Washington • New research released Friday captures a fossilized snapshot of the day nearly 66 million years ago when an asteroid smacked Earth, fire rained from the sky and the ground shook far worse than any modern earthquake.

It was the day that nearly all life on Earth went extinct, including the dinosaurs.

The researchers say they found evidence in North Dakota of the asteroid hit in Mexico, including fish with hot glass in their gills from flaming debris that showered back down on Earth. They also reported the discovery of charred trees, evidence of an inland tsunami and melted amber.

Separately, University of Amsterdam's Jan Smit disclosed that he and his colleagues even found dinosaur footsteps from just before their demise.

Smit said the footprints — one from a plant-eating hadrosaur and the other of a meat eater, maybe a small Tyrannosaurus Rex — is "definite proof that the dinosaurs were alive and kicking at the time of impact ... They were running around, chasing each other" when they were swamped.

"This is the death blow preserved at one particular site. This is just spectacular," said Purdue University geophysicist and impact expert Jay Melosh, who wasn't part of the research but edited the paper released Friday by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .

Melosh called it the field's "discovery of the century." But other experts said that while some of the work is fascinating, they have some serious concerns about the research, including the lack of access to this specific Hell Creek Formation fossil site for outside scientists. Hell Creek — which spans Montana, both Dakotas and Wyoming — is a fossil treasure trove that includes numerous types of dinosaurs, mammals, reptiles and fish trapped in clay and stone from 65 to 70 million years ago.

Kirk Johnson , director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who also has studied the Hell Creek area for 38 years, said that the work on the fish, the glass and trees "demonstrates some of the details of what happened on THE DAY. That's all quite interesting and very valid stuff." But Johnson said that because there is restricted access to the site, other scientists can't confirm the research. Smit said the restrictions were to protect the site from poachers.

Johnson also raised concerns about claims made by the main author, Robert DePalma, a University of Kansas doctoral student, that appeared in a New Yorker magazine article published Friday but not in the scientific paper. DePalma did not return an email or phone message seeking comment.

For decades, the massive asteroid crash that caused the Chicxulub crater in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula has been considered the likely cause of the mass extinction often called the "KT boundary" for the division between two geologic time periods. But some scientists have insisted that massive volcanic activity played a role. Johnson and Melosh said this helps prove the asteroid crash case.

There were only a few dinosaur fossils from that time, but the footsteps are most convincing, Smit said.

There was more than dinosaurs, he said. The site includes ant nests, wasp nests, fragile preserved leaves and fish that were caught in the act of dying. He said that soon after fish die they get swollen bellies and these fossils didn't show swelling.

The researchers said the inland tsunami points to a massive earthquake generated by the asteroid crash, somewhere between a magnitude 10 and 11. That's more than 350 times stronger than the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Purdue's Melosh said as he read the study, he kept saying "wow, wow, what a discovery."

The details coming out of this are “mind-blowing,” he said.

Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 128-124 win over the Washington Wizards from Salt Lake Tribune beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. Jazz pull out close game

You may have heard this scary-looking stat: the Jazz are 0-7 in games decided by 3 points or less. Yikes!

Here’s something closer to the truth, though: the Jazz are 5-7 in games in which the score was within 3 points in the last 10 seconds. If you want to extend that 10 seconds to a minute, they’re 7-9 in those games. And if you extend it to 5 minutes, the Jazz are 10-11 then.

So when Ricky Rubio was asked about how it was to finally win a close one, Rubio was confused by the premise of the question. “When it’s close and we win, we do a pretty good job and win by more than 3 points.”

And as he joked about, tonight’s game doesn’t really count as a close game. After all, they won by 4 points. “Maybe Donovan should have missed one at the end," Rubio laughed.

The Jazz could be better in those situations, and if they had been, they’d be closer to the top of the Western Conference. But 5-7 or 7-9 or 10-11 isn’t too bad, it’s just below what you’d expect on average.

Nevertheless, when the Wizards pulled out a 2-point lead with under three minutes to go, it was a scary time for Jazz fans. The Jazz responded with a 10-2 run, though. Here’s what I liked about what the Jazz did tonight on offense down the stretch: they stuck to their offensive game plan.

We’ve seen plenty of times when the Jazz have defaulted to Donovan Mitchell isoball down the stretch, and that’s certainly sometimes worked. But in my opinion, the Jazz are better off when they can go through their offense and force holes in the defense through execution, like here:

That’s great! But even though we can congratulate the Jazz for that, some of the biggest plays in the game were non-repeatable. For example, with two minutes left, Bradley Beal drove the lane, and appeared to get hit in the head as he was finishing the layup. The refs didn’t notice, Beal was dazed, and the Jazz took advantage of the 5-on-4 the other way by getting a Rubio 3. That’s not really execution, that’s luck that the officials didn’t call it.

I’m not trying to take away from the Jazz’s accomplishment tonight, but that’s the thing about close games late: a lot of them are decided by things out of your control. The Warriors are playing .600 ball in close games this year, the Atlanta Hawks have a .615 winning percentage. Ideally, you avoid those close games by having a big enough margin by the time that you get to the end that a missed call or a missed shot doesn’t decide the game.

2. The impact of Favors and Neto

Derrick Favors and Raul Neto both missed the second half of tonight’s game with minor injuries: Favors again experienced back spasms after playing 9:16 in the first quarter, while Raul Neto got hit in the head in the second quarter, causing a lip laceration that required three stitches and some concussion-like symptoms that required that he be pulled later in the game. Even Mitchell missed time with an eye contusion, but he returned relatively quickly.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising that the Jazz gave up a 13-0 Wizards run during the stretch of the game when Favors and Neto were supposed to be in there. Interestingly, Snyder subbed in Rudy Gobert for this stretch and even Mitchell for the final minute of the third quarter, but neither seemed to impact what the Wizards did offensively or defensively.

Meanwhile, Thabo Sefolosha struggled in some of the minutes that were opened up for him. I think you can even see the grimace on his face as he throws this pass, that is “pick-sixed” for a Wizards score. On the other hand, the Niang minute at the end of the third wasn’t inspiring either.

You also got the sense that there were matchups that might have been better suited for those two, especially Favors. I wonder if Bobby Portis or Jabari Parker would have found as much success if Favors could have been out there to mark them, rather than the do-everything defense of Gobert.

That’s the thing about the Jazz’s unofficial team motto “the strength of the team is the team," it’s probably only really true for about 9-10 guys this season. That’s probably deeper than most teams feel comfortable with, but the difference between the playing Jae Crowder and Sefolosha or Niang feels palpable at the moment.

3. Free throws mattered

The Jazz went 18-18 from the free-throw line tonight, while the Wizards went 13-22. If the Jazz shoot their normal percentage, they hit 13 free throws and maybe lose. Likewise, if the Wizards shoot 77 percent from the line, they tie the game and perhaps send it to overtime. The free-throw gods smiled on the Jazz tonight.

18 free throws really aren’t that many, especially when you consider that the Wizards had two technical fouls and also gave the Jazz six freebies at the end while they were trying to come back. Taking those out, the Jazz only got to the line 10 times. Funnily enough, last week when they played the Wizards, they only shot six free throws: something about their defense doesn’t seem to foul the Jazz very often. Maybe, given the 120 offensive rating for the Jazz tonight, it’s that they don’t play much physical defense at all.

The Jazz haven’t been very good at converting their free throws this season: they only make 73.4% of them, good for 26th in the league. But they’ve been phenomenal at drawing free throws: they’re fourth in the league with 25.1 free throw attempts per 100 possessions.

That last stat turns out to be the much bigger deal, actually, as the Jazz’s limited free-throw percentage only puts them down to eighth in the league in free throw makes. But it would be nice if Gobert, Ingles, and Crowder, especially, reverted to their best free-throw shooting seasons. It might be worth about a point a game or so.

Ask a movie fan “What’s the greatest Western ever made?” and the discussion could go on for hours.

The movies in that conversation likely would include John Ford’s “Stagecoach” and “The Searchers,” Fred Zinnemann’s “High Noon,” Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars” and its sequels, and maybe Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven.”

Ask author W.K. Stratton that question and he has one answer: Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch.”

Stratton saw “The Wild Bunch” when it came out 50 years ago, when he was a 13-year-old kid at his local theater in Guthrie, Okla. It changed his life.

“I had never seen anything quite like it, in terms of the violence that was portrayed in it,” Stratton, now 63, said in a recent phone interview. “By the standards of the late 1960s, it was really realistic.”

Stratton — who has written books about college football, boxing and rodeo — dives into the making of this 1969 classic in a new book, “The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film” (Bloomsbury Publishing; 352 pages, hardcover; $28).

Stratton will talk about the movie and his book at two free screenings in Utah this week: Tuesday, 7 p.m., at the City Library, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City; and Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. (with a discussion starting at 5:30 p.m.), at Star Hall, 159 E. Center St., Moab. The screenings are co-presented by Utah Humanities and the Utah Film Center.

The movie, set in Texas and Mexico in 1913, tells of a gang of outlaws — played by tough-guy actors William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates — trying to make one last score before retiring. The heist becomes an ambush, and the gang flees across the Rio Grande, only to get caught up in the Mexican Revolution.

The aging gunslingers also are facing the end of their era. “These men have outlived their time,” Stratton said. “They were formed by the old outlaw days. Now they find themselves in the early 20th century, where they’re being assaulted by technology in the form of automobiles and the machine gun. It kind of forebodes what technology can do to basic humanity.”

The book digs into how timing and lucky coincidences brought the cast and crew together in Mexico to make the movie happen.

