Washington • What’s the expiration date on moral outrage over a gruesome murder?

On Wall Street, at least, the answer seems to be roughly six months.

Six-and-a-half months ago, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was my colleague at The Washington Post, walked into the Saudi Consulate in Turkey to take care of some paperwork. Then he vanished. In the days and weeks that followed, the world learned that a 15-member hit team dispatched by the Saudi government had strangled the 59-year-old Khashoggi, dismembered him with a bone saw while listening to music, and disposed of his body.

The CIA would conclude that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, had ordered the assassination. The Saudi government claims otherwise, protesting that Mohammed — while known for micromanaging far more minor affairs in the kingdom — had been totally in the dark. MBS, as the crown prince is known, was shocked (shocked!) that his thugs had not merely politely kidnapped the dissident as instructed.

However upsetting Khashoggi's death was for his grieving fiancee, children, colleagues, friends and admirers worldwide, MBS was surely more outraged than them all. After all, the murder was super inconvenient for the crown prince, at least timing-wise.

Khashoggi's assassination occurred just weeks before the splashy Future Investment Initiative forum, a "Davos in the Desert" designed to highlight Mohammed's economic and social reforms. Persuading global business elites to attend a conference with this theme so soon after the state had murdered a high-profile champion of Saudi liberalization would be complicated.

And it did look as though some of these global elites had pangs of conscience — or pangs of PR concerns, anyway. At first.

International executives and public figures dropped out of "Davos in the Desert" by the dozens. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, boycotted the event, explaining that the bank "couldn't be seen in any way condoning" the murder.

Goldman Sachs said its partner who had planned to attend, former White House official Dina Powell, wouldn't go, either. The bank's newly minted chief executive, David Solomon, proclaimed on CNBC, "This incident is unacceptable, and clearly they have to answer questions."

Goldman continued to quietly send other, more junior people, however. So did other institutions. HSBC, for instance, pulled its chief executive, John Flint, but dispatched a lower-ranking executive.

Alas, even this halfhearted shunning of Saudi Arabia was brief. Whatever ties the international banking and business community pretended to sever back then have since been officially, enthusiastically double-knotted.

Because there's just too much money to be made, as a bond sale that closed this month illustrates.

Saudi Aramco, the Saudi-government-owned oil business that happens to be the world's most profitable company, closed its inaugural bond issuance. It appears to be part of a long-term effort to build relationships with international investors ahead of an initial public offering. Whatever the moral complications, those relationships are building fast: Initially expected to raise about $10 billion, the sale instead attracted a whopping $100 billion in orders, making it one of the most oversubscribed bond sales in history. Ultimately, Aramco decided to issue $12 billion in debt.

And guess who managed the sale. Why, some of those very same financial institutions that had ostentatiously boycotted the Saudi forum last fall, including JPMorgan Chase (which led the sale with Morgan Stanley), Goldman Sachs and HSBC. JPMorgan CEO Dimon even made a rare appearance to market the bonds personally at a luncheon in New York.

HSBC declined to comment on what changed between six months ago and today, saying it never comments on client relationships.

JPMorgan excused the turnabout by saying its work would "help" the Saudi people (apparently, the Saudi people who aren't being murdered, tortured or imprisoned for political reasons).

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs suggested that if there's a red line to be drawn on doing business with morally dubious countries, the entity to draw it should not be Goldman Sachs.

"We take the lead from our government," spokesman Jake Siewert told me.

So what lead, pray tell, has our government offered?

On the one hand, on the same day that investors worldwide were placing tens of billions of dollars of orders for Aramco bonds, the U.S. State Department announced it was barring 16 Saudis from entry to the United States because of their roles in Khashoggi's murder. On the other hand, MBS was not named, nor has he faced any other significant consequence. Instead, President Trump has praised the crown prince, repeated Mohammed's protestations of innocence and called the Saudis a "great ally."

Perhaps it is naive to ask investment banks, at best amoral, to suddenly sprout a moral compass. What, then, is our government's excuse?

Catherine Rampell’s email address is crampell@washpost.com. Follow her on Twitter, @crampell.

It’s sort of like digging through the couch cushions for change — except the Utah Department of Transportation just found $451 million doing it.

The agency scoured accounts in recent highway projects for any unused money as construction closed out, or for savings on new work that is costing less than long-term budgets had set aside.

It found, for example, that a new project to extend the Mountain View Corridor from 4100 South to State Road 201 is costing $140 million less, from unexpected savings from moving utilities that reduced lawsuit risk. It saved $17 million on an Interstate 15 project in Davis County, and $15 million on another ongoing I-15 rebuilding project in Lehi.

Those were the biggest savings that officials found in 21 separate highway projects statewide — providing sort of a Christmas gift in spring to the Utah Transportation Commission.

After a month of study on where to spend that found money, it approved Friday speeding up or upgrading several long-planned projects — including converting U.S. 89 in Davis County into a full freeway; adding lanes to the planned West Davis Corridor highway; and building a long desired bridge over congestion-causing railroad tracks on 5600 West in Salt Lake City.

Following is a list of projects that will benefit:

• U.S. 89 in Farmington. The commission added $200 million to an earlier $275 million estimated cost to convert it into a full freeway between I-15 in Farmington to Interstate 84 at the mouth of Weber County.

UDOT says that as it recently completed environmental work on that project with community involvement, it realized it would cost far more than anticipated because the freeway could not simply use the highway’s current alignment.

For example, it will now provide a full frontage road along the entire route, costing $24 million. It will add five miles of noise walls, costing $14 million. It is adding a new bridge at Nicholls Road, costing $15 million. And it will require more extensive road shifts at interchanges than originally expected.

Transportation Commission member Jim Evans said it should help reduce congestion on nearby I-15.

• West Davis Highway. The commission added $190.75 million to the $609.25 million originally provided through bonding for the project.

UDOT said it found the bonds could not fund the original scope of the project — so it initially had decided to build only one lane in each direction in the northern four-mile end of the project. The new money will now allow two lanes in each direction for highway’s entire length.

“This will be a great asset for these communities,” said Transportation Commission Chairman Naghi Zeenati. Commissioner Dannie McConkie added that “it is a long time coming,” about 55 years.

• 5600 West in Salt Lake City. While the road has become a major north-south route for commuters, trains at a crossing near 700 South can back up vehicle traffic for long periods. The commission approved spending $3.35 million there to add a bridge. Union Pacific also is contributing to the project.

It will be on top of an $83 million project to widen 5600 West in the area from two to five lanes, improve intersections and convert its Interstate 80 interchange into a “diverging diamond” — where the two directions of traffic on 5600 West will cross to the opposite side of the freeway bridge to eliminate signal time needed for left turns.

• Porter Rockwell Boulevard in Bluffdale. As part of a project to extend that road — and make it a major artery — between Mountain View Corridor and Bangerter Highway/I-15, the commission is adding $17 million to build a long-planned bridge over the Jordan River and help construct roadway approaches to it.

• Interstate 15 statewide. The commission funded a new $1 million study to review existing plans and future needs for I-15 from border to border. It will look at capacity, operation and maintenance needs and create an implementation plan — with projected costs and timeframes.

