None of the Jazz players would come right out and say one way or the other on this, but with just five games remaining on their regular-season schedule and playoff positioning coming to a critical point, the questions emerge: Who would the Jazz prefer to play in the postseason’s first round? Who do they want to avoid? Who should they want to avoid? Should they want to avoid anyone?

A healthy outlook and attitude for the Jazz themselves is … whoever, whatever, whenever. Worrying about playoff matchups, or trying to actually lose a game down the stretch to position themselves for a more favorable matchup is weak, and could lead to competitive atrophy, a pitiable condition. If you’re going to be the best, you can’t wish away the best, you’ve got beat them, sooner or later, so why sweat it?

Here’s why … because the Jazz would struggle mightily to oust a team like the Rockets. Let’s make it more plain: If the Jazz face the Rockets in the first round, they’re going to lose.

Their chance wouldn’t be quite as thin or fat against the Blazers or, in a much less likely scenario, the Clippers. Barring weirdness, or fortunate losses, it’s probably going to be Houston or Portland.

If the Jazz finish fifth in the West, they would face the fourth-place team, and vice-versa. As of this writing, they are in the fifth slot, Portland and Houston are tied at the third-fourth, two games ahead of Utah. The Clips are in sixth, a half-game behind the Jazz.

It’s obviously not always an accurate forecast or blueprint, but the Jazz tied with the Blazers and the Rockets during the regular season, 2-2, and defeated the Clippers twice, with one more game to play. The Jazz downed Portland and Houston in the first games and the Blazers and Rockets won the last two.

Athletic scoring guards have hurt the Jazz on more than a few occasions this season, and there aren’t many better than Damian Lillard, a player basketball observers in Utah have been more than aware of for years now, since his days at Weber State. In fact, many Jazz fans wish Lillard would one day team up with Donovan Mitchell in Utah’s backcourt, forming what would be the most exciting guard tandem in the NBA.

As a Blazer, though, he could kill them. That’s less likely with the awful injury to Jusuf Nurkic, a frontline player with whom Portland has excelled. His absence now would free up Jazz bigs to cover for their perimeter teammates, who could crowd Lillard and CJ McCollum, if he’s healthy, from deep, and if they get beat, Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors would be available to interrupt their flow closer to the basket.

On the other hand, the Blazers have now won 10 of their last 12 games, even without Nurkic. And with that guard line, they are difficult for any opponent. Just not as difficult for the Jazz as the Rockets.

Houston is a Jazz nightmare.

As aggravating as some in and around the Jazz find James Harden’s style of play, with constant whistles and a seemingly never-ending traipsing to the foul line, he is darn near impossible for them to defend. As strong as they are at that end, the Jazz can’t slow Harden. He has his way, averaging 34 points against them.

Throw in the contributions of Chris Paul and Clint Capela, and it’s easy to see why the Jazz would prefer to go another way. Everyone remembers how Houston booted the Jazz from the playoffs last postseason. That series was … difficult.

An encore shot would serve this one purpose: It would show how much progress the Jazz have really made this time around. The Rockets are not the same team as they were a year ago, but they remain a major challenge.

One of the problems for the Jazz if they finish in either the fourth or fifth spots, and they beat the Blazers (or the Rockets) in that first round, barring a huge upset, they would get the Warriors in the second round (unless Denver somehow passes them). All the hurdles the Rockets present the Jazz, the Warriors put up all of that and more.

If Utah finishes sixth, and Houston drops to fourth, and the Jazz go on to play their best basketball, they could avoid Golden State, if it indeed finishes first, until the Western Conference finals. For a still-emerging team, that would be a head trip.

On the other hand, if the Jazz continue to live by Quin Snyder’s mantra — improve every game and give nothing back — they could fight straight through to facing Houston in the first round, and if, by some miracle, they were to beat the Rockets, meet up with Golden State in the second.

Whew.

Maybe losing a game or two down the stretch isn’t so bad after all. Maybe a little timely, pitiable competitive atrophy could help them, could be their friend, as long as it doesn't snuggle up too long, too close.

GORDON MONSON hosts “The Big Show” with Jake Scott weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.

Of all the teams she has coached, Utah gymnastics’ Megan Marsden believes the 2019 squad is one of the most consistent.

Kudos to that consistency goes to not only the veterans who were expected to lead the team such as Kari Lee, MyKayla Skinner and MaKenna Merrell-Giles, but also those who have stepped up and filled some rather large roles.

Originally, the Utes had envisioned freshman Cammy Hall would be a candidate to fill lineup spots on the vault and floor, freshman Cristal Isa would be a consistent contributor on the uneven bars and two or three other events and junior Missy Reinstadtler would be in the all-around.

But as is usual with sports, the season hasn’t gone as planned with Hall being sidelined with an Achilles tendon tear, Isa out with an arm injury and Reinstadtler limited to just the uneven bars due to a foot injury.

Remarkably though, the Utes head into their NCAA regional competition Friday not only as a legitimate NCAA contender, but doing so by primarily relying on just seven gymnasts to shoulder the majority of the work.

The key to the success has been the way in which others have responded, Marsden said.

“I like the idea that comes when one person has an injury or something happens, that others see it as an opportunity to step up rather than back away and that is what has happened with this team.”

Among those who have played a larger role include Lee, who as Marsden noted wasn’t really thought of as being in integral part of the bars lineup.

But she has become crucial as the leadoff gymnast, scoring 9.9 or higher in five of the last seven meets.

“She doesn’t like bars as much as the other events, but that is where the lessons of life occur and someone has to address something and they have to work harder than they thought,” Marsden said. “Kari had to do that and she has really stepped up for us.”

On balance beam, Alexia Burch, Sydney Soloski and Adrienne Randall have all played bigger, more consistent roles. Burch struggled early but has seemed to find more confidence, hitting 9.8 or higher in three of the last four meets while Randall has earned 9.85 or higher in the last four.

Soloski didn’t join the beam lineup until Feb. 9, but she has hit in every meet including two 9.85s in the last two.

“We weren’t quite getting it done on beam and Sydney and the others came up and really shined. When it became obvious Missy couldn’t do it, it was ‘what are you doing to do to help keep Utah at the top?,’ and they’ve done that.”

Of all the events, vault perhaps is the one area in which the Utes have been harmed the most, simply because Hall was working a 10.0 vault.

Kim Tessen has competed in the last half of the season and has two 9.9s, but the Utes are still missing some scoring opportunities. Regardless, Marsden can’t fault the Utes’ effort.

“We don’t have that other 10.0 vault, but the ones we do have have improved their landings and that has shown,” she said.

From cups of lemonade at wedding receptions to Friday night meetups at “dirty soda" shops, nonalcoholic beverages always have been a thing in Utah.

But lately, the state’s teetotaling ways — linked to the state’s predominant religion — seem progressive, even ahead of their time, as more consumers across the country choose booze-free beverages for better health and wellness.

There have always been those who choose not to drink beer, wine and spirits either because they’re pregnant, worried about a drug interaction, don’t like hangovers or prefer not to see compromising photos of themselves on social media.

Faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who follow the faith’s health code, called the Word of Wisdom, have a religious reason to abstain. Muslims also are taught to avoid alcoholic beverages.

Whatever the motivation for being “spirit-free,” they may also have felt uncomfortable or embarrassed ordering a plain Diet Coke at a neighborhood party or company mixer.

That awkwardness may be changing, says Clare Liardet, author of “Dry: Delicious Handcrafted Cocktails and Other Clever Concoctions.”

“Although there is still a social pressure to drink and be part of the gang,” she wrote in an email from her home in the United Kingdom, “it is easier to find interesting nonalcoholic drinks and to be part of a group that doesn’t drink.”

In recent years, she said, an increased focus on health and wellness is driving the rise of spirit-free drinks at restaurants and bars.

Those who are serious about fitness and nutrition take to heart the link between excessive drinking and chronic conditions — from cardiovascular and liver disease to cancer.

Pushing the trend are diets such as Whole30, which eliminates grains, dairy, sugar, legumes and alcohol from the diet for a month, and movements such as “Dry January,” when people ditch alcohol for the first month of the year as a reset from excessive drinking over the holidays.

Beverage makers are getting in on the trend, producing more low- and no-alcohol products. Heineken, for example, recently launched 0.0, a nonalcoholic beer. Seedlip, available on Amazon, is the world’s first distilled nonalcoholic spirit and bills itself as the solution to the “ever-growing dilemma of ‘what to drink when you’re not drinking.’”

