Affinity for fraud » The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will send a representative to this year’s Fraud College, where participants discuss various types of scams and how people can avoid them. That’s significant because, in Utah, something called "affinity fraud" in which scammers exploit the trust fostered in close-knit groups such as churches, is rampant. Too often, that trust leads people to invest money with dishonest church members who sell them on a scam, take their money and run. Other churches are vulnerable, as well. Scams in which $1.4 billion was lost are being investigated or prosecuted in Utah, and new schemes are likely to add between $500 million and $600 million. All those cases involve affinity fraud. In light of these figures, church officials should do more to help prevent it getting even worse.

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A need to know » What mother hasn’t lain awake at night, wondering whether her teenage driver will make it home, and if something awful did happen, how quickly she might be notified. A bill in the Legislature would at least help alleviate the second part of that universal parental worry. HB21 would create a state database of emergency contact information supplied by Utahns voluntarily so that law enforcement officers could quickly locate family members when an accident or other emergency occurs. It wouldn’t keep young drivers, or anybody else, safe, but it would help get family members to the bedside or accident scene quickly.

Hail to the chief » History will remember Christine Durham as the first woman justice of the Utah Supreme Court and its first woman chief justice. But beyond that important symbolism, she was praised by other justices last week for her active interest in managing the state’s courts, one of the duties she will give up when she steps down as the chief in April. Her 10 years in that job have been interesting times, as the Chinese proverb goes. Due to falling state revenues during the Great Recession, the courts endured serious budget cuts. But with Durham’s help, they have managed to increase productivity with fewer people, something she acknowledged probably would not have happened so swiftly if not for the fiscal crisis. As a jurist, Durham is known for her willingness to carefully listen and consider all arguments before rendering judgment. Fortunately, she will remain on the state’s highest court as an associate justice.