Los Angeles • Filmmaker Stanley Donen, a giant of the Hollywood musical who through such classics as “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Funny Face” helped give us some of the most joyous sounds and images in movie history, has died.

He was 94.

Donen, who often teamed with Gene Kelly but also worked with Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire, died Thursday in New York from heart failure, his sons Joshua and Mark Donen confirmed Saturday.

The 1940s and ’50s were the prime era for Hollywood musicals and no filmmaker contributed more to the magic than Donen, among the last survivors from that era and one willing to extend the limits of song and dance into the surreal. He was part of the unit behind such unforgettable scenes as Kelly dancing with an animated Jerry the mouse in “Anchors Aweigh,” Astaire’s gravity-defying spin across the ceiling in “Royal Wedding,” and, the all-time triumph, Kelly ecstatically splashing about as he performs the title number in “Singin’ in the Rain.”

Steven Spielberg recalled Donen as a “friend and early mentor” for whom life and film were inseparable.

“His generosity in giving over so many of his weekends in the late 60s to film students like me to learn about telling stories and placing lenses and directing actors is a time I will never forget,” Spielberg said Saturday.

The filmmaker Guillermo del Toro said, “Before Stanley Donen actors sang, actors danced. He made the camera dance and the colors sing.”

A 2007 American Film Institute survey of the top 100 American movies ranked “Singin’ in the Rain,” with its inventive take on Hollywood’s transition from silent to talking pictures in the 1920s and Kelly’s famous dance in a downpour, at No. 5.

Donen was asked in 2002 whether the filmmakers knew that “Singin’ in the Rain,” released in 1952 and also starring Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor, would be revered decades later.

“You can’t get through a movie if you don’t think it’s good,” he told The Associated Press. “Certainly we thought it was good. More than that? I don’t know. You don’t think about that. You just think about how you can do it.”

Both the film and Donen were at first underrated. “Singin’ in the Rain” was initially seen as high entertainment rather than art and was not even nominated for a best picture or directing Academy Award. Donen, overshadowed by Kelly early in his career, never received a competitive Oscar nomination and waited until 1998 for an honorary award, presented to him by Martin Scorsese. He was more than ready. Donen danced cheek to cheek with his Oscar statuette, which he called “this cute little fella.” The crowd yelled and applauded as he crooned, “Heaven, I’m in heaven,” from Irving Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek.”

During his acceptance speech, he explained his formula for a great musical. Bring in songwriters like Adolph Green and Betty Comden, and performers like Kelly or Astaire or Sinatra. “And when filming starts,” he added, “you show up and you stay the hell out of the way.”

Born in Columbia, S.C., Donen would remember movies — especially those with Astaire and Ginger Rogers — as a needed escape from the tensions of being one of the few Jews in his community. He took tap dancing lessons in his teens and began his show business career as a performer, dancing in the original Broadway production of “Pal Joey” at age 16. The title role was played by Kelly, and the show’s success propelled Kelly into the movies.

Donen received his first Hollywood break when Kelly got him a job helping choreograph the 1944 Kelly film “Cover Girl.” Over the next few years, he worked on choreography for such films as “The Kissing Bandit,” starring Sinatra, and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” starring Sinatra and Kelly, who teamed with Donen on choreography.

“Singin’ in the Rain” was one of three films credited to Kelly and Donen as co-directors; the others were “On the Town,” the 1949 Kelly-Sinatra musical about sailors on leave in New York City, and the darker “It’s Always Fair Weather,” in which three soldier friends reunite a decade later.

The co-director credits — rare in films — came out of a tense relationship between Donen and the star, who had played such an important role in advancing Donen’s career. Donen would later speak resentfully of Kelly, who died in 1996, as being cold and condescending and not fully appreciative of his contributions. They parted for good after “It’s Always Fair Weather,” which came out in 1955.

“He could be difficult with me and everyone else,” the director told The New York Times in 1996. “It was always a complicated collaboration.”

Other Donen films included “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” (1954), with its superlative athletic choreography; “Damn Yankees” (1958), the remake of the Broadway smash about a baseball fan’s temptation; and “Funny Face,” in which Astaire teamed up with Audrey Hepburn to play a fashion photographer and his unlikely muse.

Astaire’s character in “Funny Face” was modeled on Richard Avedon, and the famed photographer served as a consultant to Donen.

“Nothing is more fun than finding someone who stimulates you, and who can be stimulated by you,” Donen said in John Kobal’s book “Gotta Sing Gotta Dance: A Pictorial History of Film Musicals.” “The result, rather than just adding up to two and two, multiplies itself, and you find yourself doing much better things — you are both carried away on the crest of excitement.”

Donen worked in various genres. “Indiscreet” (1958) was a light farce starring Grant and Ingrid Bergman, and “Two for the Road” (1967), with Hepburn and Albert Finney, was an unusually acerbic and tense marital comedy for its time, far removed from the carefree spirit of his musicals. (Donen himself was married five times and had an embroidered pillow in his New York apartment reading “EAT DRINK AND RE-MARRY”.)

One Donen film, the chic mystery “Charade” (1963), reminded viewers of a Hitchcock thriller. “Charade” starred Hepburn as a precocious socialite whose husband has been murdered, and Grant — who appeared in four Hitchcock films — as a mysterious man who may or may not be helping her.

Donen steadfastly denied any Hitchcock influence, while adding that the master of suspense “doesn’t own the genre.”

Donen had three sons; the oldest, Peter, died in 2003 of a heart attack at age 50. His first wife, dancer Jeanne Coyne, later married Kelly. His fourth wife was the screen star Yvette Mimieux. Over the past two decades, his companion was the filmmaker-comedian Elaine May.

None of his more recent films approached the heights of his most famous work. The nadir may have been 1984’s “Blame It on Rio,” a comedy about a man (Michael Caine) who has an affair with his friend’s young daughter. Roger Ebert slammed the film as “clearly intended to appeal to the prurient interests of dirty old men of all ages.”

Other credits include a musical segment for the 1980s TV comedy “Moonlighting” and a stage production of “The Red Shoes.” In 1999, he directed the ABC television movie “Love Letters,” which starred Steven Weber and Laura Linney.

“There are limits to TV,” Donen told The Associated Press in 1999. “And that’s what was fun: to try to find a way to be surprising within limits. I’m always looking for limits, because then you have to be inventive.”

A state board has temporarily suspended plans to sell a large mountain parcel of trust land in northeastern Utah.

