orlemann ends in December, it will be the last.

"It's unfortunate," Orlemann said. This has been good for me."

The Parowan resident first displayed her art at the wine store a decade ago, she said, "and it went really well."

That exposure led to the sale of several of her paintings and made patrons more aware of her work. The displays at the wine store have been particularly helpful for new artists and those living and working outside major population centers.

The Arts Council worked for years with the wine store, under longtime store manager Ron Harris, to match up artists with the store. But the council employee who coordinated the program retired and, because of budget limits, was not replaced.

When the council backed off, a couple of store employees, with Harris' support, took over the job of finding artists to display their work — until the manager was unceremoniously forced off the job after he announced his pending retirement last year.

He was replaced by a new manager, David Paul, who, because of further budget constraints, oversees multiple stores and lacks the time and the staff to continue the art program.

Null and void? • Looking at the individual bios of legislators on the Utah House's webpage just before the election, you might have thought some of them have fallen into disfavor.

The word "null" was inserted between their first and last names.

Definitions of "null" in Webster's include "amounting to naught," "of no value, effect or consequence," "insignificant."

So what did that say about Republicans Johnny Null Anderson, Stewart Null Barlow, LaVar Null Christensen, Kenneth Null Ivory or Democrats Angela Null Romero or Rebecca Null Chavez-Houck?

A House spokeswoman blamed a computer programing glitch for inserting the word. After I alerted her to the apparent nullification of several House members, she notified the computer experts and the problem was fixed.

Now, all those legislators, according to the profiles, are in good standing with leadership — even the Democrats.

Rogue Mormons? • An acquaintance who lives in Cottonwood Heights complained repeatedly about newsletters from the neighborhood's Mormon ward, or congregation, being delivered to his house.

He finally sent an email to the ward's bishop, asking if he could use his influence to stop the deliveries. This was the bishop's reply:

"I have passed along your request to cease placing Mormon church mail or rather recruit propaganda at your residence.

Why they place it on the door of non-Mormons is a mystery to me.

"It's not the paper but rather what it represents, is my hunch.

You're not the only person lodging a complaint, and rightfully so.

"I don't have any divine powers, and the more I research neither does the church."