New York • When baseball stars on expiring contracts get traded in July, there’s usually no need to find long-term housing.

Infielders Manny Machado, Mike Moustakas and Brian Dozier; starting pitchers Cole Hamels, J.A. Happ and Nathan Eovaldi; catcher Martin Maldonado; and closer Zach Britton are among the players dealt ahead of this week’s deadline for trades without waivers. All could be eligible for free agency after the World Series.

Most will find new clubs, like Randy Johnson (Houston for Arizona after 1998), CC Sabathia (Milwaukee for the Yankees after 2008), Aroldis Chapman (Chicago Cubs for a Yankees return following 2016) and Yu Darvish (Los Angeles Dodgers for the Chicago Cubs last offseason).

Few decide to stay, such as Yoenis Cespedes with the New York Mets after the 2015 season

Adding to the intrigue is last offseason’s slow free-agent market, which saw veterans scramble during spring training to find cut-rate contracts as opening day approached.

A look at some of the potential free agents and their situations:

Cole Hamels

Chicago is paying just $5 million to the 34-year-old left-hander, who struck out nine Wednesday night to win his Cubs debut 9-2 at Pittsburgh. If he is overwhelming the rest of the way, the Cubs likely would exercise his $19 million option for 2019. Otherwise, they would decline and get reimbursed by Texas for his $6 million buyout. If he is reasonably successful but not dominant, Wrigley Field could be his home for the next two years rather than him taking the risk of going on the market and getting squeezed.

Manny Machado

He is among the most-anticipated of the players in this offseason’s market, a free agent at age 26 who could command a deal of eight-to-10 years or more, perhaps with an opt out or two that could set him up for free agency again in his early 30s. Even if he leads the Los Angeles Dodgers to their first World Series title since 1988, he almost certainly would seek his market value. But if he does bring a trophy to La-La Land, there will be pressure on management to pay to keep him in Dodgers blue.

Mike Moustakas

A World Series champion and two-time All-Star with Kansas City, he expected a big-money, long-term contract as a free agent last winter. Instead, he re-signed with the Royals in March for an end-of-offseason closeout price: $5.5 million guaranteed and $2.2 million in performance bonuses he is on track to earn. He joined a Milwaukee team that has never won a World Series, losing to St. Louis in its only appearance in 1982. His home runs are down slightly this year and his RBIs up. He turns 30 next month. His deal’s $15 million mutual option seems designed not to be exercised. If he powers the Brewers to a deep October run, he’ll likely decline. If he doesn’t perform, the team will say no thanks.

Martin Maldonado

He is likely a short-term guest in Houston. Brian McCann had knee surgery last month and is due back in August, and the Astros obtained the Gold Glove winner from the Los Angeles Angels as an upgrade while he is out. Houston holds a $15 million option on McCann, who is valued by the team’s pitchers and in the clubhouse.

J.A. Happ

A left-hander who turns 36 in October, Happ could find happiness in Yankee Stadium. New York’s rotation is uncertain behind Luis Severino, with concerns about Masahiro Tanaka’s elbow, CC Sabathia’s knee and Sonny Gray’s fortitude. Jordan Montgomery won’t return from Tommy John surgery until late next season at the earliest, and while New York is expected to pursue a top free-agent starter such as Dallas Keuchel, or Clayton Kershaw if he opts out of his Dodgers’ deal, New York wants more rotation depth.

Zach Britton

It is hard to imagine Britton staying in the Bronx, where Aroldis Chapman is the closer and starting pitching is a more urgent need. But David Robertson is a free agent after the season and Dellin Betances is under control for only one more year. New York general manager Brian Cashman gave Andrew Miller a $36 million, four-year deal after the 2014 season when he already had Robertson to close and Betances to set up.

Provo • When he was a youngster, Beau Hoge wanted to play running back because that’s the position his father, Merril Hoge, played in the National Football League. But the former Pittsburgh Steelers great persuaded his son to play quarterback because he has an additional blocker in front of him.

Well, Beau Hoge will get to realize his childhood dream for BYU this season, even if it means giving up the position he grew to love.

When BYU’s coaches said last month they wanted to whittle down the starting quarterback race as quickly as possible, they weren’t kidding. Hoge, a redshirt junior, lined up at the running back position Thursday afternoon as preseason training camp opened. He’s listed as QB/RB on the roster, but spoke as if the change is permanent.

Beau Hoge talks about moving from quarterback to running back as preseason camp opens at BYU. pic.twitter.com/1H4p2kPYy1

— Jay Drew (@drewjay) August 3, 2018

“Last time I played running back was in the fifth grade,” he said. “It was kind of tough at first when they approached me about it. But at the end of the day, it is all about whatever is best for the team.”

So BYU’s quarterback derby is down to three: senior Tanner Mangum, sophomore Joe Critchlow and freshman Zach Wilson. Wilson looked especially sharp in the media viewing portion of practice, throwing a couple long touchdown passes in 7 on 7 drills..

Quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Aaron Roderick said moving Hoge to running back is part of the plan to get the best 11 players on the field.

“Beau is one of the best athletes on this team. He’s got size, he’s got speed. He is versatile. He can do a lot of things,” Roderick said. “He was a great receiver in high school before he moved to quarterback. We know he can run with the ball. So we are giving him a shot right now.”

Matt Hadley, the senior who has played safety and linebacker, also took some handoffs on Thursday.

Hoge said he was approached with the idea of changing positions last April, shortly after spring camp ended. He talked through the potential change with his father, who was supportive.

“Whatever I want to do, and whatever makes me happy, my dad is all there and fully supportive,” he said. “He is excited for me to get on the field.”

Not surprisingly, Critchlow and Mangum also endorsed the move.

“Beau is an incredible athlete,” Critchlow said. “I feel confident with him anywhere on the field. If the coaches think he can help us at running back, so be it. It is going to be great handing off to him and having him blocking in the backfield, too.”

Roderick said the reps were divided evenly between the remaining three competitors for the starting QB position, and he will stay with that plan for the first two or three practices.

“And then we will see if somebody starts to separate a little bit,” Roderick said.

Coach Kalani Sitake called the first day of camp fairly routine, but noted there is a sense of urgency because of last year’s 4-9 record and because the Cougars meet Arizona in a month.

“We have to play a lot of football in camp,” Sitake said. “We are doing things differently than we have in the past. That’s because of what we need to get accomplished before the Arizona game. We have to take advantage of all the time we have. We are functioning like the pads are on right now. I can’t say we are tackling right now, but we are playing a lot of football — probably a lot more football than we have in the past by this time.”