The School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration said its board voted unanimously Friday to suspend proceedings temporarily on a proposed sale of the 28,000-acre undeveloped Tabby Mountain property that was recently opened for competitive bids.

The board said members received comments from trust land beneficiaries about procedural concerns largely related to the appraisal process and time restrictions for bidders to conduct proper due diligence.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported in December that the Tabby Mountain property was a point of friction for land managers, with wildlife officials wanting it preserved to safeguard migration corridors and public access and trust lands officials holding out for top dollar.

A judge set R. Kelly’s bond at $1 million dollars on Saturday afternoon, following the R&B singer’s Friday arrest on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

According to an indictment filed Friday in Cook County, Illinois, the crimes took place between 1998 and 2010 and involved four victims, three of whom were between 13 and 16 years old. One of the alleged victims was an adult.

Each count carries a possible sentence of three to seven years in prison.

Jason Meisner, a Chicago Tribune reporter who attended the hearing, tweeted that Kelly would have to pay $100,000, or 10 percent of the $1 million, to be released on bond. Judge John Lyke Jr. also ordered Kelly to turn in his passport and barred him from contacting anyone under the age of 18, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The charges follow decades of sexual misconduct accusations, often involving minors, against the 52-year-old R&B singer. On Friday, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced the charges at a news conference. Kelly turned himself in to Chicago police that evening.

Foxx made a public plea for any victims to come forward in January, following the airing of Lifetime’s documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.” The six-part series closely examined the allegations against Kelly and helped to spark a new round of interest in them.

"There is nothing to be done to investigate these allegations without the cooperation of both victims and witnesses," Foxx said in a news conference on Jan. 9. "We cannot seek justice without you."

Kelly's attorney Steve Greenberg told reporters Friday that his client, who has long denied any allegations against him, was innocent. "I think all the women are lying," Greenberg said outside Kelly's studio on Friday, according to CBS Chicago.

The indictment filed Friday detail offenses committed against four individuals. The oldest allegations date to between May 1998 and May 1999, when Kelly was at least 31 and the alleged victim was under 17. The most recent allegations detailed in the indictment involve another minor and took place between May 2009 and January 2010, according to the charging documents.

Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who announced last week that he had given authorities a VHS tape that allegedly shows Kelly engaging in sexual activity with a minor, said in a news conference Friday evening that he represents two of Kelly’s alleged victims, one of whom was included in the indictment.

Kelly was charged with child pornography in 2002 after a graphic videotape was sent to Chicago Sun-Times reporter Jim DeRogatis. Kelly was acquitted of those charges years later, in 2008. Kelly has also settled numerous lawsuits with women who have accused him of coercing them into sexual relationships while underage. In 1994, Kelly, 27, illegally married the singer Aaliyah, who was 15. To evade the fact that the underage performer would need parental permission to get married, Kelly's tour manager took her to get a fake ID.

Kelly’s music career continued thriving even after the child pornography case. RCA Records, a subsidiary of Sony, kept him on their label until January. Major artists have collaborated with Kelly in recent years, including Chance the Rapper and Lady Gaga, who recorded duets with Kelly in 2015 and 2013, respectively. Both have since apologized for doing so.

The allegations against Kelly began receiving renewed scrutiny in the wake of the #MeToo movement. BuzzFeed published a lengthy investigation by DeRogatis based on the experiences of four former members of Kelly’s inner circle. The article accused Kelly of running an “abusive cult.” In a May statement to The Post, Kelly’s management said that the singer “has close friendships with a number of women who are strong, independent, happy, well cared for and free to come and go as they please.”

Lyke, who presided over Kelly’s bond hearing, is the same judge who on Thursday set ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett’s bond at $100,000. Smollett is charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report.

This was Kelly’s first court appearance since his arrest on Friday. As of Friday, his arraignment is scheduled for March 8.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort “repeatedly and brazenly violated the law” and shows a “hardened adherence to committing crimes,” prosecutors told a Washington federal judge.

They recommended no specific punishment for those crimes, saying that is the practice of the special counsel. Prosecutors noted that federal guidelines call for a sentence of 17 to 22 years, although under Manafort’s guilty plea in his Washington case, the statutory maximum he faces is 10. The special counsel said that they may ask for Judge Amy Berman Jackson to impose a sentence that runs consecutive to whatever punishment Manafort is given for related crimes in Virginia federal court.

Friday’s sealed filing, an unredacted version of which was published Saturday, helps pave the way for his sentencings in Washington and Virginia scheduled for next month, as Robert Mueller begins wrapping up his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

As part of his plea deal in September, Manafort, 69, acknowledged he was guilty of everything he was accused of both in Washington and Virginia: making millions as an unregistered lobbyist for Ukrainian politicians, hiding that money to avoid paying taxes, defrauding banks to pay his debts when his oligarch patrons fell out of power, and lying to cover up his crimes while trying to persuade witnesses to do the same.

But when he appears in front of Jackson on March 13, he will already have been sentenced for related crimes in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, barring any change in the scheduling as now set for those hearings. Jackson could make the sentence she imposes run during or after his Virginia prison term. In Virginia, where Manafort was found guilty of bank and tax fraud at trial, there is no upper limit to his sentence.

In Alexandria, prosecutors have also asked only for a "serious" sentence. Federal guidelines in that case call for him to spend roughly 19 to 24 years in prison.

Mueller's prosecutors have been handing off other pending legal matters to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Washington, and the Department of Justice is readying for Mueller to formally conclude his work.

In New York, the Manhattan district attorney is preparing to charge Manafort with violating state tax laws and committing other financial crimes, a move designed to ensure Trump’s former campaign chairman spends time in prison if the president pardons him for the convictions stemming from Mueller’s probe, Bloomberg News and The New York Times reported Friday. Trump has not indicated whether he intends to pardon Manafort, though he repeatedly expressed support for him as his trial played out last year. New York’s double jeopardy law, which protects defendants from being prosecuted twice for the same crimes, could pose a challenge for the district attorney’s office, however.

Attorneys for Manafort are not due to file their sentencing recommendation in Washington until Monday, having told Jackson that this week's snowstorm made it harder to meet with their client in the Alexandria jail where he has been held, and asking for a delay.

Under his plea agreement in Washington, federal prosecutors had agreed to ask Jackson to give Manafort credit at sentencing for cooperation. But because she found he lied to investigators and breached that agreement, they are no longer bound by it.

Jackson found Manafort lied about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, a longtime aide who the FBI assessed to have ties to Russian intelligence. Those contacts, prosecutors said in court, go "very much to the heart of what the special counsel's office is investigating."