Restaurants and bars also are adding creative nonalcoholic cocktails — often called mocktails — to their menus.

At the new Hearth and Hill restaurant, which opened in mid-December near Park City in Kimball Junction, four mocktails appear on the drink menu. Boon’s Bubbles, named for owner Brooks Kirchheimer’s pet, is the most popular with a blend of raspberry puree, lime and lemon-lime soda.

“We wanted to provide a variety [of drinks] for guests and this gives them another option,” Kirchheimer said. ”It’s something different than soda, water or sparkling cider.”

Customers have responded. Since opening, the restaurant has sold more than 250 mocktails a month. At $6 each, they are about half the cost of regular cocktails (which range from $10 to $12) but double the regular $3 drinks.

On Dec. 30, 2018, Utah became the only state in the nation with a drunken driving blood alcohol limit of 0.05, so it’s likely that some customers who ordered mocktails were designated drivers, said Kirchheimer. “It would be interesting to see how the new law has affected sales.”

Some of those mocktail fans, no doubt, were Latter-day Saints.

No matter the reason for drinking alcohol-free, he said, “I think people who dine with family and friends still want to feel like they are part of the group and enjoying a beverage.”

Oz Hutton, owner of Melange Liquid Catering, a Salt Lake City bartending service, said mocktails have become a staple at wedding receptions — including Latter-day Saint ones — backyard parties and corporate events in Utah.

People have traveled to other states and countries for work or pleasure, he said. “They come back with a heightened palate and want something more than just a punch bowl or Diet Coke.”

A mocktail, of course, is more than just mixing a regular pina colada sans booze.

“They are more involved,” Hutton said, noting that there should be a physical and chemical reaction in the glass. “It should have elements that excite the palate and arouse your aromatic senses.”

It also should be visually appealing.

Hutton put all those requirements into action recently, when HBO hired him for a private party and screening for the new “Game of Thrones” movie.

The movie giant wanted to serve both alcoholic and nonalcoholic cocktails. Hutton created the alcohol-free Mother of Dragons cocktail, a mix of mango juice, lime juice and nonalcoholic triple sec, garnished with fresh dragon fruit and cayenne pepper.

“It shows the power of mocktails,” he said. “They are consumed at major events and by Hollywood types.”

See, it’s not just a Utah thing, but Utahns were among the first to raise it to an art form.

An explosion and fire at a chemical plant northeast of Houston left one person dead and two battling for their lives, just two weeks after a blaze at an oil storage facility caused thousands of gallons of petrochemicals to flow into the city’s shipping channel.

Plumes of black smoke that could be seen 25 miles away began to subside at about 1:30 p.m. local time as firefighters fought to contain the blaze. The priority is to make sure it doesn't spread to other tanks containing flammable materials, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a press conference.

"This still a dynamic situation," he said. "Our main focus right now is to make sure we're in support to contain this."

Students near the fire at the KMCO LLC plant in Crosby and residents within a one-mile radius were instructed to remain inside. Sheldon Independent School District lifted a "shelter in place" order at just before 2 p.m. to allow parents to pick up their kids from school. The Crosby plant is a chemicals blending facility which makes products used in brake fluid, antifreeze and in oil production and refining, according to its website.

The fire started on a line transferring isobutylene, a flammable gas, before spreading to a warehouse containing dry chemicals, Gonzalez said. A spokeswoman for the Harris County Fire Marshall's office said the blaze "should be out soon" as long as it doesn't spread to nearby storage facilities.

The disaster comes just two weeks after oil storage tanks owned by Mitsui & Co.'s Intercontinental Terminal Co. burned for four days, causing thousands of gallons of gasoline products to pour into the Houston Ship Channel. As many as 1,000 people sought medical attention due to smoke and benzene levels in the air and the waterway was shuttered for days, starving refineries of feedstocks.

KMCO is owned by Owner Resource Group LLC, a private equity firm based in Austin, Texas. Its sites in Crosby and Port Arthur have the capacity to produce more than 900 million pounds a year of chemicals. The Crosby site has 28 reactors and more than 600 chemical storage tanks, according to KMCO’s website.

El Paso, Texas • The surge of migrant families arriving at the southern border has led the Trump administration to dramatically expand a practice President Donald Trump has long mocked as “catch and release.”

With immigrant processing and holding centers overwhelmed, the administration is busing people hundreds of miles inland and releasing them at Greyhound stations and churches in cities like Albuquerque, San Antonio and Phoenix because towns close to the border already have more than they can handle.

Relief organizations in some cities are struggling to feed and house the migrants and warning that a public health crisis is taking shape.

"We're asking volunteer doctors and nurses and community members to step up and do what the government should be doing. If this was a hurricane, FEMA would be on the ground helping," said Jim Gannon, CEO and executive director of Catholic Charities in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For many years, families arriving at the border were typically released from U.S. custody immediately and allowed to settle in this country with family or friends while their cases wound their way through the courts, a process that often takes years.

Trump has railed against the practice, tweeting in November that it was over: "Catch and Release is an obsolete term. It is now Catch and Detain. Illegal Immigrants trying to come into the U.S.A., often proudly flying the flag of their nation as they ask for U.S. Asylum, will be detained or turned away."

But in recent months, the number of families crossing into the U.S. has climbed to record highs, pushing the system to the breaking point. As a result, the government is releasing families faster, in greater numbers and at points farther removed from the border.

Since Dec. 21, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has set free more than 125,000 people who came into the U.S. as families.

Customs and Border Protection is also overloaded, and instead of holding families for up to 72 hours before turning them over to ICE, it has started releasing them directly into the U.S.

"The numbers are overwhelming right now," said Gregory Archambault, ICE director of enforcement and removal operations in San Diego. "Everybody is stressed. The agency is stressed, the (local governments) are stressed, the law enforcement agencies. Everybody is stressed because there are these mass numbers of people."

ICE has been releasing asylum-seeking families so quickly that they don't even have time to make travel arrangements. Families are given court dates, a head of household is often fitted with an ankle monitor, and they are dropped off at a charity-run shelter or bus station.

San Antonio received part of that surge in recent days, forcing the city to open a help center with food for migrants.

In El Paso, where shelters and churches are at capacity and seats on buses headed out of the city are getting harder to find, authorities briefly resorted to holding migrants in a pen lined with concertina wire under the shade of a bridge that connects the American city to Juarez, Mexico. They closed the makeshift holding area over the weekend and moved the migrants to a place with more shelter.

"We spent four days under the bridge, sleeping on the rocks," said Eliseo Santiago, 37, who is from Guatemala.

"They treated us like animals," said Herling Jerlyn, a teenager from Guatemala.

In Albuquerque, nearly 280 miles from the border, faith-based organizations have helped roughly 1,000 migrants since mid-February. The groups were small at first, but they have been growing and the arrivals have become more frequent.

San Diego County recently opened a shuttered downtown courthouse slated for demolition to house up to 150 asylum seekers. A coalition of religious and civic groups that manages the shelter said it has helped more than 11,000 members of asylum-seeking families since authorities began large-scale releases in late October.

About 22,000 immigrants have been released in Arizona in the past three months. In the Phoenix area, the nonprofit organizations and churches taking them in have a capacity of only 700 a week, said Connie Phillips, president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services in the Southwest.

That means immigration authorities have to drop off families by the busload at places not designed to take them in, like the Greyhound station in Phoenix.

The bus company is no longer allowing anyone without a ticket to wait inside, so immigrant families, including little children, stand outside until a volunteer can get them in touch with a relative to buy them a ticket. That sometimes takes hours.

"The federal government is saying, 'This is not our responsibility,'" Phillips said. "And the cities and states have not stepped up to provide any kind of emergency funding."

She added: "This is going to be a public health disaster. These are small children, these are families, these are babies, and we cannot have people just out in the heat."

Authorities said family arrivals along the U.S.-Mexico border reached an all-time high in February of 45,827 arrests or denials of entry.

"We didn't have family groups for years and years, like we have now," ICE's Archambault said. "Our facilities are not made for this. We have diapers and baby formula and all this stuff, like a nursery."

In another sign of how U.S. authorities are being tested as rarely before, figures released Tuesday show a significant drop in prosecutions for illegal entry, even as arrests have climbed sharply. The numbers are at odds with Trump's vow to prosecute everyone who enters the country illegally.

