Good morning! Here’s today’s forecast:

⛅ 23 – 36° in Logan

⛅ 28– 41° in Salt Lake City

⛅ 31 – 52° in St. George

Damar Hamlin has been the major story in sports this week, and every day he has surprised and elated the world with his developments. He is now breathing on his own, and yesterday, he Facetimed his Buffalo Bills teammates. The NFL announced several ways teams can honor Hamlin and the first responders and medical professionals that saved his life during their games on Sunday. Players can wear pregame shirts that say "Love for Damar 3," and the Bills wear a patch with Hamlin's no. 3 on their jerseys. I'm definitely rooting for the Bills this week!

Also on our minds: what Zach Wilson's role will be for the Jets on Sunday, Prince Harry didn't want his father to marry Camilla and a guide to studying "Come, Follow Me" this year.

In rural areas, homicides are 3 times as likely to involve an intimate partner

The tragic shooting in Enoch is part of a trend in rural communities. The Utah Domestic Violence Coalition said that the involvement of intimate partners in homicides is three times as likely in rural communities than in big cities, and 22.7% of Utah's homicides involved intimate partners or were the results of domestic violence incidents.

“The connections between all those directly involved when domestic violence occurs in smaller communities can be profound and overlapping,” the coalition said in a statement.

Jen Campbell, executive director of the coalition, said there is limited access to domestic violence services in many small towns in Utah and people may not know where to go to get help.

Gov. Spencer Cox's budget proposal includes $53 million funding for domestic violence victim services.

Does Republicans’ inability to elect speaker signal dysfunction to come?

As voting for the next Speaker of the House continued into Friday, Utah Congressman John Curtis is worried about what it means for the new Congress the next two years.

Curtis explained the intricacies of the process to elect the speaker in a video posted before voting started on Thursday.

“What’s really most discouraging to me about the last couple of days is it is an indication how the next two years will likely go and the dysfunction that might be extended for two years,” he said.

He said the animosity and dysfunction in the Republican Party compared to "unity of the Democrats" has been "embarrassing."

Read what else Curtis had to say.

Technology:

Info on over 200 million Twitter users posted online in massive hack (Deseret News)
Meta sued for promoting violence in Ethiopia (Deseret News)

Police and Courts:

Judge warns about underage drinking in emotional sentencing for fatal auto-pedestrian crash (KSL)
Deceased teen’s father files civil lawsuit in federal court against Hurricane youth treatment center (St. George News)
Nibley man gets prison time for sexually exploiting minors, forging documents (KSL)
'Bad feeling' prompted West Valley man to shoot, kill roommate, charges say (KSL)

Business:

FTC proposes ban on noncompete agreements (Deseret News)
This 2023 Sundance Film Festival selection was filmed entirely in Utah (Utah Business)

Health:

FDA fast-tracks approval of early Alzheimer’s drug (Deseret News)

Faith:

A guide to studying ‘Come, Follow Me’ in 2023 (Deseret News)

Wasatch Front:

Another 2030 Winter Games contender? What’s known about the surprise ‘European super bid’ (Deseret News)

Southern Utah:

Crowds pack St. George City chambers over worry of council dropping support of farmers market (St. George News)

The West:

U.S. Marshals arrest man in Rexburg for Puerto Rico homicide (East Idaho News)

The Nation:

Delta Air Lines will soon be offering free Wi-Fi on flights (Deseret News)
It’s an active one — Hawaii’s youngest volcano erupts again (Deseret News)

The World:

Russia calls for a 36-hour ceasefire during Orthodox Christmas (Deseret News)
10 injured in Miami during French Montana’s video shoot (Deseret News)

Culture:

Prince Harry expressed concerns about Camilla, and everything else we know about his upcoming memoir ‘Spare’ (Deseret News)
‘Wednesday’ slated for second season on Netflix (Deseret News)
This week on Reddit: Users discuss what our society’s greatest ‘scams’ are (Deseret News)

Why Zach Wilson will back up Joe Flacco in Jets’ season finale and not start with Mike White ailing

The New York Jets have named Joe Flacco as their starting quarterback for their season finale in place of Mike White, who is still recovering from his rib injury, instead of Zach Wilson.

Wilson was inactive last week and was expected to be inactive again on Sunday.

“I want to get him to the offseason so we can attack the plan that we’ve been building,” Saleh said, according to ESPN. “Putting him out there right now is not going to do him any good; it’s not going to do anyone any good. For Zach, it’s all about ‘23.”

Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur admitted the decision to start Zach Wilson as a rookie may have been a mistake and detrimental to his development.

“In hindsight, it probably would’ve benefited (him) just to sit back and learn a little bit and watch a veteran and just kind of grow in this league — kind of in the backseat, watching,” he said on Thursday.

Read what else the Jets are saying about Wilson's development.

New With The:

BYU Cougars: What challenges await BYU as it visits Steve Lavin-led San Diego (Deseret News)
USMNT: What you need to know about the scandal that rocked the soccer world this week (Deseret News)
Utah Utes: Can Runnin’ Utes’ remarkable Pac-12 run continue against perennial nemesis Oregon? (Deseret News)

Check your inbox tomorrow morning for more news from the Beehive State and beyond! Reply to this email or email newsletters@deseretnews.com to tell us what you think of Utah Today!

— Krysyan