It all starts, Stratton said, with Peckinpah, “a kind of visual poet” who was on the outs in Hollywood at the time after the failure of “Major Dundee,” a 1965 frontier epic starring Charlton Heston.

“‘Major Dundee,’” Stratton said, “had been a fiasco for a number of reasons, not the least of which was his own inexperience at trying to direct a David Lean-like epic picture.” (Lean had released “Doctor Zhivago” the same year as “Major Dundee,” and “Lawrence of Arabia” three years earlier.)

Peckinpah retreated to TV work and script-doctoring, while working with screenwriter Walon Green to develop the screenplay for “The Wild Bunch.”

Stratton was fascinated with Peckinpah. “I started reading whatever books I could find about him,” he said, noting that he found 36 books on Peckinpah by the time he started writing his book.

“I had the urge to make my own kind of statement about Peckinpah in some way,” Stratton said, and he thought “The Wild Bunch” “is a picture that deserves that kind of attention. ... I started finding a lot of interesting things about this film, important things about this film, that had been overlooked by other writers.”

Among the most interesting things, Stratton said, were the contributions of Latino filmmakers in the cast and the crew.

“I discovered that every Mexican character was portrayed by a Latino actor, most of them from Mexico,” Stratton said, noting that Jaime Sánchez, who played the youngest gang member, Angel, was from Puerto Rico.

Casting Latinos to play Latinos was unusual in 1960s Hollywood. In “The Professionals” (1966), the Mexican bandit who was the movie’s villain was played by Jack Palance, who was born in Pennsylvania of Ukrainian parents. And the Russian-born Yul Brynner famously portrayed the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in 1968’s “Villa Rides” (for which Peckinpah is one of the three credited screenwriters).

Peckinpah and Green had studied the Mexican Revolution — Green had interviewed a Mexican general who had fought alongside the revolutionary leader Álvaro Obregón — and they incorporated their knowledge into “The Wild Bunch.”

Most of the movie was shot in Parras, the home town of Francisco Madero, the first president installed during the revolution. Peckinpah cast Madero’s kid brother, Raul, as an extra. And the locomotive used in the film, National de Mexico No. 650, was in service during the revolution.

“I went to some trouble to interview as many of the surviving Mexican actors as I could find,” Stratton said. “Their insights and comments provided me with some good information.”

Stratton cites the story of stuntwoman, actor and singer Yolanda Ponce, who got her first acting credit in the film.

In the first scene shot in the production, Ponce stunt-doubled for an actress whose character was trampled to death by a horse. At the end of the stunt, another stuntman accidentally backed a horse onto her, and the horse stepped on her abdomen, fracturing her pelvis. Three weeks later, still nursing a sore belly, she came back to work, filming a scene where she shot Holden’s character with a shotgun — with a rope tied around her waist, yanked by two crew members to simulate the gun’s recoil.

Though “The Wild Bunch” is seen as a one-of-a-kind movie, a monolith unto itself, its existence was based on other movies of its era.

Leone’s “Man With No Name” trilogy — “A Fistful of Dollars” (1965), “For a Few Dollars More” (1965) and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (1966) — “opened a whole new door to realism in Westerns, which is sort of ironic, because they’re also absurdist works,” Stratton said. “If Sergio Leone was shooting a scene and a fly landed on some actor’s forehead, he left it in. He was the one who really first gave us a clue to how dirty it was in the American West.”

Meanwhile, George Roy Hill’s “Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid” (1969) set a Hollywood record for the amount of money — $400,000 — screenwriter William Goldman was paid for the script. It and the Leone films “really stirred things up in Hollywood, in terms of how much money could be made with Westerns,” Stratton said.

Arthur Penn’s gangster romance “Bonnie & Clyde” (1967) introduced a new level of gun violence to movies — and showed Peckinpah how to employ “squibs,” packets of fake blood attached to small explosives, to simulate bullets hitting bodies.

Peckinpah saw “Bonnie & Clyde” and wanted to “take it to the next level,” Stratton said. But Peckinpah didn’t want the glamorized, almost sexual death scene that Penn shot of Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. “Peckinpah had none of that. He made death anguished and dirty and painful,” Stratton said.

Toward the end of his book, Stratton quotes British film scholar Jim Kitses, who wrote that “‘The Wild Bunch’ is America.” Stratton agrees.

“[The civil rights activist] H. Rap Brown, all those years ago, said, ‘Violence is as American as cherry pie,’” Stratton said. “If we look at the debates going on in our society even now, guns and gun violence sadly seem to be permanently attached to American culture. So when you look at a picture like ‘The Wild Bunch,’ you say, ‘Yeah, that is America.’”

——

‘The Wild Bunch’ onscreen

Screenings of the 1969 Western “The Wild Bunch,” followed by a Q&A with W.K. Stratton, author of the book “The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film.”

• Salt Lake City: Tuesday, 7 p.m., City Library auditorium, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City.
• Moab: Wednesday, discussion starts at 5:30 p.m., screening starts at 6:30 p.m., Star Hall, 159 E. Center St., Moab.
• Admission: Free.
• Presenters: Utah Humanities and Utah Film Center.

—

Editor’s note: Reporter Sean P. Means’ wife is an employee of the Utah Film Center.

—

This coverage of downtown Salt Lake City arts groups is supported by a grant from The Blocks, a cultural initiative of Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County. The Salt Lake Tribune makes all editorial decisions.

There’s no more iconic title in television history than “The Twilight Zone.” The show has been referenced in movies, on stage and on TV for decades.

How ubiquitous is it? There have been allusions to the show in — just to name a few — “All in the Family,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Angels in America,” “Animaniacs,” “Bridesmaids,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “ET: The Extraterrestrial,” “Family Guy,” “Frasier,” “Freaks and Geeks,” “Futurama,” “Gilmore Girls,” “The Golden Girls,” “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Hairspray,” “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” “Jumanji,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Muppet Babies,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Naked Gun 2½,” “Rent,” “Robot Chicken,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Seinfeld,” “Sixteen Candles,” “The Sixth Sense,” “South Park,” “Veronica Mars,” “Wayne’s World,” “The Wonder Years” and “The X-Files.”

“The Simpsons” alone has done “Twilight Zone” shoutouts in 15 episodes.

People who’ve never actually seen an episode of the series use it as a figure of speech. Who hasn’t described a weird situation as being out of “The Twilight Zone”?

So it’s not a surprise that CBS All Access (the network’s streaming service) is reviving it. It is, perhaps, even less surprising that CBS has handed the keys to the 60-year-old franchise to Jordan Peele (“Key and Peele,” “Get Out,” “Us”).

“Too many times this year it’s felt we were living in a twilight zone, and I can’t think of a better moment to reintroduce it to modern audiences,” Peele said.

(He’s executive producing with Simon Kinberg, whose credits include the “X-Men” and “Deadpool” films.)

So, for the fourth time, we’re getting a TV anthology in which characters travel “through another dimension — a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination,” as creator/writer/executive producer Rod Serling used to tell viewers.

What might surprise you is that, despite its pop-culture icon status and appearance on multiple lists of the best shows of all time, “The Twilight Zone” has never been a huge hit.

• The first time around (1959-64), CBS was disappointed in the ratings; its budget and episode order was cut in Season 2; it was nearly canceled after Season 3; it returned at midseason in Season 4; it was canceled midway through Season 5.

It became a much bigger success in syndication.

• In 1983, “Twilight Zone: The Movie” was a critical and box office disappointment, though it made money — budgeted at $10 million, it made $29.4 million. It’s chiefly remembered for the on-set helicopter accident that killed actor Vic Morrow and two young child actors.

• A 1985-88 revival started strong on CBS, then limped to cancellation after two seasons. A third season was produced for syndication.

• A 2002-03 revival on the now-defunct UPN (CBS’ sister-network) went nearly unnoticed.

So why bring it back? First, there’s that iconic title. Second, it’s returning on a streaming service, not on a broadcast network. And, while there is advertising on CBS All Access (if you subscribe to the cheaper tier), it derives most of its revenue from subscription fees. The hope is that “The Twilight Zone” will attract more subscribers.

“We can’t wait to share this wildly entertaining and relevant reboot with our subscribers,” said Julie McNamara, executive vice president for original content for CBS All Access. “This series is truly a love letter to the classic Rod Serling masterpiece, while clearly reflecting the culture of today. There are also some new, bold twists in the storytelling.”

Peele steps into Serling’s shoes as narrator and on-air host, though no one is taking on Serling’s individual workload as writer; he wrote or co-wrote 92 of the original 156 episodes.

The new “Twilight Zone” is packed with stars, including Ike Barinholtz, John Cho, Chris Diamantopoulos, Taissa Farmiga, James Frain, Ginnifer Goodwin, Greg Kinnear, Luke Kirby, John Larroquette, Sanaa Lathan, Tracy Morgan, Kumail Nanjiani, Chris O’Dowd, Seth Rogan, Adam Scott, Rhea Seehor, Allison Tolman and Steven Yeun.

Four episodes were screened for critics, including the two that go online on Monday. (Beginning April 11, one episode will drop on successive Thursdays.) And, yes, they are creepy, and each features an unexpected twist.

(Their running times range from 39 to 54 minutes, and they’re intended for adults. There’s R-rated language and some non-graphic violence.)

The new “Twilight Zone” will focus on original stories, not remakes. But the first episode, titled “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,” was “inspired by” the original series’ episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” — which starred William Shatner as a man who sees a gremlin sabotaging the airliner in which he’s a passenger.