In February, Customs and Border Protection referred 8,998 illegal-entry cases to prosecutors along the border, a drop of 12% from January and 23% from October, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Border Patrol arrests of single adults are moving in the opposite direction: 23,451 in February, up 26% from January and 7% from October.

Galvan reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in San Diego; Nomaan Merchant in Houston; Colleen Long in Washington; and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this story.

Los Angeles • Police on Tuesday arrested a man they say fatally shot rapper Nipsey Hussle and evaded authorities for two days.

Eric Holder, 29, was captured in Bellflower, a Los Angeles-area city about 20 miles southeast of Hussle's clothing store, where the musician was shot Sunday.

Hussle and Holder knew each other, and the two had some kind of personal dispute in the hours before the rapper was killed, Police Chief Michel Moore said.

Police released Holder's name and photo Monday night and asked for public's help in finding him.

It was not immediately clear how authorities located him. He was detained first by sheriff's deputies until LA police arrived and confirmed that he was wanted in Hussle's slaying, authorities said.

The two men had several arguments on Sunday, and Holder returned to the store with a handgun and opened fire on Hussle and two other men, who survived the shooting, police said.

The chief did not reveal how the two men were acquainted or offer any details about their dispute, but he emphasized it was a personal matter between Hussle and Holder. Hussle acknowledged that he was involved with a gang when he was younger, and police said Holder is a gang member, but the chief said gang rivalries played no role in the shooting.

After shooting Hussle and two other men who survived, Holder fled in a waiting car driven by a woman, the police chief said.

Moore had urged Holder to surrender, addressing him directly at a news conference Tuesday morning.

The police chief and the president of the city's Police Commission had been scheduled to meet with Hussle on Monday to discuss the relationship between the police force and the inner city.

Both Moore and Police Commission President Steve Soboroff said they were devastated when they learned Hussle had been killed on the eve of their talk.

An emotional Soboroff read from the email Hussle sent asking for the meeting.

"Our goal is to work with the department to help improve communication, relationships and work towards changing the culture and dialogue between LAPD and your city," Hussle said in the email.

A tense scene unfolded Monday night at an impromptu memorial for Hussle in the parking lot where he was shot. A man brandishing a gun caused a panicked stampede. At least 19 people were injured in the chaos, including two people who were taken to hospitals in critical condition, police said.

At least one of the critically injured persons was struck by a car, and the other one had a "penetrating injury," although it was unclear whether that person was stabbed or cut by broken glass on the ground, a fire department spokeswoman said.

Two other injuries were serious and 15 were considered non-life threatening.

"It's been a tough few days for Los Angeles," Garcetti said. "Nipsey Hussle was an artist who touched our city and lives."

An autopsy completed Monday showed that Hussle was shot in the head and torso. The 33-year-old rapper, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, had recently purchased the strip mall where the shop is located and planned to redevelop it into a mixed-use commercial and residential complex.

The plan was part of Hussle's broader ambitions to remake the neighborhood where he grew up and attempt to break the cycle of gang life that lured him in when he was younger.

The rapper sold demos for just a few dollars in those streets before becoming an underground phenomenon for a decade with his much-sought-after mixtapes. Last year he had a mainstream breakthrough with his album "Victory Lap," a major label debut that got him a Grammy nomination.

___

Associated Press Writer John Antczak contributed to this report.

Provo • Utah Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen interviewed for the vacant BYU basketball head coaching position last Saturday, several sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed Tuesday.

Tony Jones of The Athletic first reported Monday night on Twitter that the interview took place last weekend.

The hiring of a replacement for 14-year coach Dave Rose, who retired last week, does not appear to be imminent, however.

Most observers believe that because BYU has listed April 9 on its employment openings board and LinkedIn page as the date it will stop accepting applications for a head men’s basketball coach, it will not make an announcement before then, per school employment policy.

Jensen, a former University of Utah standout who coached under recent Hall of Fame inductee Rick Majerus at Saint Louis before moving on to the NBA and its developmental league, is considered a viable candidate for the BYU job because he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the faith that owns and operates BYU.

BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said when Bronco Mendenhall resigned as football coach in 2015 that head coaches of all BYU sports must be LDS Church members in good standing, which was interpreted to mean the coach must have a current temple recommend.

Assistant coaches do not need to be church members, but must agree to abide by the school’s Honor Code.

Jensen’s interest in the position was reported to be lukewarm last week when Rose retired. However, his acceptance of an interview offer is seen as a positive sign from select boosters who are pushing the school to hire the former Viewmont High star.

Utah Valley coach Mark Pope, who is also an LDS Church member, remains BYU’s primary target, sources say. Pope was considered an outside candidate for the openings at UNLV and Washington State, but those positions have been filled.

Pope and his coaching staff, which includes former BYU basketball director of operations Cody Fueger, former Utah and Duke player Chris Burgess and Eric Daniels, son of former Utah assistant Donny Daniels, will be traveling Thursday night to the 2019 NABC Convention at the Final Four in Minneapolis this weekend.

Portland State coach Barett Peery, Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Mark Madsen and BYU interim coach Quincy Lewis, Rose’s assistant the past four years, are also considered candidates, although it was not clear as of Tuesday afternoon whether any of those men had formally interviewed for the position.

Sources say another potential candidate, Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Kevin Young, has told the school he is not interested at the current time.

A potential darkhorse for the position is Wasatch Academy basketball coach David Evans, a former Lone Peak High coach who has also interviewed, according to one published report. National powerhouse Wasatch Academy’s roster includes BYU signee Bernardo Da Silva and several BYU recruiting targets such as 6-foot-9 power forward Mady Sissoko, 6-4 guard Richie Saunders (a former all-stater at Riverton High) and Caleb Lohner, a 6-foot-7 LDS shooting guard from Flower Mound, Texas.

Where there once were two shipping containers filled with seeds, tools, employee lockers, a coffee bar and other gardening supplies, there is now ash, melted plastic and two charred and warped metal husks.

A fire somehow started in one of the containers March 24, and then the pressure caused both of them to explode, sending the innards flying and setting back Wasatch Community Gardens’ Green Team Farm during the peak spring season, just before its annual plant sale fundraiser.

“Fortunately," garden manager James Loomis said, “we have the greenhouse. No plants or people were hurt. That was nice.”

Loomis estimates the fire caused about $40,000 in damage, from the shipping containers themselves — which he and his crew spent the last two years upgrading and furnishing with salvaged materials to serve as his employees’ locker room and kitchen — and the valuables stored inside them, like Loomis’s tools and workers’ belongings.

The containers were the “guts” of the Green Team Farm, where the nonprofit Wasatch Community Gardens hosts its job training program for women experiencing homelessness and single mothers living in poverty. Loomis said as devastating as the fire was, he hopes the women in the program use the experience to learn to move on from tragedy.

“I’m trying to leverage this as an example of how to process that grief. Don’t bury it. Let’s process it," he said. “But at the same time, let’s be resilient. Let’s bounce back.”

That’s just what the women are doing, said Debi Earhart, a 63-year-old who started working at the garden in February.

Earhart has watched the space transform in her few months there, from a snow-covered patch of land to a fully functional garden. She said she and the other women started by unburying the place. They moved supplies around for the growing season, laid wood chips on the ground and pulled weeds. She’s watched seeds grow from tiny sprigs to plantlets.

The work, she said, “feels good from the toes to the top.”

And all that was almost lost.

Heat from the fire came within 10 feet of the greenhouse, where the crew is nursing more than 20,000 plant starts for the May 11 sale, the nonprofit’s biggest fundraiser. The heat shrunk the plastic siding and disfigured the the plastic plant containers on the other side. The explosion jettisoned a shelf, bolted to the wall of one of the shipping containers, several yards into the greenhouse, ripping a hole in the siding.

Yet inside the greenhouse, the plants were OK.

Loomis held up some seedlings that had faced the worst of the explosion. The green sprigs stood like a cowlick with a few unruly stragglers inside their misshapen thin, black plastic planter.

“Look how life wants to go on, you know what I mean?” he said, smiling. “A few of those got toasted, but the rest are great.”

Like those plants, Earhart said the women are trying to move past the fire.

The first day the women saw the damage, “We stopped in awe,” Earhart said, “and went, ‘we got to get to work.’ The good Lord kept us working on growing food. Whatever this is supposed to teach us, there it is.”

She said they’ve been working so hard, sometimes it feels like the fire didn’t happen — except for the evidence that it obviously did.