As for a timetable to name a starting quarterback, Sitake said coaches want to get it done “as soon as possible.”

Moving one of the candidates to running back is a good way to start.

A new lawsuit says Pleasant Grove’s latest attempt to generate funds for road maintenance “is a tax disguised as a fee” — and is therefore illegitimate and illegal based on Utah’s constitution, state statute and court opinions.

The Libertas Institute, a libertarian-leaning Utah think tank, filed the lawsuit late Tuesday in 4th District Court. The group hopes the case will result in a precedent that would affect several other cities that have instituted similar policies — including Provo, Vineyard, Highland, North Ogden, Mapleton and South Weber.

“Historically, cities have always [raised road revenues] through taxes,” said Connor Boyack, president of the Libertas Institute. “And many cities for various different reasons — not wanting to raise taxes — have begun just creating this separate fee that is on your monthly bill. ... It’s easier to do because then you don’t piss off the public by telling them you’re raising their taxes.”

Scott Darrington, Pleasant Grove’s city administrator, declined to comment Thursday on the pending litigation, but he confirmed that the city had been served.

As part of its suit, the Libertas Institute is asking a judge to issue a temporary restraining order on the city’s $8.45 a month transportation and road fee, which would be assessed on residents’ utility bills each month, beginning Wednesday.

“We’re doing this to hold Pleasant Grove accountable, and then other cities, as well, who are doing this,” Boyack said. “[We want to] make sure that they’re following both state law and the constitution — which require that this type of thing be done through a tax, it be done transparently and people understand what it’s all about, rather than trying to sneak it in on people’s monthly utility bills.”

Pleasant Grove, the lawsuit states, had pursued other means of generating the more than $3 million in revenue the city determined it would need to spend annually for 20 years to fix its roads. Among those were a franchise fee, bonding, a road fee and use of money from the general fund.

But after residents “overwhelmingly rejected” a ballot initiative that would have required the city to put $2.65 million from its general fund into road maintenance, Pleasant Grove began pursuing the fee — despite “much opposition” in public hearings and without publicly citing legal authority to do so, according to the lawsuit.

That’s problematic, Boyack contends, because a fee and a tax are very different.

Most importantly, the cost associated with a fee has to be equivalent to the cost of a service that’s provided, Boyack said. An electricity fee, for example, directly aligns with a household’s energy use.

But he says the city’s road fee, which charges a flat rate for all residences, regardless of household size, isn’t based on actual use.

“I might have five teenagers in my home, all of whom are driving their own cars, and then my wife and I have our own vehicles — so there we’ve got seven cars going all over the place, using the roads. Whereas another residence, maybe a great-grandmother shut-in, isn’t using the road at all, right?” Boyack said. “The whole idea is that those people are all now having to pay the same amount, even though their use is very different.”

Provo passed its utility fee more than four years ago, and Wayne Parker, Provo’s chief administrative officer, said the city hasn’t received legal pushback.

“In Provo, we tried really hard to ensure that our fee acted like a fee as opposed to acting like a tax,” he said, noting that his view that the fee formula is “a little more complex” than Pleasant Grove’s.

Parker said the city will be “watching with interest” to see how the case against Pleasant Grove unfolds. He said the utility fee has offered Provo a much needed way to generate revenue for road maintenance, since nearly half its land owners aren’t subject to property tax.

“A lot of other cities don’t find themselves with a Missionary Training Center, two LDS temples, a large university, county seat, state government buildings and state hospital,” he said.

Parker also noted that many legislators are aware of the utility fee funding mechanism and seem to like it.

“Local governments need tools," he said. "And this is a tool that allows you to effectively maintain your highway infrastructure.”

From “Mary Poppins” to “Freaky Friday” to “The Santa Clause,” Disney’s movie library is filled with stories of work-distracted parents learning that family is more important than career — but it’s jarring to see that idea applied to Winnie the Pooh’s human friend in the live-action tale “Christopher Robin.”

It’s jarring in part because of Disney’s interpretation of A.A. Milne’s stories and Ernest Shepard’s drawings that usually put Christopher Robin on the sidelines, gently tut-tutting the “silly old bear” after one of his misadventures. Here, he’s front-and-center, a harried adult played by Ewan McGregor.

In the movie’s downbeat prologue, we see Christopher Robin’s forced march into adulthood. He leaves behind the Hundred-Acre Wood when his parents ship him off to boarding school. We then witness him, in short order, dealing with his father’s death, falling in love and marrying Evelyn (Hayley Atwell), going off to fight in World War II, returning to Evelyn and his daughter Madeline, and landing a job as an efficiency expert in a luggage manufacturer.

(This story, we soon realize, also has nothing to do with the real Christopher Milne, who reportedly despised his father’s stories because of the celebrity that accompanied their success. That story was told last year, to dreary effect, in the movie “Goodbye Christopher Robin.”)

As we watch Christopher become a sad-sack pencil-pusher, preparing to send poor Madeline (Bronte Carmichael) to the same boarding school he attended, it’s easy to forget that director Marc Forster (“Finding Neverland,” “The Kite Runner”) is making a children’s movie. Only when Madeline finds a stash of her father’s drawings of Winnie the Pooh does the story come to life — because that discovery reawakens Pooh, who crawls out of the Hundred-Acre Wood and into London, reuniting with Christopher at a most inconvenient time.

Instead of preparing the important presentation he must give at work, Christopher takes Pooh back to Sussex — Christopher’s old play place, where Evelyn and Madeline are having a weekend without him — to help the bear relocate his missing friends.

Forster brings Pooh and company to life through computer animation that makes the characters look like felt-and-plush stuffed animals — except for Rabbit and Owl, who are designed to resemble real creatures.

While the script — a disjointed tag-team effort credited to Alex Ross Perry (who made the Sundance entries “Listen Up Philip” and “Golden Exits”), Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”) and Allison Schroeder (“Hidden Figures”) — swerves from midlife crisis to bouncy adventure, Forster keeps many of the old Disney hallmarks alive.

The voice cast is centered by veteran Jim Cummings, who took over voicing Pooh in 1988 (from the legendary Sterling Holloway) and Tigger (replacing the great Paul Winchell) in 1990. And the music of the Sherman Brothers, who penned the original Pooh and Tigger themes, permeates Jon Brion’s score, with Richard M. Sherman, still spry at 90, writing three new songs for the film — and appearing at the piano singing one of them in a jaunty midcredits scene.

