Population growth is becoming an ever-increasing factor in the way that cities plan and seek funding for education, housing, conservation of natural resources, land management and infrastructure. Some would argue that it is the single most important issue that shapes our future. Others accept uncontrolled growth as a sort of predestined fact of life that is out of our control as a species.

It is something to be dealt with by making adjustments to how we live our lives. For example, the shortage of livable space in urban areas can be addressed by growing upward instead of sprawling out. However, little, if any, thought is given to making attempts to control growth into the future.

At one time, zero population growth was a concept that was bandied about in academic forums and popular magazines. The idea that couples could control population growth by having two or fewer children was food for thought. Adoption was seen as a choice that a person could make regardless of ability to procreate. It was offered as a socially conscientious choice to make while fulfilling familial urges and needs.

The United States is not communist China. No one is going to tell families that they must limit their number of births. However, zero population growth is an interesting choice that individuals can make to help shape the future of those generations yet to come.

Brent Larsen, Millcreek

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This is the editorial page of The Salt Lake Tribune.

I am the editorial page editor of The Salt Lake Tribune.

This is not an editorial.

This is a column, or a commentary or, if you want to sound all hip, jargonish and New York Timesy about it, an op-ed.

An editorial, by definition, is an essay expressing the official view of a newspaper, as arrived at by its publisher and/or editorial board. There is no byline, no named author, because it isn’t officially the view of any one human, but of the institution. (And, as such, should never be blamed on any other editor, reporter, photographer, cartoonist, sportswriter or janitor, no matter how much you hate it.)

This is not one of those.

This is a column. The view of one single, solitary ink-stained wretch/pixel-wrangling drudge whose name and likeness are attached. Some of us work for this newspaper. Some of us have their work syndicated across the nation. Some such pieces are written by real people from the real world. Editorial cartoons fit in the same category: They speak for the one, not the many. If you quote from any of these, you cite the writer, and add the name of the newspaper as additional information and proper credit.

There are highly intelligent newspaper people who can’t keep the opinion page terms straight. They mix up editorials and commentaries and have been known to utter the fingernails-on-the-chalkboard oxymoron “guest editorial.” It drives me buggy. In that way, I’m a lot like the gun nuts who are unable to focus on the meat of any argument if someone can’t tell a clip from a magazine.

All this is a distinction that makes a whole lot of difference because, in journalism, who is saying something is often just about as important as what is being said. That is why most stuff in any newspaper — news, opinion, sports, bridge column, comic strips — is attributed to some source. It is part of the information owed to readers as they evaluate which of the thousands of bits of information in every edition to believe, take seriously, ponder, laugh at or reject outright.

It is why editors, readers, sources and people who get written about often disagree about how often and under what conditions newspapers attribute information to “a source in a position to know,” or “an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the department.” The concern that newspapers do that too often is valid, though, as the whole point of journalism is to tell people stuff they need to know, it is a tool that is much too valuable to ever abandon.

And it is why the editors of Salt Lake City’s two big newspapers are rightfully a little steamed at Rep. Mia Love right now for the sloppy attribution that has been part of some of her taxpayer-funded mailers in recent weeks.

Utah’s 4th District member of Congress — or, more realistically, someone who works for her — has been putting out colorful post cards that include verbiage meant to cast Love in the most favorable light. They include a handful of quotes that are attributed to “The Salt Lake Tribune.” Or to that other newspaper that I’ve just gone blank on.

To those of us who work here — and, one would think, those who are bright enough to read our work — such an attribution strongly suggests that the praise of Love was uttered by the newspaper’s official voice. It wasn’t. These out-of-context blurbs were written by outside commenters or, in one case, by Love herself.

It was misleading, deliberately or not, to suggest those sentences were the work of the newspapers. It reflects poorly on the congresswoman and her staff for standing by the misattribution instead of issuing any kind of correction or apology.

I suppose we should take it as praise that Love and her people apparently thought that putting those words in our institutional mouth made them more credible. But it didn’t.

gpyle@sltrib.com

Nero fiddled while Rome burned, or so goes the legend.

Our elected officials remind me of Nero. They may not fiddle, but they are oblivious to global catastrophes. And they literally want to put “oil on the fire.” On July 30, The Tribune announced renewed oil and gas leasing in Utah; coal is also being revived. Why don’t our elected officials care that burning fossil fuels will increase our climate dangers?

Fossil fuels have sequestered carbon for millions of years. In the 1800s, we began excavating and burning them to power the Industrial Revolution. It is a great achievement, but one with costs. CO2 that cannot be absorbed back into the earth accumulates in the atmosphere and traps heat. With more heat, the weather becomes more violent.

It’s time for solutions. A carbon tax, returned to citizens as a dividend, would encourage innovations to reduce fossil fuel use, yet the U.S. House just passed a resolution calling a carbon tax bad for the economy. How about tornadoes, fires and floods — are they not bad for the economy?

Mia Love was Utah’s only representative with the courage to vote “no” on this resolution. Reps. John Curtis, Chris Stewart and Rob Bishop; Sens. Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch, the choice is yours: Nero or hero?

Françoise Hibbs, Holladay

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It worked! The Tribune has successfully imitated the process established by passenger trains a generation ago: It is killing its own subscriber base.

Due to increasingly alienating editorial positions, even in news articles, undependable service and diminished content, we are joining the rest of our friends and family and turning to the internet. Sadly, we won’t be following The Tribune. There are better sources, even for local Utah news. That’s too bad, because we have relied on The Tribune for many years. We’re grieving the loss of an old friend, a role no longer filled by The Tribune.

Ralph Porter, Cottonwood Heights

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Lately, I’m having a difficult time figuring out if I’m receiving the right newspaper. I’m sure I’m not alone in getting extremely tired of seeing all the LDS-themed stories taking up so much of the front page of The Trib.

Last Sunday was no exception, with fully the entire front page and four of the first section’s 10 pages about FLDS girls marrying, and a woman being thrown out of BYU-Idaho.

