Elko, Nev. • A northeast Nevada couple involved in an apparent domestic dispute has been hospitalized after Elko County sheriff’s deputies say the woman was shot in the chest and her husband stabbed in the neck.

The Elko Daily Free Press reports Brian and Courtney Rowley were air-lifted to a Salt Lake City hospital Sunday following the dispute at a Spring Creek residence.

Their conditions were unknown on Monday.

Detectives are still investigating but they believe Brian Rowley shot his wife.

The newspaper reports they obtained a marriage license in Elko County in April 2012. It says Brian Rowley was arrested for battery constituting domestic violence in March 2007 but the charges were dismissed.

He was arrested for battery again a month later and received a suspended sentence in February 2008 on the condition he stayed out of trouble for a year.

Phoenix • A plan to address a shrinking supply of water on a river that serves 40 million people in the U.S. West is headed to President Donald Trump.

The U.S. House and Senate approved the Colorado River drought contingency plan on Monday.

Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming spent years negotiating the drought plan. They aim to keep two key reservoirs from falling so low they cannot deliver water or produce hydropower.

Mexico has promised to store water in Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border if the U.S. legislation is approved by April 22.

State water managers and federal officials have cited a prolonged drought, climate change and increasing demand for the river's flows as reasons to cut back on water usage. The agreement runs through 2026.

In the lower basin, Arizona and Nevada would keep water in Lake Mead when it falls to certain levels. The cuts eventually would loop in California if Lake Mead's level drops far enough.

The measure approved Monday reflects language proposed by the states but also includes a section that says the implementation of the drought plan won’t be exempt from federal environmental laws.

The Imperial Irrigation District in California, which holds the largest entitlement to Colorado River water, and environmental groups had raised concern about draft language they took to mean federal laws like the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act would be disregarded.

Fifteen peace officers from three police forces were on leave Tuesday as investigators continued examining a crime spree and shootout in Salt Lake City a day earlier.

The suspect, Harold Vincent Robinson, 37, of West Valley City, died in the shootout on State Street near 3300 South. The paid administrative leave is standard procedure after an officer participates or is believed to have participated in a shooting. Ten Salt Lake City police officers are on leave; three from the Utah Highway Patrol and two from the Unified Police Department.

At a news conference Tuesday in Salt Lake City, the city’s police chief as well as the county sheriff placed the focus on the officers. Counseling has been offered to all the officers and troopers who responded Monday.

“We are working with our officers to ensure their well-being," said Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera. "That’s our priority in this situation.”

Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown called the way Robinson was said to have driven through the city, firing a rifle at police, “your worst nightmare." Brown said he couldn’t remember another time in his 28 years with the department that 10 officers were on leave.

Brown said the department already has had to rearrange shifts and pay overtime to cover for the officers who aren’t allowed to work. The city has about 550 officers, including those recently absorbed by the consolidation with the police at Salt Lake City International Airport.

“Yesterday, we dealt with one of the most dangerous situations a police department can ever deal with," Brown said.

Rivera said at Tuesday’s news conference that officials would not answer questions about the investigation, which is being conducted by a West Valley City police-led protocol unit.

Bret Rawson, an attorney who works for the Utah chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he was called yesterday to represent a “handful” of the officers involved in the chase and shooting.

Rawson, who also is certified as a peace officer, said his clients are being given two or three nights of sleep before investigators interview them about what happened. That’s become a standard procedure when police are involved in traumatic events.

“I’m very pleased,” Rawson said, “that the officers are safe and accounted for and proud that they took the action necessary to keep the community safe.”

Salt Lake City police identified Robinson as the suspect Monday afternoon. The Salt Lake County sheriff and Salt Lake City’s police chief said Monday that there was no indication anyone else participated in what they described as a crime spree that stretched across much the county.

The episode ended with a trail of gunfire from the edge of downtown Salt Lake City to the crash at Princess Alterations, 4 miles south. In the aftermath, drivers found themselves snaking through south central Salt Lake City because of all of the road closures.

Intersections down State Street from 500 South to 3500 South were blocked much of Monday, as were some intersections to the east — the direction in which witnesses said the suspect was firing out his driver’s side window — while police picked up bullets and shell casings and photographed crime scenes.

The first robbery was reported at 10:06 a.m. at a Holiday Oil gas station near 2700 W. 4700 South in Taylorsville, said Rivera. About a half-hour later, at 10:37 a.m., gunfire was reported in a robbery at a 7-Eleven near 900 East and 3300 South in Millcreek, she said.

Gunfire was reported again at 10:42 a.m. near West Temple and 500 South, where officers began to chase a white pickup that was fleeing from the scene, said Brown.

Brown and Rivera said the driver, later identified as Robinson, was suspected in all three robberies. As for how he traveled 5 miles on busy city streets in five minutes, Rivera on Tuesday emphasized the times reflected what time police were called. Extra minutes could have passed before police were called to the last robbery, she said.

As the driver of the truck fled south on State Street, he was leaning out the window and firing a rifle at police, Brown said.

A news release Tuesday morning said police attempted to place spike strips in front of Robinson to stop his truck. When that was unsuccessful, an officer drove his police car into the rear side of the truck in what’s called a pit maneuver.

Robinson was federally indicted in 2001 for using a sawed-off shotgun. It is illegal to shorten the barrel of a gun, which Robinson told the court that his friend had done when it got plugged with dirt while hunting.

The judge sentenced him to 42 months of probation. He violated those terms and was later sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The court docket says Robinson used that sawed-off gun in threatening to kill someone, but he contended that did not happen. He filed a civil complaint, in which he represented himself, petitioning to get his gun back. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals recently denied his motion.

Robinson had a criminal record in state courts, too, though many of the charges — including counts of aggravated kidnapping and assault — have been dismissed. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in 2003 and failing to obey an officer in 2012.

You would have thought somebody had asked Donovan Mitchell if golden retrievers are loyal, if tin roof pie is tasty, if a Lamborghini Veneno Roadster is pricey, if Shakespeare knew an action verb from a concrete noun, if the Earth rotates eastward in prograde motion, if Columbus sailed the ocean blue, if Daniel Boone was a man, if Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet.

He was quick and definitive in his response to what was, in Mitchell’s view, fairly obvious.

Are the Jazz better now than they were a year ago?

The team’s main offensive force answered — with no hint of real satisfaction, knowing there is much more yet to do — in the affirmative.

The playoffs are nearly here to help everyone else be so sure.

And, at present, they aren’t so sure. Shouldn’t be.

The Jazz have won more regular-season games this time around. Mitchell and Rudy Gobert have improved individually, Mitchell having averaged 23.5 points and 4.2 assists, up from 20.5 and 3.7 last year, and Gobert lifting not only his scoring to 15.8 points from 13.5, but his rebounding, too, to 12.9 from 10.7. At the defensive end, Gobert seems advanced in his general awareness as he roams the floor, protecting the basket.

But what about the team as a whole?

The Jazz added Kyle Korver, but otherwise the roster is about the same, a span of personnel inactivity that has tested the team’s emphasis on, as Quin Snyder so often says it, “Getting better every game.”

When that is the team motto, it has to be evident, otherwise it becomes hollow.

Last season, the Jazz scored 104 points a game and allowed 100. This time, they get 111 and give up 106. Their offensive rating was 16th. This time it’s 15th. Their defensive rating was second. This time it’s … second.