• New I-15 Springville/Spanish Fork interchange. The commission funded $25 million to add ramps to the existing bridge at 1600 South in Springville (named 2700 North on the Spanish Fork side of the freeway) to create an interchange. It will also add improvements to cross streets.

• Heber City bypass. The commission approved $4 million for an environmental study needed for the proposed Heber Valley Parkway that could allow U.S. 40 traffic to avoid congestion in downtown Heber City. It could choose an alignment to allow officials to preserve a corridor for future construction.

• State Road 30 in Cache County. The commission is adding $10 million to projects to help widen the road that is considered a back door out of Cache Valley to the Wasatch Front.

Democrats could win more votes by confronting the narrative that Republicans advocate for freedom and Democrats advocate for control. That false dichotomy hurts Democrats in rural areas on Election Day.

The Republican Party has taken over freedom. Republicans put United States flags on their pickup trucks, barns, hats and pants. They advocate freedom from regulations, freedom from taxes and freedom from the United States government whose flag they wear. These Republicans conceive of freedom as a zero-sum game: Only a finite amount of freedom exists, so when the government acts, it takes freedom from citizens.

But not only government restricts freedom. Government can actually increase freedom. Individuals have freedom when they can control the resources that fill their needs. Aside from government, science, economics and other people also circumscribe that freedom.

Rural voters see that stopping global warming would take freedom to drive pickup trucks and eat meat. They conceive of Obamacare as taking away freedom to purchase health care or not. They expect that open borders will take away their freedom to compete with fewer people for jobs. They feel political correctness taking freedom to talk about extracting resources from less-powerful groups.

Alexander Hamilton predicted these arguments that prioritized certain individuals’ freedoms over all citizens’ freedoms. In a Federalist Paper, Hamilton cautioned against “an over-scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people.” He predicted politicians would put those sentiments forward “as mere pretence and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good.”

Today, Republicans are laying that bait, and citizens are falling for it.

The Founding Fathers expected that governments would tax and regulate and thereby reduce some freedoms. But they created the United States to sacrifice those smaller freedoms for larger freedoms. In the Constitution, they invited taxes to “provide for the common defense.” They sought laws to “promote the general welfare.” Governments tax for roads and schools and sewer systems that no individual would create. And, too, laws that follow science and economics expand freedom by protecting military bases and by growing resources for filling needs.

Democrats’ arguments flow from efforts to create those greater freedoms, but they are not making freedom arguments. Stopping sexual harassment gives women freedom to advance their careers. The Affordable Care Act gives freedom to take entrepreneurial leaps. Unions give freedom to earn a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work. Environmental protections give freedom to breathe clean air and to recreate on unpolluted lands. Democrats advocate for issues that increase the size of the freedom pie.

Instead of explaining those freedom rationales, Democrats argue morality. They argue that oppressing women is immoral, that forcing people to stay sick is unethical, that paying only survival wages makes corporations corrupt, and that hurting the environment is wrong. Democrats convey they want more control to make citizens conform to their view of morality. Those conclusory statements alienate voters — especially rural voters — whose moral views differ.

The Founding Fathers established the United States to give us liberty and freedom. If they had wanted to cement their morality, they would not have written the First Amendment to prohibit establishing one religion. So today, Americans prize the Liberty Bell, sing about “the land of the free” in the Star Spangled Banner, and recite “liberty and justice for all” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Some voters see one party wanting them to have more freedom, and the other party wanting to control them. No wonder they resist the authoritarian party with all their strength. Democrats would earn more votes by advocating freedom.

Jared_Pettinato, Whitefish, Mont., served as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, for nine years. He operates a nonprofit organization called Citizens for Constitutional Integrity and blogs as JaredPettinato.com

Salt Lake City’s Civil Service Commission agrees with the police chief’s decision to demote the watch commander who was on duty when a Salt Lake City police officer arrested a University of Utah Hospital nurse in 2017, an incident that drew international attention.

Lt. James Tracy was demoted to the rank of officer in September 2017 after Police Chief Mike Brown determined Tracy made the “completely unreasonable” order that Detective Jeff Payne arrest nurse Alex Wubbels on July 26, for refusing to allow Payne to draw a patient’s blood. The encounter garnered widespread outrage after body camera footage was released by Wubbels’ attorney in August 2017.

Tracy had appealed the demotion, saying it amounted to “excessive discipline.”

The commission announced its decision Thursday upholding Brown’s decision to demote Tracy two steps to a “police officer III” position, attorney Edward Brass confirmed Friday.

Brass, who is representing Tracy, said they have not yet been given a written decision explaining the commission’s findings.

"We are disappointed in the outcome," he said.

The Civil Service Commission is a three-member body that hears appeals from police and fire department employees who believe their discipline was unfair.

Tracy argued in his appeal that he didn't order Wubbels' arrest that day, but had told Payne only that "he should consider" handcuffing the nurse.

Tracy also claims in the appeal that Brown’s letter of discipline did not address the fact that the blood draw policy agreed upon between the hospital and the police department was never made known to Tracy — or any officer his level or below.

“Lt. Tracy was operating under an outmoded policy and one that was clearly inconsistent with state law when it came to drawing blood from unconscious or deceased accident victims,” the appeal states. “He had been given no training in the new policy and had no reason to believe he could deviate from the policy he believed to be in effect at the time.”

Tracy believed blood needed to be drawn from the victim immediately, according to the appeal.

After the video of the arrest went viral, Tracy was demoted and Payne was fired. Payne is still in the process of appealing that decision.

In his appeal, Payne argues the firing was improper due to “lack of prior disciplinary history” and the “circumstances of the events leading up to the disciplinary decision.”

His disciplinary history includes a reprimand for sexually harassing another department employee “over an extended period of time” several years ago and a 1995 violation of department polices tied to a vehicle pursuit.

On July 26, 2017, Wubbels refused to allow Payne to draw blood from an unconscious patient who had been involved in a fiery crash in Cache County earlier in the day. Wubbels pointed out that the crash victim was not under arrest, that Payne did not have a warrant to draw the blood and that he could not obtain consent from the patient because the man was unconscious.

Payne insisted he had implied consent to get the blood and eventually arrested Wubbels. He handcuffed her and placed her in a police car outside the hospital, then released her after about 20 minutes. Charges were never filed against Wubbels, and the city gave her a $500,000 settlement so she would not file a lawsuit.

Payne told FOX 13 last November that he believed he had become a “sacrificial lamb” whose firing was a political move made in response to public outcry after the video went viral.

He’s filed paperwork indicating that he intends to sue the city for $1.5 million, but no lawsuit had been filed as of Friday.

Fort Worth, Texas • Utah’s gymnastics team didn’t have the big score it was hoping for on vault, earning just 49.225 and has slipped from first to fourth in Friday’s opening session at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.

MyKayla Skinner had a 9.925 and MaKenna Merrell-Giles had a 9.9, but the Utes also had to count a 9.75 from Macey Roberts. Kari Lee had a 9.8375 and Alexia Burch had a 9.8125.