That was remade as a segment in the 1983 movie, with John Lithgow stepping into Shatner’s shoes. This time, it’s Adam Scott — but, no, this is not a remake. No spoilers here, but it’s very different. There are three surprising twists, and a big shoutout to the original.

The original episode also inspired a segment in “The Simpsons’” 1993 “Treehouse of Horrors” episode — “Terror at 5½ Feet” — as well as bits in “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls,” “The Angry Beavers,” “Dragon Ball Z,” “Hotel Transylvania 3,” “The Lego Batman Movie,” “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” “SNL” (twice), “Sharknado 2” and “3rd Rock from the Sun.”

And it inspired a sketch in “Key and Peele” that featured Peele as a an airplane passenger who sees a gremlin. Audiences didn’t require an explanation because ... it was “The Twilight Zone.”

By the way, all 156 episodes of the original series are available on CBS All Access.

Boyer Jarvis, a professor and administrator at the University of Utah for more than 30 years and a devoted civic activist for more than 60 years, has died.

He died Thursday in his Salt Lake City home at the age of 95, his family reported.

In a tweet Friday, Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, wrote that Jarvis “lived a life of public service, kindness, and activism. He inspired young minds and was a teacher to all who knew him. I will miss him.”

Boyer Jarvis lived a life of public service, kindness, and activism. He inspired young minds and was a teacher to all who knew him. I will miss him. Sending love and condolences to his loved ones. #utpol pic.twitter.com/tOGIZfMJDR

— Rep. Ben McAdams (@RepBenMcAdams) March 29, 2019

In a 2004 op-ed in The Salt Lake Tribune, Jarvis mused on “my privileged situation in the United States of America as a white male heterosexual whose parents had always loved and supported him.” The essay reads as a summation of a man who knew life was good to him, so he wanted to give back.

“I had benefited since my undergraduate days at the University of Arizona from teachers and mentors who encouraged me to grow intellectually and who pointed to ways for me to progress professionally,” Jarvis wrote. “What bound me to the University of Utah was this web of colleagues and administrative officers whom I greatly admired, and who were genuinely committed to excellence in every aspect of the university's teaching, research and service to the state and nation.”

Jarvis added, “the university enabled me to pursue my passion to extend to as many of my fellow humans as possible the full range of benefits, rights and responsibilities that I enjoyed and too often took for granted.” His efforts included recruiting minority faculty, staff and students at the U., removing housing and employment barriers for women and minorities, and battling censorship in public libraries.

After his retirement in 1989, Jarvis wrote in 2004 that he “continued to devote time and effort to a variety of what I regard as good causes.” He listed an end to nuclear weapons testing, keeping high-level nuclear waste out of Utah, protecting children from abuse and neglect, supporting affordable health care, and battling racism and bigotry in all forms. Later in life, he added support for same-sex marriage to that list.

“He was one of the gentlest men I ever met,” said Louis Borgenicht, a retired Salt Lake City pediatrician who knew Jarvis from peace protests and other activist events.

J. Boyer Jarvis was born June 1, 1923, in Springville, Utah, the oldest of Mildred Boyer’s and Joseph S. Jarvis’ eight children. He graduated from Mesa Union High School, in Mesa, Ariz., in 1941. He briefly attended Harvard, but got his bachelor’s degree in 1947 from the University of Arizona, and a master’s from Arizona State University in 1950.

Jarvis arrived in Utah in June 1955, to do research on his Ph.D. dissertation for Northwestern University. He got a job as a teaching assistant at the University of Utah, and as assistant to the dean of the College of Letters and Science.

In 1955, he met and, on Dec. 17 of that year, married Patricia Potts Annand. They had three children, Seth, Nathan and MaryBeth.

In 1956, Jarvis was hired as an assistant professor of speech at the U., and became a full professor in 1967.

He held a slew of administrative posts at the U. during his tenure, topped with associate vice president of academic affairs from 1967 to 1988.

In a 90th birthday letter to Jarvis in 2013, the U.’s then-president, David Pershing, called Jarvis a role model. “You were the go-to guy whenever there were faculty challenges or policy issues,” Pershing wrote. “We now need about four people to cover the waterfront that you used to tend by yourself.”

One of Jarvis’ jobs, from 1957 to 1960, was as associate programming director of the university’s fledgling public television station, KUED. “Boyer had the vision and foresight to recognize what public broadcasting could do for the state,” Fred Esplin, a vice president at the U. in 2009, wrote in a note that was read when Jarvis received the Governor’s Award in the Humanities.

In 2009, Jarvis joined with 13 other elder activists — including the late former Gov. Olene Walker — to form the Utah Citizens’ Counsel, to offer advice on major issues. The first issue on the group’s agenda was fair redistricting for Utah’s congressional and legislative districts.

In 2012, Jarvis became the first man to receive an Honorary Outstanding Achievement Award from the Utah chapter of the YWCA. Jarvis was a member of the chapter’s Community Advisory Board for many years.

Anne Burkholder, Salt Lake YWCA’s CEO, credited Jarvis for suggesting and raising funds for the statue of Mahatma Gandhi that was unveiled at the opening of the group’s Center for Families in 2012. The sculpture was commissioned by the Gandhi Alliance for Peace, on whose behalf Jarvis approached the YWCA, and was created by Utah sculptor Dennis Smith.

At various times, he also served on the boards of ACLU Utah, the NAACP’s Salt Lake branch, the Utah Heritage Foundation, the Salt Lake City Library, Voices for Utah Children, United Nations Association of Utah, and the Salt Lake chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG).

Praising that tireless dedication to service, the Utah Democratic Party said in a statement that “his leadership and contribution to the betterment of humanity will be missed by all Utahns.”

Jarvis is survived by his wife, Pat; two sons, Seth and Nathan; a daughter, MaryBeth Jarvis Clark; eight grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and five siblings, Kenneth, John, George, Jesse and Susann. Two brothers, Wesley and Jarrett, died previously.

A memorial service will take place Saturday, June 1, at the University of Utah (venue and time to be announced). In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Jarvis’ memory to “your favorite organization that promotes education, arts, peace, human rights, social justice and equality.”

For the past two years, Rachel Maddow has been a hero of her own spy thriller.

She has written, directed and starred in a hit production based on the unlikely premise of a prime-time cable TV show host unraveling the most dastardly plot in American history — one opening monologue at a time.

Only the story had a surprise twist at the end — she was completely wrong.

Few people invested more in the Russia probe, night after night, monologue after monologue, with an ever-building sense of anticipation.

It is perhaps unfair to say that Maddow believed in a conspiracy theory, although her theory was quite literally that there was a conspiracy between Donald Trump and the Russians, perhaps an ongoing one.

The Mueller probe was obviously newsworthy. Yet Maddow approached it with a notably conspiratorial cast of mind and style.

She covered the story with a consistent breathlessness. She took evident pleasure over even minor jail sentences for minor players. No proceeding related to the probe was too small for her long, involved explications.

Pervading it all was the sense that she could see the deeper forces behind the headlines, she could discern the pattern in all the dots, and you could, too, as long as you paid close enough attention to her program. The reward would be everything finally making sense, from the 2016 presidential election to President Trump's foreign policy — all traceable back to Russia and its sinister tentacles.

She worried in March 2017 that the Russians had not just stolen the election, but our government. "We are also starting to see what may be signs of continuing influence in our country," she warned. "Basically signs of what could be a continuing operation."

No matter how alarming all this was, there was always an underlying sense of glee in Maddow's coverage, the bastards were finally getting their due, the whole treacherous plot coming undone via Robert Mueller's investigation and the brilliant, long-form explications of it by America's champion at 9 p.m., please set your DVRs.

It was almost touching how excited Maddow was to come back from a trout-fishing trip last Friday to host her show on an emergency basis upon the arrival of the long-anticipated report. Little did she know she only was setting the stage for her own discrediting.

No one should deny Maddow's considerable talents. She's smart and a sprightly writer who does her homework and who can carry an hour of TV compellingly almost entirely on her own — a rare skill.

This wasn't simply mindless partisanship. It was a deeper delusion.

Yes, there were disturbing developments in the Mueller probe, but the evidence always tilted away from any Trump-Russian conspiracy.

Believing otherwise required ignoring common sense (why would the Russians need to collude with the Trump campaign in the first place?), ignoring statements from more sober-minded intelligence officials that there was no evidence of collusion, ignoring the policy areas where Trump was tougher on Russia than President Barack Obama, and ignoring how the Mueller probe was unfolding, with no indictments for espionage or conspiracy with the Russians.

Even now, all Maddow has is more questions. She's right to want the release of the full report, yet she still hasn't truly grappled with the fact that Mueller came up empty on collusion.

Not only should she do that, she should consider how she did the left a grave disservice in feeding its paranoia, stoking its unrealistic expectations and diverting it from more politically fruitful paths.

The Russia episode demonstrates how, strangely, Nancy Pelosi is now one of the more restrained, politically astute progressives on the national stage. You can be entirely in the business of checking and defeating Donald Trump, or you can be in show business; Pelosi is in the former, Rachel Maddow is in the latter.

The MSNBC host staged a hell of a drama during the Mueller probe, but life usually isn't a John le Carre novel.

Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review. comments.lowry@nationalreview.com

All signs pointed to Cindreia Europe coming home to her mom this month.

She’d been gone since Sept. 10, 2017, when Europe left her mom’s home in Georgia without much luggage and no fanfare. LaToya Mack said her daughter just drove away on that otherwise normal Sunday. Mack said she knew the situation was serious when she discovered Europe had left behind her beloved stuffed animal, a bear also named Cindreia, giving it to the family dog, who promptly destroyed it.

