It’s a suspenseful situation with the economy. Despite the 40-year high in U.S. inflation, consumers are spending money beyond what economists expected — even with a possible recession on the horizon.

For 43% of Utahns, this isn’t putting a dent in their holiday plans. They are expecting to spend the same amount on holiday shopping as they did last year, and 11% are even planning on spending more!

New study: BYU has the most politically diverse student body in Utah

A recent study ranked 159 of the nation’s best schools by how politically and ideologically diverse they were, and BYU came in 26th for the most politically balanced school with 32% of students identifying as liberal, 20% moderate and 48% conservative. USU and the University of Utah were also in the top 50, ranking at 44th and 45th respectively.

Senior research fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) Sean Stevens says intellectual and political diversity matters in higher education because creating echo chambers can ultimately hurt students and cause them to “feel blindsided” when they leave college and “create caricatures” of those they disagree with.

Read the full story here.

More in Politics:

• Perspective: Does Yale Law School deserve to be canceled? (Deseret News)
• Guest opinion: Evan McMullin and Senate committees (Utah Policy)

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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.

Family:

• Perspective: Thoughts from a hospital bed on gifts and giving (Deseret News)

Environment:

• Opinion: We can have solar power — without the aesthetically questionable roof panels (Deseret News)
• Let’s bring back the woolly mammoth (Utah Business)

Culture:

• Salman Rushdie has lost use of an eye and hand after knife attack (Deseret News)
• Why climate activists threw mashed potatoes at a Monet painting (Deseret News)
• First day of massive Las Vegas music festival canceled due to strong winds (FOX13)

Health:

• What signs doctors say to look for as RSV cases spike (KSL)

Faith:

• Q&A: Jason Olson on Latter-day Saints’ role in fighting antisemitism (Deseret News)

Northern Utah:

• Former Aggie hired as VP of public policy for Utah Farm Bureau (Cache Valley Daily)

Wasatch Front:

• Lauren McCluskey remembered by family, students, campus police four years after her death (KSL)
• Demonstrators ask Gov. Cox to fund housing for homeless babies in Salt Lake City as winter approaches (FOX13)
• Salt Lake’s real estate market is finally calmer but not cheaper (Axios)

Southern Utah:

• Over $5 million invested in Utah’s wildfire resilience; projects planned in Washington, Iron counties (St. George News)

The West:

• Utah’s first winter storm of the season delivers (ABC4)

The Nation:

• Rikers Island, New York’s notorious jail complex, is reportedly the ‘scene of a humanitarian crisis’ (Deseret News)

The World:

• Macron: Ukraine to decide time, terms of peace with Russia (ABC News)

Sports:

• Did the BYU football season hit rock bottom in embarrassing loss to inspired Liberty? (Deseret News)
• The foul and taunting that led to the Jazz beating the Timberwolves in OT (Deseret News)
• After epic failure at Liberty in which defensive changes fell flat, is BYU football beyond repair in 2022? (Deseret News)