The burned remains are still on site and surrounded by red caution tape. Because fire investigators are still trying to determine what caused the blaze, Loomis and his team haven’t been able to start cleaning up. They are also working with the gardens’ insurance company, and don’t want to do anything to jeopardize their claim.

Salt Lake City Fire Division Chief Ryan Mellor said investigators still don’t know whether to suspect foul play, but Loomis said he doesn’t think the fire was started intentionally.

Loomis said it’s possible the electrical plug to a mini-fridge inside one of the containers short-circuited, sparking the fire.

My Mini Casa, a company in Bluffdale, donated two new shipping containers to the garden, but Loomis said it will take a lot of work to clean up the old ones and repurpose the new ones. Wasatch Community Gardens also has set up a fund for the rebuilding effort. To donate, go to bit.ly/WCGfund.

“It’s a giant inconvenience,” Loomis said, "but at at the same time, too, it’s like it’s just stuff, and ultimately coming back to that lesson of what do we need.”

For Green Team Farm, that’s the right supplies, the right people, hard work and a little time.

This Pat Bagley cartoon appears in The Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday, April 3, 2019. You can check out the past 10 Bagley editorial cartoons below:

• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/01/bagley-cartoon-troubling/" target=_blank><u>Troubling Downturn</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/03/29/bagley-cartoon-gop-health/"><u>GOP Health Care to Die For</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/03/28/bagley-cartoon-medicaid/"><u>Medicaid Expansion of Our Own Design</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/03/27/bagley-cartoon-millenials/"><u>Millennial’s World</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/03/26/bagley-cartoon-our/"><u>Our National Dinosaurs</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/03/25/bagley-cartoon-no/"><u>No Collusion</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/03/22/bagley-cartoon-mueller/"><u>The Mueller Report</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/03/21/bagley-cartoon/"><u>Legislative Wrap Up</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/03/20/bagley-cartoon/"><u>Safeguarding the Public Trust</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/03/19/bagley-cartoon-strong/"><u>A Strong Leader</u></a>

Want more Bagley? Become a fan on Facebook.

Utah’s Islamic community has mushroomed from a simple student-led prayer group in the 1950s to more than 60,000 Muslims of varied ethnicities and a dozen mosques today.

It has produced doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, entrepreneurs and leaders contributing to the state in virtually every field — except politics.

The recently organized Utah Muslim Civic League aims to fill that gap.

Launched just before last fall’s midterm elections, the league worked to register Muslim voters, brought candidates to the closest mosque and hosted phone banks on behalf of several candidates. Going forward, organizers plan to register more Islamic voters as well as sponsor community forums and town hall meetings so Muslims can meet the candidates and pose pointed questions to them.

“We are looking to educate and advocate for our vulnerable populations so any policymaker can understand what we stand for,” Luna Banuri, a member of the league’s board, said at the group’s inaugural luncheon Tuesday at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. “We are trying to find candidates for volunteer positions in township and school districts.”

In terms of political action, she said, the team hopes to one day have Muslim candidates for office and, before that, to have Islamic congressional staffers who can begin to build a network of support.

“We do want to create alliances with different parties and officials,” Banuri said, “who understand what our issues are.”

In partnership with the league, the Washington-based Institute for Social Policy and Understanding has chosen Salt Lake City for a pilot program to train 50 teachers on how to grasp the needs of their Muslim students.

The luncheon’s keynote speaker, Dalia Mogahed, is the director of research at the D.C. institute.

Mogahed opened her speech by detailing her personal history, growing up as an Egyptian immigrant who moved to Madison, Wis., with her family when she was 5.

Madison, home to a state university, had a diverse population, Mogahed said, noting that in her first grade class “only two students had parents born in the U.S.”

She never felt “different,” she said. “Our diversity was celebrated.”

At 17, Mogahed chose to wear a hijab, or a headscarf, “as a feminist declaration of independence.”

Then came the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

She and her husband were moving that day from Cincinnati, where they lived with their infant son, to Pittsburgh for graduate school. Suddenly, the hijab she so proudly donned now would identify her to some as “the enemy.”

With trepidation, the couple made the trip to their new home, and, with even more anxiety, found their way to an unfamiliar mosque on the first Friday after arriving.

To their astonishment, half the people crowded into the mosque that day were Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and all variety of non-Muslims, there to support their friends and neighbors.

It is that mutual love and respect that the researcher promotes with her words and works.

To achieve such religious harmony requires verifiable data, Mogahed said, given all misinformation about Muslims.

For example, Islam is the United States’ most ethnically diverse faith — with blacks comprising 30 percent of Muslims and Arabs 18 percent.

Muslims have a higher level of education than the general public, she said. Half are born in the U.S.; half are immigrants.

“Education is the foundation of a healthy society,” Mogahed concluded, reminding listeners to “seek out information and evidence, rather than succumb to misinformation in the media.”

The event, co-sponsored by Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy, also handed out awards for civic leadership to Iranian-born industrialist Khosrow Semnani and Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.

In his acceptance speech, Semnani recalled meeting the late Gov. Cal Rampton in 1968 after the young Iranian student organized the first Middle Eastern Student Association at Westminster College.

Rampton asked the young man if he were a Muslim and when he replied yes, the governor said, “We need people like yourself who create organizations like this so they can be recognized and understood.”

Knowledge comes from personal interactions and friendships, Semnani said. Attacks at mosques in New Zealand, a synagogue in Pittsburgh and a nightclub in Orlando were signs “of not knowing who they were dealing with … signs of segregation and divisiveness, which are seeds of terrorism.”

The industrialist pointed out a recent report that Utah was the only state in the country where public officials had never said anything derogatory about Islam.

“This is big,” he said. “We should congratulate the state — and, like the Utah Muslim Civic League, stay active.”

Gill, who came late to the lunch after watching Gov. Gary Herbert sign a landmark hate crimes bill, reiterated the importance of empathy.

“We need to think beyond race and religion,” he said. “We are a big human community — and we have a moral role to step up and give support [to everyone] in the face of injustice.”

Like Banuri, Gill, who is Sikh, said it is time for Muslims and other underrepresented groups to be at the governing table.

“This is our home,” he said. “We need to be involved in politics and policy.”

In a 2016 game against the Pepperdine Waves, Brigham Young center fielder Brennon Lund went to the plate against A.J. Puckett. Dozens of scouts were in attendance that game mostly to watch Puckett and then-BYU pitcher Michael Rucker, but Lund stole the show.

Lund, who graduated from Bingham High, rocketed a home run off Puckett’s 96-mph fastball, which caromed off the scoreboard. That play gave the Cougars the push they needed to secure a victory.

“That’s kind of the first time I’m like, OK this kid, he has a chance,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Since he was drafted, Lund has climbed the ranks of the Angels’ minor league system, starting with the Orem Owlz and stopping at the Burlington Bees, Inland Empire 66ers and Class AA Mobile Baybears. But on Thursday, he’ll make his Triple-A debut with his hometown Salt Lake Bees.

“Definitely a dream come true,” Lund said Tuesday at Bees media day. “I’m really excited to be here. I’m excited to get to this level of professional baseball, too. This is new for me, so it’ll be an exciting experience.”

Lund says he is especially proud making it to this level while playing in Utah, a state not normally known as a hotbed for baseball prospects.

“It’s always a blessing to be able to get to this level of baseball,” Lund said. “It’s taken a lot of hard work, but I can thank my coaches from Bingham and BYU as well to get me here.”

First-year Bees manager Lou Marson said he saw Lund play a bit while he was with Orem, and has seen the former Cougar progress significantly through the last few years.

“He’s going to play a lot for us this year,” Marson said of Lund.

.@homeoftheminers and @BYUBaseball alumnus Brennon Lund talks to the media about joining the AAA @SaltLakeBees. pic.twitter.com/sU4cWnP7xs

— Alex Vejar (@AlexVReporting) April 2, 2019

Marson said the next step in Lund’s development is getting him more at-bats against left-handed pitchers. But in general, he wants to see Lund continue to develop his hitting.

“When he stays in the strike zone offensively, he barrels the ball,” Marson said. “That’s going to be the biggest thing for him — get a good pitch to hit and drive it.”

Littlewood remembers Lund as a player who went 100% all the time and called him BYU’s “spark plug.” Most of all, Lund just continued to get better and better every year, which is what led him to the Bees, Littlewood said.

Defensively, Littlewood said Lund was one of the best center fielders he ever coached.

“He was fearless going into the wall, he took charge at center field, he has a plus-arm in the outfield,” Littlewood said. “He was just really a general out there.”