They seem to have grasped Snyder’s offense in a more complete way, embracing the changes, too. They shot the ball from deep more often, though with a bit less efficiency. They mastered the lob pass to Gobert, forcing opponents to either commit resources to slowing him or to give him space to cover the corner 3. Those defenses struggled to effectively slow both, which was Snyder’s intent, all along.

There is, however, a true defining element to the question, the only thing that really matters in the pursuit of NBA excellence — the postseason.

Everyone remembers what the Jazz did in 2018, beating Oklahoma City in round one, 4-2, and subsequently falling to the Rockets, 4-1, in the second round. The result of the first series was surprising, the the result of the second was not.

Mitchell was a mere rookie then, an exciting one to be sure, but one who was learning the ins and outs of playoff basketball, attempting to navigate around coaches and through opponents who were starting to game-plan for him. An entire second regular season of that same focus has steeled him, made him more than aware of the emphasis and how to combat it.

So now, after Wednesday night’s regular-season ender at the Clippers, the Jazz more than likely will get the Blazers, a team that has been affected by injury, but has powered on, playing well to close out the regular season. Damian Lillard has been rocksteady, the star that he is. He’s been rejoined by CJ McCollum, who has recovered from a bum knee enough to play through.

That guard line is a strength that can attack the Jazz’s biggest weakness in an otherwise elite resistance — perimeter defense. The list of scoring guards who have punished the Jazz in recent weeks, in losses and in wins, has been lengthy. And it will be exploited if not corrected, at least in part.

If the Jazz end up playing the Rockets in the first round, a formidable challenge, more of the same strong perimeter defense will be required.

If that matchup were to happen, right off the bat it would be a near-perfect measure indicating the actual progress of the Jazz. The Rockets are not the same exact team this year, but they are equally difficult.

If the first-round opponent is Portland, and the Jazz get past the Blazers, that would likely leave them with an even bigger challenge than they faced last year, namely, the Warriors. Another opportunity for them to track their real progression, or lack of it.

Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey says he is most certainly paying close attention to that arc or dip, whatever the path ends up being, whether it soars or sags: “The playoffs will give us a chance to learn more about our team.”

To learn where greater improvements must be made. If the team’s mantra is to get better every game, then that same effort and emphasis to improve should extend to personnel moves in every offseason, as well.

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

Rudy Gobert always wanted to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He just didn’t think it would be so soon.

But the Basketball Hall of Fame acquired Gobert’s jersey from the Phoenix Suns game two weeks ago — the game in which he broke the NBA’s all-time dunk record, flushing down his 270th dunk of the NBA season. The old record was held by Dwight Howard, who had 269 dunks in the 2007-08 season.

We want to thank the @utahjazz for allowing us to display @rudygobert27 jersey from his game on March 25, 2019 against the Phoenix Suns in which he broke the record for most dunks in one season with his 271st. 💪 #HOFArtifact pic.twitter.com/k9qBP9Rzev

— Basketball HOF (@Hoophall) April 8, 2019

With two games left, Gobert has now dunked 301 times.

After Gobert’s accomplishment, the Hall of Fame contacted the Jazz organization, which asked Gobert and team equipment manager Adam Klauke if they could use his game-worn jersey from that night. Of course, everyone said yes, and the jersey was shipped to Springfield, Mass. and prepared quickly for display.

For Gobert, it was a big moment, even if it wasn’t quite the Hall of Fame appearance he has most on his radar.

“It means a lot. First of all, being in the Hall of Fame, even if I haven’t retired yet, it means a lot. It’s something that will be there probably forever, and it’s history.”

Jazz sell out every game

While there are still some tickets remaining for Tuesday night’s Utah vs. Denver matchup, it’s anticipated that the game will sell out. If it does, it will mean that the Jazz sold out every home game in the regular season in 2018-19.

That makes sense: after all, they sold out of season tickets, selling 13,000 full-season equivalents. From there, single-game tickets, smaller ticket packages, player ticket allocations, giveaways from the organization to Jr. Jazz and similar organizations, and players’ donations make up the rest of the 18,300 capacity.

But it is unique for the Jazz, at least in this generation. Some remember the 1996-98 years as the peak of Jazz fandom, but the arena didn’t sell out every game then. In fact, it’s only the fifth time the Jazz have sold out every home game in a regular season, and the first time since 1992-93, the second year of the Delta Center’s existence.

Washington • Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, has introduced legislation to propose a balanced budget amendment, jumping on an issue that has traditionally been a rallying cry for conservatives but one that is finding a new home among moderate Democrats worried about burgeoning national debt.

McAdams, the first Democrat to pitch such an amendment this congressional session, quickly found support from 26 fellow party members who are part of the Blue Dog Coalition.

“At a time when we face $1 trillion annual deficits, and both parties punt on even trying to pass a budget blueprint, we need to consider a new structure to force fiscal discipline," McAdams said. "With this bill, I'm saying let's stop ignoring the issue and start talking about how to address it."

McAdams won election last year over GOP Rep. Mia Love with one of the narrowest victories in the country and now represents a majority Republican district.

The legislation proposes an amendment to the Constitution that prohibits the federal government from spending more money than it takes in during the fiscal year, with the exception of times when the country is at war, engaged in a military conflict or facing a recession. It also exempts the requirement if the unemployment rate tops 7 percent for two or more consecutive months.

The president must also submit to Congress a balanced budget proposal every year.

The measure, though, bars a federal court from enforcing that requirement if it means cuts to Social Security or Medicare.

Such an amendment would need support of two-thirds of the House and Senate and ratification by 38 states to become the 28th addition to America’s original founding document.

Such bills have been introduced for generations, especially since budget surpluses in the 1990s turned to annual deficits, sending the national debt climbing to more than $22 trillion currently and rising.

Previous attempts have all failed, and McAdams’ bill faces an uphill road, given some more liberal members of his party, which controls the House, are proposing programs or initiatives that would add more to the national debt to tackle health insurance shortfalls or boost spending elsewhere.

Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican who has made a balanced budget amendment a centerpiece of his time in office — it was the first bill he introduced after taking office in 2011 — declined to comment Tuesday as his office said it hadn’t seen McAdams’ bill.

Conservative efforts to balance the federal budget were accelerated during President Barack Obama’s term, though they have lost steam in recent years with President Donald Trump in the White House and deficits continuing to pile additional layers on the debt.

The president's budget blueprint submitted to Congress earlier this year would add $10 trillion to the debt over time and push back plans to have a balanced budget within eight years. The spending plan would, observers say, mean Trump will have added 50 percent more to the national debt by 2025.

The moderate Democrats backing the bill say partisan efforts previously haven’t worked because there wasn’t a push to bridge the gap and stop kicking the can down the road.

“It’s clearer than ever that the only way Congress will be able to produce a balanced budget is if it is required to do so by law,” said Rep. Lou Correa of California, a top leader of the Blue Dog Coalition.

“Washington needs to have a serious, bipartisan discussion about our nation’s fiscal state," Correa added. "Republicans and Democrats need to come together now to make tough decisions, and Rep. McAdams’ balanced budget amendment is a step in the right direction to putting our nation on a fiscally sustainable path. If we don’t address these problems, every single American will face serious economic repercussions.”

Provo • In the tiny central Utah town of Mount Pleasant, Bernardo Da Silva checks daily, if not hourly, to see if BYU has picked a head men’s basketball coach to replace Dave Rose, who retired back on March 26.