McGregor and Atwell, once they emerge from the nostalgic fog of the movie’s first half-hour, buoyantly embrace the silliness of the story. But “Christopher Robin” is, in the end, all about Winnie the Pooh, and how the “bear of very little brain” again proves to be the wisest of us all.

———

★★★

’Christopher Robin’

Winnie the Pooh’s human friend is facing grown-up problems in a live-action story that pulls itself out of its heffalump trap to deliver a charming adventure.

Where • Theaters everywhere.

When • Opens Friday, Aug. 3.

Rating • PG for some action.

Running time • 104 minutes.

Baltimore • Jimmer Fredette’s team could never get over the hump Thursday night in the semifinals of The Basketball Tournament, a $2 million winner-take-all event.

Despite runs of 13-0 and 10-0 in the second half, Team Fredette could never take control and lost 80-76 to Eberlein Drive on the campus of Morgan State University.

Fredette, who averaged 32.8 points in the tournament’s first four games, had 11 points through three quarters, and finished with 22.

Fredette hit a 3-pointer with around six minutes remaining to tie the score at 67, but Team Fredette committed a pair of costly turnovers and Eberlein Drive surged ahead.

Eberlein Drive led 73-69 at the first dead ball under four minutes, and the Elam Ending went into effect, the target score becoming 80.

Fredette made a pair of free throws to cut ED’s lead to 78-76, but James McAdoo’s dunk ended the contest.

Team Fredette trailed 53-38 early in the second half, but went on the 13-0 run to get within two. Eberlein Drive answered with a 12-3 run to regain control.

Eberlein Drive will meet defending champion Overseas Elite on Friday for the championship and the $2 million check.

For the second consecutive year, the Madden NFL video game appears to have edited a song on its soundtrack to exclude the name of quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

In Madden NFL 19, set to be released Aug. 10 but available now via the “EA Access” subscription service, the song “Big Bank,” by YG, includes the lyric, “Feed me to the wolves now I lead the pack and s---. / You boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick.”

But the vulgarity and Kaepernick’s name have been removed from the verse on the game, according to a recording posted on Twitter by Jean Clervil. EA Sports apologized in a statement for omitting Kaepernick’s name, and called the song’s alteration “an unfortunate mistake.”

“Members of our team misunderstood the fact that while we don’t have rights to include Colin Kaepernick in the game, this doesn’t affect soundtracks,” company spokesman Will Alexander said in an email. “We messed up, and the edit should never have happened. We will make it right, with an update to Madden NFL 19 on August 6 that will include the reference again. We meant no disrespect, and we apologize to Colin, to YG and Big Sean, to the NFL, to all of their fans and our players for this mistake.”

The company did not, however, specify how the rights to Kaepernick’s name differ from those associated with any other current or retired player included on the game. It also did not address the quarterback’s missing name on the Madden 18 soundtrack.

In Madden NFL 18, the song “Bars Of Soap,” by Mike WiLL Made-It featuring Swae Lee, includes the line, “She be hopin’ that I take a knee like Kaepernick.” But in the rendition played on the game, again the quarterback’s name is absent. The ex-49er was previously listed as a free agent who could be added to gamers’ “ultimate teams,” a branch of the game where players can customize teams’ rosters.

“I already knew the lyrics to ‘Big Bank,’ so when I heard it [on Madden], I was like, ‘um, did they just blank his name out?’” Clervil, 28, told The Washington Post in a phone interview.

“I’m mad I can’t get a refund,” he added. “It hurts my soul, because I’ve been playing Madden since Madden came out.”

Clervil’s post lit up Twitter on Thursday, especially after YG himself wrote on Instagram that no one had consulted him about altering the track.

Kaepernick was active on Twitter on Thursday regarding the matter, one of his tweets being a response to Big Sean, who performed the lyric in question on the YG track, and was displeased with its removal.

Kaepernick last appeared in a regular season game at the close of 2016, the year in which he gained notoriety for kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and economic and social injustice. He sued the NFL’s 32 franchise owners in Oct. 2017, accusing the league’s leaders of colluding to keep him off an NFL roster. The litigation is still pending.

Montreal • Johnny Football finally gets to play football again.

Johnny Manziel will make his first Canadian Football League start Friday night when the Montreal Alouettes face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the team the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner turned NFL bust began his comeback with. He last saw regular-season action with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns in a 17-13 loss to Kansas City on Dec. 27, 2015.

“I’m hoping to come in and just provide above average, solid quarterback play and give us something consistent week in and week out,” Manziel said Thursday. “I don’t feel I need to come up here and completely light everything on fire and throw for 500 yards a game and do this and do that. I just want to come in and be a solid starter, eliminate turnovers and hopefully make some plays when needed. I feel I can contribute that for sure. I feel our offense is ready to go out and execute.”

Hit by a series of quarterback injuries, Montreal traded for Manziel two ago weeks ago, and the former Texas A&M star backed up Vernon Aadms last week in a home loss to Edmonton. After going 21 of 32 for 168 yards and a touchdown in two exhibition games for Hamilton, Manziel watched starter Jeremiah Masoli play the first five regular-season games.

“What defense does John know better than any other defense in the league?” said first-year Montreal coach Mike Sherman, the former Green Bay coach and GM who lured Manziel to Texas A&M when he coached the Aggies. “He played against (Hamilton) every day (in practice). He’ll have to start eventually and he’ll have some growing pains. He’s not going out there with any expectations. He’s going out there to do a good job moving the football for us and I believe he’ll do that.”

The Alouettes are 1-5 and have won just once in 17 games going back a year.

“If we win this game we’re back to where we want to be, even after the mishaps that we had at the start of the season,” Manziel said. “It’s a great opportunity for us. We’re in a division that is a little down and that’s good for us because we can capitalize on that and maybe get on a bit of a winning streak and put ourselves in contention to get in the playoffs.”

Manziel will be the 14th quarterback to start for Montreal since CFL passing king Anthony Calvillo retired after the 2013 season.

“That was a different time than we have now in Montreal and it’s something we’re trying to get back to — being in contention every year and having a good playoff run and putting ourselves in position to win a Grey Cup,” Manziel said. “But right now we’re trying to build something, a championship team, and that takes time.”

Congressional Republicans are worried that their huge 2017 tax cut isn't resonating with voters. So they're doubling down by pushing for another big tax cut in September. It's much more a political gambit than an economic one.

With the assent of the White House, Republican leaders will propose a permanent extension of the tax cuts for individuals and small businesses, which had been slated to expire after 2025. This cutoff was done purposely last year to hold down the projected cost of the legislation — estimated at $1.9 trillion or more in reduced revenues over a decade. The tax cuts for corporations, and some affecting wealthier individuals, were made permanent from the start because GOP leaders knew it would be harder politically to come back and extend them.

