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Blame lingering pandemic-era restrictions that make it harder for people to find a dog or cat they'd like to adopt.As I write this column, Marigold—my long-haired orange tabby who demands constant attention—is purring next to me. She's a delightful creature that I adopted at a local shelter's Five Dollar Fridays, where they adopt out vaccinated and spayed adult cats for that modest fee. I got her (and Fluffy) when my wife was out of town, so she's now forbidden me from visiting a shelter alone. I don't blame my wife for setting some ground rules, given that I can't wander...

The Utah County Sheriff's Department is revisiting decades-old allegations of ritualistic child abuse and trafficking. Detectives with the Utah County Special Victims Unit (SVU) are investigating a series of reports alleging "ritualistic child sexual abuse." Investigators from multiple surrounding counties are also assisting the effort, with the earliest allegations dating to 1990, according to local outlet Fox 13. Utah County Attorney David Leavitt called for the resignation of Sheriff Mike Smith over the investigation, saying that Smith was irresponsibly revisiting allegations against Leavitt and his wife. Leavitt held a press conference Thursday stating that he had obtained a report accusing...

President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general will tell senators “it is vitally important” that special counsel Robert Mueller be allowed to complete his Russia investigation, and said he believes Congress and the public should learn the results, according to remarks prepared for his confirmation hearing. William Barr also insisted in testimony he’ll deliver Tuesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee that Trump never sought any promises, assurances or commitments before selecting him to be the country’s chief law enforcement officer. ... “I believe it is in the best interest of everyone — the President, Congress, and, most importantly, the American...

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama, following talks with Jordan's King Abdullah, said on Tuesday it was "more vital than ever" to get Israel and the Palestinians back to negotiations toward a peace deal. But Obama, starting a week of intense Middle East diplomacy against the backdrop of popular unrest sweeping the Arab world, offered no new proposals for breaking the Israeli-Palestinian impasse after the failure of US-led peace efforts. The president plans to give a major policy speech on the Middle East on Thursday, meet Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday and address an influential pro-Israel lobbying group on...

Educators Lacking Common Sense Bethany Stotts, June 17, 2010 If there is one place where common sense seems often in short supply, it is in the classroom, be it in kindergarten or all the way up through higher education. Wisdom of the Faculty Lounge“We [Americans] are being run by the mindset of the faculty lounge, as if the philosophy or English department has taken over running the country,” writes former California State University, Fresno professor Victor Davis Hanson on June 13. Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. “Some of you were not academics for 21...

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A Dallas Cowboys season ticket holder is keeping a special promise he made to his best friend who happens to be a Vikings fan. Todd "Gig" Harling has brain cancer. When his best friend, Joel Stukas learned of his situation, Stukas promised to take him to Sunday's playoff game if he held on long enough. "Not many people can say that they've got a friend since third grade," said Harling. Harling and Stukas have spent the past 35 years as best friends. Harling is a die-hard Vikings fan. Stukas loves the Cowboys. Although Stukas lives in Dallas and Harling in...

Any dog who can pretend to snore while keeping one eye open on the sly is a keeper for sure! And as far as her new family is concerned—not to mention the entire neighborhood—Scarlet the pit bull is more than just a keeper. She’s an inspiration. Wes and Melissia McBride of Rolla, Missouri, were on the Best Friends website hoping to find a dog to adopt. At first, they thought perhaps one of the Vicktory dogs, but most of them are still not ready for homes. When they contacted Best Friends, the adoption staffers pointed them toward Scarlet on Adorable...

From Foe to Friend in Turkey Before he arrived, the Turks hated him. Now that Pope Benedict XVI is in Turkey though, he has made 73 million new friends. Not only has he sought to heal the Christian-Muslim divide. But he also supports Turkish EU membership at a time when the country really needs an ally.

'snip' On Thursday night, there were 1,700 animals at a pet collection center set up by the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Humane Society and its state branches at Gonzales, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Bafalas said. Many others had already been united with their owners. The rescuers are working off lists of stranded animals reported to hotlines by evacuated owners. 'snip' More often, they find a live animal to return to its owner. Dogs in particular, the rescue workers say, have held up well. "We've been surprised that most of them were in...

We had two teams out on boats on Thursday. Troy Snow has written about his crew in an earlier posting. Ours was similar, so I’ll keep this brief. Our team was me and Dr. Debbie Rykoff DVM. Also aboard and helping out was a crew from the Salt Lake Tribune. Leah Hogsten took photos for the Trib and gave these to us. (Thanks, Leah.) The thing I want to say is simply that there are thousands upon thousands of animals stuck out here, on car roofs, on porches, cats on roofs of houses. We saw no other animal rescue orgs...

Stabbed by friend, still matesJanuary 10, 2005A BRITISH man has been jailed for repeatedly stabbing a long lost best friend he had traced via the Friends Reunited website, and the victim still wants to be mates. Brendan Walsh, 27, nearly killed Noel Duff when he stabbed him seven times in a drunken rage because he mistakenly believed his friend had attacked his sister, Karen, whom Mr Duff had started dating. However, Walsh immediately became full of remorse and called an ambulance. Mr Duff was rushed to a hospital where doctors said it was a miracle he had survived a stab...

Washington - Research has long indicated that all dogs, from prissy Pekingese to slobbering St. Bernards, are the domesticated descendants of wolves. But scientists have tussled like puppies over the question of when and where the transition from wild carnivore to newspaper-toting pet began - and why, exactly, dogs and humans have gotten along so well. Now, a new analysis of dog DNA pegs East Asia as the place where wolves and people began their dance of co-domestication - not Europe or the Middle East, as some experts have contended. The work also suggests that domestication began about 15,000 years...