“I’m nervous and excited,” said Da Silva, a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who has played for national powerhouse Wasatch Academy, a private boarding school in Mount Pleasant, the past few seasons.

Da Silva signed with BYU last November, along with Timpview High’s Nate Hansen and Shengzhe Li, a native of Shanghai, China, who spent the last two years at Santa Margarita Catholic High in California playing for former Utah Valley coach and BYU assistant Jeff Reinert.

All three recruits said this week that they still plan to attend and play for BYU, but acknowledge that the school’s choice — expected to be announced any day now — could affect those plans.

Tuesday was the closing date for the application process, according to BYU’s employment website, and some crucial recruiting periods begin soon (April 11-14 and April 19-24) so athletic director Tom Holmoe knows getting a new coach in place this week is important.

As The Salt Lake Tribune reported last week, the top four candidates to replace Rose are Utah Valley coach Mark Pope, Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Mark Madsen, BYU interim head coach Quincy Lewis and Portland State head coach Barret Peery.

Da Silva said he would like to see Pope or Lewis get the job because he knows them best. The 6-foot-9, 205-pound forward averaged 8.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for the nationally ranked Tigers, whose season ended last week with a 79-72 loss to Oak Hill Academy in the 2019 GEICO Nationals in New York City.

“I guess there is the possibility that I could ask for a release from my letter of intent, but I don’t plan on doing that,” Da Silva said via telephone on Monday. “Coach Rose’s retirement doesn’t affect me that much, really. I am just excited to see who the new coach is going to be, like everyone else.”

Timpview’s Hansen, a 6-3 guard who averaged 23.6 points per game for the Thunderbirds last season, will leave on an LDS Church mission to Little Rock, Ark., the first week of June. However, he’s still eagerly awaiting the announcement.

“It’s definitely kind of scary, wondering who it will be,” Hansen said.

The NLI he signed with BYU will expire a year into his mission, so he will have the opportunity to look elsewhere if he doesn’t feel comfortable with the hire. But that’s a long way away and right now he’s “still excited” to play for BYU some day.

Hansen said he has exchanged texts with the other two recruits — Da Silva and Li — and said they are not worried, either.

“Both those guys are awesome kids,” he said. “They will both do great things at BYU.”

Hansen said he would like to see Lewis land the job.

“Having good chemistry with a coach is huge, and I feel like we all have that with Quincy,” he said.

Da Silva said he is not LDS and refers to himself as a “Christian” who was attracted to BYU because of its religious mission and because former BYU assistant Walter Roese, a fellow Brazilian, recommended it to him.

Da Silva said four of his teammates, all juniors, were being recruited by BYU’s former staff — small forward Leonardo Colimerio, center Mady Sissoko, small forward Caleb Lohner and shooting guard Richie Saunders.

“I am telling them good things about the program and stuff,” he said.

Reinert, an assistant at BYU from 1991-94 and Utah Valley’s head coach from 1994-2002, said Tuesday that the 6-10, 250-pound Li remains “fully committed” to go to BYU. Li averaged 10 points and seven rebounds for No. 32 Santa Margarita Catholic last season.

“He’s a good player,” Reinert said. “His numbers aren’t great because he played with two guys going to the Pac-12 that shot it a lot. So he had to go get what was left over. … He made us a national team because of his ability to defend the box, move the ball, and score, and all the little things he did for us. The kid is good.”

Reinert said several Pac-12 schools have called asking about Li’s availability since Rose retired, but Li likes BYU well enough to stay loyal if he gets along well with the new coach.

“Li is excited to go there,” Reinert said. “He really likes the discipline of the place, and he knows what he is getting into. His parents really like the structure and discipline of BYU, too.”

More than 2,000 high school girls in Utah spent Tuesday flying drones, operating robots and testing virtual reality headsets.

Beyond having some fun — and there was plenty of that — there was a bigger purpose behind the event: Introduce these students to possible careers in math, science and engineering with the hope of getting more of them to pursue jobs in the field.

The annual hands-on day of technology, called “SheTech Explorer Day,” was held by Women Tech Council, which works to partner female students with mentors and get more involved in computing. The day included presentations from companies including Adobe, AT&T and Vivint Smart Home.

Herriman • With six weeks gone in Real Salt Lake’s season, and only four points to show for it so far, frustration is brewing that the team hasn’t gotten more out of its games. Coach Mike Petke voiced some of that frustration after RSL’s road loss to Seattle.

But after Petke addressed the team in the visitors locker room, the players stepped up and voiced their own frustrations, mirroring the coach’s message that it was time for RSL to start getting results out of games where it has controlled significant chunks of the action.

“It’s getting old to us,” Petke said Tuesday after training.

RSL is on a four-game losing streak. Three of those losses have come when the team has finished with less than 11 players on the field due to four players receiving red cards.

But there have been times this season that RSL has shown it is ready to take the next step in its development as a team, but fallen short of that. Petke mentioned the first 25 minutes against D.C. United, the close loss to Los Angeles Football Club, and the second half against the Sounders as examples of times RSL has been in control of games, but came up short.

Petke said one way to get more results in those types of games is better executing what they work on in practice on the field. Things like defensive shifting, pressuring the middle third, breaking lines and pushing teams to where RSL wants them to go.

“When we get to a game, we have to see that,” Petke said. “And when we don’t, then it’s our fault. It’s not anybody else’s fault. It’s not the referee’s fault. It’s not the opposing team was better than us for the whole game. We have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot in certain situations.”

One of the narratives around the team in recent years is just how young the players on the roster are. RSL, along with FC Dallas, have the largest number of homegrown players. It’s something that has been touted as a positive by the organization.

Petke made clear that when he mentioned RSL had a young team, he was not pointing the finger to his younger players or blaming them in any way. Rather, it appears he is looking for his players to usurp the notion that their collective youth translates to losing games they can win or draw.

“Yeah, we have young players, but some of them have been [in the league] for three years, and they have to realize that they’re not a rookie anymore” Petke said. “On the same note, we have experienced players that realize how much experience they have and what they can do. … It’s a total group thing.”

Midfielder Kyle Beckerman said the key to getting over the hump on winnable games is simply getting in form.

“Hopefully as the season goes on, we all get better, we all get a bit sharper and we get more cohesive as a unit,” Beckerman said.

Beckerman, who is in his 20th Major League Soccer season, said it takes about five or six years for a player to start feeling like he has transitioned from being a young player to being a veteran. With experience, Beckerman said, comes the feeling that not only is one ready, but they are also making sure the rest of his teammates are as well.

When asked if it’s still too early for RSL to shed its young skin, Beckerman somewhat agreed, saying he would consider the team to be “pretty young.” At the same time, however, the veteran midfielder believes most, if not all, of RSL’s younger players are already punching above their weight.

“These young guys are mature beyond their years,” Beckerman said. “We are what we are right now. We have to just keep pushing, keep working hard. Hopefully we can find some form this weekend and take it on to the rest of the season.”

Injury update

Petke said Marcelo Silva, who hurt his ankle recently, will be out for a couple of weeks. He added that a change to the starting lineup is coming due to Silva’s injury, and both Nick Besler and Justen Glad are fighting for that spot during this week’s training sessions.

Washington • Utah’s members of Congress are praising the passage of legislation that seeks to curtail water usage from the Colorado River in seven, drought-stricken Western states.

The bill, which now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk, passed the House and Senate on a voice vote and is aimed at shrinking usage from the Colorado River, which provides drinking water, irrigation and hydropower for some 40 million Americans.