The Utes earlier scored a 49.315 on the floor, led by Skinner’s 9.9375.

Defending champion UCLA leads the field with a 98.7, scoring 49.2875 on the vault and 49.4125 on the uneven bars.

Michigan is in second with a 98.6375 followed by LSU (98.625) and Utah (98.5375).

The Utes compete next on the uneven bars where they are ranked fifth with a 49.3 average.

This story will be updated.

Utah’s gymnastics team got the start it needed at the NCAA Championships, opening with a 49.315 on the floor exercise to leadafter the first rotation.

Michigan had a 49.3 on the uneven bars, UCLA had a 49.2875 on the vault and LSU had a 49.1875 on the balance beam.

Only the top two teams advance to Saturday’s finals.

MyKayla Skinner led Utah’s floor efforts with a 9.9375 and MaKenna Merrell-Giles had a 9.875.

Overall the scores seemed low for all teams, but that is to be expected in the first rotation as judges normally are more conservative.

LSU had some trouble on the balance beam when its first gymnast fell, but it bounced back with 9.775 and higher from the rest of the lineup.

UCLA only had one score that was 9.9 or higher on the vault.

Utah competes next on the vault, where it is ranked second with a 49.465 average.

This story will be updated.

Boise, Idaho • Health officials in Idaho say anyone who used an on-board restroom during a Greyhound bus trip from Salt Lake City to Boise on April 10 might have been exposed to hepatitis A.

The Central District Health Department in Idaho is asking anyone who used the restroom to contact them to get information about potential exposure.

The district says riders on the bus from Utah to Idaho who were exposed could receive a vaccine to protect them from the virus through April 23.

Hepatitis A is a viral infection of the liver spread through the feces of an infected person.

Most infected adults suffer fatigue, low appetite, stomach pain, nausea, and jaundice — symptoms that usually end within two months of infection.

The Utah Transit Authority is about to replace aging tracks and switches in downtown Salt Lake City that will create a month of delays for TRAX passengers — who will need to transfer to shuttles or walk around construction to other stations.

It will also block or complicate some east-west traffic downtown, and sometimes impede access to Interstate 15 via 400 South.

“This is probably our most significant repair project since TRAX first opened in December 1999,” said UTA Chief Operating Officer Eddy Cumins, saying it is needed to guarantee safety and reliability after 18 years of wear and tear.

“This is a disruption to everyone’s traffic routes,” said UTA communications specialist James Larson.

Specifically, it will replace large curves and switches — which wear out quicker than other track sections — at 400 South and Main Street and at 150 South and Main. The $8.4 million project will start May 4 and is expected to be finished on June 2. Crews will be working around the clock every day during that month.

That “will allow us to complete the project in just four weeks as opposed to months of ongoing disruption” if UTA attempted to do the work only on weekends or late at night, Cumins said.

Still, it will create delays estimated at 10 to 30 minutes per trip for TRAX passengers who travel through downtown, and force detours for many cars there. However, Cumins said all businesses will remain open and accessible during the project.

UTA Project Manager Greg Thorpe said the agency chose to do the work after the end of spring semester classes at the University of Utah and before the city’s pride parade on June 2, saying the city had large events at most other weekends beyond that.

UTA will post changes to TRAX and bus schedules forced by the work — and routes of temporary shuttles around it — online at rideuta.com/construction. It will also have volunteers at stations, pamphlets and signs along highways.

Construction will come in four phases, and each will create different challenges:

• Pre-construction from now through May 3. Some preparatory construction around the intersection of 400 South and Main Street will take place nightly between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. — and road closures are possible. Roads will be open at other hours. Mobile sound screens will be used to reduce noice.

• Phase 1 from May 4-22. Construction begins 24 hours a day at the intersection of 400 South and Main. It will block east-west traffic on 400 South, complicating access to the freeway.

TRAX riders using the Red Line will need to walk or ride shuttles between the Courthouse station and a temporary station on State Street to continue service.

UTA suggests that FrontRunner passengers headed to the University of Utah may want to exit at the Salt Lake City Central station and take bus routes 2, 2X, 3 or 11 to the university, instead of taking TRAX.

Blue Line TRAX riders will need to walk or ride shuttles between the Courthouse and Gallivan Center stations. UTA says Green Line riders will need to transfer to the Blue Line at the Central Pointe station at 2100 South, and then follow the same connections as Blue Line riders.

• Phase 2 from May 23-28: For five days, construction will occur both at 400 S. Main and 150 S. Main. So shuttles around work areas — or pedestrian paths — will be longer.

• Phase 3 from May 28 to June 2: Construction will only be ongoing at 150 S. Main. So 400 South will be open. The TRAX Red Line will stop at all its stations. Riders on other lines will need to walk or take shuttles between Gallivan Center and the City Center station.

Also in July, UTA will replace another switch and curve by Vivint Smarthome Arena at the corner of 400 West and South Temple. Thorpe said that work will happen on weekends, and will be less disruptive.

Powell, Wyo. • Officials say Yellowstone National Park’s gray wolf population has dropped to about 80 wolves — less than half of the highest population mark in the park.

The Powell Tribune reported on Thursday that while park officials won't have an accurate count until the fall after surviving pups are visible, the park's top biologist, Doug Smith, doesn't expect the numbers to rise dramatically after litters are included in population estimates.

Smith says the survival rate of gray pups is only about 7%.

Smith says Yellowstone had as many as 174 wolves in the park in 2003.

Smith largely blames outbreaks of disease — including distemper, mange and the parvo virus — and packs moving out of the park for the decline.

Smith says the leading cause of natural mortality is wolves killing wolves.

Flagstaff, Ariz. • A dispute between two major California water agencies is threatening to derail a hard-won agreement designed to protect a river that serves 40 million people in the U.S. West.

The Imperial Irrigation District, the largest single recipient of Colorado River water, on Tuesday sued a Los Angeles water utility that agreed to contribute most of California’s share of water to a key reservoir under a multistate drought contingency plan.

The action came the same day President Donald Trump approved federal legislation to implement the plan, which Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming spent years negotiating.

The agreement is meant to keep the country's two largest reservoirs on the Colorado River from dropping so low they cannot deliver water or produce hydropower amid prolonged drought and climate change.

The Imperial Irrigation District said it wouldn't join the drought plan unless it secured $200 million in federal funding to address health and environmental hazards at the Salton Sea, a massive, briny lake southeast of Los Angeles.

The Metropolitan Water District, which serves Los Angeles, essentially wrote Imperial out of the drought plan to prevent delays in implementing it. It took on the amount of water that Imperial pledged to contribute to Lake Mead. With that, Metropolitan's contribution could top 2 million acre-feet through 2026 when the drought plan expires. An acre-foot is enough water to serve one to two average households a year.

Imperial's lawsuit claims the Metropolitan Water District sidestepped an environmental law.