Manafort gave inconsistent accounts of an August 2016 meeting in New York City at which he and Kilimnik discussed a peace plan for Ukraine, a top foreign policy priority for Russia. At the time, Manafort was still leading Trump's campaign. He also lied about sharing polling data with Kilimnik in 2016, prosecutors said in describing how he broke his deal to cooperate truthfully.

The judge also concluded that Manafort lied about a payment that he claimed was a loan and as part of another Justice Department investigation whose focus has not been described publicly.

Defense attorneys have maintained that Manafort did not intentionally give false information and that any inconsistencies were honest mistakes.

In 2017, Kilimnik denied to The Washington Post having connections to Russian intelligence. He was indicted with Manafort on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice through witness tampering.

Kilimnik is believed to be in Moscow and therefore probably safe from arrest because Russia does not extradite its citizens.

Washington • Prosecutors have begun presenting evidence to a grand jury in Washington in their probe of whether former interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lied to federal investigators, according to two individuals briefed on the matter.

The closed-door deliberations are focused on Zinke’s decision not to grant a petition by two Indian tribes to operate a commercial casino in Connecticut, according to these individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are not public.

The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes' push to run a gambling facility in East Windsor, Connecticut, had sparked a lobbying campaign by MGM Resorts International, a competitor that opposed the planned casino. The proposal was the subject of intense scrutiny at Interior and the White House during President Trump's first months in office.

The tribes allege that Zinke decided not to grant their application because of political pressure, and Interior’s Office of Inspector General opened an investigation into the matter a year ago.

Investigators with the Interior Department's inspector general's office came to believe Zinke had lied to them in the course of that inquiry, and referred the matter to the Justice Department late last year.

Making false statements to federal officials constitutes a crime, but it can be difficult to prove because it requires prosecutors to show a person "knowingly and willfully" lied, rather than simply misstated a fact.

Both the Justice and Interior Departments declined to comment on the matter Friday.

Zinke did not respond to a request for comment. But in an interview with The Washington Post last month, he denied any wrongdoing in connection with the casino deal.

"The Department of Interior should not take a position on any activity outside the reservation that is not bound by law or treaty," he said.

"I sided with a principle that I didn't want to take a position on something that was off the reservation. I had multiple legal counselors' opinions about what was legal. The investigators may not have liked my answers, but they were truthful."

The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes sought federal approval in 2017 to operate a commercial casino off their reservations, in an arrangement that would ensure the operation gave 25 percent of its slot revenue to the state of Connecticut.

MGM, which declined to comment this week, sought to block the petition on the grounds that it would provide the tribes with an unfair economic advantage. The casino giant has a gambling complex just 12 miles away from East Windsor, in Springfield, Mass., and has eyed opening a casino in Bridgeport.

Interior officials — including career staff and two Trump appointees — had tentatively signed off on the tribes’ proposal in the summer of 2017. But in September the department declined to approve it, prompting a lawsuit by Mashantucket Pequot and the state of Connecticut. The tribe has questioned whether Zinke was improperly influenced by Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and then-Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., both of whom have received contributions from MGM Resorts International. The company ranked as Heller’s second-biggest contributor between 2011 and 2016, according to the Center for Responsive Politics,giving him $57,450 during that period.

Attorneys representing the tribes and the state of Connecticut amended their complaint Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The filing says that Heller called Zinke on Sept. 15, 2017, just hours before Interior issued its final decision, to pressure him not to approve the casino application. Heller could not be immediately reached for comment Friday

In September, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras dismissed the tribe's initial claim. The Mohegan tribe withdrew from the litigation after Interior acknowledged the validity of its gaming agreement in June 2018.

Zinke, who voluntarily participated in two inspector general interviews about the matter, told The Post that he resigned at the start of the year because the investigations and "anger and hatred" from liberal opponents had created a poisonous atmosphere for him and the department he headed.

"If I had stayed, I would have become an angry person, and I didn't want that," he said.

As of Friday, Zinke had not been called to appear before the grand jury.

Witnesses before the grand jury have been asked whether anyone influenced Zinke’s decision to rebuff the tribes’ casino petition, according to the two individuals familiar with the proceedings. Prosecutors have also asked witnesses — who include Interior officials — about what sort of advice they provided Zinke in the course of his review of the application.

The Washington Post’s Matt Zapotosky and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.

A fire Saturday afternoon at an Ogden storage facility has left one man dead and another injured.

Just before 1 p.m., Ogden police and firefighters were called to the blaze near 2900 Pennsylvania Avenue.

As fire crews worked, they found two men inside the burning storage unit. One of them was reported dead at the scene, and the other was taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to a Facebook post from Ogden police.

Three ladder trucks and one fire engine brought the blaze under control, according to Twitter posts from the city’s Fire Department.

One patient is deceased at the scene. Fire marshal, Ogden police, state fire marshal investigating cause. Unknown currently

— Ogden Fire Dept (@OgdenFireDept) February 23, 2019

The department says the cause of the deadly fire is being investigated. At this point, police said they don’t suspect “anything suspicious" caused the blaze.

This story will be updated.

Taylorsville • Third time’s the charm.

Fresh off her failed bid for Salt Lake County mayor — and her race just before that for Utah’s 2nd Congressional District — Shireen Ghorbani won the approval Saturday from the Salt Lake County Democratic Party’s Central Committee to fill the open at-large seat on the County Council.

“To all of you who supported me from the very beginning, when I came out of nowhere because I was mad as hell and completely unwilling to back down from the future that I want for each one of us, I’m so grateful,” an emotional Ghorbani told committee members as she held her 4-year-old son after the vote. “I’m so grateful, and I am so ready to get to work for you.”

Ghorbani, a communication professional at the University of Utah, faced a crowded field, with nine other candidates vying to fill the vacancy left last month by newly inaugurated Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson.

She brought in 55 percent of the vote during the first round of balloting on Saturday at Eisenhower Junior High School and ultimately won 72 percent in the second round against Josie Valdez, a longtime activist and former vice chairwoman of the county’s Democratic Party. Ghorbani will take the oath of office Tuesday and serve through the end of Wilson’s term, which is up for election in 2020.

“My first order of business is reading the agenda for Tuesday,” she told The Salt Lake Tribune after the vote, laughing. “Really getting my feet on the ground and understanding some of the concerns we have immediately on the horizon and meeting with more of the [county] employees.”

Ghorbani, the half-Iranian daughter of an immigrant, ran an unsuccessful bid for Congress to unseat Rep. Chris Stewart last year and was wildly popular in the Salt Lake County portions of the district, winning 67 percent of the vote. She lost to Wilson by 77 votes in the special election last month for county mayor.