Mack said she hadn’t heard from Europe since that day, but she has spoken with psychics, and had her cards read, and everything foretold Europe returning soon.

“I didn’t know it was going to be this way,” Mack said.

Europe, 23, died March 5 in a parking lot in Millcreek, near 3300 S. 2300 East. She was run over by a Unified Police officer sent there that night to make sure Europe was OK. Police have said it’s unclear if Europe died before or after being run over. They also have declined to name the officer responsible.

But Mack’s attorney Eric Hinckley and FOX 13 sources have identified the driver as Megan Franklin, a former West Valley City officer with a history of poor driving.

In her eight years as a West Valley City police officer, Franklin was involved in seven car crashes the department deemed both “preventable” and Franklin’s fault, according to disciplinary records given to The Salt Lake Tribune through an open-records request. Records show that her driving history was concerning to police officials, who noted a “pattern of poor attention to proper driving tactics” after her seventh and final crash in May 2017.

Franklin resigned from West Valley City in November 2017, and started working for UPD in December.

Hinckley said the family is wondering what kind of background check happened between that move. Did UPD know about the seven prior crashes in a patrol vehicle? Mack also wants to know what happened the night Europe died.

Once Mack gets that information, she said she is ready to do what it takes to make sure those responsible are held accountable.

But Mack must wait until police finish investigating.

UPD hasn’t said much about the case because they enacted the Officer Involved Critical Incident protocols, which designates an outside department investigate the case. UPD spokesman Ken Hansen told reporters after it happened that an officer was called to the parking lot on a report of a “man down" at 10:51 p.m.

Normally, officers will find the subject of those calls slumped against a wall, he said, but in this case, the person was in the parking lot, about 30 or 40 feet west of a Zions Bank branch. The officer ran over that person, who Hansen said was wearing dark clothing.

A ‘pattern of poor attention to proper driving’

According to Franklin’s West Valley City police disciplinary records, she was prone to running over large objects with her patrol car.

After her last crash in May 2017, where she ran over large rocks, damaging her patrol vehicle, then-Police Chief Lee Russo wrote that “previous corrective efforts appear to have little corrective effect in changing your driving behavior,” and said if her driving doesn’t improve, she could be fired.

He also wrote, “as we discussed previously, you must exercise due diligence and care when operating a motor vehicle. This is required for your safety and the safety of those around you. Your driving history reflects a pattern of poor attention to proper driving tactics and this has contributed to an unacceptable number of preventable accidents on your part.”

In her time at West Valley City, Franklin received a reprimand letter for the following crashes in her police vehicle:

• Striking a rock while making a U-turn on April 10, 2010
• Hitting another vehicle while making a U-turn on July 26, 2010
• Running into a construction barrel on Aug. 29, 2013
• Backing into a light pole on Nov. 8, 2014
• Hitting a concrete curb on Dec. 22, 2014
• Running over large rocks that lined a driveway on May 6, 2017

Records show that Franklin was ordered to be suspended from work without pay for a total of 70 hours because of these crashes.

Franklin was also issued a letter of reprimand related to her driving on March 4, 2012.

According to the letter, a citizen called West Valley City police’s Professional Standards Section to report an officer was speeding in an HOV lane on Interstate 15. This was at 3 p.m.

An hour later, another person called professional standards to report a West Valley City officer driving 90 mph in the HOV lane and weaving in and out of traffic.

“After an investigation, it was determined that the officer was you, in both instances,” West Valley City police Sgt. Robert Hamilton wrote in Franklin’s disciplinary order.

The documents also describe several other instances of misconduct, such as not showing up for court despite being subpoenaed to attend and destroying her work-issued voice recorder when washing her police uniform.

Franklin’s last disciplinary order was dated Sept. 2, 2017.

On Oct. 25, 2017, she sent a resignation letter to Chief Colleen Nolan.

Franklin said working at the department “has been the honor of a lifetime,” and that she’ll “cherish forever” all she learned on the job.

“I am confident that everything I have learned will serve me well as I transition to another avenue in my life,” she wrote. “It is not my first choice to resign but I do it for the good of the Department and myself.”

‘Just making her way’

Mack said Europe had always been unique. Her daughter never had a lot of friends and preferred spending time alone in her room reading books. Europe learned to read at 3 years old and always excelled academically. She especially loved science and was always experimenting and tinkering with creations in her room.

“She was just naturally gifted. She could just synthesize information," Mack said, snapping her fingers like cylinders firing in her daughter’s mind. “She could just go through it.”

Europe was also independent and kept a lot of things to herself. Mack said Europe wasn’t so much withdrawn as nonchalant. Europe didn’t tell her mother she’d been accepted to Emory University with an almost full-ride scholarship until the week before classes started.

Sometimes Mack would go weeks at a time without hearing from her daughter when she was at school. It wasn’t strange. It was just how Europe was. Europe planned to go to medical school, but ultimately dropped out of college with just a class remaining for her bachelor’s degree. This happened around the time of her father’s death, which hit both women hard.

In retrospect, Mack said there are some memories that show Europe was struggling. She had all the potential in the world, but didn’t know what to do with it. One time, she told her grandfather she didn’t want to do anything, that she just didn’t care.

“I wish that I had seen that, and seen it louder," Mack said.

Mack knows now her daughter was depressed, but she doesn’t know what prompted her daughter to leave home two years ago, why she never reached back out to her family, or why she decided to come to Utah, where it seems she spent her time just as she did at home, reading and writing. She also tutored kids and worked at a rehabilitation center in the valley.

As far as Mack knows, her daughter didn’t have any substance abuse issues or a criminal history. She was just unique, “just making her way."

And somehow that brought her to Utah, where she apparently spent her nights in her car, moving from parking lot to parking lot.

That is, until the car was impounded.

Leaving Europe, apparently, to sleep on the ground, where she died.

---

Editor’s note: FOX 13 and The Salt Lake Tribune are content-sharing partners.

Sean Hannity is a study in certainty. The mainstream media is corrupt. President Donald Trump is a patriot and a fabulous president who has followed through on his campaign promises, despite a deep state dead set on his undoing. Democrats are awful. Absolutism, meet your designated television-news emissary.

A touch of hesitancy, though, crept into the unequivocal voice of Hannity on his Fox News program Wednesday night. It happened during an “interview” — actually the verbal equivalent of native advertising — with Trump, who’s fresh off the news that special counsel Robert Mueller III didn’t establish conspiracy between his presidential campaign and Russia. The two discussed the usual issues, including the media, supportive Fox News hosts, Trump’s greatness and so on.

As the wide-ranging discussion progressed, Hannity wanted to hear the president's view on the Mueller team, a group that he accused of conducting a "witch hunt" at least 183 times on Twitter alone. "Hannity" frequently repeated the slam on his program. So he asked the president:

“Let me ask you now, I was very critical of the team that Robert Mueller put together. You mentioned Andrew Weissmann — I’ve gone through his record — was at Hillary Clinton’s victory party. Only Democratic donors, no Republicans at all, no Republican donors, and also Jeannie Rhee who worked for the Clinton Foundation as a lawyer, was appointed. How do you feel about Mueller today? And were you surprised at all, considering the team that he picked in this particular case? It seemed pretty partisan Democrat. And I thought it was extraordinarily unfair to pick that biased a team.”

Trump's initial response was this: "Yeah, it didn't seem to be biased. It was biased."

At that point, Hannity could have jumped in and explored the very real issue that he had broached. But nah — he lapsed back into his role as a presidential workout coach: “That’s a good point,” he responded to the president. Then Trump talked a bit more about the Mueller team, his profound innocence and why all these investigators didn’t “look at all of these acts on the other side?”

"Hannity" was back on track.

As a matter of background, Hannity was understating things when he said he was "very critical" of the Mueller team. As the fossil record reflects, Hannity declared them unfit to fulfill their duties. On Dec. 5, 2017, just a half-year after Mueller was appointed, Hannity riffed on his show, "Tonight right here we have new and more smoking-gun evidence that Mueller's handpicked minions or bunch of Trump-hating, Hillary-loving partisan hacks ... are carrying out what I described as a witch hunt," he said.

Upon the first anniversary of Mueller's appointment, Hannity said, "Now, the special counsel has been so abusive, so corrupt, they are so conflicted that the president and his legal team they're now rightly going on offense to combat the illicit deep state scheme."

This was the line on "Hannity" for almost two years.

And so Hannity found himself in a pickle this week, after William Barr's summary delivered the good news about Mueller's findings about collusion. How could this group of biased hacks reach this righteous conclusion? If they were such partisan "minions" and were conflicted by their own allegiances, how in the world could they have produced a report that, to judge from the Barr summary, did not "establish" coordination and conspiracy?

Instead of belaboring those points, Hannity chose celebration. "We, on this program, have been right all along because, unlike the mainstream media, we have been telling the truth with evidence to back it up," said the host Monday night.

In his exchange with Trump, though, he cracked the door for introspection. Had he opened it, he might have examined the difference between bias and opinion. As people often note through the use of a crude cliche, everyone has opinions. Just check out Facebook or Twitter. Bias is another question. As Michael Kinsley wrote for Slate magazine in 2000, bias is a different beast — “a failure to suppress your opinions.” In slamming Mueller’s team, Hannity was furthering the noxious “fallacy that having an opinion is the same as having a bias,” as Kinsley put it.

The context in which Kinsley discussed opinions and bias was journalism, a profession in which the topic commonly arises. But it applies to other professions where people judge the actions of politicians, such as prosecutors working a charged case in Washington. That Hannity has no appreciation for the central component of their professionalism spilled out of his talk with Trump on Wednesday night. To repeat the end of Hannity's question to the president: "Were you surprised at all, considering the team that he picked in this particular case? It seemed pretty partisan Democrat. And I thought it was extraordinarily unfair to pick that biased a team."