"Where the water supply would come from and what environmental impacts could result from Metropolitan's need to acquire such water to fill this sizable hole in its water supply are entirely unknown," Imperial wrote in court documents filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

A California law requires state and local agencies to identify any potential environmental effects of their actions and address them if possible. Imperial is asking the court to force Metropolitan to comply with that law, which could delay the larger drought plan from being implemented.

Metropolitan has said storing water in Lake Mead under the drought plan doesn't require review under the California Environmental Quality Act because any changes to its facilities would be minor.

"We are disappointed that the Imperial Irrigation District is using litigation as a tool to block implementation of the drought contingency plan," Metropolitan general manager Jeff Kightlinger said in a statement Wednesday. "Parties on the Colorado River need to collaborate during this time of crisis, not litigate."

Imperial took the stance in December that the drought plan would be exempt from the environmental law. District spokesman Robert Schettler said Wednesday that came before Metropolitan strayed from a version that Imperial approved with stipulations.

The seven states and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have said the drought plan won't affect the Salton Sea, but the Imperial Irrigation District isn't convinced.

"The logic in going forward without IID was that the DCP (drought contingency plan) couldn't wait for the Salton Sea," general manager Henry Martinez said Wednesday. "This legal challenge is going to put that logic to the test, and the focus will now be where it should have been all along, the Salton Sea."

Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, said it's unclear what would happen if a California judge sides with Imperial and prohibits the Metropolitan Water District from signing final documents for the drought plan.

"We certainly will have to have some conversations among the basin states and Reclamation on how to move forward and what we can or can't do at that point in time," he told reporters in Phoenix.

The states were expected to sign final documents next month in line with a timeframe for Mexico also to begin contributing water next year, Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman Patti Aaron said. She said the agency is reviewing the lawsuit for its potential effects but declined to comment on it.

Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.

West Valley City is coming up with an extra $5.4 million beyond available federal funds to rebuild 4100 South after bids came in 29 percent over estimates and threatened to delay or halt it.

The Utah Transportation Commission — which had managed federal funds for the project for the city — on Friday accepted an offer from the city to make up the difference and allow it to proceed.

“This is a very important project to the city,” Daniel Johnson, the city engineer, wrote to the commission.

The project will fully reconstruct the roadway between Bangerter Highway and 5460 West, including its storm drain system, water lines and traffic signals.

Officials had figured the work would cost $20.7 million. Bids came in much higher, and it now will cost $26.1 million. Utah Department of Transportation officials said bids have come in high recently because of increased labor costs resulting from a low employment rate, fewer available workers, and many ongoing construction projects.

The West Valley City Council recently passed a resolution to provide the extra money needed for the project saying it “is in the best interests of health, safety and welfare” of its residents.

Of note, when The Salt Lake Tribune recently asked readers to nominate where the worst potholes were on streets this spring, several listed 4100 South.

Amanda Laddish thought her soccer days were numbered.

But after two full seasons of recovering from a serious hip injury that forced her to undergo two surgeries and contemplate retirement, the Utah Royals midfielder is healthy and ready to play.

“It's obviously really, really exciting for me given the fact that this time last year I just wasn’t sure that I be able to play again,” Laddish told The Salt Lake Tribune. “So being able to be back with my team and playing whatever role I need to play, and just to be in training and to be around the team back in the environment just feels so good.”

As a member of FC Kansas City in 2016, Laddish got tackled during a game and felt her hip pop out and back into place. She finished the game, however, and eventually the season despite experiencing an increasing amount of pain.

By the offseason, Laddish couldn’t do much of anything without pain. She couldn’t jump. She couldn’t cut. She thought it be the end of her career and, by extension, her identity.

“I've been playing soccer since I was 3, and I've always identified as a soccer player,” Laddish said. “I wanted to be a professional soccer player. So when that's taken away from you without any warning, you kind of lose yourself and you're like, 'Who am I? What do I want to do after soccer?’"

An MRI revealed a possible impingement, but she went to another doctor for a second opinion. That was when she learned the full extent of her injury.

“He basically told me it looks like I'd been in a car wreck because I had so much damage in my hip,” Laddish recalled the doctor telling her.

Laddish had damaged the articular cartilage in her hip, torn her labrum and had impingement that damaged other cartilage in the area, she said. The injury called for repair to her labrum and microfracture surgery that kept her out the entire 2017 season.

But something wasn’t right. Eight months after the surgery, after she’d already joined the Royals, Laddish still couldn’t run at high speeds or even kick a ball without a significant amount of pain. She played one week of preseason in Utah before seeking another surgery in Vail, Colorado, at the recommendation of the Royals’ team doctor, Andrew Cooper.

The second surgery was similar to the first, Laddish said, with the exception that her labrum would be repaired by grafting her IT band and making a new one rather than stitching it. She said she felt confident the surgery had worked, and that was proven when she hit the strides she was supposed to hit in the time frame she was scheduled to hit them.

“I finally made my way back to where I am now,” Laddish said.

The 26-year-old Missouri native had an easier time coping with the second surgery and its recovery. But it was the first one that caused her to quickly fall into a depression, she said. The most difficult aspect of her initial recovery was being on crutches for two months and not being able to do anything for herself.

But Laddish had plenty of support. She said she owes her physical and mental recovery to teammate Becca Moros, her friends and her mother. She also said one of her other teammates Diana Matheson, gave her a book called “Resilience” that also helped her through recovery.

Laddish started regularly for Kansas City, but she knows that with the Royals, she has a lot of catching up to do after not having played a competitive soccer game for the better part of two years. Her goal this season, she said, is to find a way to break into the lineup once the national team players leave and slowly work her way back to where she was before the injury.

“I think if I can learn to be patient with myself and then continue to grow as season progresses, I'll be happy with how the season went,” Laddish said.

Laddish admitted that she still thinks about her injury every day. But now that she’s back to her normal routine of training, working out and spending time with her teammates as she once did almost three years ago, she feels like she’s right where she needs to be.

Laddish said: “I feel like myself again.”

It seems a flighty, fickle thing, the psyche of playoff basketball.

And don’t the Jazz feel it.

But, in reality, the mental is tied to the physical, the psychology to the physiology.

After consecutive blowout losses to the Rockets, the kind of ass-kickings, to use Rudy Gobert’s words, that make people wonder what the hell’s the matter with these guys, there’s been a lot of introspection, and ultimately blame, from and among the Jazz aimed squarely at themselves regarding matters of the mind, the singling out of a collective deficiency caroming around inside their own heads.

In the lengthy downtime between and after the first two playoff games, the sorry images that come by way of film study and attempts to correct what’s gone wrong, those regretful displays beamed back up an burned into the big screens in the Jazz’s brains, can hurt as much as help.

There’s been almost too much time to think and rethink their troubles.

“You just want to go out there and play again,” Joe Ingles says. “Try to play better.”

In a way, the Jazz are lying to themselves — because they have to.

Ricky Rubio says the Jazz have lacked confidence, that they haven’t been in this playoff series the team that they really are, that they haven’t bought in at 100 percent, that they haven’t competed the way they are capable of doing.

Quin Snyder says the Jazz must play with more focus, more force, implying that if they do, well … happy day.

But these are not happy days.