If the plan is to attract more LDS readers, it’s apparently having the opposite result, based on letters from people canceling their subscriptions. I’m getting very close.

You’re not going to attract LDS to The Trib — you’re just pushing away us gentiles. I’m sure I speak for many in asking you to go back to printing real news — especially on the front page. We’re really not that interested in reading all the Mormon stories — we read The Trib to avoid them for a while.

If it’s important, fine — but most of the stories aren’t. If we wanted to read about those things, we’d subscribe to the Deseret News. There’s a reason we don’t.

Alan Linett, Sandy

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Unfortunately, the recently announced White House plan to roll back federal clean car standards is bad for Utah’s air quality, public health and the best interests of consumers.

Utah is a nonattainment state for air pollution. Vehicle emissions are the single largest contributor to our air quality problems and resulting adverse and costly health impacts.

Federal clean car standards reduce millions of tons of carbon emissions and save Americans millions of dollars from fuel efficiency. They also help keep America's auto industry competitive in a world market that is quickly transitioning to cleaner cars.

By contrast, rolling back the standards and revoking states' right to create their own standards — which has been in place for decades — leaves the auto industry exposed to years of regulatory uncertainty from lawsuits. It also flies in the face of consumer interests by increasing costs and reducing vehicle safety and ignores the right of 35 percent of the U.S. vehicle market in states that have adopted the California emission standards to address dangerous levels of pollution and save lives.

Utahns should urge the EPA and DOT to keep the clean car standards that received broad support upon adoption and that benefit consumers, the auto industry, labor, public health and our air quality.

Andrea Himoff, Park City

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As a frequent downtown pedestrian of an advanced age, I view with alarm the friendly coverage this newspaper has given to the menace of motorized e-scooters on our sidewalks. Silent, and potentially deadly, these nasty little two-wheelers come up quickly from behind, passing unsuspecting walkers without warning, zigzagging around the infirm, mothers with baby strollers, innocent children and the elderly. Of course, the lazy e-scooter riders are afraid to drive their vehicles among moving automobiles and choose to mingle with foot traffic where they don’t belong.

I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to drive a motorized vehicle on a city sidewalk. If I still had my old Triumph motorcycle and followed behind a couple of whizzing e-scooters as they surprise pedestrians, I’d be busted immediately. When will the city get these grown-up toys off the sidewalk and onto the playground where they belong? Why is The Tribune celebrating the electric scooter invasion? Where are the police when we need them?

Soon enough, sure enough, if nothing is done, someone on foot is going to be run down and hurt by a Bird or a Lime. When that happens, someone else will be sued into well-deserved penury.

Allen Dodworth, Salt Lake City

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I am responding to the op-ed by Mike Bailey regarding the need for Democrats to speak up for NFL protesters.

We live in a free country, and freedom of speech is a fundamental right. Part of our freedom is the right to seek gainful employment wherever we choose and the right of employers to set (reasonable) terms for such employment.

An NFL team is an employer, just as is Delta Air Lines or any other company. As such, it has the right to set terms for conduct in the workplace. Imagine how an airline might react if their pilots or flight attendants chose to wear protest garb vs. company uniforms. Sorry, no can do. Similarly, an NFL team has the right to tell players what they can and cannot do while on the field, while engaging in the workplace for which they are being paid. I wonder what General Electric would have told me while I was in its employ if instead of a shirt and tie I chose to wear protest clothing to work. I think I know the answer. Work is work, and one must respect the employer’s terms of behavior, dress code, etc. But work is typically 40 hours of a week in which there are 168 hours. That means one has the other 128 hours to engage in other activities one deems important.

Am I missing something here?

Jim Arnold, Park City

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What effect will the president have on his party’s chances at holding the House and Senate in the November election? Mitt Romney and Jenny Wilson disagree over what’s causing catastrophic wildfires. The state may be in for a surprise in a bid to buy the downtown homeless shelter. And columnist Robert Gehrke calls for charges against a San Juan County clerk.

Happy Thursday.

Tuesday’s election results set off debates over whether Trump was a drag on the party’s chances at winning the midterm elections this year. A Republican in a conservative Ohio district won a special election race, but at a much smaller margin than Trump took the district in 2016. That was after a pre-election Trump rally. GOP candidates and the White House are now trying to figure out what role, if any, Trump should play in races across the U.S. this year. [WaPost]

Topping the news: What’s causing devastating wildfires across the United States? Republican Mitt Romney: failure by the government to invest in fire-prevention programs. Democrat Jenny Wilson: climate change. [Trib] [DNews]

-> A state homeless committee that voted to offer $4 million for the downtown homeless shelter might be surprised when they find out the actual value of the building. The Salt Lake County assessor says the value of the building – which the state believes is a tear-down – more than doubled overnight. [Trib]

-> Three women reported to Ogden police that they had been sexually assaulted by a mall massage therapist, but the police did not do anything about it until a fourth woman came forward. [Trib]

Tweets of the day: From @MEPFuller: “I see that Rep. Chris Collins’s defense is that, as an Innate board member, the company’s largest stockholder, and a Member of Congress (who was already under investigation for Innate), he personally didn’t sell any of his stock. Just his son, who sold 1.4 million shares. Ah.”

-> From @ryanbeckwith: “People Trump accused of secretly taping him: • Barack Obama • James Comey. People who actually secretly taped Trump: • Michael Cohen • Omarosa Manigault”

-> From @RobertGehrke: “When a public official backdates documents to justify denying anyone the right to run for office, that official should go to jail. Full stop. #utpol."

Happy Birthday: To former House Rep. Fred C. Cox.

