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Good morning. Today’s temperatures:

Salt Lake City: 30 - 39°
St. George: 41 - 55°
Logan: 23 - 36°

We don't talk about Bruno, but BYU Vocal Point sure does. The group joined "Encanto" star Adassa and Utah's One Voice Children's Choir to cover the hit song in a video released on Friday.

Also on our mind today: Why shelters are overwhelmed with surrendered or abandoned animals, why two men were stripped of their delegate titles at the Salt Lake County GOP Convention and the major city that's bringing back an indoor mask mandate.

Utah and other Western states are facing a scary wildfire season

Utah, California and other Western states are experiencing far-below-average snowpack and early spring runoff.

Why it matters: Last summer, wildfires in California and other Western states led to fine particulate pollution in Utah at levels that the state usually experiences only during inversions in the winter.

And California and Utah have already experienced record-breaking heat this year, with warmer- and drier-than-normal conditions predicted into June, which doesn't bode well for this year's wildfire season.

Read why the deputy director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources said state fire responders are already in preparation mode.

How Utah Gov. Spencer Cox responded to Tucker Carlson’s rant

Context: You may remember that last week, Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson spent 11 minutes complaining on-air about Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Sen. Mitt Romney.

One of the things Carlson took issue with was Cox sharing his preferred pronouns during a virtual town hall with students across Utah. Carlson used a misleading video of the event during his rant.

What's new: After returning from a family trip over spring break, Cox responded to Carlson in a tweet. "If you have to doctor a video to make a kind gesture to a nervous kid look bad, that says more about you than me: What did Tucker Carlson get wrong?" Cox wrote.

He also linked to a Deseret News opinion piece by Paul S. Edwards, director of the Wheatley Institution at Brigham Young University, that included context about the exchange with which Carlson took issue.

Read more about the exchange between Cox and a high school student at the virtual town hall.

More in Politics

Former President Trump broke the law in trying to overturn election, Liz Cheney says (Deseret News)
2 stripped of delegate titles after double voting at Salt Lake County GOP convention (KSL NewsRadio)
Utah Sen. Mike Lee and A.G. Sean Reyes urge Yale Law School to punish students who protested conservative speaker (The Salt Lake Tribune 🔒)

Introducing the Deseret News Midweek Edition

The Deseret News midweek edition features local stories from the combined newsrooms of the Deseret News, KSL-TV, KSL NewsRadio and KSL.com. Subscribe to the Utah Bundle today to receive your copy of the midweek edition delivered to your mailbox each Wednesday.

COVID

The East Coast is seeing a jump in COVID-19 cases. Is Utah next? (Deseret News)
Philadelphia is bringing back an indoor mask mandate (Deseret News)
Millions adopted pets during the pandemic. Now shelters are overwhelmed with surrendered or abandoned animals (Deseret News)

Faith

FamilySearch names new director of the Family History Library (Deseret News)
Church releases open house, rededication dates for Hamilton New Zealand Temple (Deseret News)
Elder Uchtdorf, a former refugee, promises Ukrainian refugees in Poland: ‘You are not alone’ (Church News)
World Council of Churches faces calls to expel Russian Orthodox Church (Religion News Service)

Southern Utah

Kanab is caught between a housing crunch and a tourist boom
(KUER)

Northern Utah

University of Utah report paints a picture of homelessness along the Jordan River (KUER)
Petition requests new vendor for Orem school district feasibility study (The Daily Herald)

Police/Courts

Former Salt Lake police officer gets probation in connection with US Capitol riot guilty plea (KSL.com)
Lori Vallow Daybell restored to competency; trial to proceed (KSL.com)
Charges: Man claimed 'it was a kill or be killed moment' when he ran over motorcyclist (KSL.com)

The West

Record-breaking $4.2M raised in Utah conservation permits this year (KSL.com)

The Nation

President Biden announces new gun regulation. Here’s what to know (Deseret News)
These books were most frequently challenged, censored in 2021 (Deseret News)
A shortage of baby formula is worsening and causing some stores to limit sales (NPR)

The World

Ukraine war could end ‘within a month or two’ if the West issued a full embargo on Russian oil, Putin’s former adviser says (Deseret News)
Why Americans are about to face ‘enormous’ economic repercussions from the Russia-Ukraine war (Deseret News)

Entertainment

Which state will produce the best song on America’s version of Eurovision? (Deseret News)
Why ‘Father Stu’ is the most important film Mark Wahlberg has ever made (Deseret News)
This isn’t her first reality show. But this Utah singer hopes it’ll be her big break (Deseret News)

Joe Ingles shouldn’t have made it. But no worries mate, he did

Conventional thinking was that the reason the Utah Jazz signed Joe Ingles — after he was waived by the Clippers — was so 19-year-old Dante Exum, a fellow Australian and the Jazz’s 2014 lottery draft pick, could have someone from back home to talk to.

Eight years later, Exum is out of the league and playing in Europe. And “Slow Mo Joe” Ingles? Still here. Still taunting people to show him why he shouldn’t be.