“It’s great to have our Democratic council at Salt Lake County back to a full team," Wilson said in a written statement. "We have a lot of work to do and I look forward to advancing our mutual interests.”

Ghorbani, a Salt Lake City Democrat, and her volunteers knocked on more than 30,000 doors in Salt Lake County alone during Ghorbani’s congressional campaign. She said the stories she heard on their porches and in their living rooms prompted her to run for county mayor and again for County Council.

“It is the unrelenting belief that we can do better, and we can do that work right here in Salt Lake County,” she said in an energized speech to central committee members before balloting Saturday. “We cannot wait for the state or the federal government to clean up our air, to invest in the safety of our communities, to reinforce our infrastructure or to help us manage the growth on our doorsteps or shelter our homeless.”

Throughout the special election, Ghorbani portrayed herself as a “fighter” who wouldn’t back down from the challenges facing the county. The day after the special mayoral election, for example, she noted that she rallied in the Utah Capitol Rotunda, demanding the Legislature approve a full Medicaid expansion — as voters had approved.

“She is a powerhouse, and she’s going to really make some positive changes for our state and our county, and I’m so excited,” said Jessica Foard, a central committee member who voted for Ghorbani in both rounds of balloting. “She’s in it for the long haul. She’s been fighting this entire time just to serve, and most people give up. So it just shows how great she is.”

To address Utah’s affordable housing crunch, Ghorbani has advocated using tax increment policies and high-density solutions that she says municipalities across the country must share. She has also expressed support for a countywide anti-idling ordinance and said she wants to see the county eventually run on 100 percent renewable energy.

“I want a county with better mass transit options, with air that we can breathe, with homes that we can afford and shelters for our most vulnerable,” she said Saturday. “I’m asking for your vote so we can build a future where a kid born on the west side has the same opportunities and quality of life as a kid born on the east bench. And we are a long way from that right now.”

Ghorbani has said she wants to create a team at the county that could look at energy management to better quantify and manage the government’s energy use. The county has one employee doing that now.

And while some might assume she would be weary after campaigning nearly nonstop for months, Ghorbani said she’s just getting started.

“I’m incredibly energized by the experience of being out and talking to voters,” she said. “In these last two cases, it’s been the central committee members from diverse backgrounds, from all over the county. And hearing the different kind of concerns and perspectives that they have just makes me really eager to get to work.”

Is this the year Utah does more for those who live in fear?

Proponents of a fully functional hate crimes law and opponents of discredited “conversion” therapies are closer to success than they’ve ever been, thanks to an evolving Utah Legislature and stronger messaging from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Sen. Daniel Thatcher’s SB103 would add enhanced penalties when felony crime victims are targeted because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or other attributes. The bill came through committee unanimously and is headed to a vote on the Senate floor. Thatcher wisely is not claiming victory yet, but previous hate crimes bills had never made it to the floor.

What changed? For one thing, LDS Church lobbyist Marty Stephens said this year the church will not oppose a hate crimes bill. The church had stayed neutral on previous bills, too, but this time Stephens made a point of announcing it, adding that no group should be left out of any bill. That last point clarified that the church is OK with including LGBT hate crime victims.

To be sure, SB103 is a Utah-style hate crimes bill. In addition to the usual categories (age, faith, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.), there are enhanced penalties when people are targeted for their “matriculation.” Yes, that refers to what school they attend. Look for a future Utah-BYU stadium fight to be screened for hate crimes charges.

Opponents, including the Utah Eagle Forum and Libertas Institute, argue that choosing only certain groups for the hate crimes enhancement amounts to discrimination. No, it’s the perpetrators of these crimes who are discriminating.

Nationally, hate crimes have been making a comeback. The president’s divisive rhetoric and a sewer of hate on social media haven’t helped. In Utah, statistics haven’t been kept consistently, but it’s not hard to see examples, like the man who said, “I’m here to kill a Mexican” before beating two men in a tire shop and another who hit a man on Main Street last week apparently because he acknowledged he is gay.

Utahns recognize the need. Sixty-four percent of respondents in a recent Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll were in favor of beefing up Utah’s weak hate crimes law.

Then there is conversion therapy, where the acts are less violent but the damage no less real.

The therapy — various methods of directing patients to deny or suppress their sexual orientation — was never the right thing to do, but until recently it was acceptable to mainstream Utah. Now, even one of its most prominent proponents has renounced it.

House Bill 399 would prevent licensed therapists from invoking such methods with minors under their care. The bill applies only to licensed therapists. It does not apply to others, including clergy, a key distinction that helped the LDS Church stay neutral on this bill, too.

Studies have found that not only is the therapy ineffective, it’s destructive, leading to higher rates of suicide and mental health problems. Sen. Dan McCay, a Riverton Republican who is co-sponsoring the bill, stated the intent beautifully: “We want you, every one of you, to be part of the future. We don’t want to lose any of you.”

In an ideal world, no one hurts another simply because their skin color or religious beliefs or sexual identity is different, and no therapists promote harmful ideas to their vulnerable patients.

Until then, we’ll need to deter the perpetrators with our laws. The time is now, and the place is here. Utah is ready.

When members of the movie industry gather Sunday at the Dolby Theatre for the 91st Academy Awards, they will be coming together to honor the outstanding achievements of cinema from 2018.

While there’s no question that the Oscars are about spectacle, from great dresses and suits to memorable speeches, there’s another reason the ceremony is the object of such intense public passions. In celebrating the best movies of a given year and the people whose hard work made those movies possible, the Oscars can be a celebration of what’s best about a certain idea of America.

First and foremost, the movies the Oscars celebrate are about seeking out new ways to see the world. Ask any producer, any writer, any director, any actor, and he or she will tell you that the heart of moviemaking, our purpose and our passion, is all about perspective. We're not growing if we aren't gaining new perspective. Our art is more alive and our industry more innovative when we widen the lens more and more.

During my tenure as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I worked to make sure the Academy benefited from that wider lens by inviting a more diverse group of members and electing a more representative board of governors. Those new members are now helping to select the Oscar nominees and winners.

In 2019, the movies they nominated for best picture take viewers to, among other places, the Afrofuturist fictional kingdom of Wakanda and to Colorado Springs in the 1970s; to Mexico City in 1970-1971 and to Britain in the early 1700s. Our audiences and the stories we tell are global and rich in diversity. Every facet of our industry should be as well.