The new legislation, still being assembled, will be packaged as an effort to help the middle class and to create new retirement incentives.

That's a ruse.

Any new retirement saving accounts would be in the form of tax breaks that primarily would benefit upper-income individuals. Moreover, numerous studies have suggested that such tax-based incentives mainly subsidize savings that would have occurred anyway.

The individual cuts enacted last year were skewed heavily to the wealthy, so a permanent extension would help the same group. Republicans also are considering making permanent some of the tax gimmicks contained in the bill. These, according to Howard Glickman of the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, have created "a nation of tax-shelter hunters."

Making the individual cuts permanent would reduce government revenue by about $250 billion in 2027 alone, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated. In the ensuing decade, it would add trillions more to federal deficits. The national debt, which candidate Donald Trump vowed to eliminate, is expected to soar to $33 trillion by 2027 from around $21 trillion today.

Deficit hawks are horrified. "The country is drowning in red ink," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "We certainly shouldn't pile on new tax cuts that would only expand our near-term economic sugar high." The Concord Coalition, another bipartisan group that opposes "unsustainable fiscal policies," says the planned measure "flies in the face of fiscal responsibility."

Republicans expected the tax cut to be a major political asset for them this year, offsetting the advantage Democrats enjoy as advocates of comprehensive health-care legislation. But that has not been the case, and it's Democrats who have turned the tax cut to their advantage by criticizing it for favoring corporations and the wealthy.

The odds of actually passing the extension of the tax cuts are not high. Last November, the original tax-cut measure passed the House of Representatives by a narrow margin, 227 to 205. The extension would also make permanent the sharp limit on deductions of state and local taxes from federal returns, an unpopular provision in high-tax states like California and New York. There may be enough Republicans facing election challenges in those venues, along with a handful of genuine deficit hawks, to make it tough to win a majority, as little Democratic support is likely.

Crucially, the extension would also require 60 votes in the Senate because unlike the original tax bill it can't be considered under a special process known as reconciliation. That would mean that nine Senate Democrats would have to join all 51 Republicans, a high bar.

Republicans might try to break off a few provisions to pass separately. But for them, legislative success isn't really the point. Mainly they're just looking to create a political talking point for scared Republicans in the November election.

Albert Hunt is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

This year’s World Folkfest in Springville features international folk dancers from Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, China, Hungary Peru, Slovakia and Switzerland. American Indian dancers and cloggers from Orem are also featured. The festival continues through Saturday with performances at 6:45 and 7:30 p.m. each day.

There are so many smoking guns in the Russiagate scandal that it can be hard to clearly discern what's going on amid all the haze. But clear away the confusion and what you see is the president flouting the law, not (as usually happens) behind closed doors but in plain sight.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump proclaimed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions "should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further." Sessions recused himself from the investigation last year, but Trump would dearly love for that decision to be reversed so Sessions could shield him from justice.

That Trump would lash out now is due, no doubt, to the pressure he is feeling from the start of the trial of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who is closely linked to the Kremlin. Manafort's trial comes shortly after reports that Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is prepared to testify that Trump both knew and approved of the June 2016 meeting between Manafort, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Russian emissaries offering to help the Trump campaign.

Trump's team, on cleanup duty, claimed the president is offering an opinion, not issuing a formal order. But when a boss tells a subordinate he "should" do something, it's not just an innocent opinion like "that's a nice shirt." Last year, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that the president's tweets are "official statements." Indeed, the president fired then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by tweet. If Trump was just expressing a nonbinding opinion, why isn't Tillerson still on the job?

When the president tells his attorney general he "should" stop an investigation of his alleged misconduct, that is strong evidence of obstruction of justice. It doesn't matter, from a legal perspective, whether the directive is whispered in secret or shouted for all to hear. It doesn't even matter whether the investigation is actually stopped or not. A crime is still a crime even if it's not carried out to a successful conclusion.

Trump's habit of committing obstruction in public dates back more than a year. On May 11, 2017, shortly after firing FBI Director James Comey, he admitted to Lester Holt of NBC News that he did so to stop the investigation of "this Russia thing with Trump and Russia," which he called a "made up story."

We have since learned a great deal from Comey's public testimony about the circumstances leading to his firing. Comey testified that Trump sought to extract a pledge of personal loyalty that Comey would not give, and that the president asked him to end the investigation of his fired national security adviser, Michael Flynn - "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go," the president told Comey, according to Comey's notes of the meeting.

Trump's lawyers argue, preposterously, that he did not break the law because he didn't know that Flynn was under FBI investigation. Then why did he make the request at all? Furthermore, according to investigative reporter Murray Waas, "a confidential White House memorandum, which is in the special counsel's possession, explicitly states that when Trump pressured Comey he had just been told by two of his top aides - his then chief of staff Reince Priebus and his White House counsel [Donald] McGahn - that Flynn was under criminal investigation."

Waas' scoop, assuming it is accurate, adds to the mountain of existing evidence about Trump's attempts to obstruct justice. A great deal of this incriminating material is available to anyone with a Twitter account. Here is Trump quoting an attack against his own attorney general: "The recusal of Jeff Sessions was an unforced betrayal of the President of the United States." Attacking the special counsel: "Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!" Attacking Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein: "Mueller is most conflicted of all (except Rosenstein who signed FISA & Comey letter). No Collusion, so they go crazy!" Attacking the FBI and the Department of Justice: "the DOJ, FBI and Obama Gang need to be held to account."

Little wonder that Mueller is reportedly investigating Trump's tweets, which form the most public confession of official misconduct in U.S. history. Trump's lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, may call "obstruction by tweet" a "bizarre and novel theory," but what's truly "bizarre and novel" is Trump's behavior. The president is engaged in a cynical and all-too-successful campaign to diminish public support for the Mueller investigation, potentially setting the stage for Mueller to be fired and the inquiry terminated. On at least two occasions (in both June and December of 2017), Trump tried to fire Mueller, only for alarmed aides to dissuade him.

Note that to be convicted of obstruction of justice under 18 U.S. Code § 1503, you don’t have to be successful in stopping a federal investigation — you just have to “endeavor” by “any threatening letter or communication” to “influence, intimidate or impede” an officer of the court. Prosecutors do, however, have to prove “corrupt intent.” Trump’s tweets and tirades provide a gold mine of such corroboration.

The impeachment proceedings would have already started if congressional Republicans weren’t colluding with Trump to obstruct justice.