So far in his minor league career, Lund has played in 284 games and tallied 335 hits, 53 doubles, 12 triples, 17 home runs and 136 RBIs — all while batting .292. He was drafted in the 11th round of the MLB draft in 2016.

Lund grew up attending Bees games even as far back as when they were called the Stingers. Even as he spent those days at nights at Smith’s Ballpark, he never he’d one day play on that field as an adult.

“What a coincidence,” Lund said. “It’s awesome.”

San Salvador, El Salvador • Government officials, aid workers and activists in Central America are mystified by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to cut off nearly $500 million in aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador in response to what he calls an immigration crisis. Over time, they say, it will only worsen the problem.

At risk of falling on the chopping block are development programs that work to tackle the root causes driving migration: poverty, inequality, violence and corruption. These include outreach to at-risk youth to combat forced gang recruitment as well as programs to address gender-based violence and support education, workforce development and the uphill fight to root out endemic graft.

"It's illogical and it's irresponsible. ... You're talking about long-term challenges that are going to require long-term, sustainable solutions," said Adriana Beltrán, a Central America specialist at the Washington Office on Latin America. "So rather than helping to stabilize the situation and try to address these long-term challenges, the cut in assistance will only make the situation worse."

"Gutting important programs," she added, "will eventually lead to more migration, more insecurity, more corruption, more impunity in these countries."

It's still not clear exactly what, when or how much could be cut.

Trump said last week that "we were paying them tremendous amounts of money and we're not paying them anymore because they haven't done a thing for us," and mentioned a figure of $500 million.

State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said Tuesday that the amount affected by any aid cut would be $450 million from fiscal year 2018 as well as an as yet undetermined amount from 2017.

"The president has made clear that the decision is aimed at securing the United States borders and protecting American citizens," Palladino said. "These programs have not effectively prevented illegal immigration from coming to the United States, and they've not achieved the desired results."

The aid is meant to promote democracy-building, good governance, trade, agriculture, education, health, public safety and law enforcement. Experts say all of those areas play a direct role in whether people feel they can get by or even survive in their home countries.

Reaction from the three governments has been muted so far, perhaps for fear of angering Trump.

Both Honduras and El Salvador pointedly said they had not been formally notified of any specific cuts in U.S. aid. Honduran Defense Minister Fredy Díaz said cooperation with the United States on security is "unchanged," while the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the relationship has been "solid, close and positive."

Salvadoran Vice President Oscar Ortiz said Tuesday that an aid cut would not solve the migration problem but have the opposite effect. "The best way to tackle the issue of migration ... is not with this type of decision," he said. "The best way to tackle the issue is to keep working together."

Guatemala, the source of much of the recent migration from the region, was particularly circumspect, with presidential spokesman Alfredo Brito saying simply that the official response was not to comment for the time being.

But those carrying out the boots-on-the-ground work are concerned.

Rick Jones, who works in El Salvador as the youth and migration policy adviser for Catholic Relief Services, counsels young people to keep them out of gangs and help them get jobs. He also runs behavioral therapy for inmates to deter them from returning to crime — all things that have "a positive impact to help guys think about and change their behavior," he said.

It's seen as unglamorous but badly needed work, especially in a place like El Salvador, which has a homicide rate that is among the world's highest at more than 50 per 100,000 people last year.

But all $38 million that Catholic Relief Services gets from U.S. government agencies to run programs in the three countries — including ones on education and jobs — could disappear if the cutoff goes through.

If that happens, "it will be sending the message, 'Help is not on the way ... and you're going to be left on your own,'" Jones said. "And basically people left on their own are going to be more desperate and more people are going to leave."

Likewise, Vicki Gass, Oxfam America senior policy adviser for Central America and Mexico, said that axing funding for programs that have been running for years, would, in many cases, "waste U.S. taxpayer dollars that have already been invested" and "foster the same instability that is making people flee in the first place."

Some government programs aimed at persuading Central Americans not to emigrate have been put in place, in part in response to Trump's earlier criticism about the migrant caravans that brought thousands trekking toward the U.S. border, and the threatened aid cutoff does not take that into account, officials say.

"This goes against what we have seen in reports that show there have really been some decreases in migration, and that they are the result of the efforts being made on this issue," said lawmaker Yanci Urbina of the left-leaning FMLN party in El Salvador, the least populated of the three countries and a distant third in terms of how many migrants are heading for the U.S.

Salvadoran Treasury Minister Nelson Fuentes said U.S. aid in his country includes $20 million in technical and fiscal funding over five years, and the government has not gotten word of any cuts. Another $200 million to spur growth and employment is managed in tandem with the World Bank, and it remains to be seen whether this will be reduced. Finally there are direct donations from Washington to the Salvadoran government and private organizations.

Fuentes said aid for security and migration could be affected, but that actively funded contracts should not be.

In Guatemala, the most significant aid comes in security assistance to fight drug trafficking — and that has already come under scrutiny recently over questionable use of armored vehicles donated by Washington. Other funds through USAID go to help programs on things like agriculture and education in poor rural communities, plus training for prosecutors, who have waged a high-profile fight against corruption in recent years, or for judges.

Honduran political analyst Omar García called U.S. aid to his country "vital" and said the threatened cuts show that Washington is "an unreliable ally for Honduras."

Like Guatemala, Honduras has backed the Trump administration on key issues such as recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and on the political crisis in Venezuela. It remains to be seen whether such support could waver.

"A sense of nationalism is surging in this country ... and that could be a good thing," García said.

Beltrán noted that most of the assistance now in jeopardy does not go directly to the three countries' governments but to agencies, NGOs, church groups and others.

She predicted that an attempt to cut aid could face pushback in Congress if funds are reprogrammed without lawmakers' consent. Particularly in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, members and committees could try to place holds on money in the next funding bill, she said.

"It is going to ensue into a battle," Beltrán said, "because it is Congress that at the end of the day has the power of the purse."

___

Associated Press writers Sonia Perez D. in Guatemala City, Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Matthew Lee in Washington and Mark Stevenson and Peter Orsi in Mexico City contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to fix misattributed quotes which came from Honduran political analyst Omar García.

Senior citizen Peggy Hostetter moved from Seattle to an apartment in downtown Salt Lake City’s west side eight years ago, just as crime began to worsen at The Gateway shopping center and surrounding Rio Grande neighborhood.

Her dreams for retired life in Utah's capital gave way to routine fears for her personal safety. "It almost immediately started to change my world," said Hostetter, now 81.

She began noticing store after store abandon the mall and saw litter, human waste and discarded needles accumulate on the sidewalks along 500 West. The adjacent Road Home homeless shelter was overflowing, she and others recalled, and Hostetter had the police on speed dial for when she witnessed drug deals from her apartment window.

Hostetter joined state and business leaders Tuesday to credit Operation Rio Grande in summer 2017 and stepped-up security efforts by mall owner Vestar for a dramatic drop in criminal activity since 2015, a trend that officials say has helped revitalize the wider neighborhood.

"This is a very different place for me now," Hostetter said at a news conference, held in the Grand Hall of Union Pacific Depot at The Gateway. "I'm perfectly comfortable walking to events downtown."

Two new reports — one from the state Department of Workforce Services and another by the private security firm hired to patrol The Gateway — point to improved conditions at The Road Home as well as a marked decrease in felony-level crimes and a range of lesser drug-related, property and behavioral crimes in and around the adjacent open-area shopping center.

Those trends have government officials, business leaders and the mall’s owner celebrating.

Serious felonies within the two-block shopping center — crimes such as burglary, robbery and fraud — dropped from 26 incidents in 2015 to three last year, according to private security firm Trident Security Services, which began working at the mall in 2017.

Drug-related offenses went from 377 in 2015 to 27 in 2018, while property crimes — theft, graffiti and vandalism — fell from 587 to 134 over the same period. Behavior-related incidents — ranging from panhandling, disorderly conduct and trespassing to harassment and indecency — also dropped, from 2,158 incidents in 2015 to 463 three years later, according to Trident.

Separate crime statistics from Salt Lake City police show a similar overall decline across the city, with monthly crimes falling by anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent between January 2015 and the end of 2018.

Those declines were most pronounced in the city's Council District 4, which includes the Rio Grande neighborhood, police statistics show.

Since purchasing The Gateway in 2016, Arizona-based Vestar has spent nearly $1.5 million yearly on private security as part of a $100 million overhaul of the property, which the mall’s marketing director Jacklyn Briggs said had helped turn it into a public gathering space and venue for 180 separate community events in 2018.