The proposal comes after years of negotiation and in the nick of time to avert the first-ever federal restrictions on water in the river’s lower basin. Seven states — Utah, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Wyoming — are part of the compact that doles out water from the river, and low water levels trigger automatic decreases in use.

The river’s main reservoirs, Lake Powell in Utah and Arizona, and Lake Mead in Nevada and Arizona, are nearing historic lows. At Lake Mead, a drop in water supply could halt Hoover Dam’s hydropower operations that power more than a million homes in the southwest.

Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, said this week that the vote — which comes after negotiations among the seven states affected as well as tribal leaders — is a major positive for the region.

“With the states’ work and today’s vote, we have passed a solution that saves a river that serves 40 million people, irrigates vast amounts of farmland, and encourages clean, emissions-free hydropower,” Bishop said.

Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, said it was a big step toward saving water and ensuring a future for tens of millions of Americans who rely on the Colorado River.

“The water from the Colorado River is not only the lifeblood for farmers and ranchers in eastern Utah, it also supplies drinking water to the rapidly growing Wasatch Front,” McAdams said. “Both Lake Powell and Lake Mead appear to be operating as designed but both are at uncomfortably low levels. Congress needed to act quickly so that the new agreement can be implemented, and water conservation efforts can begin.”

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah and a co-sponsor of the bill, tweeted his support for the legislation.

By implementing drought contingency plans for the Colorado River Basin, this legislation is an important step toward effectively managing Utah’s waters and the communities that depend on them. Pleased to see this bill headed to the President’s desk. https://t.co/9NTsiDGRs5

— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) April 9, 2019

“For the last 19 years, my home state of Utah has been in a severe drought, with Lake Powell currently at dangerously low levels," Romney said in a statement. "The Colorado River is critical to the survival, livelihood and recreation of Utahns, and we must do everything we can to sustain it. By implementing drought contingency plans for the Colorado River Basin, this bill is an important step toward managing Utah’s waters and the communities that depend on them.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the water bill a “landmark drought contingency plan” for the Colorado River Basin and noted the cooperation it took across various local, state, federal and tribal leaders to make it happen.

“Seven states, countless local and tribal authorities, and both the U.S. and Mexico have skin in this game, so hammering out this coordinated plan was no small feat,” McConnell said.

“But now that this agreement will be codified in federal law, tens of millions of Americans will be able to rest easier, knowing that their supply of drinking water and irrigation will be better protected from water shortages.”

While many were throwing kudos at Congress passing the legislation, some argue that while the effort is commendable, it doesn’t go nearly as far as needed to stem the need for water and work toward a sustainable life for the river and those who rely on it.

“It’s good to see that first steps are being taken to address water shortage in the Colorado River Basin, but the measures in the bill will likely fall short of averting the challenges that lie ahead,” said Eric Balken, executive director of the Glen Canyon Institute. “The reductions in consumption in the lower basin, while commendable, won’t be enough to stave off the supply/demand imbalances we face.”

Balken points out that Utah is moving ahead with plans to build a pipeline from Lake Powell to the arid parts of the state’s southwestern region, a move that only exacerbates the demand for water instead of working toward conservation.

“When the state claims it’s working to consume less water while forging plans for a new diversion, it’s like someone saying they’re trying to cut back on drinking alcohol as they walk to the check out holding two cases of beer,” Balken said.

It was unclear when the president would sign the bill, but the White House had not signaled any concerns over the measure that saw broad bipartisan support.

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

• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/08/bagley-cartoon-radical/" target=_blank><u>Radical Extremists </u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/05/bagley-cartoon-official/"><u>Official Mugging</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/04/bagley-cartoon-church/"><u>Church Approved</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/03/bagley-cartoon-brexit/"><u>The Brexit Knight</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/02/bagley-cartoon-national/"><u>National Security Crisis</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/01/bagley-cartoon-troubling/"><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>

Want more Bagley? Become a fan on Facebook.

New York • New York City declared a public health emergency Tuesday over a measles outbreak centered in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and ordered mandatory vaccinations in the neighborhood.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the unusual order amid what he said was a measles crisis in Brooklyn's Williamsburg section, where more than 250 people have gotten measles since September. Officials blamed the outbreak on "anti-vaxxers" spreading false information.

The order applies to anyone living, working or going to school in four ZIP codes in the neighborhood and requires all unvaccinated people at risk of exposure to the virus to get the vaccine, including children over 6 months old.

The city can't physically force someone to get a vaccination, but officials said people who ignore the order could be fined $1,000. The city said it would help everyone covered by the order get the vaccine if they can't get it quickly through their regular medical provider.

"If people will simply cooperate quickly, nobody will have to pay a fine," de Blasio said.

Officials say 285 measles cases have been confirmed in New York City since the beginning of the outbreak, the largest in the city since 1991. New York City accounted for about two-thirds of all U.S. measles cases reported last week.

Ordering people to be vaccinated without their consent is "an extreme measure which is not provided for in the law and raises civil liberties concerns about forced medical treatment," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a written statement.

The majority of religious leaders in Brooklyn's large Orthodox communities support vaccination efforts, said the city's health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, but rates have remained low in some areas because of resistance from some groups that believe the inoculations are dangerous.

"This outbreak is being fueled by a small group of anti-vaxxers in these neighborhoods. They have been spreading dangerous misinformation based on fake science," Barbot said. "We stand with the majority of people in this community who have worked hard to protect their children and those at risk. We've seen a large increase in the number of people vaccinated in these neighborhoods."

Officials also noted that Passover is approaching, meaning increased travel among people who could carry measles to or from New York. Israel, for instance, also has a current measles outbreak.

The commissioner is empowered by law to issue such orders in cases when they might be necessary to protect against a serious public health threat.

News of the order got a mixed reaction in Williamsburg, with some residents — even those who support vaccination — saying they felt uncomfortable with the city pushing vaccines on people who don't want them. Others remain convinced, against expert assurances, that vaccines are unsafe.

"It's true that a lot of people have measles and measles are not a very good thing, but I think the vaccine also not a very good thing," said Aron Braver, a neighborhood resident. "And it's everybody's option to do what he wants. What he decides."

Earlier this week, the city ordered religious schools and day care programs serving that community to exclude unvaccinated students or risk being closed down.

Rabbi David Oberlander, director of the Yeshiva Kehilath Yakov School, where there were 20 measles cases, said "maybe 3%" of the students were unvaccinated.

"However, we worked very hard, as the health department told us, and those children were excluded," he said.

Another Jewish religious community, north of the city but with close ties to Brooklyn, has also seen a surge, with at least 166 cases since October. Last week, a state judge blocked an attempt by Rockland County officials to halt the spread of measles by banning unvaccinated children from public places.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all children get two doses of measles vaccine. It says the vaccine is 97% effective.

Oxford, England • Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will beat the Washington heat this summer and head for Runnymede, England, a bucolic borough 20 miles from London along the River Thames.

At the site where the Magna Carta was sealed 804 years ago, laying the groundwork for constitutional democracy, the judge will teach a course on the origins of the U.S. Constitution to students at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School — 3,600 miles from the Arlington, Virginia, campus.

He will be joined in the English countryside by Jennifer Mascott, an assistant professor of law at George Mason. One of Kavanaugh's former clerks on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Mascott came to his defense when his nomination was threatened last year by allegations of sexual misconduct, which he vehemently denied. "He has acted with the utmost character and integrity," she told "PBS NewsHour."