Trib Talk: State Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, and Tribune reporter Nate Carlisle join Benjamin Wood to discuss the factors behind teenage marriages in Utah and the arguments for and against raising the legal age of marriage. [Trib]

In other news: Salt Lake County will now provide preference to women-owned or minority-owned businesses, but Council Chairwoman Amy Winder Newton argued the policy would be discriminatory toward white men. [Trib]

-> John Coltharp, one of the two men who formed the doomsday group Knights of the Crystal, was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to child bigamy and child sodomy charges. [Trib] [Fox13] [DNews]

-> While Salt Lake City’s The Leonardo science and technology museum faced an uncertain future months ago, its creditors have forgiven 20 percent of its debt outright and negotiated long-term payment plans on the remaining $2.9 million. Will it be enough to save the embattled cultural icon? [Trib]

-> Due to high levels of blue-green algae at all testing locations at Utah Lake, health officials are warning the public to stay out the entire lake. A similar algal bloom shut down Utah Lake in 2016. [Trib] [DNews] [KUTV] [DailyHerald]

-> Rep. Mia Love said on Wednesday she wasn’t a fan of President Donald Trump’s trade policies, becoming the latest in a long line of Utahns to lash out against the president’s use of tariffs against trading partners. She’s planning to make a trip to China to learn more. [DNews]

-> Pat Bagley looks at other things America should bring back now that asbestos is making an apparent comeback. [Trib]

-> Robert Gehrke says San Juan County Clerk John David Nielson’s falsification of an election complaint to keep Democrat Willie Grayeyes off the ballot in the County Commission race should lead to criminal charges. [Trib]

Nationally: Rep. Chris Collins, a New York Republican and the first member of Congress to endorse President Donald Trump’s candidacy, was arrested and accused of insider trading and lying to federal agents. He pleaded not guilty. [NYTimes] [CNN]

-> The Trump administration announced new sanctions on Russia after its use of a nerve agent in an attempt earlier this year to assassinate ex-Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter. [WaPost] [NYTimes]

-> Robert Mueller’s team of prosecutors is preparing to rest their case against Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. But prosecutors have experienced a number of setbacks in what some legal experts would consider a slam-dunk case. [Politico] [NYTimes] [WaPost]

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

-- Connor Richards and Taylor W. Anderson

Twitter.com/crichards1995 and Twitter.com/TaylorWAnderson

In 1984, Richard Saul Wurman saw a convergence of technology, entertainment and design and decided to work with Harry Marks and host the first TED conference. That year, technical marvels included a demo of the compact disc, digital books and 3-D graphics. It was, perhaps, a bit too avant-garde and the event lost money. This time, the idea stuck and TED continues to host an annual conference.

TED — and its popular little brother, TEDx — are best known as a series of short, powerful talks (less than 18 minutes each) that contain an “idea worth spreading.” Can you name a favorite TED talk? Some of the most shared and watched talks have millions of views, but there are also excellent talks with only a few hundred.

In the top 25 most popular TED talks of all time, we find Brené Brown’s “Power of Vulnerability.” Her talk, presented at a TEDx event in Houston in 2010, has been viewed over 35 million times. Brown began studying human connection and began to see a pattern of shame and “excruciating vulnerability.” As she started sharing her findings, and speaking about shame, resilience, courage and authenticity, she found that her message resonated in ways she could not have imagined.

Speaking of her findings on “whole-hearted living,” she said that “those folks had, very simply, the courage to be imperfect … They had connection and — this was the hard part — as a result of authenticity. They were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were.”

She is the best-selling author of “Daring Greatly,” “Rising Strong” and “The Gifts of Imperfection.”

Another well-known TED talk is the one given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on “The danger of a single story.” Chimamanda shares her experience learning that if we hear only a single story — about another person or about another country — we risk making critical mistakes in judgement and understanding.

When she was growing up in Nigeria, she wrote story books about children who had blond hair, played in the snow and ate apples. When she came to the United States for school, her first roommate assumed she did not speak English, did not own shoes and did not know how to use a stove.

“The consequence of the single story,” she says, “is that it robs people of dignity.”

She wisely cautions about assuming that our single version of someone else’s story is the accurate one. It almost certainly is not.

One of the most powerful TED talks I have ever seen is the one Monica Lewinsky gave on “The price of shame.” Lewsinsky shared her experience about being “Patient Zero” in public shaming. It’s a blood sport that needs to stop. Twenty years later, she is still publicly bullied, shamed, mocked and attacked. One commenter after her TED talk even blamed her for 9/11. It was incredibly brave of her to speak so openly and vulnerably of her experience.

She also said this: “We talk a lot about our right to freedom of speech, but we need to talk more about our responsibility to freedom of speech.” She asked her audience to be “upstanders,” standing up and speaking out for those who our victims of our culture of shame.

This weekend, I will have the opportunity to speak at a TEDx event in at Thanksgiving Point. If I can be authentic and vulnerable, it’s a bit intimidating. It’s also exciting to share my journey of crossing the ocean — and the street — to serve and be served by my fellow sojourners on this globe. It might be a total flop, but I comfort myself by saying at least I’m getting in the arena, and if I fail, I will fail daring greatly.

Holly Richardson is a regular contributor to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Lehi • Like a true center, Logan Sagapolu’s right hand is bloodied after a steamy early morning practice. And like a true offensive lineman, it takes him nearly 10 minutes to notice it.

Such things happen. But if you show up to Skyridge High, it’s easy to find No. 77, the 6-foot-4, 340-pounder who enters his senior year as one of the most highly-regarded recruits in Utah.

These next few months, however, will be more intense than the last.

He’s ranked as the top offensive line recruit in the state by 247sports.com and has offers from several Pac-12 schools and high-profile programs around the country. Utah, Oregon, Washington, Washington State and Arizona have come calling. Ditto for BYU, Virginia and Nebraska. There will undoubtedly be more for the lineman who has started at every position on the offensive line his high school career, and recently transitioned to center.

“Center? Dang,” he said. “There’s so much pressure on your back. Last year I played left tackle and I didn’t have to worry about a snap. I could just get off the ball and do all that stuff. The center has to be the smartest one on the line. He has to make sure his snap is solid and then worry about his get-off, his hand placement and everything. Basically, if the center messes up the snap, it’s no one else’s fault — it’s your fault.”