This is a time of truth, and the truth is hard — and plain to see:

The Rockets are better than the Jazz. They have better players. They have more firepower, and there’s nothing at this point the Jazz can do to change that.

So, what do the Jazz do?

They talk about regaining their intensity, their confidence, about playing smarter and with more oomph, about buying in, about competing, about being who they really are.

But what if, in a playoff setting, matched against a talented opponent that is fully operational and motivated, this is who the Jazz really are?

This is them.

What then?

Then, the Jazz emphasize the mental side, not the physical, they talk about the things they might be able to control and correct because the only alternative would be to come right out and say, “Yep, we aren’t as good as this team. We can’t hang with them. Let’s book our flights to the Caribbean and get this over with.”

Yogi Berra is credited with saying, “[Sports] is 90 percent mental, the other half is physical.”

Well. Berra never had to cover James Harden on a dribble drive or a step-back 3.

Derrick Favors says not to worry about nothing, all those deep shots the Jazz are missing will start to drop, especially now as the series moves to Vivint Arena. Ingles, in so many words, agrees: “We got so many good looks in that second game.”

Looks that flew everywhere but in.

“If you get that shot, you have to shoot it confidently,” he says.

Which brings us back to what’s banging around inside the Jazz’s collective head.

They can play with more assuredness. They can execute better. They can be smarter with the ball.

But it has become evident through the years that in the NBA playoffs, or in high-stakes competitions of any kind, the physical aspects are directly tied to the mental, that when an inferior team is matched against a superior one, the former often presses, often short-circuits, often plays beneath itself. Not always, but often.

That’s what has occurred so far in this series. That much was clear in the opening minutes of Game 2, when the Jazz couldn’t get out of their own way. In the face of a team that had beaten them by 32 points a few nights before, they started beating themselves.

“After that start, we were a lot better,” Ingles says.

Which is a little like saying the Jin Dynasty rallied hard after Genghis Khan destroyed their capital city and conquered their lands.

“We thought we were ready to go,” Joe says.

They were not.

Maybe the Jazz actually will play better at home. Maybe they will rally a bit. They couldn’t play much worse. They are a respectable team, a good one, not a great one, not a bad one.

Ingles is right about this: “If we think we’re done, we will be done.”

No reason to allow themselves to think that, even if it’s true.

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

Washington • Sen. Mitt Romney offered a harsh critique of President Donald Trump on Friday after reviewing the special counsel’s report, breaking from most Republicans who argue Robert Mueller’s finding that there was no collusion between Trump’s team and Russia exonerated the president.

“Reading the report is a sobering revelation of how far we have strayed from the aspirations and principles of the founders,” Romney said in a statement.

A Utah Republican and former GOP presidential nominee, Romney said it was “good news” that Mueller didn’t find evidence to charge the president, a move he added would have “taken us through a wrenching process with the potential for constitutional crisis."

“The business of government can move on,” Romney continued. “Even so, I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President.

I have now read the redacted Mueller report and offer my personal reaction: pic.twitter.com/ACnExskqXJ

— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) April 19, 2019

“I am also appalled," he said, “that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from Russia — including information that had been illegally obtained; that none of them acted to inform American law enforcement; and that the campaign chairman was actively promoting Russian interests in Ukraine.”

Romney’s comments were some of the sharpest from any Republican responding to the Mueller report into the 2016 election and its aftermath and came as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and presidential contender, called for Trump’s impeachment.

“The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty,” Warren tweeted. “That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States.”

The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty. That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States.

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 19, 2019

The White House did not respond to a request for comment, though the president has asserted that the report vindicates his argument that Mueller’s investigation was a witch hunt by angry Democrats.

Mueller’s investigation, according to a redacted version of the report released Thursday by the attorney general, did not find any conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia’s actions to interfere in the election to help Trump and hurt Democrat Hillary Clinton, though it detailed multiple attempts by Trump aides to unearth missing Clinton State Department emails.

The report also shows Trump tried repeatedly to thwart the Mueller probe, even calling for the special counsel to be fired, though aides to the president refused to carry out those actions they saw as legally dubious.

It also charges that Trump aides lied to investigators and Congress; several of Trump’s top aides, including his former campaign manager, national security adviser and personal lawyer, have been convicted or pleaded guilty to federal charges. In total, 34 people and three entities have been charged in the 22-month Mueller probe.

Many Republicans, including Utah’s members of Congress, said the Mueller report clears the president of wrongdoing and it was time to move on.

“The Mueller report is finally available and it is definitive: there was no collusion,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, tweeted Thursday.

“I am encouraged that we may now turn the page on this distracting chapter of U.S. history,” said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah.

Romney wasn’t toeing the same line, though his critical statement didn’t call for any action based on the Mueller report.

The senator, only a few months into office, has emerged as an occasional supporter and occasional critic of the president.

In 2016, as Trump was on his way to clinching the GOP nomination, Romney urged voters to reject him, calling Trump a “phony, a fraud.” But he later sat for dinner with the then-president-elect as Trump weighed offering Romney the job of secretary of state.

Romney met with Trump recently at the White House to talk trade.

When Romney took office on Jan. 3, he spoke about how he wouldn’t be a constant critic of the president but he also wasn’t going to be a sycophant.

“I’ll be with the president when we agree,” Romney said. “If we disagree, I’ll oppose on a particular issue. And if there’s something said or done that’s of a significant character that’s divisive, then I’ll speak out about it.”

Out of the gate, Romney came to Washington ready to spar if needed.

In a Washington Post op-ed in January, Romney said Trump has failed to inspire or conduct himself while in office with honesty and integrity. And he warned that Trump was hurting U.S. relationships with trusted allies.

“On balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this last month," Romney wrote, “is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.”

Even superstars sometimes find themselves lost in the fray.

That’s exactly where Donovan Mitchell is at the moment, somewhere between still flustered from his first two performances in this first-round playoff series and anxious to revert back to his usual unique mesmerizing self. The 22-year-old Jazz guard has let himself have it, too. He put his hand up after the Jazz lost Game 2 to the Houston Rockets by 20 Wednesday and said he didn’t show up and that it couldn’t happen again.

He’s not wrong. It can’t happen. Two days later, Mitchell hasn’t perked up. Not one bit.

“Obviously you really can’t get any lower than the effort and the performance that I gave,” he said Friday after practice. “It can only get better from there. That’s pretty much where I’m at.”

As the Jazz stumbled home to Salt Lake City down 0-2 after a couple of knockout punches by James Harden and the Rockets in Houston, there’s been no shortage of plays, performances and defensive schemes that have gone sideways. Nothing has worked. It’s in these moments that a team’s protagonist must rise. Donovan Mitchell knows it’s on him. What makes the second-year guard such a magnetic force to not only Utah’s idolizing fan base, but to his teammates and the NBA as a whole, is his ability to soar and score and have a total blast doing so.

But what has made Mitchell the franchise cornerstone he has become, according to those who’ve coached him along his path to stardom, is his relentlessness to flush the bad outings and eventually rise again to the occasion.

