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Deseret News Marathon

“All the world’s a stage” in Cedar City as the Utah Shakespeare Festival returns for its 64th season.

The lineup includes a Tony Award-winning musical, a Shakespearean drama that hasn’t been performed on the festival’s stage for almost 20 years, and a tearjerking play that’s also been made into a movie starring Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton.

Valerie Jones made the drive to Cedar City to see all six plays. Here are the shows you can see this year:

A seventh play, “Dear Jack, Dear Louise,” will premiere later this summer.

Read more about each of these shows and what you should know about visiting the Utah Shakespeare Festival this year.

An inside look into Egor Demin’s magical NBA draft night

Dave McCann writes:

During a late-night phone call last summer, Travis Hansen boldly declared Egor Demin would be a top-10 lottery pick after his freshman season at BYU. Considering no one around here had seen him play before, except on YouTube highlights, Hansen’s proclamation was bold. The Cougars hadn’t had a lottery pick since Jimmer Fredette in 2011.

The former BYU star knew of Demin’s potential coming from Real Madrid in Spain, where Hansen played professionally (2009-11) and came to know Egor’s father, Vladimir.

When the time arrived to find Egor a school in the United States to prepare for the NBA, Hansen made a BYU pitch to his parents (Vladimir and Natalia), and once new BYU coach Kevin Young (former Suns assistant coach) got involved, the choice became an easy one to make.

Moments after the Nets selected Demin with the eighth overall pick in the first round of Wednesday’s 2025 NBA draft, the young Russian star threw his arms around his American mentor, and they hugged it out at the Barclays Center — Demin’s new home.

Read more about how Demin’s dream and Hansen’s prophecy both come true in Brooklyn.

FROM DESERET NEWS MARATHON

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Utah

What the Supreme Court’s Planned Parenthood ruling means for Utah (Deseret News)

IOC reassessing bid process that gave Utah a second Winter Games nearly a decade away (Deseret News)

New park and boat harbor connect residents to Provo River and Utah Lake (KSL.com)

Letters to Mike Lee: Utahns express frustration with public land sale, response to shootings (KSL.com)

Dramatic video shows rockfall narrowly missing people at iconic Utah waterfall (KSL.com)

'It's like COVID': Sugar House businesses feel construction sting once again this summer (KSL.com)

Pluralsight moving headquarters to Texas, laying off 17% of workforce (KSL.com)

Despite lower lake levels, Glen Canyon is ready for summer with new projects and visitor support (St George News)

Health

CDC reconsiders immunization schedule as RFK Jr. pulls vaccine group dollars (Deseret News)

Utah now has 5 measles cases and is expecting more (KUER)

Faith

107 people in Papua New Guinea are baptized on the same day (Church News)

Politics

Trump tax bill dealt major blow as several Medicaid provisions are axed (Deseret News)

Supreme Court limits appeals window for immigrants facing torture abroad (Deseret News)

Trump signs Curtis bill repealing EPA emissions rule (Utah Policy)

Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary turned acclaimed TV journalist, dead at 91 (The Associated Press)

The Nation and the World

Astronaut becomes first Indian to set foot on ISS (BBC)

Sports

Did BYU have the best sports year of any Big 12 school? (Deseret News)

What did the experts think about the Jazz's selections of Ace Bailey and Walker Clayton? (Deseret News)

Faith Kipyegon attempted women’s running history. These Utah ties were part of the moment (Deseret News)

JJ Peterka was ‘excited to come to Utah,’ GM says (Deseret News)