>>Air Squadron Returns Home

(Salt Lake City, UT) -- More than 100 members of a Utah air squadron are back home after a six-month deployment to Southwest Asia. Members of the 729th Air Control Squadron from Hill Air Force Base were welcomed home yesterday. The unit is responsible for radar surveillance and aircraft control over Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama reiterated his "strong commitment" to pass an immigration reform bill this year in a meeting with a diverse group of faith leaders Friday. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was one of 15 faith leaders invited to meet with the president. The meeting lasted approximately an hour, where Obama told the faith leaders he hoped to see a bill on immigration reform in the next 60 days.

The LDS Church addressed the subject of immigration reform in June 2011. The church released a statement asking members of the church to respect and obey the laws of the land, but that a civil approach should be considered when discussing the topic of immigration reform.

"What to do with the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants now residing in various states within the United States is the biggest challenge in the immigration debate," the statement says. "The bedrock moral issue for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is how we treat each other as children of God.

The church added that it was "concerned" with any state legislation that only contains enforcement provisions, and that that type of legislation would likely "fall short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God."

"The Church supports an approach where undocumented immigrants are allowed to square themselves with the law and continue to work without this necessarily leading to citizenship," the statement continues. "In furtherance of needed immigration reform in the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supports a balanced and civil approach to a challenging problem, fully consistent with its tradition of compassion, its relevance for family, and its commitment to law."


>>Parks Visitation Lower Along With Water Levels

(Salt Lake City, UT) -- Utah Parks officials say summertime visitation is down at the state's water-based parks. Drought conditions around the state have made Utah the second driest state in the nation. That could partly be the result of low reservoir levels. The parks division's boating program manager tells the "Tribune" the boating surface area on state waterways is shrinking "everyday."

>>Section Of I-15 Re-Opened

(Salt Lake City, UT) -- A section of Interstate 15 near Point of the Mountain was re-opened last night after the intense heat made it buckle. Utah Transportation officials said two lanes of northbound I-15 at mile-marker 287 were left damaged. As of last night all repairs were made and drivers were passing through without delays.

>>Motorcyclist Dead In Orem Crash

(Orem, UT) -- Orem police release the name of a motorcycle rider killed over the weekend. It happened Saturday afternoon. Twenty-seven-year-old Jal Oomrigar was seen weaving through traffic before colliding with a car stopped on University Parkway. The rider was apparently thrown from the bike going a high rate of speed.

>>Lawmakers Consider Moving Primary To September

(Salt Lake City, UT) -- Lawmakers in Utah are considering a proposal to move the state's primary election from June to September. The "Deseret News" writes Republicans want to use the extra time to find their candidates. Another concern is unless the schedule is changed the LDS General Conference will occur at the same time as some county election conventions.

>>2K Acres Burned In Box Elder County

(Box Elder County, UT) -- A wildfire continues to burn in Box Elder County. The fast-moving fire consumed more than 26-hundred-acres by yesterday morning. It started Saturday near the Devil's Playground recreation area about 35-miles west of Snowville.

>>Grass Fire Burns In C. Utah

(Spring City, UT) -- A grass fire is burning in central Utah. A voluntary order to evacuate was called for people in the Pine Mountain subdivision in northeastern Sanpete County. The fire was still burning last night east of Spring City, two miles south of Mount Pleasant. As many as 50 homes were in the path of flames.

>>Jump Gym Safety Rules

(Salt Lake City, UT) -- Utah County health officials are meeting today about possible jump-gym regulations. Local jump-gym owner Aaron Cobabe says all safety-related input is welcome.

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Jump-gyms offer industrial-grade trampolines instead of inflatable bounce-houses. Doctors at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center said they're seeing more and more injuries at such places, including compound fractures and spine injuries.



(Salt Lake) The Deseret News, Sunday featured Koi Cook, Grand. Running back; defensive back.

Qualifications: Koi Cook is the "El Diablo" amongst the Red Devils. Last season, Cook led Grand in rushing with 94 carries for 868 yards and 12 touchdowns while adding two more offensive scores — one throw and one reception. However, where he shined not only apart from his teammates, but also in the entire 2A classification, was on defense.

Cook, who earned Deseret News First-Team All-State honors, topped 2A in tackles with 129 and also led Grand in interceptions with three. To put that into perspective, he averaged nearly 12 tackles every time he took the field. The next highest total on Grand was 61. Talk about a tackle hog…

Cook is very patient in the secondary; he takes advantage of quarterbacks mistakenly telegraphing the direction the play is flowing. He sits back, analyzes, and more times than not — as evident by the tackle total — he’s engulfed in the action. He’s not particularly fast — not to say he doesn’t have game speed — but because of his football IQ he’s very effective in run support. Ironically, his ability to hedge sweeps and options often exceeded the defensive end.

Grand returns a solid corps this season including Jacob Francis and Edgar Gomez, who were both named Deseret News First-Team All-State, along with Cameron Taylor and Austin Day, who garnished Second-Team and Honorable Mention recognition, respectively. The Red Devils are unusually positioned to crank up the heat while flying under the radar.

Despite the other contributors, Cook is the key. Considering Francis struggled with ball security in 2012, Cook needs to relieve pressure on the ground. To say Grand is challenging for the second state championship in school history would be careless, but this certainly is a team that could make a Cinderella-esk run in the postseason.