“He’s such a nice guy and he’s so polite, he’s so fun to talk to and comes across so nice, [that] you don’t think he really has that killer mentality, but he definitely does,” said former Louisville assistant coach David Padgett.

Padgett said that during Mitchell’s years with the Cardinals, if the guard felt like he struggled in any way, he’d be the first to walk into the locker room at halftime or postgame and place the blame upon his own shoulders. Specific rough performances don’t stand out to Padgett, because all he remembers now are the games where Mitchell made good on his promise to wiggle his way out of a funk. After a seven-point effort in a loss to Virginia back in 2016, Mitchell bounced back with 25 points in a win at Indiana. After scoring just six in a loss at Florida State later that same year, he bounced back with 29 in a win at Pitt.

“He’s somebody who wants to please the people around him,” said Padgett. “I think that’s just what really drives him. He wants to be as great as he can be. He just has a hard time accepting that sometimes he just doesn’t do well.”

Mitchell’s first-round stat line currently reads as follows: 12 of 37 from the field, 4 of 15 from 3-point land and just 2 of 5 from the free-throw line. In two games, he has 30 points, six rebounds, six assists and nine turnovers. The inherent pressure that comes with being the go-to offensive option for the Jazz means that when things go awry, there is only one way to fix it. And Mitchell has proved he can, because he has done it before.

His slow start to his sophomore NBA campaign eventually morphed into a stellar Year 2 in the NBA where he averaged 23.8 points per game along with 4.2 assists and 4.1 rebounds.

“When I say aggressive, I don’t mean just attacking the rim and playing offense,” Mitchell said. “It’s just the mindset of getting open and making plays for my teammates.”

Says Jason Smith, Mitchell’s high school coach at Brewster Academy: “I think that’s just part of his makeup.”

Moving on has been a staple of Mitchell’s game since he was scrawny teen on the AAU scene. Before leading his AAU club, The City, to a 2012 national title, Mitchell sat in a gym in Washington, D.C., a month prior having seen his team just go 0-3 and crash out in a prestigious tournament. That’s when Mitchell’s AAU coach, Arjay Perovic, knew that same scrawny guard could eventually blossom into what is now the face of an NBA franchise.

“He lives in the moment,” Perovic said. “I think that’s the best way to put it. He’s going to try and seize every opportunity and every moment.”

What he has in front of him now is a game in need of being seized, back home in front of a raucous home crowd itching to be given any reason to blow their collective tops. The Jazz have looked nothing like their 50-win selves so far against the Rockets and how they’ll need to revert to form is more than just Mitchell splashing a 3 or spinning an acrobatic layup in off the glass. It’ll take everyone. The Jazz will need to embrace that moment Saturday night inside Vivint Smart Home Arena, where they can either inch their way back into this series or suddenly be four quarters away from exit interviews and an offseason of major what-ifs.

“There’s a fine line between, you know, just swinging and boxing," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said of Mitchell. "So he’s got to throw punches, but, they’ve got to be well-placed and well-timed.”

And, fair or not, the fate of the series rests with how swiftly Donovan Mitchell reemerges and joins the fray.

Focus is a superhero, a muscular teen who can focus his mind to analyze data and predict the future.

Focus also has autism.

“His main power is autism,” said Douglas Hebert, one of the chief artists for the independent comic book “Focus,” which is being promoted at FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention this weekend at the Salt Palace Convention Center. It’s one of the many comic titles on display at the convention, vying for attention with artists, authors, celebrities, fan panels and a sea of cosplayers.

The comic book is the brainchild of Yvonne Wan, an Arizona anthropologist and film ethnographer who wanted to raise awareness about autism.

Someone close to Wan has autism, she said, and they “had a hard time being accepted by society. I want to change things, not just for those who are close to me, but for everybody with autism.”

Thus came the idea for Focus, a teen superhero whose strength — the ability to focus intensely on something — came as a result of his autism.

“Once they find a focus, they can dedicate to it 100 percent,” said actor Tony Todd, who signed on as an ambassador for the comic and appears as a character in it.

Wan, Todd and Hebert spent Friday at a booth on the Salt Palace vendor floor talking about and selling copies of the comic. Children could color their versions of the character, while Todd — best known as a horror icon in the “Candyman” and “Final Destination” films — talked to fans who lined up for autographs, selfies and a minute or two of conversation.

The three — along with Tabidi Elkhalil, an autistic artist who is an intern with the book project — will take part in a panel about “Focus” on Saturday at 2 p.m., in room 151D of the Salt Palace.

Wan said she aims to take the first issue of “Focus” to all 50 states. The issue has 16 variant covers, all designed by young artists with autism, like Elkhalil.

Hebert signed on to the project as soon as Wan described it to him. As an art teacher in Arizona, he has had many students with autism, and has seen parents struggle as they sought the best educational options for their children.

In discussing autism, Hebert said, a comic book “is a great vehicle. You can educate through this, and people will listen. Parents will listen. Kids will listen.”

Wan compares “Focus” to Marvel’s “Daredevil,” who fights crime in Hell’s Kitchen while blind. She said the comic format speaks “in a language kids can understand.”

Todd agreed. “It gives them something they can idolize, so they can say it’s OK [to have autism],” he said.

FanX weekend

The spring 2019 edition of FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention continues.

Where • Salt Palace Convention Center.

When • Friday and Saturday, April 19-20.

Hours • Last panels begin at 8 p.m. both nights. Vendor floor closes Friday at 8 p.m., open to general admission Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Details • For schedules, celebrity lists and tickets, go to fanxsaltlake.com.

Washington • White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tried to do damage control on her credibility Friday, insisting that she hadn’t intentionally misled the American public about FBI Director James Comey’s firing despite telling the special counsel that her claim that “countless” agents had lost confidence in him was not founded on anything.

Sanders, who told special counsel Robert Mueller that her comment during a White House press briefing in May 2017 had been a "slip of the tongue" made in the "heat of the moment," claimed in a series of television interviews that the sentiment behind her words — that many rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey and contacted the White House to say so — remained true.

"If you look at what I said, I said the 'slip of the tongue' was in using the word 'countless,' but there were a number of FBI, both former and current, that agreed with the president's decision, and they've continued to speak out and say that and send notice to the White House of that agreement with the president's decision," she said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"I said that it was in the heat of the moment, meaning it wasn't a scripted thing," she added on "CBS This Morning." ''But the big takeaway here is that the sentiment is 100% accurate."

Sanders is among scores of current and former White House officials who were interviewed by Mueller's team during the nearly two-year investigation that examined whether Trump's campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 election and whether the president tried to interfere with the inquiry.

Mueller concluded his investigation last month and Attorney General William Barr released a redacted version of the special counsel's report on Thursday. Mueller found no evidence of conspiracy between the campaign and Russia but also made no clear verdict on the question of obstruction.

A section of the report that references Comey's firing by Trump notes Sanders telling reporters that the White House had heard from "countless" FBI agents who had lost confidence in Comey's ability to lead the bureau. She dug in when a reporter pushed back, asking, "I mean, really?"