Second, the Oscars demonstrate what we all have to gain when people around the world are allowed to use their talents to tell stories here in the United States. The remarkable global diversity of writers, directors, producers and actors reads more like the roll call at the United Nations than anything we could have imagined last century, and that is a wonderful thing. The nominees for best director alone hail from Mexico, Poland and Greece, as well as from the United States. This year's award season showed unprecedented inclusion of talent in front of as well as behind the camera.

Filmmakers and moviegoers alike are enriched by the cross-pollination that results from sharing stories, ideas, production techniques and talent with artists from diverse backgrounds, nations and cultures. The Academy Awards are a celebration of that kind of collaborative work, highlighting the contributions of not only the industry's most famous directors and actors but also the writers who put words in their mouths; the designers who build their worlds and conjure up their clothes, hair and makeup; and the editors, sound mixers and visual effects artists who turn everyone's work into a coherent whole. The Oscars are a valuable reminder that we can't tell stories or pull off ambitious productions alone.

And most of all, the Oscars can provide a critically important reminder of the values we have in common. We all respond to art, creativity, conscience, conviction and the simple act of telling your story and hoping that someone, somewhere — whether watching in a darkened movie theater or on a computer screen — will see his or her own reflection in your vision. That is what our industry — and really, what being human — is all about.

Art has no borders. Art has no single language, and art does not belong to a single faith. At its most powerful, art transcends all these things that divide us. Creative artists around the world are connected by an unbreakable bond that is powerful and permanent. And so are the audiences who love their movies. That connection is worth celebrating, during the Oscars and throughout the year.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 2013 to 2017.

Some jogged into the locker room winners, others walked, looking like they just wanted to soak it in for a little while longer. Some stopped to high-five and hug some of the home fans they just introduced themselves to, others threw gloves they wore during the game to those still cheering them on. They had to show some love to those who braved a chilly, albeit sunny February afternoon.

They also gave them reasons to come back, they believe.

In their inaugural home game in this inaugural season of existence, the Salt Lake Stallions rode the energy of being on the road the first two weeks of the season, of training all those weeks in San Antonio and just waiting for a shot to run out of the tunnel inside Rice-Eccles Stadium and be welcomed. They rode the anticipation of Saturday’s moment all the way to a win. The Stallions topped the Arizona Hotshots 23-15, winning their first game in the Alliance of American Football, improving to 1-2 for the season.

“Going 0-3 was not even in the question,” said Stallions quarterback Josh Woodrum.

Because beyond the final score, the Stallions know that if it is going to prove itself to a fan base it desperately needs, it has to showcase a product worth watching, worth paying for, worth, let’s face it, freeze over at times. Saturday’s home-opener drew an announced crowd of 10,412 — the actual in-house count looked less than that — so winning sure didn’t hurt.

“Shoot,” Stallions head coach Dennis Erickson said, “it was a beautiful day today. It was colder in Birmingham last week. I hope it’s cold next week when Orlando comes [to town]. I hope it snows.”

It was a 15-play, 75-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter that eventually propelled the Stallions into the win column. It was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run by running back Joel Bouagnon on a 4th-and-1 attempt that was originally ruled short, but after a video review, was overturned. As many fans are finding out, there are no extra-point attempts in this league, only 2-point conversion attempts. Salt Lake converted as Woodrum found wide receiver De’Mornay Pierson-El to put the Stallions up 23-12 with 7:34 left in the fourth.

Arizona eventually kicked a field goal to pull within one score, 23-15, but since there are no onside kicks in the AAF, the Hotshots elected to take the ball on a 4th-and-10 scenario from their own 28-yard line with 24 seconds remaining. They did not get a first down. They came up short.

“Obviously we played great defense,” Erickson said. “We have every time we played.”

The turning point of the game, as Arizona coach Rick Neuheisel explained, came on the first play of the second half as Salt Lake middle linebacker Greer Martini intercepted a pass attempt and returned it to the Arizona 7-yard line. Stallions running back Branden Oliver eventually punched it in from 1-yard out.

The new team in town looks sort of like the other home team inside Rice-Eccles Stadium: headlined by a tenacious defense, the Stallions feel like they have a shot in any game from here on out. And Erickson reiterated that he believes this team can stick, and this league can be what it aims to become.

“Let’s face it: they’re trying to make it. They’re trying to make it to the show,” he said. “They know that every time the ball is snapped that they’re being judged. Every NFL team, every team around will get these games and that’s why this league is here.”

Salt Lake will be back here next Saturday against Orlando. And there will be no plane rides around the country, no training days in Texas. The Stallions are home.

“It’s a bumpy ride,” Woodrum said, “but it’s starting to smooth out a little bit for us.”

One little hop, one step-out, one not so perfect handstand. When you are battling a team that has redefined championship caliber the last two years, your shot has to be perfect.

On Saturday, Utah’s fourth-ranked gymnastics team landed some good shots at second-ranked UCLA (10-0, 6-0), but the Utes’ best efforts were just a little off as the defending NCAA champions from Los Angeles escaped the Huntsman Center with a 198.025-197.625 win.

It was the first loss for the Utes (9-2, 5-1) at home since 2012, breaking a streak of 34 regular-season meet wins. That winning streak was the longest since the Utes won 170 in a row from 1979 to 2003.

Utah and UCLA will meet again in a few weeks when the Pac-12 Championships are held at the Maverik Center in West Valley, but thoughts of a rematch won’t take the sting away from Saturday’s defeat, which came in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,558.

“Too many hops, too many steps and half-tenths here and there and we kind of nickled ourselves tonight,” Utah coach Tom Farden said. “I addressed that in the team meeting that if we are going to go toe to toe with the best in the country, and that is our goal, we have to make sure we let the gymnastics happen and not try to force those landings.”

Adding to the disappointment was the big showdown on floor. UCLA’s Katelyn Ohashi, who became an internet sensation with her dancey and unusual tumbling combinations, earned a 9.925. MyKayla Skinner, Utah’s junior who is known for her tumbling difficulty, capped off Utah’s meet with what looked like a clean routine. The judges disagreed, giving Skinner the same score as Ohashi. A visibly disappointed Skinner threw up her hands in the judges direction as if asking what else she could do.

“I was sad but still happy to put up a big routine for the team,” Skinner said. “I was excited about competing in the Huntsman again and feeling those emotions and intensity. It’s my favorite thing to do.”

UCLA’s Kyla Ross, who won the uneven bars title with a 10.0, also won the all-around with a 39.775. Skinner was second with a season high 39.75.