Some students at the university's main campus in Fairfax, Virginia, see matters differently. After news of his hire surfaced at the end of March in the undergraduate newspaper, the Fourth Estate, survivors of sexual assault mobilized to demand that he be terminated.

The judge, who was first nominated to the federal bench by President George W. Bush and to the nation's top court by President Donald Trump, used to teach at Harvard Law School. But administrators in Cambridge, Massachusetts, informed students last fall that he had decided not to return this year to teach his course, "The Supreme Court Since 2005." The announcement followed calls on Harvard, by hundreds of its students and alumni, to revoke his status as a lecturer.

The contest over Kavanaugh's nomination became a flash point in the #MeToo movement, as well as an illustration of the polarization and distrust poisoning American politics. Now, the dispute at George Mason has become the latest front in the campus culture wars, reflecting broader upheaval over sexual violence, political correctness, free speech and sensitivity.

Right-leaning and libertarian websites have pounced on the debate, painting students as petulant and their demands as threatening to civil discourse. "It would be a terrible blow to the principles of fairness and academic freedom if a university were to un-person one of the foremost judicial figures in the country over this," wrote Reason editor Robby Soave.

But in appearances before George Mason's leadership, students have not screamed and cried. Rather, they have explained why they object to the hiring decision.

"As a survivor of sexual assault, this decision has really impacted me negatively," one student said, according to a clip of a meeting last Wednesday with the university's Board of Visitors that was published by the College Fix, a conservative site focused on higher education. "It has affected my mental health knowing that an abuser will be part of our faculty."

In a petition, a group that calls itself "Mason 4 Survivors" is asking university administrators to remove Kavanaugh and issue a formal apology to victims of sexual assault. It also calls for the public release of documents related to the judge's hire, including "emails, donor agreements, and contracts." And it requests a town hall by April 25 to discuss the "implications for students" of bringing the Supreme Court justice on board.

The petition, created about two weeks ago, has garnered nearly 3,500 signatures. And it has yielded separate forms for parents and alumni to pledge that they will not donate to the university so long as Kavanaugh is teaching.

George Mason Democrats, the campus political group, has endorsed the campaign, while their Republican counterparts appear not to have waded into the debate. The undergraduate population is nearly 25,000, while the law school — among the most conservative in the country — enrolls 525 students.

The student protesters have taken to social media and appeared at meetings of the university's leadership to voice their concerns, which they have tied to broader grievances about the way the university polices sexual misconduct and the resources that it provides to victims.

Kavanaugh has become a focal point for their organizing. Protesters have marched across the university's grounds, chanting, "Kick Kavanaugh off campus!"

George Mason's president, Ángel Cabrera, said he wouldn't do so. In a statement at the end of March, the university leader and management scholar said the course had been approved by the law school faculty in January and announced to law students shortly thereafter. He explained that an information session about the opportunity had been held in early February, and that the class was already over-enrolled.

"I respect the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in high school," Cabrera stated. "But he was confirmed and is now a sitting Justice. The law school has determined that the involvement of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice contributes to making our law program uniquely valuable for our students. And I accept their judgment."

In fact, as the university president noted, another Supreme Court justice is also scheduled to teach overseas classes to George Mason law students this summer. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who replaced the law school's namesake on the court, will for the second time teach a class in Padua, Italy, about national security and the separation of powers.

At a meeting with faculty last week about Kavanaugh, a clip of which was circulated by the College Fix, Cabrera defended the decision, saying it was not a "crazy appointment" to have a Supreme Court justice teach a course on the Constitution.

"I'm not saying he's clear of the accusations," Cabrera said. "I'm not saying he didn't do it, [or] he did it."

A professor chimed in: "Well, should we investigate that?"

Students at the back of the room snapped in an expression of approval.

A supplementary investigation concluded by the FBI in early October could not corroborate accusations of sexual misconduct, though the probe was highly limited, for instance not involving interviews with Kavanaugh or his primary accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.

The university's president suggested it would be unrealistic for George Mason to investigate a sitting Supreme Court justice.

"We do our due diligence on all hires," a man in the room objected. "This is a hire."

"Agreed," someone else called out.

There was no reply from the president, as an official stepped in and asked for final questions, saying time was short.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who has been battling Trump on other fronts as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, vowed last fall to undertake a fresh investigation of the assault claims if Democrats retook the chamber, which they did. (He later clarified that the committee was not intent in investigating Kavanaugh or pursuing his impeachment but only considering whether the FBI examination was sufficient.)

At the time, Ford was unable to live at home because of the volume of death threats she was receiving.

The process was similarly difficult for Kavanaugh, he said. "My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2018.

The course, which runs for two weeks at the end of July and the beginning of August, includes several day trips to British sites associated with principles influencing the Constitution, according to the notice from George Mason. Students will be graded on class participation and a 15- to 20-page paper.

Washington • A familiar story line played out Monday night for Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who condemned one of President Donald Trump’s most trusted advisers only to end up being accused of anti-Semitism.

"Stephen Miller is a white nationalist," she tweeted on Monday afternoon. "The fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage." But because Miller, Trump's senior policy adviser, is Jewish, Omar's fervent detractors on the right saw her comments not as incendiary criticism of Miller's hard-line immigration policies but instead as part of a pattern of targeting Jews.

Stephen Miller is a white nationalist. The fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage. https://t.co/7NyMDgojd7

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 8, 2019

“During my time in Congress before @IlhanOmar got here, I didn’t once witness another Member target Jewish people like this with the name calling & other personal attacks,” Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., perhaps Omar’s most relentless critic, wrote on Twitter. “In 2019 though, for @IlhanOmar, this is just called Monday.”

During my time in Congress before @IlhanOmar got here, I didn't once witness another Member target Jewish people like this with the name calling & other personal attacks. In 2019 though, for @IlhanOmar, this is just called Monday. https://t.co/sgvsEvsj56

— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) April 9, 2019

On Tuesday, Trump took to Twitter to highlight another of Omar’s critics, Jeff Ballabon, a conservative commentator and Trump campaign adviser.

In early afternoon tweets, Trump quoted Ballabon lambasting Omar and then sent out a clip from his morning appearance on Fox Business Network's "Varney & Co.," in which he argued that Omar is "more dangerous" than white nationalist and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

"Jews are the most victimized minority in this country, far more than blacks, Muslims and women, which is what Ilhan Omar keeps on being characterized as though she's being attacked," Ballabon said during the segment.

The latest spat comes just days after a New York man was arrested on charges of threatening Omar by pledging to "put a bullet in her [expletive] skull," rhetoric that the freshman congresswoman's supporters say has been emboldened by the heated accusations of Jewish bias coupled with Islamophobia. Omar, a Somali refugee, is Muslim.

Claims of anti-Semitism have vexed Omar since she took office this year, after she suggested that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), an influential Jewish lobbying group, wielded power over members of Congress through money. But to Omar's backers, the ubiquitous attacks from the right since then have amounted to a politically expedient smear campaign that trivializes the meaning of true anti-Semitism. To others, it's part of a greater effort to silence women of color in Congress, fueling vitriolic attacks and death threats.

Omar's remarks Monday were spurred by reports that Miller's desire for tougher candidates to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement contributed to Trump's decision to withdraw the nomination of Ronald Vitiello. Miller has been the architect behind numerous hard-line immigration policies, such as family separation, and has advocated for closing the entire U.S.-Mexico border.

