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Happy Friday! Here’s the forecast:

🌤 41 – 65° in Logan |💧 10%

🌥 57 – 71° in Salt Lake City |💧 20%

🌤 68 – 89° in St. George | 💧 10% ⚠️

⚠️ Flash flood warning

It’s finally Friday! I hope you all have great plans and get to see some of the fall colors. Here’s your weekly roundup!

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💰 Opinion: Who is really funding Evan McMullin?: Last week, Chris Stewart, John Curtis and Burgess Owens published an opinion piece in support of Sen. Mike Lee. Reader Glen Mabey published his response this week.

🏘️ These are the most expensive states to buy homes in this year: Utah ranks in the top 10.

💡 Boxing and football put him in a fog, light therapy gave him his life back: Lee Benson did an interesting profile of a Utah man whose career in football left him with a severe brain injury. The University of Utah’s light therapy study gave him a new lease on life.

👔 Opinion: Ever wondered why Utah doesn’t have a single Fortune 500 company?: Some people might say Utahn’s don’t have drive or ambition, but we might say that we’re driven by more important things.

🍪 Utah Cookie Wars: Who won ... the Deseret News taste test?: With all the sad news in the world, this is the type of shoe leather journalism we need — a heated debate about what really matters: cookies.

💀 More than bodies: Lake Mead gives up a 12 million year discovery: Lake Mead has been giving up her dead — the evidences of mob crime, sunken boats, etc. — but now it’s sending us even further back in time.

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Also on our minds: What J.K. Rowling got wrong about the Golden Plates, how Utahns feel about same-sex marriage and the new Jazz recruits bring a youthful energy.

BYU can eliminate all forms of prejudice, says son of migrant workers who leads new Office of Belonging

Hard work, persistence, resilience and the power of belonging.

These are the life lessons that have prepared law professor Carl Hernandez to head up BYU’s new Office of Belonging, and he has lofty goals in mind. While many have viewed approaches to rooting out prejudice and racism with skepticism and feelings of alienation, BYU is seeking to root its program in long-lasting principles that defy trends and stand the test of time.

Read about Hernandez’s plans here.

Volunteers hold a rainbow flag while marching in the Utah Pride Parade along 200 South in Salt Lake City on Sunday, June 5, 2022. A new poll shows nearly three-fourths of Utahns say marriages between same-sex couples should be considered valid under the law.

Do Utahns support same-sex marriage?

According to a Deseret News/Hinkley Institute poll of 815 registered voters, 72% of Utahns believe that same-sex marriage should be recognized as legally valid with the same rights as heterosexual marriages. These results come on the coat tails of Senate negotiations over the Respect for Marriage Act which passed in the house with the support of 47 Republicans — all four of Utah’s representatives supported the bill. Executive director of Equality Utah Troy Williams said in response:

“Utah is a pro-family state, and we recognize that families come in all shapes and sizes. When we see loving, committed couples joining in matrimony, our natural impulse is to support and encourage that love. This gives me great hope for the future.”

See how the poll broke down by political affiliation, age, gender and religious affiliation here.

More in Politics:

Evan McMullin calls on Sen. Mike Lee to demand ‘false’ ad be removed (Deseret News)
Opinion: President Biden forgave my student loans — I wish he hadn’t (Deseret News)
Church and state: The implications of Supreme Court’s ruling in Carson v. Makin (Deseret News)

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Ensuring You Are Ready to Vote in the Upcoming Election

Be ready for the voting process so you can show off your sticker without the stress this November. Check out the Utah Election website. Learn how to vote, track your ballot, find candidate information, find voter registration info and how to update your registration preferences or address.

Business:

Key ways to build a sustainable business model (Utah Business)

Education:

'This is Silicon Slopes university': Utah Tech embracing role as only technical university in Utah (KSL)

Culture:

How do Americans feel about #MeToo 5 years after the hashtag went viral? (Deseret News)

Sports:

How Zach Wilson is feeling ahead of his likely season debut (Deseret News)
Utah may face a new rival for another Olympics. See what country is considering getting in the race (Deseret News)
‘These guys play with urgency’: Jazz’s young players are standing out in training camp (Deseret News)

Faith:

Perspective: What J.K. Rowling got wrong about Joseph Smith and the golden plates (Deseret News)

Northern Utah:

Debt notices push some Riverdale mobile home park residents out ahead of rezoning deadline (KUER)
Utah man sentenced 25 yrs to life on list of sexual assault convictions (ABC4)

Wasatch Front:

2nd Utah inland port audit blasts lack of ‘transparency and accountability’ in contracts (Deseret News)

The Nation:

Hurricane Ian Death Toll 'In the Hundreds,' Says Florida Sheriff (Newsweek)

The World:

Perspective: Has Europe turned Trumpy or just come to its senses? (Deseret News)
What do the protests in Iran mean for the regime? (Deseret News)

Thanks for reading Utah Today! If you have any comments, questions or suggestions we’d love to hear them — just reply to this email or send an email to newsletters@deseretnews.com. 🐝

Have a great weekend!

— Kathleen