"Between like email, text messages, absolutely," she responded, claiming that there had been at least 50 contacts.

But Mueller's report found that the "evidence does not support those claims."

"The President told Comey at their January 27 dinner that 'the people of the FBI really like (him),' no evidence suggests that the President heard otherwise before deciding to terminate Comey, and Sanders acknowledged to investigators that her comments were not founded on anything," the report said.

Sanders, who spoke to Mueller's investigators under oath, told them her use of the word "countless" was a "slip of the tongue."

"I'm sorry that I wasn't a robot like the Democrat Party that went out for 2½ years and stated time and time again that there was definitely Russian collusion between the president and his campaign, that they had evidence to show it and that the president and his team deserved to be in jail, that he shouldn't be in office when, really, they were the ones that were creating the greatest scandal in the history of our country," Sanders said on ABC.

This isn't the first instance in which the credibility of Sanders, who speaks for the White House and is paid by American taxpayers, has come under scrutiny.

She faced similar questions last year after Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's personal attorneys, surprised the White House by saying on national TV that Trump had reimbursed his then-fixer Michael Cohen for the $130,000 Cohen had paid porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign to keep quiet about an alleged past sexual encounter with Trump. Trump has denied Daniels' claim.

The White House had failed to disclose the reimbursement. Sanders said she didn't know anything about the repayment until Giuliani disclosed it.

At least one publisher said the credibility problems that existed for Sanders before Mueller's report have worsened after it.

"This now documented, on-the-record, under-oath episode, I think it completely obliterates her credibility," said Kyle Pope, editor-in-chief and publisher of Columbia Journalism Review. "I remember watching and thinking there is no way countless FBI people called up Sarah Sanders. It stretched credulity just on its face."

Pope said the episodes raise questions about why any reporter would attend Sanders' briefings, which she has scaled back from daily to about monthly, or "put stock" in what she says.

Frank Sesno, director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at the George Washington University, said credibility is the only currency a press secretary has to offer.

"When you throw it overboard or devalue it, you do so at your own peril. I think that Sarah has a lot of explaining to do, which should be done forthrightly and honestly about the disparity in her comment," said Sesno, a former White House correspondent for CNN.

Sesno continued: “The public and the media expect partisans and press secretaries to spin,” or attempt to put a rosier face on less-than-flattering situations. “They don’t expect them to lie. If you’re caught in a lie, you should acknowledge it and figure out whether you can repair your reputation.”

This Pat Bagley cartoon appears in The Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday, April 21, 2018. You can check out the past 10 Bagley editorial cartoons below:

• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/18/bagley-cartoon-very-not/" target=_blank><u>Not Very Explosive Mueller Report</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/18/bagley-cartoon-ruinous/"><u>The Ruinous Green New Deal </u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/16/bagley-cartoon-cross/"><u>Cross Purposes</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/15/bagley-cartoon-our-lady/"><u>Our Lady</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/12/bagley-cartoon-hog-heaven/"><u>Hog Heaven</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/11/bagley-cartoon-take-me/"><u>Take Me Out of the Barr Game</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/10/bagley-cartoon-fer-hecks/"><u>Fer Heck’s Sake — Get Out!</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/09/bagley-cartoon-name/"><u>The Name Caller</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/08/bagley-cartoon-radical/"><u>Radical Extremists</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/05/bagley-cartoon-official/"><u>Official Mugging</u></a>

Want more Bagley? Become a fan on Facebook.

Two times in a row, the Rockets have taken it to the Jazz in the early moments of the game.

That can’t happen in Game 3, the Jazz said at Friday’s practice at Zions Bank Basketball Campus, if they’re going to have any chance of winning.

“Both games, from the jump, they’ve kind of come out and, not tried to punk us, but just be on the front foot a bit more. … We knew they were going to to do that, and obviously we weren’t ready for it,” said Joe Ingles. “We need need to be ready for Game 3 because they’re going to come out with the same mentality. They’ve got nothing to lose — they’re up 2-0 and they’re on our court now. We’ve got to come out with a more aggressive and focused mindset than we have.”

Donovan Mitchell noted that Houston “just out-toughed us, really,” while Kyle Korver said Utah’s players “need to bring a higher level of physicality, urgency, all those things.”

Coach Quin Snyder said it’s no surprise the Rockets have started hard and fast, considering they’ve done that all season long. The question now becomes what the Jazz choose to do about it.

“They’re the best first-quarter team in the NBA. And so it’s more about being able to take a punch and get up than it is that you’re gonna get hit,” he said. “It’s gonna happen; it’s just how you react to it.”

The Jazz all acknowledge they’ve reacted poorly thus far.

Mitchell lamented the opening possessions of Game 2, pointing out that early turnovers, defensive miscues, and silly decisions in the early going basically made the difference: “Yeah, that first burst they had, the first five, six minutes, we kind of stepped back. We were down by 20 [at the end of the first quarter], and we lost the game by 20, so it kind of shows the rest of the game was pretty solid. So now it’s a matter of not spotting them 20 points. That’s really what it is.”

Given that, Korver added, it becomes all the more imperative to start this next game off the right way.

“The first five minutes are important,” he said. “We’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to set the tone.”

Quin Snyder, on the Jazz being more aggressive: "Aggressiveness isn’t something that someone serves you for dinner; it’s exactly the opposite — it’s you get hungry. That’s been who we are, and that just has to be a focal point regardless of anything we’re doing tactically." pic.twitter.com/SQJAJhgGLr

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) April 19, 2019

The key, in Snyder’s view, is that all the details and minutiae don’t matter if there’s not corresponding effort.

The Rockets have had it early. The Jazz haven’t. And they need to get back to it.

“Aggressiveness isn’t something that someone serves you for dinner; it’s exactly the opposite — it’s you get hungry,” Snyder said. “That’s been who we are, and that just has to be a focal point regardless of anything we’re doing collectively or tactically. Competitiveness is the key element in anything that you do.”

It’s not a matter of matching Houston’s intensity, he added. The Jazz need to surpass it.

“I don’t care what we were trying to do, we didn’t play hard enough. I want us to look at the guy in front of you — are you going to play harder than him?” Snyder said. “That’ll take you a long way.”

Maybe that can make the difference in Game 3. Then again, even that might not be enough.

The point is, Korver said, without it, the Jazz don’t stand a chance. They know they haven’t done what they’ve needed to yet. And they don’t want to go out without showing everyone what they’re really all about.

“We’ve just got to put together a game that we feel good about. I don’t think we feel good about the first two games — we haven’t played like us; this is not who we are,” Korver said. “We have to come here and have a game where we feel like we play how we’re capable of playing, execute how we’ve executed all year, really, and we can live with those results.”

Riverside, Calif. • The eldest son and daughter of a couple who starved and shackled 12 of their children spoke publicly for the first time Friday, alternately condemning and forgiving their parents before a judge sentenced the pair to up to life in prison.

Since being freed from their prison-like home more than a year ago, the two adult children of David and Louise Turpin described how they had gained control of lives and, despite receiving little education at home, were now enrolled in college and learning simple things, including how to ride a bike, swim and prepare a meal. They are still thin from years of malnutrition.