With elisions such as that one, Hannity not only slimed Mueller’s team; he also slimed the very idea that people with political leanings — everyone, that is — could capably set them aside and participate in an investigation of a sitting president. As it turns out, they could.

“In the end,” said Hannity on his show, “we now know the truth.” Right — thanks to the people and institutions that Hannity slandered and weakened with his nightly rubbish.

Erik Wemple, The Washington Post’s media critic, focuses on the cable-news industry. Before joining The Post, he ran a short-lived and much publicized local online news operation, and for eight years served as editor of Washington City Paper.

@ErikWemple

JimmerMania remains alive and well here in Utah.

Jimmer Fredette’s NBA career, meanwhile, appears to be on life support, and maybe should and probably will have the plug pulled once the Phoenix Suns wrap their season April 9.

His appearance here a few days ago against the Jazz proved both of those statements true. It also put yet another unwanted spotlight on the behavior of sports fans in Utah, albeit for a more benign reason this time.

When Fredette checked into the game at the beginning of the second quarter, he received a raucous ovation. No surprise, right? After all, he was a former BYU star, the national Player of the Year, and he was playing in just the second game of his latest comeback following a three-year hiatus from the NBA. Perfectly appropriate to acknowledge him.

The subsequent cheers, though, every time he touched the ball? The breathless anticipation and near-pleading for him to get on the scoreboard? Now, that was interesting.

Every time he got the ball, thousands of fans proceeded to go nuts, hoping to see him do something memorable. And every time he missed — which he did quite a bit, finishing 1 for 10 from the field — there was obvious audible disappointment.

You couldn’t help but notice. There was word that some of his own teammates were irate, as his shooting contributed to thwarting Devin Booker’s pursuit of 60 points. Many Jazz fans chimed in on social media that they were ticked off about the cheering of an opposing player blatantly gunning for baskets against the home team. As it turned out, there were some Jazz players, too, apparently less-than-pleased with the shift in affections.

My Tribune colleague, Andy Larsen joked on Twitter about the Jimmer hysteria, referencing owner Gail Miller’s recent pregame speech pleading for appropriate behavior in the wake of allegations of racist taunts directed at Thunder guard Russell Westbrook:

“Gail: please respect our opponents when they come to our arena. / *Jimmer comes to town* / Gail: okay not that much respect”

Gail: please respect our opponents when they come to our arena.

*Jimmer comes to town*

Gail: okay not that much respect

— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) March 26, 2019

He wasn’t alone in such comments, leading to Jimmer supporters lashing out at the criticism online.

“Local media is a flat out joke.… heaven forbid we cheer for a local legend from college” one wrote.

Then, some of the Jazz players made remarks that insinuated the crowd cheering for Jimmer instead of them was perhaps over the top. Kyle Korver tried to take a nuanced view:

“Good for him. He’s got such a story. His basketball story is filled with ups and downs, some good and some tough,” Korver said. “I just really respect that he keeps battling. It’s good to have him back out there again.”

Kyle Korver, on Jimmer: "Good for him. He’s got such a story. His basketball story is filled with ups and downs, some good and some tough. I just really respect that he keeps on battling. It’s good to see him back out there again. … He's gonna have fans here for generations." pic.twitter.com/xiB6S8mWCo

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) March 26, 2019

The pro-Jimmer faction, of course, latched onto this statement as support of their behavior.

“Nice to see some Jazz players not super jealous or butthurt. Love the Jazz, but a few of them reminded me of spoiled 4 year olds…” wrote one.

Maybe they didn’t watch the whole video. In a follow-up question, Korver was asked, “Have you ever seen a crowd show that much love to an opposing player?” And he responded, “No. Never. I have not.” Even the most diplomatic player on the team could not help but concede it was, at best, weird and unusual.

I understand why there is lingering sentimentality toward Fredette, but I can’t for the life of me comprehend the depth of it.

Yeah, he was a fantastic college player who elevated his program and accomplished tremendous things. Fredette is 30 years old now and far removed from those glory days. Also he was not making an appearance at a BYU game, he was here as an opposing player. Sorry folks, none of us fits into our college wardrobe anymore — it’s time to let it go. Cheer him when he checks in, maybe cheer him if he makes a basket, and let that be it.

The two teams will be playing again this week in Phoenix, and I feel confident in saying he could make five times as many baskets and won’t get one-fifth the cheers from his own “home” crowd.

Actually, there was a lie in there — the part about “he could five times as many baskets.” I don’t actually think he can or will.

Like Korver said, good on the man for sticking with it and getting another shot. I’m certainly not begrudging him going for it. I’m a guy whose dream job as a kid was to be an NBA team beat writer, and after a couple decades in the business and a few months shy of my 42nd birthday, I got it. So I can identify with the premise of chasing your dreams.

Jimmer got to play in the NBA. From what we’ve seen of this latest comeback, he probably doesn’t deserve to continue. He still gets torched on defense, and he still can’t hit shots consistently enough to make up for it. If you’re holding onto “look at how he dominated in China!” well, I hate to break it to you, but he was only the fourth-leading scorer this season in the Chinese Basketball Association, ranking behind Pierre Jackson, Darius Adams, and Joe Young — and none of those guys got to come back.

Recognize there’s a near-zero-percent chance Phoenix picks up his option for next year (he was a DNP-CD Wednesday vs. the Wizards), a near-zero-percent chance anyone else gives him a shot, come to terms with Jimmer being done with the NBA, and by all means, give him some respect for having made it.

And then move on — quickly — and resume your cheering for the Jazz. One can presume that some positive energy directed their way might actually have a tangible impact.

Three more thoughts

You can’t spell “laughable” without L.A. • ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin wrote a pretty damning piece called “How the Lakers wasted Year 1 of LeBron,” chronicling the team’s season-long series of missteps. One of the most glaring: Trading Michael Beasley and Ivica Zubac (who was coming off a stretch of averaging 17.7 points and 8.7 rebounds) for stretch-four Mike Muscala, and intending to use the open roster spot to sign a buyout player such as Wayne Ellington, DeAndre Jordan, Enes Kanter or Carmelo Anthony. For starters, the Lakers simply could have waived Beasley without trading Zubac to open the spot; secondly, they whiffed on signing any of those players; meanwhile, Muscala, who was supposed to be a prolific deep shooter, has made 20.8 percent of his 3s with the team. Twenty-point-eight. McMenamin wrote that after the deadline, Clippers consultant Jerry West took some friends out to dinner, recounted how the deal went down, and they all had a laugh at the Lakers’ front-office incompetence. Ouch.

O come, O come, Emmanuel … to San Antonio • The Spurs held a ceremony Thursday to retire the No. 20 jersey of longtime guard Manu Ginobili, one of the best sixth men in NBA history, and a candidate to one day be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, owing to his role as an international trailblazer. While there was no shortage of poignant moments, arguably the best came from longtime teammate Tim Duncan, who recalled watching the 1999 draft at home and lamenting the Spurs “pick[ing] people that I’d never heard of.” He followed with a bang-on impression of then-NBA deputy commissioner Rod Thorn, who got to announce the second-round picks, getting to selection No. 57 and over-pronouncing the name of the Argentine guard who’d been playing for an Italian club: “Eh-man-you-ell Gee-no-bee-lee.” It’s worth watching if only to see coach Gregg Popovich lose all self-control at the line.

Tim Duncan recalls his thoughts when he watched Manu Ginobili get drafted by the Spurs... 😂#GraciasManu pic.twitter.com/tY7yzMhy3P

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 29, 2019

Slovenia, represent! • While most of the attention on Thursday’s Heat-Mavericks matchup in Miami rightly revolved around the last-ever matchup between the retiring Dwyane Wade and the presumed-to-be-retiring Dirk Nowitzki, there was another fascinating subplot — the first-ever matchup between Goran Dragic and Luka Doncic drawing an estimated 2,000 Slovenian fans to the game to watch the only two Slovenian players in the NBA battle it out. “It felt like we were in Ljubljana,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told The Associated Press, referring to the Slovenian capital. Anyway, give Round 1 to the old guy. Dragic got his second career triple-double with 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, as Miami won. Doncic scored 19 for Dallas, but shot just 6 for 18.

Phil Lyman is special. So special that respect for the rule of law does not apply to him.

Let's remember that he led an illegal ATV protest through Recapture Canyon. His ride through the canyon was an act of civil disobedience. But the deal with civil disobedience is that when you commit the crime to make your statement, you understand that there will be consequences for the act of breaking the law.

Lyman was convicted by a jury of his peers. As is his right, he appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, complaining that the Bureau of Land Management did not have authority over the canyon and that the judge was unfair. The appellate court affirmed his conviction and the order of $96,000 restitution.

Lyman, now a state representative from San Juan County, has the audacity to complain that the prosecution thinks he should pay more than $100 a month toward his $96,000 restitution obligation.

He has absolutely zero acceptance of responsibility or contrition. On the contrary, he continues to blame everyone but himself. He blames the judge, the U.S. attorney who prosecuted him for breaking the law and the media.

Lyman willfully broke the law. He is not a victim. It's time to face the music and pay the price for his criminal conduct.

Walter F. Bugden Jr., Salt Lake City

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A woman I’ll call Mary remembers clearly the day her life turned upside down. It was a day that started like most others. She returned home from grocery shopping and saw her husband was home. As she asked how his day had been, his eyes filled with tears and he said, “We need to talk.” He told her his work had found that his work computer had been used to access pornography — and they had a zero tolerance policy.