Max Boot, a Washington Post columnist, is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a global affairs analyst for CNN. He is the author of the forthcoming “The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right."

I was heartbroken when I read Mr. James Marples' letter (“Clinton Meddled Too”) conflating Russian meddling with the Clintons' election activities. On the bright side, Mr. Marples helped me better understand why some in our country, believing that they are patriots, are willing to sell their souls, and our country, for a few pieces of silver.

Mr. Marples wrote that he could not understand why “the media and segments of the public went berserk” following the Putin-Trump press conference. Perhaps I can explain. I heard the president dismiss Russian meddling in our elections, a fact that has been established by every branch of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The Republican-dominated Senate Intelligence Committee has agreed with this assessment, along with the conclusion that Russian interference was designed to benefit Trump.

I am aware that our president attempted to correct what he said at the press conference: “I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t’.” Yet his befuddled clarifications have always included the caveat that there “could be other people [besides Russia] also; there’s a lot of people out there.” No doubt, yet Russia is the only perpetrator identified so far.

Mr. Marples complained that “pundits utter two words ad nauseum: ‘collusion’ and ‘meddling.’” After all, he asserts, we all know that the Clintons “'meddled' in the election.” What?!! Perhaps I can clear this up a bit. We have a word in English for attempts by Americans to influence elections; we call it “politics.” When Americans — whether it be the Clintons or the Koch Brothers — try to persuade others, when they donate money to campaigns, when they volunteer for the candidate of their choice, this is something we consider to be part of a “democracy.” When a foreign power, especially one hostile to our interests, attempts to influence an American election, we call that “meddling.” Perhaps Mr. Marples could remember it this way: Democracy = Good; Meddling = Bad.

With respect to the distinction between “collusion” and “meddling,” that, too, is important. There is conclusive evidence that Russia meddled, and continues to meddle, in our elections. (Remember that “Meddling = Bad” rule!) There is evidence that members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, and a growing body of evidence that Trump himself was aware of this, but it would be unfair to assert that collusion has been unequivocally established.

Finally, I do not know whether, as Mr. Marples wrote, any “Russian whispered in [his'] ear as to ‘how to vote.’” On the other hand, how odd it is that Mr. Marples parrots exactly what Russia wants U.S. citizens to believe and say! Perhaps some are unaware of the vast body of research demonstrating that people can be persuaded by messages in advertising, including political advertising, without being aware that their attitudes are changing.

Russia spends just over $1 million/month to influence our elections; they get quite a bargain for that! The evidence suggests that the Russians did in fact whisper in Americans' ears, and many citizens swallowed the messages hook, line and sinker.

Our nation's future is dim.

Ken Roach, Ed.D., is a Salt Lake City educator and a licensed mental health professional. He teaches graduate students about critical thinking in ethics, supervises an outpatient mental health clinic and serves on several professional boards. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

Utah County has the need, and support from community organizations, to open three needle exchanges tomorrow, according to Mindy Vincent, executive director of the Utah Harm Reduction Coalition.

But that hasn’t happened yet, she said, partly due to efforts to build partnerships with local government and law enforcement.

“We don’t ever want to just go trampling into town, [saying] ‘This is the law, we can do it,'” Vincent said. “We want to collaborate with people, and we want to work with the counties. That takes a lot of time.”

Vincent’s organization and others like it may need to move forward on their own. On Tuesday, the Utah County Commission voted 2-1 for a blanket opposition to exchanges, controversy-prone programs that provide free syringes to drug users and addicts in the hope of cutting down on injury and the spread of disease from used needles.

“It sounds like they don’t want to participate in exchange right now, which is fine,” Vincent said of the Utah County resolution. “I just hope that they are not going to actually try to block it. We’re just trying to help people.”

Needle Exchange Resolutionby The Salt Lake Tribuneon Scribd

State lawmakers legalized needle exchanges in 2016, with requirements that drug users who participate be informed of overdose-reversal medication and disease-testing and addiction-treatment options.

That law was sponsored by Rep. Steven Eliason, R-Sandy, who said there are “mountains of evidence” showing the efficacy of needle exchanges in reducing the prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C, as well as the taxpayer-supported health care costs of treating those diseases.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Eliason said after being told of the Utah County resolution. “A short discussion with virtually any epidemiologist or hepatologist will [make] clear that this is good public policy that reduces disease transmission and helps addicts get into treatment."

Nonprofit organizations operate needle exchanges independent of county government, Eliason said. That means that under the state law he sponsored, organizations like the Utah Harm Reduction Coalition have the right to conduct exchanges with or without the support or approval of government.

And Cody Law, a spokesman for the Utah County Commission, agreed with that interpretation of the law. The commission’s resolution would not halt the launch or operation of an exchange, he said, but it makes clear that the commission is opposed to such a program and that no taxpayer dollars will be used to distribute clean syringes to drug users.

“It’s more like a moral stance,” Law said of the resolution. “That’s what they’re talking about.”

The Utah Harm Reduction Coalition is Utah’s first and largest exchange provider, operating 10 programs in three counties: Weber, Tooele and Salt Lake.

The group’s operation was drastically reduced by Operation Rio Grande, a multifaceted law enforcement effort to mitigate drug crimes and homelessness around Salt Lake City’s Rio Grande neighborhood.

Before the operation, Vincent said her organization would hold two exchange events for a combined four hours each week in Salt Lake City, providing 1,500-2,000 encounters.

But the operation scattered the homeless and drug-addicted population, Vincent said, and the coalition now holds exchanges for about 40 hours each week at several locations, and it hosts 1,100 encounters.

“They all used to be in one spot, and now they’re not,” Vincent said. “We’ve gotten pretty stable in our numbers, but we will have to see.”

Continued law enforcement operations — like a temporary police “hub” at 837 W. North Temple — have led to additional migration of drug users, Vincent said, and to more attempts to find locations for exchanges. But she said that is a different challenge than the continued misperception of how the programs operate and of the benefits they bring to a community.

“Drug-related injury costs a fortune,” Vincent said. “It’s unfortunate people don’t see how much money can be saved if we just help people be safe.”

Two motorcyclists were killed and two more were injured when their group was hit by a pickup truck Thursday east of Kanab, the Utah Highway Patrol reports.

The crash happened around 11:15 a.m. Thursday near milepost 60 on U.S. 89. The group of eight motorcycles were traveling east, when one of the riders realized he left his bag at a McDonald’s. The rider caught up to the motorcyclists at the front of the group to let them know he was turning around. The rider waited for the westbound traffic to clear, and three other riders stopped with him, some of them in the traffic lane, according to the UHP report.