The meet was as close as predicted, with the teams almost matching score for score, leaving UCLA with a 148.475-148.225 advantage going into the final rotation where Utah would be on floor and the Bruins on the balance beam.

Making up the .25 on floor wouldn’t be hard for the Utes against most teams, but UCLA is of a different pedigree.

The teams were almost dead even in averages, with Utah averaging 49.382 on the floor and UCLA averaging 49.386 on the beam.

Not surprisingly, the teams matched their first two routine scores.

Then the crack came for UCLA when Madison Kocian, a member of the 2016 Olympic team, fell off the beam as the third up.

But true to their championship caliber, the Bruins responded with three scores above 9.9. The Utes had 9.925s from Sydney Soloski and Skinner, but the usually dependable MaKenna Merrell-Giles stepped out and scored just 9.725.

“Whoops is all I have to say,” Merrell-Giles said. “I don’t know what happened.”

That the Utes put themselves in position to win the meet with a solid balance beam effort did give the Utes some confidence despite the loss. The Utes scored a season high 49.375 on beam, a score the gymnasts attributed to Farden’s ‘boot camp,’ beam practice this week.

Normally co-coach Megan Marsden handles the beam coaching, but Farden said the two talked and agreed he should be more involved. Farden indicated it was their own version of a ‘good cop, bad cop,‘ coaching duo.

“We decided to change up things and see if having another voice over there would bring a different outcome,” he said.

The Utes finish their regular season with meets against Michigan and Georgia before seeing the Bruins again in the Pac-12 Championships on March 23.

UCLA coach Valorie Kondos Field wasn’t quite ready to look ahead to that competition since her team has three meets remaining.

“We aren’t looking at Pac-12s or regionals or nationals,” she said. “We are looking at resting the next few days and at our next meet against Oklahoma.”

The Utes, meanwhile, said they are eager to get back into the gym, feeling like they’ve figured out some of their issues on beam.

“We know they wanted to beat us because we beat them on their home turf last year,” Skinner said. “But Pac-12s, we are coming for you, you better watch out.”

Oxford, Miss. • Eight University of Mississippi basketball players kneeled during the national anthem Saturday before a victory over Georgia in response to a Confederacy rally near the arena.

With the teams lined up across the court at the free throw lines, six players took a knee and bowed at the start of the “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Two other players later joined them.

“The majority of it was just that we saw one of our teammates doing it and didn’t want him to be alone,” Ole Miss scoring leader Breein Tyree said. “We’re just tired of these hate groups coming to our school and portraying our campus like we have these hate groups in our actual school.”

The Confederacy demonstration took place a few hundred feet from the arena. In the aftermath of violence at a similar rally in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Oxford community has been on alert.

Various student groups held counter-protests on campus Thursday and Friday. Saturday’s march, led by Pro-Confederate groups Confederate 901 and the Hiwaymen, also drew counter-protesters. The march began at the Confederate monument on the city square and ended at another Confederate monument in the heart of the Ole Miss campus.

“This was all about the hate groups that came to our community to try spread racism and bigotry,” Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis said. “It’s created a lot of tension for our campus. Our players made an emotional decision to show these people they’re not welcome on our campus, and we respect our players freedom and ability to choose that.”

Kneeling during the anthem has become a popular way for athletes — starting with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick — to protest racial injustice and inequality.

Ole Miss beat Georgia 72-71.

Washington • For decades the Supreme Court has entangled itself in Establishment Clause decisions that have been, in the words of Alice in Wonderland, curiouser and curiouser. On Wednesday, it can leaven with clarity the confusion it has sown.

The First Amendment’s first words say, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The court conducts its business after a chant that includes “God save the United States and this honorable court” and both houses of Congress have taxpayer-paid chaplains who pray for divine guidance. The court has, however, held that any policy or practice by a public entity that touches religion, however marginally, violates the Establishment Clause unless (a) it has a secular purpose and (b) its primary effect neither advances nor inhibits religion and (c) it does not foster excessive government entanglement with religion.

In 1983, the court held, rudely but prudently, that Nebraska’s Legislature could continue being prayed over by its paid chaplain, thereby implying that the chaplain negligibly advanced religion. (The First Congress hired a chaplain, but James Madison, principle progenitor of the First Amendment, later said tersely that this “was not with my approbation.”)

The court has refereed controversies involving, among many other things, the permissible quantity of religious symbols in Christmas displays on public property, where and what kind of displays of the Ten Commandments are constitutional, and what cannot be said to "solemnize" a high school football game in Texas, where football hardly needs solemnity infusions. The court has held that books but not maps can be provided by public funds to parochial schools, causing the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan to wonder: What about atlases, which are books of maps?

Come Wednesday, the court will worry about a war memorial 4.8 miles away in Bladensburg, Maryland. In 1925, the Peace Cross, privately built on land given by the town to an American Legion post, was dedicated to 49 local men killed in World War I, when crosses marked most overseas graves of U.S. dead, regardless of their religious affiliations. Time passed, the population grew, a local government commission acquired the land, which is now in a traffic roundabout. A commemoration event occurs there each Veterans Day. There is no record that a religious event has ever been held at the cross in 94 years.

But a few cranky, persnickety, hairsplitting secularists say, with religious zeal, that the cross is now on public land so the Establishment Clause is violated. A district court affirmed the obvious: Honoring the war dead is a secular purpose. But a divided three-judge circuit court panel reversed. Engaging in something akin to Jesuitical casuistry, two judges said a cross must everywhere and always be a primarily symbol of Jesus' death, and because government provides maintenance for the plot in the roundabout, this cross excessively entangles government with religion.

In 1984, the court added an “endorsement” consideration: Would a commonsensical observer of a government display that includes a symbol with religious overtones — an observer knowing how the display came about — think the government is using it to “endorse” religion? In 1989 the court sidled even closer to wisdom, with a “coercion” criterion. Rather than ignite tens of thousands of skirmishes aimed at scrubbing all visual religious references to religion from this nation’s public spaces (including the names of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico), let’s say this: Religion is not “established” when a passive monument on government property in no way coerces reasonable, informed passersby to believe, practice or support religion.

It was for reasons of traffic safety that the government in 1961 acquired the ground on which the Bladensburg cross sits. If, 58 years later, a few people in this age of hair-trigger rage choose to be offended by a long-standing monument reflecting the nation's culture and traditions, those people, not the First Amendment, need help. The court should so rule when, sometime before this term ends in June, it announces its decision in this case, as the nine justices sit beneath a frieze that includes a symbol of religion: Moses with the Ten Commandments.