At first he denied it was him, insisting that it was a virus or a hacking attempt. Eventually, though, he admitted it was him and even more devastating, he had struggled with an addiction to pornography their entire marriage.

Mary was devastated. She couldn’t eat. She couldn’t sleep. She had nightmares. She blamed herself. She found herself crying in the closet and hyper-vigilant with anything that seemed different with her husband. Five minutes late coming home from work? He must be looking at porn. She tried to control his recovery process. Eventually, Mary sought help for herself and learned that what she was experiencing was normal — and it had a name: betrayal trauma.

Betrayal trauma is defined as the trauma experienced when perpetrated by someone close to the victim and to whom they are physically and emotionally close to. In a romantic relationship, it can take the form of domestic violence but it also takes the form of infidelity in all its form — physical, emotional and virtual.

Typical responses show up in many of the following ways: anger, shock, fear, anxiety, hypervigilance, feeling overwhelmed, withdrawal and isolation, difficulty concentrating, flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance, numbness and depression, a loss of hope for the future, a loss of stability and security, a total loss of trust in your intimate partner and even for the victim, intense feelings of shame.

Kevin Skinner, a therapist in Utah and creator of AddoRecovery for men and Bloom for women, developed a trauma-assessment scale almost 15 years ago as he realized the spouses of the men he was treating for sexual addiction were displaying symptoms very similar to those seen in post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to a speaker at the annual Utah Coalition Against Pornography conference earlier this year, seven in 10 men deliberately access pornography at least once a month. Although at a much smaller percentage — approximately 25 percent - women are also accessing pornography regularly.

Jill Manning says that research on pornography consumption is associated with the following six major trends: Increased marital distress with an increased in separation and divorce, decreased marital intimacy and sexual satisfaction, physical infidelity, increased appetite for more graphic and violent forms of pornography, a devaluation of marriage and child-rearing and an increase in compulsive/addictive sexual behaviors. Pornography can also lead to an increase in PIED, or pornography-induced erectile dysfunction and a host of other problems.

There is growing recognition that survivors of intimate betrayal are not to blame, and not “co-dependent,” but are traumatized victims. How devastating is it to learn that your partner betrayed you and then have people ask if you were “available” enough, if you “took care of yourself,” or imply if only you had been more “adventurous,” your partner would not have strayed into unhealthy, addictive behaviors of betrayal.

The reality is that sexual betrayal is a deep, deep wound for most victims. Not only is there betrayal, but it almost always is accompanied by deception — living a secret life by its very definition means that lies are being told and often elaborate cover stories are being created as the betrayal continues. When the innocent partner finds out, like Mary, the very foundation of their relationship, their trust, is destroyed.

Victims of betrayal trauma need to know: It is not your fault. If you think that it is, if your partner thinks that it is, just stop. It is not your fault. Your healing, however, is all about you. It can happen. Your relationship may or may not survive, but you can heal. There is hope. There is healing. And you are not alone.

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

Recently, for the first time, I attended a meeting of the Utah Inland Port Authority Board where the words “environmental concerns” were thrown about with no specifics as to what those concerns are exactly, or any details on how they will be addressed in our current political climate.

Our state Legislature has a terrible track record in this area. Does anyone see them providing incentives to homeowners or businesses for the installation of rooftop solar or for the purchase of electric vehicles? Are they supporting citizens in their efforts to protect watersheds, in their desire to regulate gravel pit dust, or to ban plastic bags?

This state does not take citizens’ environmental concerns seriously. I would argue they almost go out of their way to make it difficult for us to take matters into our own hands. How is the port authority board going to make this better?

Elizabeth Braymen, Salt Lake City

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To Sen. Mike Lee:

As a mother of three and a fellow Utahn, I’m upset by your flagrant disregard for respectful political discourse. I hope you are not as dismissive as you seem.

Ninety-seven percent of climatologists are concerned about the rate of warming. We may live in an age of ignoring experts and believing whatever we want, but that’s especially unwise in this case.

Arguing that zero population is the answer is irresponsible and unimaginative, but we can’t wait for the next generation to solve the problem either.

“What can we do?” is the question of the hour. Individual impacts will not be enough to counteract societal fossil fuel usage. Policy is a crucial opportunity to make a difference.

Please hear me. We have about a two-decade window for enacting meaningful change. We are on track for catastrophic changes to the climate. If we do not address this now and radically, we will be headed toward a near future to which humans cannot adapt.

It may frustrate you to hear radical ideas. As one of your constituents, I beg you to understand the intention behind those ideas and policies, and look for ways to honor the stewardship that is ours.

Stephanie Jackson, Draper

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Imagine purchasing a new vehicle from a dealership but not having the option of in-house financing, warranty or routine servicing and repairs. Or, what about booking a vacation online but not having the choice of purchasing hotel, airfare, travel insurance and rental car in one package?

Utahns face a similar scenario in real estate because the current law prevents them from purchasing all home-buying services under one roof. Senate Bill 121, the Controlled Business in Title Insurance Repeal, changes that by allowing more competition and choice in the marketplace for title insurance.

The Utah Legislature recently passed the bill so real estate companies can invest in affiliated businesses, such as title insurance. This allows Utahns to get all or most of their real estate services from one provider rather than having to shop for services from many providers.

Both the Utah Association of Realtors and the Utah Land Title Association, which represents more than 80 percent of title companies in Utah, worked on the consensus bill, which closely mirrors the laws in other states. For example, consumers in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Idaho and more than 40 other states already have one-stop home-buying options. Thanks to SB121, Utahns will also have more choices for title services upon the governor signing the legislation.

In addition to providing a more convenient shopping experience, SB 121 safeguards the consumer by requiring brokerages to:

• Promptly disclose their relationship to the title company

• Not require use of their title company

• Only earn a proportionate return on investment

• Not pay real estate agents to make referrals to the title company

The new law also requires any new title company to fund and maintain a capital reserve cushion to ensure the strength of the company, providing even stronger protections for consumers than existed previously. Additionally, the new Utah law is in accordance with the federal Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act.

As is the case in many other industries, affiliated companies are able to provide lower costs to consumers. This is evident in the states where brokerages are already permitted to have ownership in title companies. In the most recent Harris Survey of Homebuyers, 81 percent of homebuyers reported saving money and nearly three out of four homebuyers said one-stop shopping made the buying process more efficient.

Because real estate brokerages cannot require their clients to use a particular title company, the change in the law is all about increasing choice for consumers. Opponents of this bill fear competition and want to protect their monopoly. The Legislature, however, saw the need to remove a law that impeded consumer choice. We encourage the governor to sign this bill to end this anti-consumer way of doing business.

Grady Kohler is principal broker and owner of Windermere Real Estate Utah, Salt Lake City.

In signing House Bill 136, Gov. Gary Herbert sent a message that Utah serves to protect and uphold the value and importance of human life.

The 18-week abortion law now stands as one of the most restrictive in the United States and will most certainly cost Utah several million taxpayer dollars in legal fees when challenged in court. A pretty expensive message to send, in my opinion, but perhaps a small price to pay given the larger symbolic significance.

However, if human life is so deeply valued by our legislative representatives, I am extremely confused by the missed opportunities to reinforce this message by supporting other legislation that serve to protect Utahns such as the expansion of Medicaid and the banning of harmful, if not lethal, conversion therapy practices.

Taxpayers approved Medicaid expansion and the conversion therapy bill initially had support from Herbert. Yet what ultimately differentiated these protections from those that passed? These mixed messages are deeply concerning and very harmful. I question if our representatives truly believe in giving all Utahns the opportunity to live healthy and meaningful lives, or if opportunity is preserved just for those deemed worthy enough to receive support by our legislative body.

Sarah Shea, Salt Lake City

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The Eccles Theatre Facebook page recently posted a link to a short video about the thousands and thousands of Swarovski crystals and hours upon hours of intricate stitching it took to embellish the upcoming production of Disney’s “Aladdin.”

It’s not only ludicrous that a show spends that kind of money on a costume that could only be seen up close if it were in a lobby display, but sad that those costs are passed on to a public, many of which can’t afford the outrageous ticket prices.

The common argument is that good theater costs money. Umm, kinda. But I would offer that truly great theater is about illusion. It should let the viewer’s imagination do its work, to suspend reality, to fill in the details.

Publicly supported art should be accessible to all of the public. My guess is that a good portion of the audience can’t really afford to attend these touring shows either, but are simply clients and employees of wealthy businesses who use the write-off or have a connection to wealthy donors. If these productions didn’t spend such a garish amount of money on production details which can’t even be seen from the front row (let alone the third tier) more people could afford to see them, and exposure to the arts by all benefits us all.

If I want to see crystals and stitching and beautiful authentic costumes, I’ll attend an UMFA exhibit where those details can truly be appreciated. For about 18 bucks tops.

Scott Perry, Salt Lake City

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In Utah, we like to say we love our kids. But, we won’t spend money to educate them. We stack them deep and we teach them cheap.

Now a Salt Lake school is marked for closure due to “declining enrollment” and “low outcome ratings.” This assessment is according to the Salt Lake City School Board’s Building Utilization Committee.

The M. Lynn Bennion Elementary School is so marked. It is a downtown city school whose child population is mostly of low-income, diverse and immigrant parents. Its district also includes children of the YWCA’s Women’s Shelter, children who may be traumatized.

When I learned my great-granddaughter had to attend this school I was concerned. An effort to enroll in a nearby school, in another district, was rejected. It was full. We had no choice but Bennion Elementary. Her parents are young and of low income. I am white, middle-class, with a master’s degree and I come from several generations of educated professionals. I worried the academics at Bennion would be sub-par.