The driver of a white GMC truck didn’t see the riders stop in time, the UHP report said. The driver hit the brakes, but still hit two motorcycles, which in turn hit two more motorcycles.

One woman, Ingreborg Treitinger, 62, of Los Angeles, died at the scene. Another woman, Brigit Stein, 50, from Germany, died at the Kane County Hospital in Kanab. A third rider was listed in critical but stable condition, after being transported by air from Kane County Hospital to the Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George. UHP did not give any detail on the other injured rider.

The group was traveling from Los Angeles to Sturgis, S.Dak. That town is playing host to the 78th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which event draws thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts. The 10-day event started Friday.

Dear Ann Cannon • My boyfriend and I have talked about getting married. We made the mistake of telling his parents. They are relentlessly hounding us now, asking about our plans, etc. Also, they’ve encouraged his very large and loud family to join in. It’s enough to make me want to run far, far away. What can I do to stop this?

— Feeling Pressured

Dear Pressured • What can you do to stop this? Well, you can follow your own advice and run far, far away. Or you can stick around and see if one of the following strategies works for you:

1. Put the word out through his family grapevine that you want people to knock it off.

2. Better yet, tell your boyfriend to put the word out through his family grapevine that you want people to knock it off.

3. Since neither one of these strategies is likely to work in real life, just go ahead and get married already.

Congratulations!

OK. I apologize for being flippant. You’re in an awkward, uncomfortable position, to be sure. On the one hand, it’s awesome that your boyfriend’s family clearly likes and approves of you. Not every girlfriend has that experience. Still, it’s tough to deal with the kind of pressure you’ve described — especially if you’re not sure you want to take such a serious step right now. Or ever. I actually know people who’ve married because of familial pressure, and no, I don’t recommend it. So don’t commit until YOU are ready to commit, is what I’m saying.

How do you deal with his family members in the meantime? Smile. Be a good sport. Put up with their enthusiasm. I’m guessing they’ll calm down. Eventually.

Hang in there!

Dear Ann Cannon • I have my nieces and nephew over for dinner or take them out to eat routinely. I used to think that they were all very lovely, thoughtful people. But as they’ve gotten older, their devices (phones, etc.) occupy their attention, even at dinner. Short of texting them while we’re eating together, what should I do?

— Annoyed Aunt

Dear Annoyed Aunt • Be direct. Tell them politely and firmly to put away their phones while you’re all sitting together at the dinner table. At some level they probably know they’re being rude, so help them be their better selves.

Dear Tribune Readers • I’ve used the phrase “committed suicide” in several recent columns. This past week a reader sent me a thoughtful email, encouraging me to reconsider the language I use. Here’s what she said:

“The currently preferred terminology in the mental health community is to use the phrase ‘died by suicide’ rather than ‘committed suicide.’ It is a small and subtle but important change in helping the general public to understand that suicide is a mental health matter. I recently attended a Youth Mental Health First Aid course (similar to learning CPR but for mental health) and one of the trainers at the course noted the preferred terminology. It will help shift the blame that we too often place on a person who dies in such a difficult way and help us all to approach the topic in a more informed way.”

I’m grateful to the reader who sent this email. Anything that helps us talk about suicide in a more compassionate, knowledgeable way is definitely worth noting.

Got a question for Ann? Email her at askann@sltrib.com or visit the Ask Ann Cannon page on Facebook.

The recent rescue of a 13-year-old Utah Boy Scout, lost for nearly two days in the Wyoming wilderness, comes as a relief. Not everyone who ventures into the woods comes out again.

Garrett Hunter told rescuers that he had eaten ants and tree bark to conserve what little food he was carrying. That puts him at 10 times smarter than I was at that age.

If I had been lost at age 13, I would have eaten all my food within the first five minutes. Hysterics require a lot of calories.

I also would have guzzled all of my water immediately. From experience, I know that nothing empties a person’s bladder — and hurries the onset of dehydration — quite like terror.

This is something everyone should think about. How long could you survive if you were suddenly plunked down in the middle of nowhere with just what you have on right now?

Note: We’ll excuse all those who are reading this on the john, in the tub or otherwise attending to personal needs.

OK, here we go. As I write this, I’m wearing underwear, a shirt, slacks, socks and shoes. I have a belt, a pen, half a pack of gum, car keys, two knives, $23 in cash, assorted credit cards, an allergy pill, a 9 mm cartridge, a 10 mg Lortab and a terse note from Peggy Fletcher Stack asking me not to turn the volume all the way up when listening to Joe Bonamassa in the office.

OK, off we go. Poof!

Nothing around me now but a lowering sun, cool air, birds chirping, dark woods and lots of rocks. I’m in the wilderness with just the aforementioned to my name. Will I be able to last until rescued?

Probably not. In addition to the unforgiving environment, I’m also up against a set of bad knees, a mind that wanders even during emergencies and a pretty good idea that no one will bother to report me missing.

First thing I’d do is pop the Lortab and the allergy pill. If I’m going to die, I want it to hurt as little as possible, and I don’t want to be congested. Then I’d flop down and wait for fate.

This is actually a sound plan. Outdoor experts say a lost person should remain in one place.

Maybe, but I say how do people know they’re actually lost unless they spend days and the last bit of energy they have investigating the possibility?

The brutal facts are that you won’t know what to do unless you’re prepared for the eventuality. Garrett Hunter was mentally prepared. He started off eating bugs right away. He stayed in one place. He didn’t panic. Also, a bear didn’t eat him.

More than anything else: Don’t freak out. Save your energy. Keep your wits about you. That’s probably why I wouldn’t make it. I only have half a wit, and I’d almost certainly use it to make things worse.

Be careful out there, people. I know it’s hard, but let’s at least try to make it to the deer hunt without losing anyone else.

Utahns Against Hunger has severed ties with Taste of the Wasatch, the annual food and wine event that has raised money for the anti-poverty group for nearly two decades.

UAH made the break, said Executive Director Gina Cornia, because it has never received the $50,000 it was promised from the 2017 event.

“People gave money thinking it was coming to Utahns Against Hunger," she said, “and it didn’t, and that’s not OK."

This year’s Taste of the Wasatch is Sunday, Aug. 5, at Solitude Mountain Resort. Now in its 19th year, it has been a favorite event for many Utah diners and the culinary community. It brings together some of Utah’s top restaurants, chefs and bakers. The event attracts about 1,800 people each year who pay $110 for a ticket.