Skyridge coach Jon Lehman said the move to center will bode well for Sagapolu. It’s where many programs envision him playing at the next level. The senior will also double on the defensive line in 2018 as a defensive tackle, because when you have a talent like Sagapolu, you take advantage of his rare abilities.

“He’s a load,” Lehman said. “We’ll move him around the lines a lot, for sure.”

Sagapolu has grown, Lehman added, in more ways than one.

Obviously his size stands out, but he’s worked to master the knowledge of the team’s schemes on both sides of the ball. That’s helped out his evolution, as he’s been asked to learn the ins-and-outs of as many as five positions on offense and defense. And as is the case with stars, you need them to help lead, too. Coaches only do so much.

“Really his demeanor and being willing to use his voice to affect people and push our team forward is a part of the maturation process,” Lehman said, “and that’s been a great thing to see from him.”

It can't hurt when your team's anchor can impress in more ways than one. In a video posted on his Twitter account earlier this year, Sagapolu is shown benching 500 pounds in the weight room.

“He’s just very strong,” Skyridge offensive line coach Bob Stephens said. “You look at him in the weight room and it’s pretty impressive. He’s pretty strong, yet he moves his feet very well. For a man of 340 pounds, he moves extremely well. Those are two great qualities. He’s a technician.”

500ibs for 5x5 pic.twitter.com/bBOhY5Zg0T

— Logan Sagapolu (@lsagapolu77) May 3, 2018

What lies ahead is a final season in which his aim is to help guide the Falcons back to the Class 5A championship. Skyridge lost to Lehi in the state title game a year ago. “There’s nothing really else to think about,” Sagapolu said.

It will be challenging to ignore the outside noise, though. His plan is to announce his commitment at the 2019 Polynesian Bowl at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu in January, which means a little extra to Sagapolu, because his dad, Tavita, who coaches the defensive line and teaches at Skyridge, played at Hawaii.

“It’s really, really cool,” Logan said.

Right now, Sagapolu said he has two official visits lined up and planned: Utah and Oregon. He still has to map out when he’ll take the remaining three official visits, which he says he will do sometime in 2018. Like most sought-after recruits, he’s found the process to be a blessing, but also at times, a bit overwhelming.

“It used to be all the calls and all the texts, but I’ve kind of got used to it by now,” he said. “It’s had its moments. At times, it’s really fun and other times, it’s just really stressful. But I’m just really enjoying it.”

Lehman said Sagapolu has managed to put things into perspective ahead of his last year at Skyridge.

“If you’re going to be great, you’ve got to maneuver around distractions and focus on the task in front of you,” he said. “If you allow things to be distract you, whether it be the recruiting process or other outside influences, it will distract you from being great.”

“Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming, but Logan handles it very well,” added Stephens. “He’s always focused on what he’s doing at the time. I’ve been proud of him.”

American Fork • Chase Roberts didn’t cause much of a stir when he committed to play football for BYU in June of 2017, partly because he had only completed his sophomore year at American Fork High as a standout basketball and football player.

But the lack of hype could also be attributed to familiarity. Roberts appeared to be one of those local products with no other offers that BYU always seems to get.

Well, things have changed.

Roberts is “blowing up” in national recruiting circles after the numbers he posted at a talent combine in Ohio. Roberts’ SPARQ (Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness score to determine agility) score at The Opening, which drew some of the top recruits in the Midwest, was 120.0 and ranked third behind only Iowa receiver Jace Andregg and Illinois running back Anthony Williams.

Roberts, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound receiver, received offers from Utah and USC (since rescinded when Roberts told the Trojans about his mission plans) this summer and more are almost certainly on the way, according to American Fork coach Aaron Behm.

“I would definitely say he is a hard commit to BYU, but that hasn’t stopped a lot of other schools from asking about him,” Behm said. “He’s been steadfast in that. But with that Sparq score, that’s a big deal, and that’s what moved him into a top receiver nationally.”

Roberts was named MVP from the Receiver/Tight End group at The Opening. He confirmed on July 20 that the pledge he made to BYU after catching 52 passes for 738 yards and seven touchdowns his sophomore season “is a firm commitment, a hard commitment,” but acknowledged “I will probably still take other visits if they are offered to me.”

Having caught 68 passes for 1,200 yards and 15 touchdowns his junior season, Roberts has already broken many of the school’s receiving records heading into his senior year. That’s saying something, considering American Fork has produced standouts such as former BYU receivers Toby Christensen, Ryan Slater and Jonah Trinnaman and former Utah receivers Derrek Richards and Jake Murphy.

“We have three guys playing right now at BYU — Lopini Katoa, James Empey and Nate Heaps — and Chase is right up there with the best athletes we have coached here,” Behm said. “He ranks top 10 in the nation with his combine score. You can’t get much better than that.”

In the past few years, BYU has received early commitments from players with Roberts’ talent, only to lose them to Pac-12 schools when signing day arrives. Jeff Hansen of the BYU-based website on the 247sports.com network said holding on to Roberts will be critical for the Cougars.

“He might end up being the best prospect out of BYU’s 2019 signing class,” Hansen said. “He has crazy high combine scores. He’s probably the commit BYU has to worry about the most, in terms of flipping late in the game. If BYU sucks again this year, he might be tempted to look elsewhere.”

Roberts was adamant in July that it won’t happen, citing his ties to the school and the fact that his father, Kyle, was a defensive back for the Cougars when Ty Detmer played there.

“BYU has always been my dream school, ever since I was little,” Roberts said. “We’ve always gone to the games, and I have loved everything about it. And when I met the [new] offensive coaches, that decision became a lot easier.”

Roberts said the first coach to offer him a scholarship was actually new BYU receivers coach Fesi Sitake when Sitake was the offensive coordinator at Weber State.