Bladensburg last had the nation's attention because of the shambolic events of Aug. 24, 1814. President James Madison fled from there, where feeble American resistance enabled British soldiers to proceed to torch the president's house and the Capitol. At Wednesday's oral argument, the court, sitting across the street from the Capitol, can begin to tidy up its Establishment Clause jurisprudence that Justice Clarence Thomas correctly says is "in shambles."

George F. Will writes a twice-weekly column on politics and domestic and foreign affairs. He began his column with The Washington Post in 1974, and he received the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1977.

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georgewill@washpost.com

Boise, Idaho • Sam Merrill had 32 points as Utah State defeated Boise State 78-71 in overtime on Saturday.

Utah State outscored Boise State 6-0 in the final 1:59 of overtime. Earlier, Merrill's 3-point play tied it at 68 with 16 seconds left in regulation.

“That was crazy. That’s who we are as a team,” Merrill said. “We were down five with 25 seconds left and you’re not going to win a lot of games like that.”.

Abel Porter had 16 points for Utah State (22-6, 12-3 Mountain West Conference), which earned its fourth consecutive victory. Brock Miller added 11 points. Neemias Queta had 10 points for the visitors.

“I thought we got a surge of adrenaline and we hold them to three points in that five-minute overtime," said Aggie coach Craig Smith. "Wow, what a gut check win and road win No. 8.”

Derrick Alston had 22 points for the Broncos (11-16, 6-8). Justinian Jessup tied a season high with 21 points. Alex Hobbs had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Utah State takes on San Diego State at home on Tuesday. Boise State plays Colorado State at home on Wednesday.

Taylorsville • As one of only two seniors on Bingham’s girls’ basketball team, Maggie McCord needed to show leadership and heart if the Miners were going to win their first state title since 2007.

That’s exactly the kind of game McCord turned in as Bingham ruined rival Copper Hills’ hopes of winning its first ever 6A title by capturing a 46-41 win at Salt Lake Community College Saturday.

Only 6.2 miles separate these two massive high schools in the southwest corner of Salt Lake County. But McCord’s game of 25 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals provided just enough distance for Bingham to beat its rival.

“She’s like this energizer that keeps going and going,” said Bingham coach Charron Mason about McCord. “She has worked harder than any person I know in my life to get to this point. … Having her consistency and her leadership was something our team needed.”

Bingham rolled to an early 11-3 lead, watched the Grizzlies fight back to a tie late in the first half and then went on an 11-0 roll to take the lead for good.

Copper Hills didn’t go quietly. As the Miners tried to slow it down much of the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies’ Eleyana Tafisi got hot and brought Copper Hills to within 42-39 with 46 seconds left.

Bingham hit both ends of four critical 1-and-1 situations in the final 1:25, with McCord connecting on six free throws, to preserve the win and finish the season with an 18-7 record.

“It’s so surreal,” said McCord. “We have worked so freaking hard for this and it’s great to see it pay off. … I am so glad I was able to experience my last year with my great teammates.”

McCord was so into the game that she wasn’t even aware of how she was dominating things on both ends of the floor.

“Whatever I did, I wanted to do the best I could,” she said. “I didn’t even think about it. … I just thought about my team.”

The Emery High girls’ basketball team’s 59-31 win over Grantsville netted it a 3A state title on Saturday at Snow College in Richfield.

The win gave Emery its second straight 3A title and helped it reach a 25-0 season. Both Grantsville and Emery were top seeds in the tournament.

Beaver High won the 2A state championship with a 54-52 victory over Kanab at Weber State University in Ogden.

Beaver led by seven in the fourth quarter, but Kanab cut its deficit to just one late. A free throw gave Beavers the two-point lead as they held on to win a game that was close throughout. Beaver finished in fourth place in last season’s 2A tournament.

After Friday night’s double-overtime thriller against the Thunder, Saturday night’s game against the Mavericks was bound to be a bit underwhelming by comparison.

Given that they played 58 minutes, then arrived back in Salt Lake City after 2 a.m., and then played for a second consecutive night, the legs were bound to be tired.

Beyond that, after facing one of the premier teams in the league, the follow-up was against a lottery-bound foe which had recently traded most of its best rotation pieces for a guy recovering from an ACL tear. Not only was there no Paul George, no Russell Westbrook, there wasn’t even Luka Doncic, on account of a sore right ankle.

It was predictably ragged, and perhaps uncomfortably close, but in the end, the curb appeal was irrelevant; all that mattered was the result, which the Jazz were perfectly content to have — a 125-109 victory, which ended a two-game slide.

Despite logging a combined 90 minutes against the Thunder, the backcourt tandem of Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio proved sufficiently efficient against an admittedly depleted Dallas guard line. Each hit 8 of 14 shots, and they tallied 25 points apiece, while combining for 11 assists and just two turnovers (none by Rubio).

Jae Crowder contributed 22 points off the bench, while Joe Ingles’ late barrage of 3-pointers propelled him to a line of 18 points, six assists and five rebounds. Rudy Gobert added 15 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.

The fatigue factor was apparent from the outset, as Utah’s first seven possessions against the Mavs resulted in 1-for-6 shooting and a turnover.

Quite fortuitously, though, a Dallas lineup featuring the likes of Salah Mejri, Jalen Brunson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Tim Hardaway Jr. and a 40-year-old Dirk Nowitzki (likewise on the second half of a back-to-back set) wasn’t really capable of doing anything about it.

The Jazz’s offense eventually got going, with the team’s overall shooting up to 53 percent by halftime. They also enjoyed a 17-5 advantage in free throws attempted at the break.

Dallas, undermanned as it was, didn’t go away, though. After making just 13 of their first 32 shots, the Mavs followed up by draining seven of the next 10 to hang around, trailing by only three at the break.

The third quarter seemed to indicate the Jazz would finally break free. A 17-5 run to begin the quarter opened up a 15-point advantage with 4:39 left in the period.

Again, though, Dallas refused to go away. Former Jazz lottery pick Trey Burke’s unrepentant green-light-to-shoot performance saw him drop 20 points, getting the Mavericks to within as close as three points.

They never did get any closer.

Every time Dallas seemed on the verge of getting the momentum, the Jazz responded with enough key buckets to balloon the margin and restore some breathing room — an Ingles 3-pointer, a reverse lay-in by Crowder, a dunk from Derrick Favors, another bomb by Ingles.

And so on, and so on, as Utah pulled away down the stretch. Ingles’ fifth trey of the game put the Jazz up 17 with 5:48 to play, and sparked an exodus toward the exits, fans finally confident in the ultimate outcome.