In years past, UAH has received the bulk of the proceeds, Cornia said. “It’s always really great to have this chunk of money for the advocacy work that we are doing."

It’s not the first time UAH had been shorted funds. In 2016, the advocacy group was promised $40,000 from Taste of the Wasatch, Cornia said, but it received $30,000.

Cornia said she wants people who have purchased tickets to Sunday’s event to know that UAH will not be a beneficiary.

Instead, all proceeds will go to 3 Squares Inc., the Salt Lake City nonprofit that produces Taste of the Wasatch.

3 Squares Inc. also offers a children’s cooking class program for youths from low-income households. It was an expansion of that children’s program that led to 3 Squares' financial troubles, explained Executive Director Karen Zabriskie.

The children’s classes have been held in a variety of community locations, including recreation centers and grocery stores. Zabriskie said she wanted 3 Squares to have a kitchen of its own that also could be rented to caterers, food vendors and other businesses.

'We really wanted to have a for-profit component," she said, “that would support our nonprofit efforts."

Zabriskie said she began construction on the kitchen earlier this year in West Valley City because several private donors promised to help with the cost. However, those private donations fell through, she said, causing “a horrible ripple effect."

“I pulled the plug on the construction,” she said, “but we had already incurred debt.”

That’s when she made the decision — without notifying the 3 Squares board — to forgo the Utahns Against Hunger distribution. (Board members did not return telephone calls for this story.)

“I can write a check and shut down 3 Squares,” she said, “or I can keep our doors open and try to get other funding.”

She chose the latter.

A financial record, which Zabriskie emailed to The Salt Lake Tribune, showed 3 Squares Inc. collected $196,568 in income in 2017; $137,390 of that was collected during Taste of the Wasatch. Grants and donations made up the rest.

However, the nonprofit incurred expenses of $214,852, including Zabriskie’s annual salary of $42,575, the financial statement shows. The result is a net loss of $18,283 for the year.

In 2016, Zabriskie’s salary was $71,500, the nonprofit’s 990 tax form show.

“No one feels worse about this than I do,” Zabriskie said. “If there were any way to write a check to them and still keep our doors open, I would do it."

When Taste of the Wasatch began in 1999, it was called Taste of the Nation and was part of a national network of fundraisers designed to fight hunger in America. In 2012, the national organization said it would be taking more of the proceeds from the local events. Local organizers, which included Zabriskie, wanted to keep all the profits in Utah, so they broke from the national network.

That’s when Zabriskie created 3 Squares Inc., appointed a board and changed the name to Taste of the Wasatch.

She’s not convinced that Sunday’s event will be affected by the withdrawal of Utahns Against Hunger. “Most people don’t come to the event because it benefits anyone,” she said. They come “because it’s a really good food and wine event.”

In fact, she hopes the 2018 proceeds will help her meet at least some of her UAH obligation in the future.

“At some point, I hope we will be able to make good on our promise,” she said. “I know what it feels like to be promised funding and not get it.”

Mortgage rates continued their upward march this week.

According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average climbed to 4.6 percent with an average 0.4 point, its highest level in nearly two months. (Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1 percent of the loan amount.) It was 4.54 percent a week ago and 3.93 percent a year ago.

The 15-year fixed-rate average grew to 4.08 percent with an average 0.4 point. It was 4.02 percent a week ago and 3.18 percent a year ago. The five-year adjustable rate average rose to 3.93 percent with an average 0.2 point. It was 3.87 percent a week ago and 3.15 percent a year ago.

"Mortgage rates trended higher over the past week as President Donald Trump and European Commission President [Jean-Claude] Juncker agreed to avert a trade war toward the end of the week, easing some of the trade tensions that had been putting downward pressure on rates," said Aaron Terrazas, senior economist at Zillow. "Strong Q2 GDP data released on Friday also contributed to the trend, but strong data were largely expected and already priced in to rates. The strength of the economy was reinforced in Wednesday's [Federal Open Market Committee] statement, solidifying expectations for future rate hikes this year."

When the Federal Reserve met earlier this week, it did not raise interest rates, but it did signal a September hike was likely. The central bank has raised its benchmark rate twice this year and indicated that two more increases are possible before the end of the year.

The Fed doesn't set mortgage rates, but its decisions influence them. A better indicator of where rates are headed is the movement of long-term bonds. This week, the yield on the 10-year Treasury crossed the 3 percent threshold. It hadn't closed at 3 percent since late May. When yields rise, so do home loan rates.

Bankrate.com, which puts out a weekly mortgage rate trend index, found that nearly half the experts it surveyed say rates will move higher in the coming week. Elizabeth Rose, a sales manager at Nations Lending, is one who expects rates to go up.

“With a constant stream of good news in the economy, mortgage bonds are under pressure,” Rose said. “When economic news is good, mortgage rates rise — and this trend is likely to remain in place. In the coming months, the Treasury will increase the amount of debt supply in the market, adding additional pressure to mortgage bonds and keep mortgage rates on the uphill climb.”

But Michael Becker, a branch manager at Sierra Pacific Mortgage, makes the argument that rates are likely headed down.

"The rise in Treasury yields and mortgage rates over the last couple weeks has more to do with increased supply of Treasurys to finance the Trump tax cut than concern over the Fed hiking rates," Becker said. "Once the bond market acclimates to this higher supply, I think some bond investors will be drawn by the higher yields and look to buy. This will help drive rates a little lower in the coming week."

Meanwhile, mortgage applications declined for the third week in a row, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The market composite index — a measure of total loan application volume — decreased 2.6 percent from a week earlier. The refinance index fell 2 percent, while the purchase index dropped 3 percent.

The refinance share of mortgage activity accounted for 37.1 percent of all applications.

“The 30-year fixed rate reached its highest level in a month due to easing trade tensions between the U.S. and Europe, and signals of economic growth in Japan and Europe,” said David Stevens, MBA president. “The purchase index was at its lowest level in a month as low housing inventory and rising home prices continue to be an issue.”

Washington • The U.S. hiring spree continued in July as the economy added 157,000 jobs and unemployment fell slightly to 3.9 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The U.S. economy has added jobs for a 94 consecutive months, a record streak that shows no signs of waning despite President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war. Many business leaders have warned the standoffs with China, the European Union and other major trading partners could cause layoffs if tariffs stay in place for an extended period of time.

Hiring remained solid in nearly every industry in July. Blue-collar jobs, especially in manufacturing, have grown solidly this year. Americans are optimistic about the economy, largely because of the many "we're hiring" signs seen across the nation.