Briggs and Dave Kelly, vice chairman of the Pioneer Park Coalition, a group of area business owners, said the neighborhood’s trajectory would likely improve further with completion of a multi-use recreation lawn, additional lighting and other improvements at nearby Pioneer Park.

Derek Miller, president and CEO of Salt Lake Chamber and affiliated Downtown Alliance, on Tuesday praised the “great strides” in boosting area security, while thanking police; city, county and state leaders; area businesses and Vestar, for its Gateway investments.

"In order for us to have a dynamic city center," Miller said, "we have to ensure that it is welcoming and safe for residents, visitors and for commerce."

Former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes, another key player in efforts to improve the area, praised a range of government officials, community leaders and social service providers for "completely inventing the rules" to create Operation Rio Grande, which began in August 2017.

The three-phase plan brought stepped-up police action to restore public safety in neighborhoods around The Road Home. Police jailed some of the homeless while others were sent for medical and addiction treatment, then assisted with job training, employment and housing.

The effort drew criticism from civil-rights advocates, who said it was heavy-handed.

"We were working in braille," Hughes said of the first-ever collaboration among Utah officials that went into Operation Rio Grande. The Draper Republican said he was "so proud of all the people who left their biases and turf at the door to solve this problem."

Hughes said that while Operation Rio Grande may have dispersed some of the homeless to other parts of the city, it also rid the downtown area of drug dealers and others who preyed on shelter clients, making it safe for those living in homeless camps elsewhere to come downtown for services.

"I'm not saying the job's all done," he said, "but there is a measurable difference."

The Road Home is now scheduled to close in the fall of 2019. City, county and state officials are building three new homeless resource centers elsewhere in Salt Lake County.

In their report, auditors at the state Department of Workforce Service found that conditions inside the homeless shelter, which the state purchased in October, appear to have improved since a May report highlighted major deficiencies, though they added that more progress is still needed.

In the surveys, a majority of residents, employees, volunteers and police officers reported that the shelter was safer, and that illegal drug use and abusive behavior had declined over the past eight months, as had the number of weapons brought into the shelter, state auditors said.

But the audit also found shortcomings, including custodians at the shelter not reporting drug paraphernalia; residents not being thoroughly searched upon admission; other lapses in security staffing and surveillance; and restrooms not being cleaned frequently enough.

Washington • Sen. Mike Lee opposed his fellow Senate Republicans on Tuesday in voting against a measure that would have allowed the GOP-led chamber to fast-track many of President Donald Trump’s nominees.

Lee, a Utah Republican, said the Senate shouldn't break its own rules for a short-term gain that could have lasting effects.

“The Senate’s rules protect the rights of the American people by balancing the competing interests of majorities, minorities and individual senators,” Lee said in a statement after the vote. “They facilitate the compromise and accountability that are essential to the governing of a large, diverse nation. At this unusually divided moment in our history, Americans need the Senate to serve its deliberative function in our constitutional system.”

The vote, which needed 60 senators in favor to proceed, failed 51-48.

Lee was the only Republican senator to oppose the measure except for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who backed the rule change but voted against it in a procedural move when it was clear it would fall short of the 60-vote threshold. Because McConnell opposed it, he can later revive the proposal.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, voted for the change.

The proposal would trim the time between a vote to proceed on most executive and judicial nominations to two hours of debate versus the 30 hours currently in the Senate rules. That move would speed up the Senate’s ability to confirm a slew of Trump’s picks for agencies across the government and help the president pack the court with his choices.

The change would not have covered nominees for the Supreme Court, circuit courts or Cabinet-rank positions.

Lee said the action would hurt the Senate’s role of advice and consent on the president’s nominees.

“I oppose changing the post-cloture time rule,” he said, referring to the time after the Senate proceeds on a nominee and a final confirmation vote. “I certainly oppose breaking the rules of the Senate to do so. The current rules can work for the American people; they simply require us to do the same.”

McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, argued that Democrats changed the rules in 2013 to allow a majority to confirm nominations for all positions except the Supreme Court rather than the 60-vote threshold that had been established for decades. Republicans kept that majority vote rule when they took over the Senate and tossed the exception for the high court.

“Democrats overwhelmingly supported changes like these in 2013 when they helped President [Barack] Obama,” McConnell wrote in an op-ed in Politico. “And privately, many of our Democratic colleagues tell us they’d be happy to support this new proposal, too — as long as we postpone its effective date until January 2021, when they hope there will be a Democrat occupying the White House.”

“Give me a break,” McConnell added. “A rules change is either a good idea or it isn’t. The answer cannot depend on whether you like the current occupant of the White House.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans were trying a power grab to pack the court and install unqualified agency heads.

“The Senate needs to do its job. We should not be a conveyor belt for President Trump’s radical and unqualified judicial nominees,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday. “So let’s call this for what it is. This rules change is yet another power grab by Leader McConnell, the Republican Party, and its right-wing allies.”

“We will not be complicit in the Republican leader’s games, which sacrifice much of the comity and bipartisanship that this Senate used to represent,” Schumer added.

Everyone from news anchors to late-night hosts has had a field day with a speech that Sen. Mike Lee recently gave on the Senate floor.

Amid the Star Wars posters and Aquaman references he used, one line of Lee’s speech stood out to most as particularly odd: Lee proposes the solution to climate change is falling in love, getting married and having kids. Despite Lee’s strange speech and my embarrassment as one of his constituents, I think he at least got one thing right: Love is the answer.

No, having kids does not reduce greenhouse gases, but loving kids might. Love can inspire somebody to take into account the harm their lives cause to others, to change bad habits, and to do better — in fact, to be better.

One lesson of climate change science is that the challenges of climate change will fall harder on future generations. The idea of future generations may seem abstract, but having children or grandchildren can make that concept real very quickly. After all, loving kids not only implies caring for them today but also caring about their future.

Just as we are grateful for those who have sacrificed to make our world better, we need to see that today we are making the world for the future — a world where those we care about will inhabit.

And because our actions are rooted in love, it doesn’t matter whether the people who benefit understand our sacrifices and the ways we have reduced our carbon footprint. This is not about taking credit or out-performing others, it’s about making a better world for those we love and whose well-being will be determined by how we conduct our lives and our business today.

I imagine that some may find this an empty sermon, and if all this amounts to is words, they are right. It takes more than words. It takes action.

But not only can love inspire action, it can also open vectors of meaningful change that do not exist without it. If every person who is complacent about climate change understood how their carelessness will hurt those they love, they might be compelled to change.

It is great source of hope to me that today’s youth, already aware of the threat climate change poses to them and their generation, might be able to get the older people in their lives to think differently by helping them see what is at stake is not just politics but the quality of life for those they love.

I believe that if the goal is to reach more people and to inspire more action, it is not reciting facts and statistics, outrage, sarcasm, action policing, or efforts to humiliate political opponents that will win the day. Rather, it is love that will cause self-reflection, open pathways to hard conversations, change hearts, and heal the planet. While climate change poses an extraordinarily difficult problem, love has to be part of the answer.

Brigham Daniels is a professor of environmental law at Brigham Young University Law School. The views he expresses here are his own and do not purport to reflect those of his employer.

It's hard not to laugh when White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defends President Donald Trump's fanciful and counterproductive attempt to "close the border" by saying Trump's No. 1 concern is the safety and lives of Americans. Oh, really?

Let's start with the border. Threatening to "close the border," an impossibility, only prompts panic and an increase in border crossings. Cutting off aid to three Central American countries, as Trump plans to do, will make violence there worse and increase the flow of desperate people.

Former car czar Steven Rattner explains:

"Yes, illegal border crossings at the southwest border are on the rise, but they are still very low by historical standards, running at 44,000 per month over the past year (and 66,000 in February.) Twelve years ago, they averaged more than 70,000 a month and sometimes exceeded 100,000 in a single month. And if you go back further, they routinely exceeded one million a year and were as high as 1.6 million in 2000 (when they also exceeded 200,000 in two months.)

"It's worth noting that in the past, spikes in border traffic have often preceded upcoming crackdowns, such as the uptick that occurred just before Mr. Trump's election as he campaigned on getting tough on immigration."