"I cannot describe in words what we went through growing up," said the oldest son, now 27. "Sometimes I still have nightmares of things that have happened, such as my siblings being chained up or getting beaten. But that is the past and this is now. I love my parents and have forgiven them for a lot of the things that they did to us."

The hearing put an end to a shocking case that had gone unnoticed until a 17-year-old girl escaped from the home in January 2018 and called 911. Investigators discovered a house of horrors hidden behind a veneer of suburban normalcy.

The children — ages 2 to 29 — had been chained to beds, forced to live in squalor, fed only once a day, allowed to shower only once a year and deprived of toys and games. They slept during the day and were active a few hours at night.

As her children spoke from a lectern, 50-year-old Louise Turpin sobbed and dabbed her eyes with tissues.

"I'm sorry for everything I've done to hurt my children," she said. "I love my children so much."

Her husband, who was shaking and could not initially read from a written statement, let his lawyer speak for him until he regained his composure. He did not apologize for the abuse but wished his children well in with their educations and future careers and hoped they would visit him. He then began sobbing.

Jack Osborn, a lawyer representing the seven adult Turpin children, said they understand the consequences of their parents' actions and are working hard toward forgiving them. Some plan to talk with their parents eventually, but others want no contact with them for 10 years.

The one who called police was a hero for liberating her siblings, Osborn said.

"Maybe but for that we wouldn't be here today," he said.

The sentence of life with no chance of parole for 25 years was no surprise. It had been agreed to when the couple pleaded guilty in February to 14 counts each that included torture, cruelty and false imprisonment.

The courtroom fell hushed as the oldest daughter, now 30, entered wearing a blue cardigan over a white shirt, her dark hair in a ponytail. Her eyes were already red from crying when she began to speak in the voice of a little girl.

"My parents took my whole life from me, but now I'm taking my life back," she said, as her mother's lower lip quivered trying to hold back the tears. "Life may have been bad but it made me strong. I fought to become the person I am. I saw my dad change my mom. They almost changed me, but I realized what was happening. I immediately did what I could to not become like them."

There was no explanation from the parents or lawyers about why the abuse occurred, but a letter from one of the children read by an attorney hinted at a home life that veered from birthday celebrations and trips to Disneyland and Las Vegas to severe punishment and disarray.

"Through the years, things became more and more overwhelming, but they kept trusting in God," the girl wrote "I remember our mother sitting in her recliner and crying, saying she don't know what to do."

She said her parents did not know the children were malnourished because they thought the children inherited a gene from their mother, who was small.

From the outside, the home in a middle-class section of Perris, a small city about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, appeared to be neatly kept, and neighbors rarely saw the kids outside, but nothing triggered suspicion.

But when deputies arrived, they were shocked to find a 22-year-old son chained to a bed and two girls who had just been set free from shackles. All but one of the 13 children were severely underweight and had not bathed for months. The house was filled with the stench of human waste.

The children said they were beaten, caged and shackled if they did not obey their parents. Investigators concluded that the couple's youngest child, a toddler, was the only one who was not abused.

David Turpin, 57, had been an engineer for Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Louise Turpin was listed as a housewife in a 2011 bankruptcy filing.

The teenage daughter who escaped jumped from a window. After a lifetime in isolation, the 17-year-old did not know her address, the month of the year or what the word "medication" meant.

But she knew enough to punch 911 into a barely workable cellphone and began describing years of abuse to a police dispatcher.

Although the couple filed paperwork with the state to homeschool their children, learning was limited. The oldest daughter only completed third grade.

Referring to the restraints, the oldest daughter's statement said her mother "didn't want to use rope or chain but she was afraid her children were taking in too much sugar and caffeine."

Life got more difficult after her mother's parents died in 2016.

Her parents tried their best, "and they wanted to give us a good life," she said. "They believed everything they did was to protect us."

___

Associated Press writers Amanda Lee Myers and Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Forth Worth, Texas • Utah’s efforts in the NCAA Gymnastics Championships ended like so many others have for junior MyKayla Skinner, with her expressing frustration over a scoring system that doesn’t always reward the gymnasts who perform the most difficulty.

Skinner, who was the NCAA all-around runner-up the last two years, was left out of the medals on Friday.

She didn’t expect to be in the running for the all-around after she had a slight bobble on the beam that left her with a 9.775 for the event and a 39.55 in the all-around, but her clean routines in the other events that didn’t score highest were obviously frustrating to her.

She had a 9.9375 on floor, where she is known to perform the most difficult routine in college gymnastics, and a 9.925 on vault and a 9.9125 on the uneven bars.

UCLA’s Kyla Ross had the high floor score from the afternoon session of 9.95.

“I didn’t want to get too down on myself, so I had already prepared myself,” she said. “It has been the whole season.”

The question now is, will Skinner’s frustrations and experiences this year be her swan song for college gymnastics, or will she come back for more?

Skinner said she will announce this week whether she will return to Utah next year or leave the program to make a run for the 2020 Olympics.

Skinner was passed over for the 5-woman 2016 Olympic Team even though she finished fourth at the Olympic Trials.

She admits she has never gotten over that disappointment and would like another chance.

On Friday, she sounded like an athlete ready to be done with a collegiate scoring system she called “stupid.”

“There is nothing we can do about it but stay positive and not get down on yourself,” she said.

That is the conundrum that Skinner finds herself in. She is one of the most successful gymnasts in history, yet there is a perception she is also one of the sport’s most overlooked as well, because her routines include so much difficulty for which she isn’t always rewarded.

While Skinner was fiery over the judging, she made it clear perceived judging slights had not diminished her overall experience of competing with the Utes.

She broke down into tears as she talked about Utah.

“It was so cool to come to college because it is something I didn’t know if I would do, go to college or go pro,” she said. “It has been an awesome experience and to be able to have this opportunity, it has been so fun and I am grateful for it.”

In some ways, Skinner’s junior year is her most frustrating. Her streak of hit routines ended at 161 when she had a fall on the uneven bars at the NCAA Regional Championships. It is the first year she won’t have an NCAA title and she had just one 10.0, on the floor at the Pac-12 Championships.

However, she is still one of Utah’s most accomplished gymnasts, earning a school record 22 All-American awards, eight regional titles and seven Pac-12 titles in her career.

She is clearly one of the team leaders too. Her demonstrative personality might not win her many fans in the political realm of gymnastics, but she is a crowd favorite at Utah and a well-liked and respected member of the team.

That is enough for her, she said.

“I compete for this team,” she said. “I love what I can do for it and to be a part of this amazing legacy, I am just really happy.”

Utah coach Tom Farden said the Utes would support Skinner in whatever her decision is.

“We would help her as much as the NCAA rules would allow us to do,” he said.

If she decides to focus on the Olympics, Skinner could return to the Utes in a year. But it would be hard to imagine she could return and perform at the same level she is now, especially considering she already deferred a year to prepare for the 2016 Olympics. Harder still to imagine she would be satisfied with anything but her current high level.