I quickly learned my pre-judgement was wrong. Bennion teachers have nailed quality education, which is especially impressive with the challenges the diverse and low-income children may bring to their classrooms. These teachers work magic not only with academically challenged students, but they also manage to challenge the scholars.

I have observed the teaching is both excellent and loving. The children are happy in an encouraging and disciplined atmosphere. My great-granddaughter, who showed signs of a scholar as young as age 2, thrives at Bennion. She also learns an intangible lesson, to respect and form friendships with others, no matter their race, ethnic origin or language skills. Isn’t this a bit of heaven on earth?

Yes, it is a diverse and, therefore, a difficult population, which will affect “outcome ratings.”

Yes, it is a downtown school with a transient, declining family population.

All the more reason to preserve a school that already has the ideal small classroom sizes. These small classes significantly enable experienced teachers to educate and manage issues these children can bring with them.

Therefore, I conclude with this verbal arithmetic: Declining enrollment = smaller class numbers = a necessary condition for educating this district’s children.

One could see this school as a lemon, but we who know the school see it as lemonade.

Why must we keep choosing to stack them deep and teach them cheap?

Why can’t we love all kids, even though it costs more to educate a challenging group?

If the money is not spent now, it will likely be spent later by society when helping those trapped in poverty, when providing prisons and, worst of all, when causing unrealized potentials of “those least among us.” (Didn’t Jesus, Muhammad or Buddha tell us to help these groups?)

Aren’t we creating a bit of hell on earth if we don’t educate this challenged group?

Let us remember: Steve Jobs was an immigrant’s child, as I was several generations ago. Diversity creates a vibrant, rich community. If we choose to value diversity.

Bennion is a Title I School. This means children from low-income families make up at least 40 percent of enrollment. The school is eligible for federal funds to operate programs for raising the success of the lowest-achieving students. Even the higher-achieving scholars benefit from these funds. Under Principal Dahlia Cordova’s direction, Bennion’s team absolutely honors diversity, inclusion and equity while providing quality education.

To support the continuance of Salt Lake City’s Bennion Elementary School there are several ways you can help. You can call or write your school board representative. Their emails can be found at www.slcschools.org. Or, if you choose to support with your time and talents, you can leave your contact information with Bennion office staff (801-578-8108).

Finally, if donating money is your preference, please visit the Salt Lake Education Foundation’s website www.saltlakeeducationfoundation.org, or call James Yapias at 801-578-8268. You need to designate your donations specifically to Bennion for whatever use you choose. I prefer to donate towards financial recognition of this special group of teachers and staff.

Mary Aa, Salt Lake City, is a retired prison educator and Salt Lake County employee, with a master’s degree in management from the University of Utah. Her great-granddaughter has attended Bennion Elementary for almost two years.

Tucked deep inside a final budget bill unveiled and passed the final night of this year’s legislative session is an $800,000 taxpayer gift to Bryson Garbett, a prominent homebuilder and former legislator, who had the help of House Speaker-turned-lobbyist Greg Curtis.

On page 32 of SB3, the 66-page, last-chance-for-money bill, is the following directive:

“The Legislature intends that the Department of Transportation use $800,000 from the Transportation Fund to construct a sound barrier along Mountain View Corridor at 8157 South Mapleleaf Way, West Jordan.”

Actually, the property borders Bangerter Highway, not the Mountain View Corridor, a little mistake that may have been the result of its hasty insertion into the bill.

With a few exceptions, the Legislature does not normally order specific transportation projects. That’s the job of the Utah Transportation Commission, which reviews and prioritizes potential projects statewide using objective criteria to help take politics out of the process. The sound wall item inserted into SB3 sidestepped that.

Property records show the address listed is for 26 acres of what has been farmland that is now owned by Aurora Heights, LC, and is valued at $1.8 million. State records show that the company’s manager and agent is Garbett, president and CEO of Garbett Homes.

The Garbett family has a long and diverse political history. Bryson Garbett served as a Republican state legislator from 1982 to 1986. Jan Garbett, Bryson’s wife, ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for lieutenant governor in 2016 and as a United Utah Party candidate for Congress last year. Garbett’s son, David, is running for mayor of Salt Lake City this year in a nonpartisan race dominated by Democrats.

Bryson Garbett said in an interview that he plans to build 77 homes on 10,000-square-foot lots on the parcel adjacent to busy Bangerter Highway.

“But it’s noisy,” he said. “I don’t think you would want to live there without a sound wall.”

He notes that adjacent subdivisions have sound barriers.

Garbett said he approached Utah Department of Transportation officials to seek a sound wall for his property, too. “But they said no. We thought they were treating us and that property unfairly. Everyone else [nearby] has a sound wall. Why would they not put one there? We didn’t get anywhere with them.”

UDOT spokesman Zach Whitney said that as highways are built, his agency follows formulas to determine where sound barriers are needed based on noise that is likely to disturb nearby homes. Farmland and undeveloped property do not qualify for sound barriers. If they are later developed, UDOT may reevaluate — but that usually happens after development is completed.

After UDOT refused his request, Garbett decided to take his case directly to the Legislature and hired Curtis, the former speaker, as his lobbyist.

Curtis said he had seen a similar sound wall order in legislation previously. “I thought, ‘That’s creative.’ So when I was called by Garbett Management, it seemed like, ‘Well, we’ll give it a try.’”

He went about the job by “just talking with members of the Legislature. I’m not comfortable in using names.” Curtis declined to identify the lawmakers he lobbied and who, precisely, inserted the item in the final appropriations bill.

He said he did approach members of the Executive Appropriations Committee, which annually writes SB3 — and its two co-chairmen are the official sponsors.

“I mean, the bill obviously is run by the appropriations chairs, and other members of leadership are keenly aware of what goes in and doesn’t go in the bill,” Curtis said. The Utah Legislature’s top leaders are Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, both of whom are developers.

The two co-chairmen of the budget committee, Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, and Rep. Brad Last, R-Hurricane, did not immediately return phone calls about the Garbett funding provision.

Curtis said he tried to persuade lawmakers by saying, “Look guys, there are residential subdivisions developed there with sound walls right up to the edge of this property on both sides and stop.”

He compared the situation to having three houses in a row but skipping a sound wall for one in the middle. “We would see the absurdity of that.”

Garbett said he did not realize the funding had been approved. “I didn’t even know that passed until you called,” he told a Salt Lake Tribune reporter two weeks after the legislative session ended.

He believes it was the right thing to do.

“It was a case of where UDOT was being unfair," Garbett said, “and the Legislature corrected that.”

Whitney, the UDOT spokesman, declined comment about the appropriation and the process used to get it, except to say if it is something lawmakers want, UDOT is fine with that.

The bill has yet to be signed by Gov. Gary Herbert. Utah law allows a potential line item veto for him to remove portions of appropriations bills that he dislikes.

Utah’s emergency communications may be on the brink of collapse, lending urgency to a planned massive system upgrade. But the project is on hold while two industry giants brawl over the taxpayer-funded contract for new two-way radios and equipment.

Florida-based Harris Corp. won the contract with a bid of some $50 million — a price that the state says is $30 million below that of the losing bidder, Motorola.

But Motorola, which has supplied Utah’s radios and emergency technology for decades — since before the creation of the Utah Communications Authority (UCA) — is nowhere close to giving up the fight. The Illinois-based company has filed three protests alleging bid-rigging, including “price manipulation.”

UCA, an independent state agency overseeing 911 as well as interagency communications, has rejected each of the protests. But Motorola has now appealed to the state’s Procurement Policy Board. If it loses there, the next step for Motorola would be taking the dispute to the Utah Court of Appeals.

Long the dominant player in the emergency communications industry nationwide as well as in Utah, Motorola also wants to wage this battle in the court of public opinion.

“Imagine dropped calls and dead zones when police officers, firefighters and first responders are trying to communicate during emergencies,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement. “A police officer that can’t be heard when he or she needs backup during an active shooter situation. These are real possibilities when these systems don’t work correctly.”

She warned that “UCA intends to move forward with a vendor … who has publicly been plagued with performance issues and lawsuits, risking the safety of Utah citizens and first responders.”

Natalie Ciao, a Harris spokeswoman, told The Salt Lake Tribune the company is well qualified to take on the contract and “believes the procurement process was very professionally organized and run by the book in an unbiased manner.”

Ciao continued, “Harris provided the solution that met [the agency’s] requirements and provided the state with a system that saves the state millions of dollars at a price 30 percent lower.”

The UCA has had its own share of problems in the past — repeated violations of open-meetings and financial-transparency laws that came to light in the wake of a $1 million, 10-year embezzlement scandal. The agency has focused a good deal of energy since then on cleaning up its act to prove to the Legislature it deserved and would appropriately manage millions in new taxpayer dollars.

Dave Edmunds, the UCA director hired in 2017 to help turn the agency around, declined to comment for this story. “My attorneys have instructed me not to speak about that,” he told The Tribune.

But during a December meeting where the bid winner was announced and unanimously approved by the UCA board, Edmunds said that while he had “zero doubt” that both bidding companies were up to the job, Harris’ price made the difference.

Motorola “did have a slightly higher score on the technical side,” Edmunds acknowledged, but Harris became the clear-cut winner because of the $30 million in cost savings.

“We had been told repeatedly and for years that this P25 radio upgrade was going to cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. And I think at the end of the day probably the biggest winner here is the Utah state taxpayer, who is going to get a highly functional system for around $50 million,” Edmunds said, according to audio of the meeting.