“I already had a good relationship with Fesi, so I was really happy when BYU hired him,” Roberts said.

In mid-June, a Utah-based team featuring Roberts won the 7-on-7 passing competition at USC’s camp.

“It is just hard to know where to attack him, because he’s good at everything,” Behm said. “If you want to give him the short hitch, he is good at making one guy miss and getting in the end zone. If you want to come up and press him, he can run by you. He has good releases. He’s mentally tough. He might drop one, but he will come right back on the next play and make a huge play.”

Roberts also used to play baseball and was skilled at that sport, too, but had to drop it because it conflicted too much with his football development. He expects the Cavemen to challenge for a region championship this season.

“We are really going to spread out the field, because we’ve got some really good wide receivers,” he said. “So, we will use me more as a decoy this year to draw double teams. Our other wide receivers are going to get more attention and recognition. And we have a really good dual-threat quarterback who can run, Boone Abbott, so they will have to respect him, too.”

Reaching into the dead woman’s closet, Shivani Lindmeir pulled out a blood-orange three-piece outfit with a fur collar.

“Wow, that looks very retro,” said an elderly man passing through the room, on his own search for orphaned treasures at the Olympus Cove estate sale. “I think you need the right boots for it,” he added, suggesting 1960s go-go style.

Lindmeir, 21, smiled. “I think I could make that happen.”

Lindmeir and her mother, Nancy, run The Thrill of The Thrift, a 2-year-old online clothing store on Etsy, a website for handmade and vintage goods. Their trawling of yard sales, thrift stores and estate sales from Ogden to Point of the Mountain fills their store with colorful, texture-focused and feminine wear often tilting towards prints, such as iconic Gunne Sax prairie dresses. Their aesthetic has won them clients from Chicago to Australia, from out-of-state collectors to movie costume designers.

They hope being first-time vendors at the DIY festival Craft Lake City at the Gallivan Center in Salt Lake City, celebrating its 10th anniversary Friday through Sunday, will further boost their local visibility and sales.

The online vintage market has become increasingly competitive, a commercial vibrancy the Lindmeirs both welcome and are wary of. Some new vendors were inspired by “Girl Boss,” the 2017 Netflix comedy about a true-life vintage entrepreneur, while others have sought to develop a presence on the sales app Depop or through Instagram.

Vintage has always been around, said Patrick Hafner, owner of A1 Estate Sales. While the 2008 recession killed it off, “now it’s going real strong again,” he said, with Salt Lake City still an inexpensive source of vintage clothing compared with major metropolitan centers.

‘Walking into the past’

A recent August day of vintage-hunting for the the Lindmeirs began with the Olympus Cove estate sale in the former home of an elderly couple. It was akin to stepping into a 1950s bubble, with a bold pink carpet in one room, vibrant green shag in another, and an avocado-green General Electric oven in the kitchen.

Part of the thrill of thrifting is “walking into the past,” Lindmeir said. “I’ve always wanted the experience of living in a different era. It’s fun to feel that energy.”

She finds estate sales a little sad on occasion. But she noted that possessions cared for by a former owner would, through a vintage buyer, eventually find a home with “someone who would love them also.”

She picked up a $10 large round wicker basket with a flower design stitched onto its lid, a prize she’d spotted the day before on the estate sale website. “It’s still here!”

This was one item she wanted for herself, although she had no immediate use in mind. “It’s really speaking to me. Eclectic, bohemian. And very feminine.”

She also bought a 1960s cream wedding dress and a black suitcase with a four-color braid and a combination lock, which she thought she might sell at Craft Lake City.

But the promising 1970s skirt-vest-jacket set proved to be a disappointment. Lindmeir pointed to dark brown fibers that littered the inside of the coat before putting it back in the closet. Over time, polyester disintegrates, she said. “I won’t be able to do anything with this.”

‘You try to conquer’

After a yard sale on the border of Sugar House and Millcreek offered few items of interest, the Lindmeirs went to a Savers store on 3300 South in Millcreek. “You walk in a store, you just go, you try to conquer,” Nancy Lindmeir said, pushing a cart behind her daughter.

While she does the lion’s share of the company’s business — handling shipping, financing, storage and much of the purchasing — Lindmeir is the style guru.

Vintage clothing is prone to the same abrupt changes in taste as any other fashion, she said. The color palette in vogue — currently primary yellows, reds and royal blues — changes every few months. Traditional vintage items from the 1940s and 1950s vie for attention with more quixotic and short-lived trends, such as jumpsuits and casual 1990s athletic wear and denim.

The key to successful shopping in thrift stores, Lindmeir said, is rotating through a variety of shops. “If you hit the same one again and again, it starts to get overpicked by you,” she said. “You end up recognizing the same dress you saw a year ago.”

She pulled a Dolce and Gabbana black and gold tank from a rack and pondered it. While this was a designer item that would sell for $100 new at Nordstrom, “I wouldn’t be stoked to wear it,” she said.

Making money was important, but she had to weigh that against building her brand. If it wasn’t special or unique to her, then it didn’t fit into her aesthetic.

“By having an amazing collection, you can stand out,” she said.

When a store employee set out a new stash of Gucci and Hermes ties, she knew they would sell. She scooped up the entire haul.

‘The greatest rush’

On this shopping day, Lindmeir wore an ensemble that reflected her vintage passions: 1990s sandals, a 1960s white cropped top and 1970s high-waisted, bell-bottom pants, a revitalized style she said she loves. “I hope it doesn’t end soon.”

The second youngest of six children in her Davis County family, she would go thrifting on the basis of her mother’s promise that they would find American Girl dolls (they never did). “I just don’t like going by myself,” Nancy Lindmeir said, laughing.

As a teenager, Lindmeir would scour Deseret Industries in Layton for 1980s acid-washed high-waisted pants, which were just coming back into fashion. She’d find vintage clothing at thrift stores and then deconstruct it, adding lace panels, bleaching or distressing it, before selling it on eBay or at school.