Omar called Miller a "white nationalist" in a string of tweets decrying the Trump administration's immigration policies, including family separations at the border, while expressing concern about what a "tougher" Homeland Security secretary might look like. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen submitted her resignation Sunday.

Critics from Donald Trump Jr. to pundits from various conservative news outlets immediately pounced on Omar, questioning how a Jewish person could be accused of being a white nationalist.

"I see that the head of the Farrakhan Fan Club, @IlhanMN, took a short break from spewing her usual anti-semitic bigotry today to accuse a Jewish man of being a 'white nationalist' because she apparently has no shame," wrote Trump Jr., referring to Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam.

I see that the head of the Farrakhan Fan Club, @IlhanMN, took a short break from spewing her usual anti-semitic bigotry today to accuse a Jewish man of being a “white nationalist” because she apparently has no shame. https://t.co/y96IG8E7Y6

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 8, 2019

Matt Wolking, deputy communications director for the president’s reelection campaign, offered this straightforward take on Twitter: “He’s Jewish, and Ilhan Omar is a racist anti-Semite.”

He’s Jewish, and Ilhan Omar is a racist anti-Semite https://t.co/1wsvsrdwEL

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) April 8, 2019

The backlash reflects an apparent effort among some members of the GOP to use Omar’s comments to sow division within the Democratic Party and among Jewish Democratic voters. Take Christian Ziegler, the vice chairman of the Florida GOP, who used the backlash to urge “my Jewish friends” to join the alleged “#jexodus” movement, encouraging Jews to leave the Democratic Party en masse.

Some mocked the critics for appearing to extrapolate an anti-Jewish bias from Omar's remarks, while others attacked Zeldin, the Republican congressman from New York.

"Rep. Zeldin is using his Jewishness to provide cover for a white nationalist regime that stokes hatred and terror for Jews (and many other peoples) in a US that until President Trump felt so safe and secure for us," wrote economist David Rothschild.

"Inappropriate accusations of anti-Semitism masks the ugliness of the real thing," Perry Gershon, a Democratic businessman who lost to Zeldin in 2018 and plans to challenge him for his seat in the next election cycle, wrote on Twitter, linking to Zeldin's comments.

Omar has long argued that her condemnation of the Israeli government's treatment of the Palestinian people has been erroneously conflated with condemnation of Jewish people. In February, she apologized for using what was criticized as an anti-Semitic trope when she suggested that AIPAC could buy support from members of Congress. "It's all about the Benjamins baby," she tweeted at the time, making a reference to $100 bills. Last month, she was accused of suggesting Jews harbor "dual loyalty" to the United States and Israel after slamming "the political influence in this country that says it is okay for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country."

In her apology, Omar said she either did not intend to offend Jews or was ignorant to the fact that she was using anti-Semitic tropes. The House passed a generic resolution condemning bigotry in response.

But the attacks on Omar didn't slow. On Saturday, one day after federal prosecutors announced charges against the man who allegedly threatened to kill Omar, Trump mocked her during a speech before members of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas.

"Special thanks to Representative Omar of Minnesota," Trump told members in attendance, including casino magnate and prominent Republican donor Sheldon Adelson. "Oh, I forgot. She doesn't like Israel. I forgot. I'm so sorry."

Trump was also accused of expressing the same "dual loyalty" trope that critics said Omar had used. Speaking to the group of Republican Jews on Saturday, Trump described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "your prime minister," and asked the audience to explain "to some of your people" why they shouldn't oppose his tariffs on imported goods.

"Mr. President, the Prime Minister of Israel is the leader of his (or her) country, not ours," the American Jewish Committee tweeted. "Statements to the contrary, from staunch friends or harsh critics, feed bigotry."

A spokesman for Omar could not immediately be reached for comment early Tuesday regarding the latest accusations of anti-Semitism.

Utah’s gymnastics team had better hope the saying ‘the third time is the charm,’ holds true for them, or else their effort in the NCAA Championships could end on the first day.

The Utes are in the afternoon session along with UCLA, LSU and Michigan when the NCAA Championships begin April 19 in Ft. Worth.

The evening session consists of Oklahoma, Denver, Georgia and Oregon State.

Unlike in the past when six teams advanced to the finals, just two from each session will move on to Saturday’s finals.

The new format means the Utes likely need to beat UCLA or LSU to earn one of the top spots. The Utes have lost to both teams twice this year. The Bruins beat Utah in the regular season and the Pac-12 Championships while the Tigers beat Utah in a quad meet in February and at the recent NCAA regional meet.

Utah beat the Wolverines in the Huntsman Center on March 2.

“It is definitely a stacked session we are in,” Utah coach Megan Marsden said. “We are going to have our work cut out for us. With UCLA in there, the defending champions and the averages they are putting up they are the favorites and we would love to make it a Pac-12 sweep out of that group. But LSU is a great team, too, and beat us twice and Michigan is good so it is a packed bunch and all are deserving to be there.”

Even though the Utes are a combined 0-4 against the Bruins and Tigers, the recent losses were close ones, giving the them some encouragement. There is also the notion that anything can happen, something that was reinforced with the regional championships in Corvallis, Ore.

There, the fourth-ranked Florida Gators had two falls and failed to advance to the NCAAs for the first time since 2000. Utah is the only team in the country to qualify for all 44 national championships.

“At this point you can’t make any serious mistakes and expect to move forward. Sometimes you can get lucky, but that didn’t work for Florida and for us at LSU. Minnesota was trying to catch us and we had to have a good beam. It is becoming tougher and tougher to move on.”

This year’s version of the Utes does have consistency on its side, particularly now that the issues on balance beam seem to be behind them. The Utes finished their regional effort on the beam and hit 49.35 under pressure. They went 24-for-24 in the first round of the regional championships and their only mistake on Saturday came from MyKayla Skinner, who was battling an ear infection and fell for the first time breaking her streak of 161 made routines.

“Both [Tom] Farden and I feel like that consistency is helping us a lot right now,” Marsden said. “That helped us move forward on Friday [at regionals] even though we weren’t on fire.”

That first-day score from regionals was just 196.8, a combination of a flat performance and tight judging. Marsden noted no such flat performances will cut it at the NCAAs.

Just as they did during the second day of regionals, the Utes will start on the floor.

“We need to put our best foot forward on that first day,” she said. “When you get down to a select few like this, you have to bring everything to have a chance to move on.”

Washington • Facing bipartisan pushback on his immigration shake-up, President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’s not looking to revive the much-criticized practice of separating migrant children from their families at the southern border. At the same time, he suggested the policy had worked to deter migrants from coming into the U.S.

Immigration experts say his policies and practices are contributing to the surge of migrants.

Last summer the administration separated more than 2,500 children from their families before international outrage forced Trump to halt the practice and a judge ordered them reunited.

"We're not looking to do that," Trump told reporters before meeting with Egypt's president at the White House. But he also noted: "Once you don't have it, that's why you see many more people coming. They're coming like it's a picnic, because let's go to Disneyland."

The potential reinstatement of one of the most divisive practices of the Trump administration was just one aspect of the upheaval evident at the Department of Homeland Security this week following the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. With talk that more top officials were likely to be pushed out, Republicans expressed public and private concerns about the shake-up orchestrated by the White House and cautioned that leadership changes wouldn't necessarily solve the problem.