Tim Hardaway Jr. led the Mavs with 21 points, while the potentially retiring Nowitzki nailed a trio of triples en route to 15 points in what may have been his final game in Salt Lake City.

The Jazz are now 33-26 on the season, and won’t take the court again until Wednesday against the Clippers.

Pullman, Wash. • Washington State’s Beasley Coliseum offers Pac-12 basketball teams an opportunity to relax and recover after the torment of visiting league-leading Washington.

Utah produced an offensive cure and showed some defensive ability Saturday night in a 92-79 defeat of the Cougars. In the process, the Utes maintained their top-four standing in the conference and left Pullman with the breakthrough of sophomore forward Donnie Tillman’s rediscovering his game at both ends of the court.

The Utes’ 45-point production in the first half was impressive, after they totaled 45 points in an ugly loss Wednesday at Washington. And what Utah (15-12, 9-6 Pac-12) did defensively in the second half was even more encouraging. Tillman took the lead role against WSU star Robert Franks, as the Utes held the Cougars to 36.7-percent shooting after halftime. Utah quickly built a 14-point lead as the second half began and never let WSU get within eight points after that.

Senior guard Sedrick Barefield matched his season high with 33 points, overcoming the 29 points of Franks, who might be the Pac-12’s best offensive player. Barefield’s individual scoring honors were made possible by Tillman’s defensive effort, after Franks had scored 22 points to Barefield’s 19 in the first half.

The result was a bounce-back game for the Utes, in multiple ways. Barefield had been shut out in the last 33 minutes at Washington after a hot start; Tillman went scoreless for the first time all season and was among many Utes who just were overwhelmed by the Huskies.

Tillman’s 16-point, 11-rebound stat line against the Cougars tells only part of his story, in what Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak labeled a “crossroads” game for his team in the crazy competition for a top-four seed in the Pac-12 tournament. Krystkowiak’s move to a man-to-man defense succeeded in bringing something out of his players — especially Tillman, whose work was vital in the absence of forward Timmy Allen, due to a back injury.

Tillman acknowledged afterward that his performance tends to “meander” from game to game and he’s “never really engaged” defensively. That changed Saturday, when he accepted the challenge of guarding Franks, knowing he was testing himself against a future NBA player.

“It was fun,” Tillman said.

His teammates have been “expecting that and waiting for that,” Barefield said of Tillman’s all-round effort. “Donnie’s a super-talented player, one of the most athletic teammates I’ve ever had, so he has the tools. When he comes with that mentality, he’s an amazing two-way player.”

Franks had missed WSU’s 88-70 loss to Utah at the Huntsman Center in January with a hip injury. Without him, the Cougars scored only 30 points in that game’s first 26 minutes. Thanks partly to Franks’ 13 points, WSU needed only 14 minutes to top the 30-point mark Saturday, as his outside shooting exploited Utah’s zone.

Eventually, the Cougars (11-16, 4-10) started missing shots and their own lack of defense accommodated Utah’s comeback. In a volatile first half, the Utes trailed by nine points and led by seven as Parker Van Dyke (17 points) supported Barefield.

Utah’s 45-43 halftime lead seemed precarious, but the Utes pulled away with defense and 3-point shooting. Players moved the ball efficiently, Van Dyke hit consecutive 3-pointers and Utah continually had answers when the Cougars made any kind of threat.

Barefield was exactly the player the Utes needed him to be, and the same could be said of a bunch of his teammates.

“It’s that time of year, where you fall out or you can make a name for yourself,” Barefield said.

By beating WSU, the Utes stayed afloat in their bid for a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament. They also made it through a Pac-12 road schedule without being swept on any two-game trip, and left themselves needing only one more victory to clinch a winning record in league play. That’s worth something, even in a downtrodden conference.

Ian Berg was waiting in booking at the Utah County jail about 10:45 p.m.

The 30-year-old had been arrested earlier that day in American Fork on allegations of shoplifting items worth more than $400, a third-degree felony for him because of prior criminal history.

Police say he waited until a booking clerk was alone before he made his way into a restricted area, picked up a pen and scissors and grabbed the woman from behind. He allegedly pressed the scissors into the woman’s neck, yelling, “I will do it!”

That was Feb. 13. On Thursday, Utah County prosecutors charged him with two first-degree felony counts of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault and two second-degree felony counts of aggravated assault by a prison and having items prohibited in a correctional facility.

In a separate case, they charged him with shoplifting, according to court records.

The woman told police that Berg told her that night, “I need to get out of here." She yelled for help, and several deputies came to help her, according to court documents.

The deputies struggled with Berg and wrestled him to the ground. Records show he’s been in jail ever since.

Taylorsville • Billy Joel once wrote a song that best describes East’s style of basketball.

“Pressure!”

The Leopards were relentless from the opening seconds as they earned an impressive 72-65 victory over Corner Canyon Saturday night at Salt Lake Community College and won their second straight Class 5A girls’ basketball title.

But the Chargers also showed they could dish out pressure as well as they rallied in the second half in an intense battle that saw both teams press all over the court.

Led by sisters Deserae and Lealani Falatea, Margarita Satini, Lina Tausinga and center Precious Faamausili, the Leopards deployed a defense that put pressure on a good Corner Canyon team from the game’s opening seconds.

Even with Division 1 players Jaeden Vaifanua and Kemery Martin on the floor, the Chargers just couldn’t cope with that constant pressure, though it wasn’t as if they didn’t try.

“We knew they were going to make a run,” said East coach Olossa Solovi. “I was extremely proud of our girls that they didn’t give up the lead. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

Led by Vaifanua’s 32 points and 14 rebounds, Corner Canyon fought back from a 16-point deficit to tie the game at 50 early in the fourth quarter.

But East wouldn’t fold as the Leopards got key free throws from Faamausili and Lealani Falatea down the stretch as the Chargers cut the lead to 65-62 with 1:34 to play.

“It was intense,” said Falatea, who finished with 18 points. “I’m not going to lie. … I practice free throws after every game in game situations.”

Margarita Satini led East with 21 points before fouling out, while Faamausili contributed 12 rebounds and Deserae Falatea added 15 points.

“That second half, Corner Canyon came out and tried to put us away,” said Satini. “We knew we had to come out stronger and lay down the hammer on them.”

Solovi praised the community for its support.

“These guys have overcome a lot,” he said. “I am, so proud of these girls, their parents and the community. It was a little rough at times during the season but they stuck with us.”