She initially had aspirations to be a fashion designer. But during her last year of high school, she changed her mind, deciding to study for a teaching degree and pursue thrift and vintage clothing as a hobby. Mother and daughter enjoy the time they spend together.

“It’s a 100 percent why I love this,” Nancy Lindmeir said. “It’s the way we stay close and connected.”

One of their favorite discovery stories: While getting a smoothie in Bountiful in 2016, they stumbled across a yard sale of former inventory from a high-end thrift store.

Along with denim and sports clothing and Ralph Lauren pieces, there was a trove from Tommy Hilfiger, then enjoying a brief resurgence in popularity at high schools.

They spent $40 on 41 items. They made $150 selling a large metallic Hilfiger windbreaker logo sign, just one of the sales from the single most profitable shopping experience they’ve had.

“It was the greatest rush I’ve ever had in my life thrifting,” Lindmeir said. “I wish we could still go back to this day.”

Firefighters struggled to contain a blaze burning about 14,700 acres in southeastern Utah County on Thursday — a day that included an evacuation warning erroneously sent to more than half a million people, fire tornadoes and the temporary closure of a state highway.

Fire officials had good and bad news for about 200 people who came to North Sanpete High School for an update on the Coal Hollow Fire and another nearby blaze.

While they estimated that they could contain the Hilltop Fire — which had burned about 1,800 acres in Sanpete County — as soon as Saturday, they said the Coal Hollow Fire would be trickier.

That blaze was uncontained as of Thursday evening and will be updated from a Type II fire to a Type I fire on Sunday morning, meaning the federal government will provide more resources.

An emergency evacuation notification that was inadvertently sent to about 600,000 people in Utah County on Thursday afternoon — even though the evacuation area had not changed — overloaded the hotline and website that contained information about the blaze, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

"It’s kind of like when Hawaii got that emergency notice about an incoming ballistic missile — it was a boo-boo,” said Sgt. Spencer Cannon, a spokesman for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.

The mistake prompted several cities, including Payson, Springville, Spanish Fork and Eagle Mountain, to tell their residents to stay put.

Fire officials said at the meeting Thursday that they were “incredibly apologetic about the panic that that caused.”

Treavor Atwood and his family were told to evacuate from their Scolfield-area property, which is about 6 miles away from State Route 6.

Fire officials have warned him that the site where numerous family memories have taken place will probably be harmed by the blaze.

“That’s where we go,” the 42-year-old said, noting that his parents have owned the property for his entire life.

Atwood and his family removed their camp trailers and four-wheelers from the property Thursday morning. Though there’s a small shed that could burn if the fire came through, he said they were able to get most items of value out.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed,” he said. “Mother nature, she flexes her muscles once in a while, and she usually always wins. So we’ll just see how it ends. Everybody’s safe, and we got our stuff out, so that’s the important part.”

The fire, which lightning sparked in a rural area about 11 miles northwest of Price, has grown rapidly from 2,300 acres Wednesday, fueled by near-perfect fire conditions.

There are 219 people working on the blaze. But firefighters have found it difficult to contain any of the Coal Hollow Fire, which has fueled fire whirls — tornado-like whirlwinds of ash, fire and/or smoke — and flames that extended up to 500 feet high. That’s about 80 feet higher than the Wells Fargo Building in downtown Salt Lake City, according to a news release from state fire officials.

People living or camping in the Fish Creek, Bear Ridge and Soldier Summit areas have been evacuated, as have some in parts of Aspen Cove and Scofield. Homes south of SR-6, to the Carbon County line, and those along State Route 96 from its junction with SR-6 to Scofield have also been evacuated.

Officials had closed SR-6 temporarily from Thistle to Sheep Creek, but they urged caution in the area, noting that there’s “a lot of smoke, and it’s hard to see.”

“Our priority is to get you back in your homes as quick as you can," said one of the officials at the meeting, "but we don’t want to do it until it’s absolutely safe.”

Though the Coal Hollow Fire is mostly far away from structures, the Hilltop Fire is adjacent to cabins, residences and electricity infrastructure, fire officials said at the meeting.

Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, who lives a few miles away from the Hilltop Fire in Fairview, posted a series of tweets to praise the efforts of firefighters and the spirit of the residents.

“The worst appears to be over,” he wrote. “I love our small community and the way we respond together in the face of danger and tragedy. There is nowhere in the world I would rather live.”

Friends, I really can’t emphasize how blessed we are on the #HilltopFire. The fast action of our local volunteer firefighters and search & rescue combined with timely air attack, and a miraculous wind from the north that never blows this time of year has saved hundreds of homes.

— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) August 9, 2018

Hill Air Force Base officials say northern Utah residents can expect increased flight activity at the base near Ogden into late August as aircraft from units based at Hill and elsewhere participate in two training exercises.

Aircraft participating in the exercises include F35s from Hill, F-15s from Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho and F-16s from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida.

Officials say one exercise will evaluate the performance of air-to-ground munitions while another will evaluate air-to-air weapons.

The aircraft will use a test and training range in western Utah to drop munitions in what Hill officials describe as realistic combat scenarios.

Logan • City officials in northern Utah say they’ll meet with residents concerned about animal welfare after a split with the local humane society left the city of Logan without an animal shelter.

The Herald Journal reports a crowd of about 30 people came to a Tuesday city council meeting to voice frustration and concern.

Resident David James says he's worried about the possibility that a loose dog could be killed if there's no place to house it.

Police Chief Gary Jensen says the city has contracted with neighboring Brigham City to house animals for five days if they can’t be reunited with their owners quickly. After that, they would return to Logan.

Jensen says he and the mayor plan to meet with people worried about the new arrangement, though no date has been set.

Tribune Media said Thursday that it would withdraw from its proposed merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group, while announcing a $1 billion lawsuit against Sinclair over its failed negotiations with federal regulators over the deal.

