Budget negotiations stalled Tuesday when rank-and-file Republican lawmakers balked at the deal legislative leaders brokered with the Governor's Office. Some tried to shoehorn their own projects into the budget while others tried to siphon off education funds for different programs during two-hour private meetings held by Senate and House Republicans that ended without agreement. Senate President John Valentine said it looks like the Legislature is headed for another last-minute funding compromise.

IHC plays nice, dodges ICU

Intermountain Health Care escaped the wrath of the state Legislature by agreeing Thursday to turn over sensitive corporate documents to a panel of lawmakers who will examine the company's inner workings. By guaranteeing their open participation in a two-year task force, IHC executives headed off any number of punitive actions lawmakers were contemplating, including a new 3 percent tax, the forced selling of their health insurance division and the loss of their tax-exempt status.

Tuition-tax credits die again

A multiyear fight to give tax breaks to parents paying private-school tuition failed again this year. After hours of debate Friday morning, the last possible day to hear the bill, the House defeated tuition-tax credits 40-34, surprising the sponsor and many observers.

Club forced to fold

Ante up. Members of the Big City Poker Club filed a civil suit in 3rd District Court against the University of Utah on Tuesday after students and school officials withdrew their support for hosting a for-profit poker tournament, scheduled on campus last week. The suit claims the university breached its contract with the poker club by canceling the tournament at the last minute.

A scene from "Faux Paw," above, and a character from "Pet Shop," below.

For animated films, BYU students score two Emmys

Brigham Young University won two student Emmy awards for animated filmmaking, including one for a short that will be distributed to elementary schools around the country. Two films produced by students at the college's new animation department - each about cuddly animals struggling in a challenging world - earned the student version of the award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation, the same group that gives out the TV Emmys. The awards will be presented on March 14 in Los Angeles. "Faux Paw," a four-minute animated short about the dangers of meeting strangers on the Internet, won the award for traditional animation. The film is a public-service announcement for elementary school students based on an idea from former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt and his wife Jacalyn Leavitt. "Pet Shop," a five-minute film about a chinchilla seeking the attention of a boy looking for a pet, placed third in the computer animation category.