Trump makes the situation worse. And if he gets his way, cutting off aid to these three Central American countries and starting another panic over a mythical border closing will backfire as well: "Mr. Trump is now talking about closing the border entirely because these family groups, who are generally seeking asylum, often try to cross illegally as a result of an agreement between the United States and Mexico in January that forces asylum seekers who present themselves at the legal port of entry in San Diego [California] back across the border to Tijuana, [Mexico]," Rattner explains. "This is, in effect, America's version of the Syrian refugee crisis that gripped Europe in 2015."

And Trump's scheme would also tank our own economy. "The president's threat to close the border entirely would be an economic catastrophe for the United States," Rattner writes. "Mexico is our third largest trading partner (Japan is a distant fourth), amounting to 12 percent of our overall trade. Cutting off commercial traffic between the two countries would arguably hurt us at least as much as it would Mexico." He adds, "what is not understood or appreciated is that we don't simply import finished goods from Mexico; after 20 years of free trade, supply chains have been rearranged in a way that results in many items (such as automotive parts) passing back and forth across the border multiple times in the course of being manufactured."

Trump's conduct would make the border less manageable, increase the flow of desperate people (some of whom perish on the way) and throw the economy into a tailspin. (In the category of Trump-inflicted damage, add in his tariff war which is increasing woes of American farmers, consumers and businesses that import steel and aluminium.)

Then there is scheme to kill the Affordable Care Act in the courts — and come up with a replacement in 2021. The Washington Post reports, “President Trump signaled Monday night that he will not press for a vote on a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act until after next year’s elections, apparently heeding warnings from fellow Republicans about the perils of such a fight during campaign season.” But wait. If he wins in court, tens of millions will lose coverage for at least two years. (Also, we know there is no magic Trump plan that improves on the Affordable Care Act.) Great — millions of people potentially without coverage will be delaying or forgoing all sorts of treatment.

The harm to national security inflicted by Trump ranges from threatening nuclear war with North Korea, to declaring there is no threat, to suspending large-scale military exercises with South Korea. And that's just on the Korean Peninsula. Damaging alliances, giving Russians classified information in the Oval Office, letting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman get away with the grisly killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi are only a few examples of inexplicable, counterproductive "policy," if one can call it that.

Then to top it all off, the White House gave 25 people top security clearances whom intelligence community personnel believed posed a risk. Making a mockery of our security clearance process and letting those with potential problems have access to our most closely held secrets is a disaster waiting to happen.

A disaster waiting to happen — that actually is an apt summation of our current commander in chief.

Jennifer Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post.

@JRubinBlogger

Washington • Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski urged Congress to take action on combating climate change, noting that while her city is working toward lowering emissions, the federal government needs to step up.

Biskupski testified before a House Ways and Means subcommittee on Tuesday morning and noted that while she loves the beauty of Utah, carbon emissions are causing harmful air pollution, decreasing annual snowfall and prompting wildfires.

“During the hot summer months and the cool winters our air is filled with a dirty haze we know as the dreaded inversion,” she told the subcommittee. “And these days parents along the Wasatch Front send their kids to school wearing face masks to protect them from the harmful pollution trapped in the air.”

The mayor, one of several local and state officials to address the subcommittee, touted Salt Lake City’s efforts and pledge to rely on clean energy sources.

She said the city is focusing on energy-efficient or zero-emission buildings, including a public safety office and fire station, as well as improving public transit options. Salt Lake City, Park City, Moab and Summit County have all pledged to rely on 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030.

“Salt Lake City has numerous programs to mitigate carbon emissions and respond to climate change,” Biskupski added in her written testimony given to the subcommittee. “But it is imperative that the federal government lead our nation’s efforts to minimize climate impacts. Local governments can only do so much, and without your help the results of our efforts will be limited, and the damage caused by our changing climate will be much more extensive.”

The story of Utah’s first Pac-12 South championship football season has become more interesting in the past week, with star players disclosing the health issues they played through in some of the biggest games in the program’s Pac-12 era.

Ute receiver Britain Covey’s broken wrist, linebacker Chase Hansen’s back injury and punter Mitch Wishnowsky’s appendicitis have become news items recently, partly related to medical disclosures in advance of the NFL draft.

Hansen revealed during Utah’s Pro Day last week that he played half of the 2018 season with a herniated disk in his back. And Wishnowky punted in the Pac-12 championship game with developing appendicitis, requiring a procedure three days later, he said on the Special Forces Gang podcast with former teammates Tom Hackett and Andy Phillips.

Scouts usually don’t stick around at pro-days for specialist workouts but they did yesterday for @Utah_Football P Mitch Wishnowsky. West coast scouts say it was best punter workout they’ve seen in years. Similar leg talent to @Seahawks rookie All-Pro Michael Dickson. #Aussie 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/TpyAbDM8m6

— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) March 30, 2019

Those health reports became public shortly after Covey acknowledged playing nearly half of last season with a broken wrist, evoking Whittingham’s praise of him as “a tough kid.”

Speaking after Tuesday's practice, Whittingham made clear that such decisions are up to the school's medical staff and the players, not the coaches.

“There’s two ways the [medical staff] can handle it: One, they say, no, the guy can’t play. The other one is he can play if he can tolerate the pain,” Whittingham said. “Those guys that are really tough kids can play when the doctors say it can’t get any worse; it’s just a matter of pain tolerance. … They tell us who’s available.”

Covey's wrist made it through the regular season, but then he injured his knee in the Pac-12 championship game vs. Washington and reinjured his wrist while lifting weights in January. The junior is sidelined this spring.

Hansen missed the Pac-12 title game with a hip injury, unrelated to the back issue that he was advised to have repaired in January. He has missed predraft workouts while rehabilitating.

Wishnowsky said he experienced stomach problems the day before the Pac-12 championship game. He felt “just excruciating pain” as he took the field for the specialists' early warmups at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., and “just battled through the game,” he said. Partly because of Utah's flurry of third-quarter turnovers and Washington's ball-hogging offense, Wishnowsky had to punt only four times during the game, posting a 42.2-yard average.

Two days later, he determined, “Something's seriously wrong,” and ended up having an appendectomy. With four weeks to recover for the Holiday Bowl, he punted five times for a 46.2-yard average vs. Northwestern in San Diego and then played in the Senior Bowl in January.

Whittingham, who works directly with Utah's kickers, joked of Wishnowsky, “He's dramatic.” But then he said, “Actually, he's a tough kid.”

Scrimmage review

Having reviewed last Saturday's first major scrimmage of the spring, Whittingham remains concerned about the offensive line. He's worried mostly about depth, not necessarily the No. 1 group that was missing tackle Nick Ford, due to injury.

Asked how the linemen performed, Whittingham said, “The ones, not bad. But the twos, there's quite a dropoff right now, and they need to pick it up. You never know who you're going to need and how far you've got to reach into the depth. That's what's concerning right now, finding those eight or nine guys that we feel are ready to play.”

The first-team offensive linemen provided few creases for running backs up the middle, but that's forgivable, Whittingham said: “That defensive line, there's three NFL guys on that line right now, at least. So it's tough sledding for them. Hopefully, it's tough for everyone else that we play too.”

The Utes will scrimmage at 4 p.m. Friday at Rice-Eccles Stadium and conclude spring practice with the Red-White Game on April 13.

With CBD showing up everywhere, U.S. regulators announced Tuesday they are exploring ways the marijuana extract could be used legally in foods, dietary supplements and cosmetics.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it will hold a public hearing May 31 to gather more information on the science, manufacturing and sale of cannabis compounds such as CBD.

In the meantime, it issued more warning letters to companies for making unapproved health claims about CBD products.

Products containing CBD are already in stores and sold online, so it's easy to believe there must be something special about the ingredient. But the claims are largely unproven and quality control standards don't exist.

A look at what we know as U.S. regulators work out what will and won't be allowed:

What is CBD?

CBD is one of more than 100 compounds found in marijuana. It's extracted using alcohol or carbon dioxide in factories. It's added to oils, mixed into creams and lotions and sold in candies and liquid drops.

Widely sold online, CBD now is going mainstream with major retailers offering salves and balms for the skin. Prices range from $12 to $150 an ounce at high-end shops.

CBD often comes from a cannabis plant known as hemp, which is defined by the U.S. government as having less than 0.3% THC. That's important because THC is what causes marijuana's mind-altering effect.

CBD doesn't get people high, although it may be calming. Keep in mind some CBD products may contain THC, whether or not the label says so.

People drug tested for work, addiction programs or because they take prescription opioids should take note: CBD products have caused people to fail urine drug screens.

Is it a miracle cure?

If you believe the hype, CBD treats pain, relieves anxiety and both helps you sleep and keeps you focused.