The only red flag in the U.S. labor market remained wages. Despite many company executives complaining they cannot find workers to fill their open positions, wage growth remains sluggish. Typically businesses raise wages when it's difficult to find the talent they want, but annual wage growth remained at a disappointing 2.7 percent, the Labor Department said. Wage growth has been stuck around that level for two years.

Unemployment has fallen this year to its lowest level since 2000, and many economists predict unemployment will fall even further this year. If the jobless rate drops to 3.7 percent or below, it would be the lowest unemployment rate since 1969. African-American and Hispanic unemployment rates are hovering around the lowest rates since the Labor Department began recording those statistics in the early 1970s.

The last time the U.S. economy had such low unemployment in the late 1990s, wage growth was substantially higher. The current wage gains are barely enough to cover rising costs of food and housing for many Americans.

Firefighters are closer to putting out a brush fire that has consumed 123,975 acres on the northern end of the Utah-Nevada border.

The perimeter of the Goose Creek Fire, southeast of Jackpot, Nev., is about 70 percent contained. Crews were able to mop up and secure lines Thursday, fire officials said, and those efforts will continue Friday.

The heavy work is going on along the fire’s southwest flank, between Silver Creek south to Jackson Creek, where the fire has been advancing.

The Goose Creek Fire began July 26, sparked by lightning, and combined with a second fire, the China Jim Fire, southwest of Grouse Creek. At one point last weekend, residents of nearby Grouse Creek were told they might have to evacuate, before crews got a handle on the fire.

Officials say 487 firefighters have been battling the fire.

Happy Friday! President Trump chalks another one up to Fake News! — insisting that it was he who was kept cooling his heels to greet Queen Elizabeth II during their recent visit. Sen. Orrin Hatch gripes of “dumbass” opposition to the latest Supreme Court nominee and Rep. Chris Stewart says no one’s tougher on Russia than President Trump.

President Trump has stirred yet another controversy involving his visit last month with Queen Elizabeth II. Despite video footage showing the 92-year-old queen waiting for 12 minutes for the president and his entourage to arrive — even glancing at her watch — Trump now claims that it was he that was kept waiting. Still, the president says he’s not complaining, “Hey, it’s the queen, right?” [Politico]

Topping the news: Sen. Orrin Hatch had words for Democratic senators demanding to see tens of thousands of documents that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh dealt with as President George W. Bush’s staff secretary. “We can’t keep going down this partisan, picky, stupid, dumbass road that has happened around here for so long,” Hatch said. [Trib] [DNews]

-> Despite President Donald Trump’s highly criticized performance at a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, Rep. Chris Stewart insists the administration is tough on Russia and willing to stand up to it. [Trib]

-> Utah County commissioners has rejected the establishment of any sort of needle exchange program intended to address opioid addiction but the resolution may be little a feel-good moment for opponents. State law authorizes such programs. [Trib] [DailyHerald]

-> A mysterious “sewer type smell” in West Valley City has city officials telling residents if they “smell something, say something.” [Fox13]

Tweets of the day: From @Mrfilmkritik: “Orrin Hatch on Democrats opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation: ‘We didn’t treat their candidates for these positions the way they’re treating ours.’ Two words: MERRICK. GARLAND.”

-> From @MEPFuller: “I, for one, will always remember Orrin Hatch sticking up for Merrick Garland.”

-> From @thomaswburr: “I’m running late to a meeting with a Cabinet secretary because the president’s motorcade tied up traffic. #onlyindc”

-> From @JayPhillips1075: “I don’t care who or what you believe in politically in America today but the notion that the media is the enemy of the American people is frightening and borders on fascism.”

Behind the Headlines: Tribune reporter Benjamin Wood, senior managing editor Matt Canham and columnist Robert Gehrke join KCPW’s Roger McDonough to talk about the week’s top stories, including the first official Inland Port Board meeting and what Sen. Mike Lee thinks about 3D-printed guns.

Every Friday at 9 a.m., stream “Behind the Headlines” online at kcpw.org or tune in to KCPW 88.3 FM or Utah Public Radio for the broadcast.

In other news: The Libertas Institute, a libertarian-leaning Utah think tank, filed a lawsuit claiming Pleasant Grove’s utility fee for transportation and roads is an unconstitutional “tax disguised as a fee" and asked a judge to suspend it. [Trib] [DailyHerald]

-> Former East High School students who successfully sued the Salt Lake City School Board in 1998 to establish a gay-straight alliance club reunited to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the landmark LGBTQ-rights case. [Fox13]

-> Following the lead of the Utah Jazz, the University of Utah is cutting ties with Papa John’s Pizza after the company’s founder, John Schnatter, used a racial slur during a conference call. [Trib] [ABC4]

-> Zion National Park officials are warning visitors to be careful and heed expert advice after two separate groups of hikers had to be rescued after setting out without proper equipment. One hiker even mocked a ranger’s warning to use ropes and harness for the “subway” trail. [TribviaAP]

-> Utah firefighters from seven different agencies are heading to California to fight “devastating” wildfires, one of which, the Carr Fire, killed at least six people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes. [Trib] [Fox13]

-> Salt Lake City has installed a number of new traffic light signals sensitive enough to be triggered by bicycles, giving cyclists hope that they will be able to move through the streets more safely and easily. [Trib]

-> As more brands say they are going to stop making 3.2 percent beer, Utah lawmakers may be forced to act or face a ballot initiative come November. [Fox13]

-> Pat Bagley thinks Trump decrying the press as the “enemy of the people” reveals that he is the “enemy of truth.” [Trib]

Nationally: The Trump administration has unveiled new environmental rules that was significantly roll back tailpipe pollution standards established by President Obama. In addition to lowering the national standards, the rules would ban states from setting stricter vehicle emission standards. [NYTimes] test test

-> The Associated Press projected that Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is backed by President Donald Trump, will be the Republican nominee in the Tennessee race for an open U.S. Senate seat. Blackburn will face Democrat Phil Bredesen in the general election. [NYTimes] [WaPost] [CBS]

-> Apple is dominating the economy. On Thursday, the company reached a market value of more than $1 trillion, becoming the first U.S. public company to achieve such a milestone. [NYTimes] [CNN] [TheAtlantic]

-> On the third day of Paul Manafort’s trial, his bookkeeper, Heather Washkuhn, testified that she was unaware of the existence of more than a dozen offshore accounts controlled by President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman. [Politico] [CNN]

Got a tip? A birthday, wedding or anniversary to announce? Send us a note to cornflakes@sltrib.com.

— Dan Harrie and Connor Richards

Twitter.com/danattrib and Twitter.com/crichards1995