One of the grounds for Motorola’s protests are its assertions that UCA failed to take into account tens of millions of dollars in discounts it offered that would drop its bid from $90 million to $63 million.

UCA has concluded that it couldn’t count most of the offered discounts because of strings attached.

Edmunds said he is confident in the UCA contract award and will address concerns as the final agreement is negotiated. “We will hold their [Harris'] feet to the fire,” he said, at the same time stressing the importance of replacing Utah’s aging system. “We have really been on the edge of a system that is at the end of life and, potentially, at the verge of collapse."

The agency has resorted to buying replacement parts on eBay because they’re not available from any manufacturer. And soon the existing equipment will be out of compliance with federal requirements.

“So we knew going in that this was going to be the most important thing that this organization did for the next 20 years,” Edmunds said. “And we gave it that kind of weight and that kind of attention.”

UCA’s outside attorney Jason Boren also pointed to legal constraints on talking to The Tribune about the bid protests. When told of Motorola’s warnings about the possibly deadly consequences of a mistake in switching suppliers, he responded: “That’s unbelievable.”

But it really isn’t anything out of the ordinary for the two sworn corporate enemies who have what the Miami Herald has characterized as a “blood feud."

“Think Hatfields and McCoys, Sharks and Jets — and Harris Corp. and Motorola Solutions,” the Herald wrote.

Motorola sent The Tribune links to several news stories detailing problems with Harris’ technology. One from PennLive carried the headline: “$800 million later, senators want to know ‘what the heck happened’ with statewide radio system” — a project that ended up costing four times what had been originally projected.

Another, from the Las-Vegas Review Journal, recounted two years of dead zones and dropped calls before the city dumped its $42 million system supplied by Harris.

Ciao, the Harris spokeswoman, in turn supplied news articles chronicling Motorola misfires. The company doesn’t normally employ such tactics, she said, unless it is “under fire” by its chief competitor.

Several of the articles involving Motorola centered on the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and the confusion and chaos in the law enforcement response that was blamed, at least in part, on the failure of Broward County’s aging emergency radio system.

“We simply couldn’t transmit on the radio or receive,” Sheriff’s Lt. Steven O’Neill told the Sun Sentinel newspaper, adding that commanders ended up designating “runners” — officers on foot — to relay messages. A report later commissioned by the state said SWAT officers inside the high school could not use their radios to communicate with officers outside who had rifles pointed at the building.

The McClatchy News Service, in a multipart series in 2015, detailed problems with emergency radio systems nationwide and explored Motorola’s decades-long domination of the multibillion-dollar business.

Motorola has locked up as much as 80 percent of the taxpayer-funded emergency communications market nationally. But Harris, which is in the midst of merging with military communications giant L3, anticipates more than doubling its revenues, from $6 billion to $16 billion.

The scrappy newcomer has been the bid protester in other contracts — like an FBI communications upgrade in which Motorola was originally awarded a $500 million sole-source deal that was later abandoned and rebid. Harris still protested, alleging the $200 million request for proposal was biased in favor of Motorola.

Among Harris’ Utah clients — some of them former Motorola customers — are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hill Air Force Base and the Unified Fire Authority, said Ciao. “This isn’t our first rodeo in the state.”

Motorola has its fans — some of them concerned about the risk of switching to a new supplier.

Former Rep. Brad Dee, who considers himself one of the fathers of the UCA and who was employed by the agency as a lobbyist in 2017, said he has been hearing concerns and unanswered questions from local officials “all over the state ... from Rich County to Washington County.”

The fear? That radios from a different manufacturer won’t be able to connect with the old radios.

“I don’t care how good your radio is. I don’t care how many bells and whistles you put on it. If I can’t push that button and talk to somebody, it’s no good to me,” Dee said.

“I just know that ... the state has worked with Motorola for as long as I’ve been around and the systems that they worked with," Dee said. “I’ve looked at what Harris radios have done and I’ve done a little research on Harris radio and I looked up some of the problems they have in certain areas in the United States.”

He said he had no financial ties to Motorola, which a company spokeswoman confirmed.

“I’m not speaking just for Brad Dee, who watched this thing grow up from a baby. I think I’m speaking for a lot of local public safety officials and local governments that are concerned on how this was handled.”

Dee said he wants to see a “last and best” bid that answers all questions about connectivity and allows the companies to put forward their final bottom-line offers.

Edmunds confirmed during the bid meeting that “we certainly have [heard] from a number of folks that would like to have a best and final cost solicited from them and allow them to submit that.” But agency lawyers have said, under the request for proposals submitted, “there is no provision” for that. Anything outside the request for proposal “could prompt potential chaos.”

He acknowledged that local law enforcement and emergency officials are “afraid their radios won’t work."

“What we can tell you is this: One of the reasons we’re migrating to P25 [radios] is that will allow all P25 radios, regardless of your manufacturer, to come and work and conduct business on this system," Edmunds assured his board. "There is no empirical data to support those concerns and assertions that I’ve heard — at least to this juncture.”

Wayne Harper is the state Senate counterpart to Dee — a lawmaker who has long overseen the UCA and sponsored most of the legislation affecting it.

He doesn’t share Dee’s concerns.

“The process followed was absolutely correct," Harper said. "You’ve got two good companies; one is thrilled they got the contract, and the other is upset, and they’re doing what they can to get a second hearing.

“My goal is to make sure that the first responders have the support that they need and the public has the confidence that when they call 911, their calls will be answered and emergency responders dispatched as quickly as possible.”

Harper said he is comfortable that will happen with Harris radios.

It's difficult to say with certainty why the Supreme Court on Thursday night stopped the execution of a Buddhist inmate in Texas because he was not allowed a spiritual adviser by his side, when last month it approved the execution of a Muslim inmate in Alabama under the almost exact circumstances.

But the obvious place to start is new Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who seemed to have a change of heart.

Kavanaugh on Thursday was the only justice to spell out his reasoning: Texas could not execute Patrick Murphy without his Buddhist adviser in the room because it allows Christian and Muslim inmates to have religious leaders by their sides.

"In my view, the Constitution prohibits such denominational discrimination," Kavanaugh wrote.

But Kavanaugh was on the other side last month when Justice Elena Kagan and three other justices declared "profoundly wrong" Alabama's decision to turn down Muslim Domineque Ray's request for an imam to be at his execution, making available only a Christian chaplain.

"That treatment goes against the Establishment Clause's core principle of denominational neutrality," Kagan wrote then.

Kavanaugh and the court's other conservatives did not address Kagan's argument, saying only that Ray had brought his challenge too late.

Kavanaugh said in a footnote Thursday he was satisfied with the timing of Murphy's litigation. But there was little difference in when Ray and Murphy brought their requests; if anything, it appears Ray was quicker than Murphy.

Some critics of the court wondered if the difference was one of race and religion. Murphy is white and turned to Buddhism in prison. Ray, who was executed within hours of the court's decision Feb. 7, was black.

But the court in just the last few years has ruled for Muslim petitioners who claimed discrimination: an inmate who was not allowed to grow a short beard because of prison policies, and a woman who was denied a job at Abercrombie & Fitch because of her hijab.

Ilya Somin, a law professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and a sharp critic of the court's decision in Dunn v. Ray, said the most logical explanation is the court was stung by the barrage of criticism it received from the left and the right.

The justices "belatedly realized they had made a mistake; and not just any mistake, but one that inflicted real damage on their and the court's reputations," Somin wrote on the Volokh Conspiracy blog.

"Presented with a chance to 'correct' their error and signal that they will not tolerate religious discrimination in death penalty administration, they were willing to bend over backwards to seize the opportunity, and not let it slip away."

Deepak Gupta, a Washington lawyer who argues before the court and called the Ray decision "indefensible," tweeted: "This is how the Supreme Court tries to erase a very recent and obvious moral error without admitting error. Is the Alabama case materially different? They don't say."

It is not clear from the ruling what role Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, who were in the majority in the Ray case, played in the Murphy case. They did not join Kavanaugh's opinion, nor did they note, as Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch did, that they would have allowed the execution to proceed.

Somin said he is "fairly confident Alito and Roberts switched" because they did not record themselves as objecting, as Thomas and Gorsuch did.

"In a high-profile case like this, it would be strange for some justices to clearly indicate their dissent, while others who agreed with that stance kept silent and thereby created the impression they agree with the majority," Somin said in an email.

But that is not always the case, and Kavanaugh plus the dissenters in the Ray case would have been enough to force the outcome in the Murphy case.

The order stayed Murphy's execution until the court decides to take up the case on its merits or Texas "permits Murphy's Buddhist spiritual advisor or another Buddhist reverend of the state's choosing to accompany Murphy in the execution chamber during the execution."

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which filed a brief on Murphy's behalf, said it attempted to disentangle the religious liberty issue from the last-minute attempts to stop executions that irritate the court's conservative majority.

"This particular appeal does not present a challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty, nor is it a challenge to Texas' execution of Murphy," the brief argues. "This is instead a challenge to the conditions of Murphy's confinement immediately prior to his execution."

Becket's First Amendment argument hinged on a point that often separates the court's liberals and conservatives.

Ray's lawyers, and the appeals court that at first held up his execution, said Alabama's policy of only employing a Christian chaplain and making him the only cleric available at executions violates the prohibition on government endorsement of one religion over another.

Becket and Murphy's lawyers argued that the constitutional right at issue was the inmate's ability to practice his religion.

“The right of a condemned person to the comfort of clergy - and the rights of clergy to comfort the condemned - are among the longest-standing and most well-recognized forms of religious exercise known to civilization,” Becket’s brief said.