Most claims are based on studies in rats, mice or in test tubes. Some human research has been done, but in small numbers of people.

One exception: For two rare seizure disorders, the evidence for CBD was strong enough to convince the FDA to approve GW Pharmaceutical's drug Epidiolex, which contains a purified form.

The FDA announced Tuesday it has sent warning letters to three companies marketing products with what outgoing Commissioner Scott Gottlieb called "egregious, over-the-line claims" for CBD's effects on cancer, Alzheimer's disease, fibromyalgia and drug addiction. Among the cited examples: "CBD successfully stopped cancer cells" in cervical cancer.

Gottlieb said the agency "won't tolerate this kind of deceptive marketing to vulnerable patients."

Advanced Spine and Pain LLC of Mount Laurel, New Jersey (doing business as Relievus); and PotNetwork Holdings Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment on the warning letters.

C.J. Montgomery of Nutra Pure LLC of Vancouver, Washington, said the company has revised some of wording on its website to try to address the FDA's concerns.

Only drugs that have been reviewed by the FDA as safe and effective can make claims that they treat or prevent diseases or medical conditions. Many CBD producers attempt to sidestep the issue by using only vague language about general health and well-being.

Any side effects?

Scant research means not much is known about side effects either. In epilepsy research, CBD changed the way the body processed other drugs. That suggests CBD could interact with medications in ways we still don't know about.

The most common side effects of the CBD drug Epidiolex include sleepiness, decreased appetite, diarrhea, increases in liver enzymes, exhaustion, rash and infections. FDA's Gottlieb noted Tuesday the potential for liver injury and other risks can be handled with medical supervision but less is known about how that would be managed without oversight. And there are questions about overlap if multiple CBD products are used.

Is it legal?

For now, the agency has said CBD is not allowed as an ingredient in food, drinks or dietary supplements.

In stating its position, the FDA cited a provision of the law prohibiting food makers from using active drug ingredients or those still undergoing substantial research. But the agency doesn't have the resources to police all the CBD products that are already available, said Marc Scheineson, a former FDA official.

"They're not going to pull a thousand products from the market," he said.

The FDA's authority is over interstate commerce, and local officials have taken differing approaches. In New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere, officials are warning eateries to stop selling it in food and drinks. Maine passed a law allowing it in foods and other products in the state.

Skin creams and cosmetics may be on safer footing with the FDA, but that too remains uncertain, said Camille Gourdet of RTI International, a nonprofit research institute in Durham, North Carolina. Though cosmetics aren't subject to premarket approval by the FDA, they could run afoul of regulations if they make specific health claims.

Marijuana itself is illegal under federal law; most states that have legalized it allow marijuana-infused foods and candies, called edibles.

Are CBD labels accurate?

What you buy may contain much less CBD than the label states — or much more. It may include more THC than you want and it may be contaminated with mold or pesticides. Ask to see testing reports.

A 2017 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found 70% of CBD products were mislabeled. Researchers used an independent lab to test 84 products from 31 companies.

"You're really flying by the seat of your pants when you buy this stuff," said author Marcel Bonn-Miller of University of Pennsylvania.

A product labeled as containing 100 milligrams of CBD may only have 5 milligrams or it may have 200, said Bonn-Miller, now an adviser for a company that sells CBD and other cannabis products. He did not work in the industry when he did the research.

"I wouldn't trust any of it until I knew independently it was safe," Bonn-Miller said.

What’s ahead?

CBD research is planned or underway for cancer, autism, diabetic neuropathy, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, alcoholism with PTSD and psychiatric conditions. Results will take years, but some people aren't waiting.

"They are vulnerable and really hoping to feel better," said Karen Hande, a nurse practitioner at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville.

She became an expert in CBD because so many of her cancer patients were trying it. She tells them the evidence isn’t enough to back the claims, but “they want to believe something is going to work.”

New York • News industry leaders are fighting back against the charge by President Donald Trump and his supporters that the administration’s summation of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report proved that journalists were “so wrong for so long” in their coverage of the Russia investigation.

The latest to weigh in was Steve Coll, dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, who wrote in a New Yorker magazine essay this week that it's wrong to conclude journalism failed because Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russians to influence the 2016 election. The New York Times and The Washington Post shared a Pulitzer Prize, awarded by Columbia in 2018, for their reporting on the issue, a prize Trump says should be taken away.

Complicating the issue is the broad definition of the news media circa 2019, encompassing everything from painstakingly sourced investigative stories to overheated tweets to opinionated pundits.

"It's premature to pronounce this coverage as some kind of epic press failure," said Nancy Gibbs, former Time magazine editor and a Harvard University professor of press, politics and public policy. People angered by the press' role in investigating the president will use Mueller's findings as a lever in any way they can, she said.

"That doesn't mean that they're right," Gibbs said.

The phrase "so wrong for so long" was used by White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney during a CNN appearance on Sunday. He said "we need to figure out" what happened with reporting on the story. Sean Davis, co-founder of the Federalist online magazine, said the same thing in the lead of a Wall Street Journal editorial earlier in the week that argued "America's blue-chip journalists botched the entire story." The president retweeted his story.

“I’m not sure what you’re saying the media got wrong,” replied CNN’s Jake Tapper. “The media reported the investigation was ongoing. Other than the people in the media on the left, not on this network, I don’t know anybody who got anything wrong. We didn’t say there was conspiracy. We said that Mueller was investigating conspiracy.”

Mulvaney, without offering specifics, said to Tapper that "if that's your recollection of history, that's great.

"Face it, the media got this wrong," he said. "It's OK, people get stuff wrong all the time. Just not at this level."

There were obviously disputed individual stories along the way. ABC suspended Brian Ross for a story wrongly alleging that Trump had asked former national security adviser Michael Flynn to discuss foreign policy with the Russians before he was elected. Three CNN journalists resigned over a story falsely linking a Trump aide to a Russian investment fund. The special counsel’s office denied a Buzzfeed report that it had evidence Trump had directed lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress over a Moscow office project.

Yet much of what the public learned over the past two years on the story was the result of relentless digging by reporters.

So funny that The New York Times & The Washington Post got a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage (100% NEGATIVE and FAKE!) of Collusion with Russia - And there was No Collusion! So, they were either duped or corrupt? In any event, their prizes should be taken away by the Committee!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2019

In tweets over the past week, Trump repeated his contention that the mainstream media is the enemy of the people, and said the Times' and Post's Pulitzers should be stripped. The Times, in response, tweeted a picture of its Pulitzer winners and noted that every story cited in their prize-winning entry has been proven correct.

Top editors at the Times and Post, Dean Baquet and Marty Baron, and CNN chief Jeff Zucker offered similar statements noting it was their organizations' job to show what people in power are doing, and prosecutors' responsibility to determine what is legal or illegal.

We're proud of our Pulitzer-prize winning reporting on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Every @nytimes article cited has proven accurate. https://t.co/NvG27oeuNv

— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) March 30, 2019

"A sitting president's own Justice Department investigated his campaign for collusion with a hostile nation," Zucker said. "That's not enormous because the media says so. That's enormous because it's unprecedented."

Not every top news executive was eager to get involved; representatives for news presidents at ABC, CBS and NBC either turned down or didn't reply to interview requests. "We're going to keep doing our job," MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a statement.

"The coverage of the investigation did include embarrassments — specious chyrons, tendentious talking heads and retracted scoops, among them," Columbia's Coll wrote. "Yet it does not follow that American journalism failed because the best-resourced newsrooms in the nation chose to report assiduously on the Mueller investigation and its subjects, only to learn that Mueller did not prove that Trump had conspired with Russia."

If there's any media soul-searching to be done, it may involve cable news. In the Trump era, Fox News and MSNBC are frequently the most-watched cable networks in general, both appealing to different camps.

Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity has been Trump’s biggest advocate on cable news, making him a target for the president’s opponents. Yet MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was criticized this week by Slate’s Willa Paskin, who said turning on her show “was like discovering a Facebook friend is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.” She said that while Maddow’s audience was not as malignant as Hannity’s, “more than one cable news host can disservice their audience at the same time.”

Harvard's Gibbs recalls watching reporters and pundits sitting side-by-side on cable panels, with roles confused when pundits were asked what they were hearing and reporters questioned about what they thought.

Journalists have long believed that readers and viewers understand the difference between reporting and commentary, Coll said.

“It would be unrealistic to expect them to make such a distinction now,” he said.