As for the separation of children, Trump declared that he was "the one that stopped it" and said his predecessor, President Barack Obama, was the one who had divided family members. The administration is allowed to separate children under certain circumstances including the health and welfare of the child and a parent's criminal history. This is why children were separated under the Obama administration.

At hearings across Capitol Hill, lawmakers grilled administration officials on whether the practice would resurface despite last year's outrage and evidence that separations were likely to cause lasting psychological effects on the children. House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said his committee would take a look at the staff shake-up at Homeland Security. The Maryland Democrat said he was deciding whether to call in Nielsen.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said there was a serious problem going on between the White House and Homeland Security.

"If everybody's sitting around waiting for a shiny new wonder pony to ride in and solve it, we're going to be waiting a long time," he said.

People familiar with the immigration discussions within the administration said family separation was one of many suggestions that Trump and his aides were eyeing to tackle the problem of an ever-growing number of Central American families crossing into the U.S. The people were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

A senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said the White House would move forward with a new regulation that would challenge a longstanding agreement limiting how long children can be detained, hoping to spark a legal fight that would land in the Supreme Court. The official was not authorized to speak for attribution.

The White House also was weighing a tougher standard to evaluate initial asylum claims, a "binary choice" that would have migrant families choose between remaining with their children in detention until their immigration cases are decided or sending their children to government shelters while the parents remain in detention. It also is considering clamping down on remittance payments that Mexican nationals send home.

Amid the turmoil, Trump told reporters he was not "cleaning house" at the agency despite a number of staff changes. He said his choice to be the department's new acting director, Kevin McAleenan, would do a "fantastic job."

But at the same time that Trump was speaking, the senior official was describing DHS to reporters as a large and unwieldly civilian bureaucracy that needs leadership that can deal with career officials resistant to the president's agenda, including many who were responsible for implementing some of the very policies Trump seeks to roll back.

Top Republicans in Congress expressed concern over vacancies at Homeland Security and cautioned Trump about more churn after the resignation of Nielsen.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, made both a public and private plea to the White House not to dismiss career homeland security officials. He said he spoke to acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney but added that he would only know if Trump heard the message "if they don't get fired."

At a Senate Homeland Security Committee meeting on border issues, child welfare and border officials warned there wasn't room or capability to start separating children on a large scale again.

Children who cross the border alone are cared for by the Department of Health and Human Services, and most of the children are teenagers. But last summer, HHS started receiving babies and toddlers, and there was not enough space to house them, said Jonathan White, the career civil servant tasked by Health and Human Services with helping to reunify children.

"It also bears repeating, separating children from their parents entails significant risk of psychological harm. That is an undisputed scientific fact," White told senators. "We have made improvements to our tracking, but we do not have the capacity to receive that number of children, nor do we have any system that can manage the mass trauma."

Both Republican and Democratic leaders deplored the idea of separating families.

"I hope members of the administration are actually listening," said Sen. Ron Johnson, R- Wis., the committee chairman. He added that he had spoken with Mulvaney about moving a permanent Homeland Security nominee through quickly.

While Trump disputed any departmental upheaval, his outside allies launched a public campaign urging him to nominate former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to replace Nielsen. Kobach would almost certainly face an uphill battle to be confirmed by the Senate.

Conservatives also pushed former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli for the job. Both men's names also have been tossed about for a possible immigration czar who would coordinate immigration policy across federal agencies.

___

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Lisa Mascaro, Laurie Kellman and Darlene Superville in Washington and Nomaan Merchant in Houston contributed to this report.

It was probably galling enough that the former governor of the nation’s 15th most populous state, and one-time major party nominee for president of the United States, finds himself in the role of Utah’s junior senator.

Mitt Romney may have been jealous enough of all the attention our senior senator, Mike Lee, has been receiving over the past couple of weeks that he reasonably concluded that the way to get back on the national radar was to say something really foolish.

Resurfacing Sunday morning on “Meet the Press," Romney continued his efforts to hold down the radical middle of American politics. These days, that means trying to distance himself from the indescribably awful personage in the Oval Office while not alienating the same political party that has basically committed ritual suicide in helping that disgrace achieve and hold power.

Talk about straddling the fence. Romney agreed with the president’s argument that the situation at our southern border is serious, but staked out some brave territory by calling for a “fence” instead of a “wall.”

He also wanted us to know that he perceives the danger.

It is time, Romney told Chuck Todd, for the president to sit down with Democrats and Republicans in Congress and say, “OK, what can we do legislatively to make sure that we’re not creating this extraordinary asylum magnet that’s bringing people into the country?”

Holy Plymouth Rock, Batman!

This land mass has been nothing more nor less than an “extraordinary asylum magnet” for upwards of 400 years.

We’ve done it well and poorly, evenly and with prejudice, by force and in total freedom, since long before the United States of America was even a reasonable idea.

That — Ronald Reagan’s Shining City on a Hill — has done as much as anything else to make the country the intellectual, economic, artistic, industrial, literary, military, scientific center of the universe.

If there is, or should be, any such thing as “American exceptionalism,” that is bloody it.

To the degree that there is now a “crisis” at our border it is because this country is now run by people — less the homeland security secretary who quit Sunday — who were surprised by the centuries-old fact that lots of people in dire straights light out for our territory when things are going badly back home.

America is not “full,” as anyone who has driven from Salt Lake City to Moab can attest. If our asylum system is overwhelmed, it can only be because it is mismanaged.

The wise, efficient way to handle this is not denial or imagining that we can surround the nation with a You-Can’t-Get-Though-Here Ray. It is to be ready.

Ready, not just with guards, but also with counselors, lawyers, judges, buses, decent housing, teachers, medics, liaisons to religious and other charitable organizations, labor unions, farm organizations, cities with thousands of vacant homes and open jobs.

Twice in recent weeks, the president was heard to say something to the effect of, “You have to get rid of judges.” Immigration judges, one supposes, which the president apparently feels are not keeping enough people out.

Of course, a great many minds instantly jumped to Shakespeare, to the line in “Henry VI” where a nefarious cad says, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Which is the expression of a would-be dictator who knows that lawyers exist to defend the rights of individuals.

We are America, dammit. We managed the Berlin Airlift, the Manhattan Project, the invasion of Normandy, the Panama Canal, the Transcontinental Railroad, the Constitutional Convention and Disco.

Managing the current mess at the border would be a walk in the park for a nation this large and accomplished, if only it were at the moment being managed by people both competent and kind enough to be worthy of their station.

gpyle@sltrib.com

Sen. Mitt Romney says America has become an “asylum magnet” for immigrants on our southern border. I say, good for us! If refugees cannot find asylum in the United States, we stop being Americans.

As a congressional chief of staff in the late 1990s for a southern California congressman, I visited the border from Texas to Tijuana, met with border agents and witnessed firsthand the stress of it all near the height of illegal border crossings and arrests – around one and a half million a year.

If ever there has been a modern crisis of illegal immigration, that time period would have been it. And, even then, only the craziest voices were calling for “emergency” responses. In comparison, today’s illegal crossings and arrests are some of the lowest in 25 years.

I am well familiar with the public policy of immigration. Also, as an original co-author of the Utah Compact and insider on the passage of the 2011 state immigration law, I know how Utahns think about this issue – which leads me back to Romney’s comment.

Romney and I share the same faith. We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And, while that does not ensure agreement on everything or anything spiritual or temporal, it does mean that both of us read from the same book. In fact, the unspoken reason that most Latter-day Saints support the Utah Compact and historical opinions generally regarding the humane treatment of immigrants is precisely from the book we share in common.