The breakdown of the deal reflects a reversal of fortunes for Sinclair, which had announced the $3.9 billion tie-up last year as a “transformational” event and the biggest acquisition in its history.

But the merger began to stumble last month after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai raised “serious concerns” about the deal, which originally would have reached roughly 70 percent of U.S. households. The FCC said it would send the deal for review by an administrative law judge, which is often interpreted as a signal a transaction may be blocked.

“In light of the FCC’s unanimous decision, referring the issue of Sinclair’s conduct for a hearing before an administrative law judge, our merger cannot be completed within an acceptable time frame, if ever,” said Peter Kern, Tribune’s chief executive officer, in a statement Thursday. “This uncertainty and delay would be detrimental to our company and our shareholders. Accordingly, we have exercised our right to terminate the Merger Agreement, and, by way of our lawsuit, intend to hold Sinclair accountable.”

Sinclair did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The $3.9 billion deal had aimed to create a conservative broadcasting giant, with Sinclair proposing to control 233 stations in 108 markets nationwide. The original deal would have meant creating the biggest U.S. television company, adding Tribune’s 42 stations to Sinclair’s roster. And it would have been a victory for conservative media in a turbulent political environment, in which Republican critics have alleged systemic negative bias on college campuses and social media platforms.

The merger has even attracted the attention of President Donald Trump, who last month on Twitter criticized federal regulators for getting in the way of what he said would have become a “great and much needed Conservative voice for and of the People.”

“Liberal Fake News NBC and Comcast gets approved, much bigger, but not Sinclair,” he added. “Disgraceful!”

As an independent agency, the FCC is supposed to refrain from factoring politics into its merger analyses.

The FCC said its main concern was Sinclair’s offer to spin off a number of stations in Chicago, Dallas and Houston.

Analysts said Sinclair needed to divest from some stations to comply with a national cap, enforced by the FCC, on any single broadcast company’s national audience reach. But Pai, the FCC chairman, said in a statement at the time that the “evidence we’ve received” suggests that Sinclair could still be able to control some of “those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law.”

In a later filing, the agency asked the administrative law judge to review whether Sinclair had engaged in “misrepresentation and/or lack of candor” as part of its earlier divestment proposal.

At the time, Sinclair strongly defended its proposal to the FCC, stressing it would “create numerous public interest benefits and help move the broadcast industry forward at a time when it is facing unprecedented challenges.”

“At no time have we misled the FCC in any manner whatsoever with respect to the relationships or the structure of those relationships proposed as part of the Tribune acquisition,” the company said in a July statement.

Sinclair also continued negotiations with Tribune over ways to address regulators’ concerns.

In terminating its merger agreement, Tribune on Thursday said that Sinclair had engaged in “unnecessarily aggressive and protracted negotiations” with the government. Tribune said that Sinclair “refused to sell stations in the markets as required to obtain approval, and proposed aggressive divestment structures and related-party sales that were either rejected outright or posed a high risk of rejection and delay — all in derogation of Sinclair’s contractual obligations.”

Speaking later on an earnings call with investors, Tribune executives said the lawsuit seeks a “large number” in damages but did not reveal a specific amount. Kern said he was “extremely pleased” with the state of Tribune in its current form, yet expressed an openness to mergers with other companies in the future.

Pai’s decision to push for a legal review kicked off a last-minute influence campaign by Sinclair, which hired nearly half a dozen lobbyists last month to argue for the deal in Washington.

The FCC’s move to block the deal was widely viewed with surprise in Washington. Pai has been a staunch advocate for the broadcast industry, repealing numerous legacy regulations that he said prevented economically struggling TV and radio stations from surviving in the digital age. For example, Pai led the charge on reinstating a type of agency accounting method that effectively helps broadcast companies own more stations while remaining beneath the national audience cap.

His efforts, which ultimately benefited large firms such as Sinclair, drew the scrutiny of lawmakers who raised questions about whether Pai may have behaved inappropriately toward the conservative broadcaster.

Four Cougars, three Utes and two Aggies have been named to the watch list for the 2018 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award, the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame announced Thursday.

The award is given annually to the Polynesian college football player who epitomizes great ability and integrity. The list is comprised of 50 players from 34 different schools.

Defensive lineman Corbin Kaufusi, linebackers Butch Pau’u and Sione Takitaki and tight end Moroni Laulu-Pututau made the list from BYU.

Utah is represented by defensive linemen Bradlee Anae and Leki Fotu and center Lo Falemaka.

Linebackers Suli Tamaivena and Christopher Unga represent Utah State.

Former Pleasant Grove star Brandon Fanaika (Stanford), former Desert Hills linebacker Gabriel Sewell (Nevada) and former Hunter tight end Noah Togiai (Oregon State) are also on the list.

Five finalists will be unveiled on Dec. 5 and the winner will be announced on Dec. 14.

Former Weber State and University of Utah head coach Ron McBride is on the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee.

One of them wants to come to your country legally, work a job, contribute and eventually become a citizen. The other ... is asbestos.

Guess which one President Trump has, historically, been vocally in favor of, and which one Trump's administration is about to emit guidelines to discourage as much as it can? No, you do not need to guess. It is the Trump administration, and obviously its attitude is "LEGAL IMMIGRANTS are the real danger here. Give us more asbestos, please."

That's right. Not only have we not gotten around to banning asbestos, as nearly 60 other countries have, but also a Significant New Use Rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency in June (open for comment until Aug. 10!) would allow the case-by-case approval of certain uses of asbestos! Hooray! We have too many people coming here to try to build better lives! We have too little asbestos! You're welcome!

Given the option of accepting that some things from the past should remain in the past, or saying, hey, you know what, we should give another hearing to this PROVEN CARCINOGENIC, it is no surprise what EPA has chosen. In fact, an optimistic Russian asbestos company has already printed Trump's picture on the side of its products, because in the past he has said things like The Mob Was the Only Thing Responsible for Getting Rid of This Wonderful Substance and Had Only the World Trade Center Contained Asbestos, the Outcome of 9/11 Would Have Been Much Different.

