This is the most important thing you will read in today's newsletter: McDonald’s is giving away free orders of fries every Friday for the rest of 2023.
Also on our mind: Why the speaker’s fight won't fix out of control spending, what the first images show about the inside of the new Orem Utah Temple and what’s next for Utah's Cam Rising?
The golden spike is here! And is 43 feet tall
On Monday, a 43.3-foot golden-spike monument arrived in Utah, culminating its multistate tour from Kentucky to the steps of the Beehive State’s capitol building.
The monument was commissioned by the Utah-based nonprofit organization Spike 150 and sculpted by Douwe Blumberg to tell the story of how Utah united the east and west of the United States through the transcontinental railroad.
The gold-leafed, spike-shaped monument has 74 different people portrayed.
“Our focus is more on the unnamed people and the diversity of the people who helped” build the railroad, Blumberg said. He paired dozens of not well-known railroad workers with a few recognizable people such as Abraham Lincoln, Grenville M. Dodge, Brigham Young and Theodore Judah.
This monument will reach its final destination in 2024 when it is installed in Brigham City.
Read more about the Beehive State history that's etched into the golden spike.
In a fiery and at times chaotic debate Monday night, Salt Lake City’s three mayoral candidates sparred for an hour and half straight with less than a month to go until Election Day on Nov. 21.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and her opponents — former mayor Rocky Anderson and community activist and business owner Michael Valentine — all came out swinging at each other in a debate largely focused on how to tackle Salt Lake City’s homelessness and on-street camping issues.
Here were some highlights:
Mendenhall responded to criticism that she hadn't acted quickly enough to address the city's homeless population: “That kind of impatience is indicative of someone who cares more about taking credit than getting it right,” Mendenhall said, crediting her team with working at “lightning speed” to build The Other Side Village “quickly and safely. And I’m so happy that dirt is moving at that site right now.”
Valentine, who described himself as formerly homeless, decried “horrifying” homeless camp abatements: “They’re unjust, immoral, they’re unconstitutional, they violate homeless people's constitutional human rights,” he said, blaming Mendenhall for directing city police to support those cleanups.
Anderson jabbed at Mendenhall for not working fast enough to open up more beds for the homeless: He said they’ve endured “two vicious winters” while Salt Lake County’s homeless resource centers overflowed. “This has been a lose-lose-lose situation,” Anderson said, pledging to “eliminate encampments in our city” while providing sanctioned camping.
Read more about the debate and what it means for Utah's capital city.
More in Politics
Will the prolonged speaker’s race fix ‘out of control spending’? Or make it worse? (Deseret News)
What Donald Trump says about the new Mitt Romney biography (Deseret News)
Chris Cillizza: In 2024, America will elect a president nobody wants (Deseret News)
Alexandra Hudson: True civility means making others uncomfortable (Deseret News)
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Health
Why more than 5 billion people are expected to contract malaria by 2040 (Deseret News)
Why strokes are more prevalent in women (Deseret News)
Faith
Photos: See the first images from inside the new Orem Utah Temple (Deseret News)
Oklahoma attorney general sues to stop US’s first public religious school (Religion News Service)
Housing
University of Utah says all 1st-year students who apply for housing by May 3 will have bed on campus (Deseret News)
Gen Z paying more than 30% of income on housing (Deseret News)
Salt Lake County
BuzzFeed ranked this Utah haunted house No. 3 in the nation. Here’s why its founder says that it’s ‘alive’ (Deseret News)
Video: See 80 life-sized skeletons overrun a Sandy, Utah home (Deseret News)
Utah and Tooele County
Eyal Harel: Is Utah winning the war on algal blooms? (Deseret News)
As Utah nears 200th fatal crash of 2023, UHP urges extra caution ahead of Halloween (KSL)
The West
Utah ski resorts take 1st and 2nd place in Ski Magazine’s western rankings (Deseret News)
Death Valley reopens after flooding in August closed the park (Deseret News)
The Nation
Off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot charged with attempting to stop airplane engine midflight (Deseret News)
Jennifer Graham: Is the era of the homecoming king and queen officially over? (Deseret News)
The World
Russian American journalist detained in Russia could face up to 5 years in prison (Deseret News)
Jennifer Graham: Coverage of the Gaza hospital blast is a wake-up call for media — and those who consume it (Deseret News)
Sports
What’s next for Cam Rising and Brant Kuithe? (Deseret News)
Future Big 12 power rankings: It’s Utah, and then everyone else (Deseret News)
‘One of the best teams I’ve seen’: BYU needs a supreme effort to stay with No. 7 Texas, Sitake says (Deseret News)
Does Travis Kelce play better in front of Taylor Swift? According to Andy Reid (and Adam Schefter), the answer is yes (Deseret News)
That's all for today. Check your inbox tomorrow morning for more news from the Beehive State and beyond!