To wit, the Americas, not just the United States, are sacred ground and the people below our southern border (i.e. Lamanites) are very special to the Savior who visited them and should be for us tasked with now caring for them. Romney and I, if we’re faithful, know of our covenantal obligations to “nurture ... carry ... and to bring out of captivity” our neighbors from Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego. We also know the condemnation we’re under if we fail in this covenant.

Obviously, our faith beliefs are not topically relevant in public policy for the vast majority of Americans. But they should be for faithful Latter-day Saints. So, with Romney in mind, permit me to address sound immigration policy from a Latter-day Saint perspective – from a person who has spent over three decades writing laws and advocating for them in the backrooms and halls of legislators from Washington, D.C. to Utah.

Sound immigration policy comes in three steps: 1) settle on our commensurate values toward immigration, as Utah did with the Compact, 2) apply those values in reforming immigration laws, again as Utah has, and 3) once those tasks are accomplished, then do the work of nurturing, carrying and liberating the captive in our Western Hemisphere.

The problem of illegal immigration cannot be solved at our southern border. It’s too late by then. The big immigration work needs to be done in the countries of origin. There are many useful carrots and sticks available within American foreign affairs. Romney and the rest of our Utah federal delegation should focus on this task with those tools.

There are two warnings here for Romney and every other Latter-day Saint elected official. First, ignore the Lamanites at America’s peril. Every time our political leaders scorn Lehi’s children, the Lord demonstrates that His hand cannot be stayed from fulfilling the promises declared by Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 16:16, 3 Nephi 20:14). His hand “not stayed” looks exactly like the seemingly endless masses of refugees seeking asylum at our southern border.

Second, ignore the Western Hemisphere at America’s peril. We need to address the causes of refugees fleeing from their countries of origin and that task only can be achieved when Mexico, Central and Latin American countries know we are one when it comes to the peace and prosperity of our peoples. We can nurture, carry and liberate these refugees in their own countries, not just when they eventually arrive at our southern border. A man who sought the position of secretary of state should know this.

Latter-day Saint elected officials have two choices. We can fight against the Lamanites in our own country or we can nurture them and help them prosper in their countries of origin. What say ye, Senator Romney?

Paul Mero is president of Next Generation Freedom Fund.

Clark Aposhian, a resident of Utah, is now the last man in America who can legally own a bump stock.

Last month, a formal bump stock ban went into effect. The ban ordered anyone who lawfully purchased one of these devices to either surrender or destroy it, or else face felony prosecution.

Before the ban, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) had recognized repeatedly that bump stocks are a lawful firearm accessory and are not machine guns, because a user of a bump stock still must engage the trigger once for every shot fired. In a 2013 letter to Congress, ATF explained that bump stocks “are not subject to the provisions of Federal firearms statutes” and “ATF does not have the authority to restrict their lawful possession, use, or transfer.”

In a surreal bit of doublethink, ATF now insists that every bump stock previously sold was always a machine gun. So, not only are bump stocks now banned, but the agency claims it could always have prosecuted the owners of these devices — even though they were sold with ATF letters of approval attached.

To reach this absurd conclusion, ATF had to promulgate a bump stock rule that changed the statutory definition of “machine gun.” Under the new rule, a semiautomatic weapon is a machine gun if the shooter fires by bumping the trigger instead of “pulling” it. The new rule also defines “automatic” fire to include firing that requires “additional physical manipulation” of the weapon between shots, which used to be considered “manual” fire.

Owners of bump stocks, including Aposhian, challenged the ban across the country. Recently a divided D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request to stop the rule from taking effect. The court relied on the “Chevron deference,” a principle that courts are required to “accept the agency’s construction of the statute, even if the agency’s reading differs from … the best statutory interpretation.” And the court went even further, saying ATF’s construction of the statute was still “reasonable” even though “its position that bump stock owners have always been felons” “is incompatible with the Rule’s terms.”

Notably, “the government expressly disclaimed any entitlement to Chevron deference” and “went so far as to indicate that … it would prefer that the Rule be set aside rather than upheld under Chevron.” This concession came because the government knows its reading of a criminal statute is not entitled to any deference.

But the court decided ATF was not allowed to waive Chevron deference and ruled in ATF’s favor on that basis, even though it would result in making half a million law-abiding citizens into criminals. This brazen abdication of judicial independence shows just how unlawful much of modern administrative activity is. Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution vests “all” legislative power in Congress. No part of the Constitution allows a law enforcement agency to rewrite a law it disagrees with, nor does it allow a federal court to sit idly by while that same agency prosecutes citizens for violating the new, made-up law.

Aposhian’s challenge continues. The Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily enjoined ATF “from enforcing the Final Rule against Mr. Aposhian” while his case proceeds, leaving him as the only private citizen with a legal bump stock. His case offers the best remaining hope for stopping lawmakers from passing the buck to the executive branch on this difficult issue.

Caleb Kruckenberg is Litigation Counsel at the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which has filed legal challenges to the bump stock ban that are pending in the 10th Circuit and the Western District of Texas.

Ahead of major shifts planned for homeless resources in Salt Lake City this fall, Catholic Community Services of Utah announced plans to create a new hands-on job training program it hopes will help foster self-sufficiency and hope for those on the streets.

The organization broke ground Tuesday on an expansion of its downtown Salt Lake City facility that will house its new Homeless Kitchen Training program. The 14-week course aims to teach those experiencing homelessness the skills they’d need to gain employment in the restaurant industry.

“This kitchen and the training they will receive, this will give many of our homeless friends hope” and increase their self-esteem, said Pamela Atkinson, an advocate for the homeless, at a ceremony at Catholic Community Services (CCS) on Tuesday.

After a blessing of the building from Catholic leaders, Atkinson and others involved in homeless services put their shovels into the ground in a symbolic marker of where the new kitchen will be.

Daniel Smithwick, who participated in the groundbreaking ceremony and has been homeless for the last year, said he’s looking forward to participating in the program, which he sees as a way to “get back on my feet.”

“This is work and people should take advantage of it,” he said. “It’s very beneficial for the ones who participate in it. And it’s a way out of here.”

The Homeless Kitchen Training program will play an “integral” role in Salt Lake City’s new homeless services system, said Matt Melville, CCS’s director of homeless services, and will come on line in conjunction with the three new Homeless Resource Centers scheduled to open this fall. Catholic Community Services will operate one of those new centers, a 200-bed men’s and women’s facility at 275 Paramount Ave. in Salt Lake City.

The resource centers will operate differently than traditional emergency shelters — serving specific populations and offering access to health services, a full mobile medical clinic and onsite case managers to help with services like job counseling.

In addition to culinary training, the new Homeless Kitchen Training program will provide trainees with one-on-one case management for job placement, housing and overall care.

Food service is an important path to stability for people experiencing homelessness, according to CCS. They can learn soft skills, practice teamwork and learn how to meet deadlines in a kitchen. The food industry also has lower barriers to entry than some other professions, meaning people experiencing homelessness may find it easier to find stable employment and are ultimately more likely to find pathways to management and higher wages. That, in turn, can help them find and keep housing.

Catholic Community Services plans to keep its current kitchen operations open during construction. The Homeless Kitchen Training program will begin in the fall and the first cohort of around 15 people is expected to graduate at the end of 2019.