Asbestos. I ask you.

All of the things we had hoped to leave in the '80s are here right now with a big TRUMP seal attached. Usually, when people want to bring back the past, it is because they are remembering it wrong. They are thinking of a TV-perfect past when everyone wore dresses with Peter Pan collars and ate abundant casserole, where people learned Latin in school, television personalities were all thesauruses wrapped in seersucker, and you could use the word "pulchritude" in conversation without attracting stares. They have the erroneous idea that the past was politer, or more intellectual, or more civilized. They have been seduced by this image of the past as a classier, gentler time full of finger bowls and picket fences and children in overalls saying "gee whiz!"

But not the Trump team! They do not want the gauzy Norman Rockwell past. They do not want the appearance of intellectualism or the veneer of politeness. Let those go. They want, specifically, the overt racism and the asbestos. Those are what they have singled out as the signature characteristics of the Time when America was Great. Which ... points for honesty, I guess?

This return to days gone by starts with asbestos and racism, and continues to include sexism, smog, Nazis and the constant nagging terror of nuclear war! And, soon, if we are lucky, extra lung cancer, mesothelioma, cancer of the larynx and ovary, and of course asbestosis!

Yes, bring back asbestos. Be (as)Best(os). America has gone downhill: We have too little carcinogenic insulation. Honestly, we are living too long. Or maybe it just feels too long.

At this rate, I can only guess what else they want to bring back. The Alien and Sedition Acts? Duels? Lead paint? Child chimney sweeps? The forced separation of families. (No, as usual, the cartoonishly evil thing that you should be able to save as a completely outrageous example has already happened.)

If you ever had the tendency to romanticize the past, the Trump era is a great wake-up call. Come hell or high water, they will bring back all of the ugliness of the past and none of its appeal. Bring back the industrial hazards and the carte blanche to wade into America's wetlands and strangle rare birds. Bring back the cabinets jam-packed with elderly white men. Bring back ... Russia? And put up this wall!

When Trump said “Make America Great Again” we could not have guessed how dim, grimy and bleak his vision of the past was. He is like a malignant time traveler who has come rushing here to give us all the radioactive garbage from bygone years: sexism, tariffs and asbestos! Also, a lack of certainty as to where our healthcare would be coming from and a strained relationship with Germany. Still, even those who always suspected that his real message was “Make America White Again” might be surprised to learn that he meant literally, by covering it in cancerous dust. But it is our fault for being surprised.

Alexandra Petri, a Washington Post columnist, writes the ComPost blog, offering a lighter take on the news and opinions of the day. She is the author of “A Field Guide to Awkward Silences.” Follow Alexandra Petri on Twitter, @petridishes.

As the new Utah Valley Express (UVX) bus rapid transit begins service Monday on its 10.5-mile route through Provo and Orem, the price will be right: free.

And it will remain free for everyone for at least the next three years, thanks to a Federal Highway Administration Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement grant, the Utah Transit Authority announced.

The new line is opening nine months ahead of its original schedule to accommodate BYU and Utah Valley University students as they begin the fall semester. Construction on the line will continue through the fall, requiring use of some temporary stops near permanent stations.

In a deal with UTA last year, BYU and UVU had also agreed to pay $1 million each for 10 years to provide passes for all UTA bus and rail services to their students, staff and their families. Officials said that would provide passes to about 100,000 people a year and help bolster the new UVX service.

The new UVX is designed to look and act more like a train than a bus, although it operates on highways and on rubber wheels.

Its $1 million electric hybrid cars are 60 feet long, instead of 40 like most buses, with an accordion-like connector in its middle that allows it to bend around curves. Station platforms are elevated like a train’s, so passengers will not walk up bus stairs. It will have only 18 stations, instead of stopping every few blocks.

When construction is complete, bus-only lanes will cover about half of the route. UVX will be able to use priority control at traffic signals to speed it along. These bigger buses have much more standing room than regular ones, and have multiple entrances instead of just one by the driver. Bike racks are onboard, not outside.

UVX buses are scheduled to come every six minutes during morning and evening commutes, every six to 10 minutes during the day, and every 15-60 minutes in the early morning and late evening. Schedule information is available at rideuta.com

Interim UTA Executive Director Steve Meyer has said bus rapid transit is what much of future transit along the Wasatch Front may look like. BRT lines are much cheaper to build than TRAX lines.

“We have about 200 miles of bus rapid transit in future plans,” he said.

That includes lines from downtown Ogden to Weber State University; from downtown Salt Lake City through Davis County; and from West Valley City through Taylorsville to Murray.

UTA has operated a partial bus rapid transit line in West Valley City for years: the MAX bus on 3500 South. But it has only one mile of exclusive lanes and uses shorter buses.

The new Provo-Orem line cost about $150 million. In contrast, the mid-Jordan TRAX extension on what is now part of its Red Line cost $535 million when it was completed in 2011 to cover an almost identical distance.

UTA has several other schedule changes in its system beginning Sunday, one of three times a year that it tweaks them.

That includes UTA canceling bus routes 830, 838 and 840 in Utah County and replacing them with UVX. Minor schedule changes are also being made there to bus routes 821, 831 and 834.

In Salt Lake County, minor schedule changes will be made to the TRAX Red, Blue and Green lines to improve reliability.

The hours of service on bus routes 33 and 35 (along 3300 and 3500 South in Salt Lake County) will be lengthened to provide evening service at more stops. Because of that service, the MAX bus service along the same route will end earlier.

Some scheduling changes are also coming in Salt Lake County to bus routes 21, 47, 72, 200, 201, 209, 213, 217, 240, 313, 354, 516, 525, 526, 551, F94, F504, F518, F522, F546 and F547 to increase reliability or improve connections with TRAX.

In Weber County, UTA is canceling FrontRunner train service to Pleasant View and replacing it with Route 616 bus service.