Las Vegas • As the Utah Jazz’s summer league team was in the second quarter of Tuesday’s game against Portland in Cox Pavilion, Ricky Rubio was but a few thousand feet away, in a conference room at the adjoining Thomas & Mack Center.

In an event that marked the official end to his two years as the Jazz’s starting point guard, Rubio was being introduced as the new starting point guard of the Phoenix Suns.

A day after the Jazz introduced Bojan Bogdanovic and Mike Conley — the latter the man whose acquisition sealed Rubio’s departure — the Spaniard was explaining how he went from the point guard of a team that was among the best in the Western Conference to a group trying to end a run of lottery appearances, from an outfit that won 50 games a year ago to one that won just 19.

Asked how he felt about the end of his two-year run with Utah, Rubio was typically straightforward.

Ricky Rubio, on his Jazz tenure ending: "This is a business and you understand that things [don’t] work the way that we want in the beginning, I guess. There’s things that change. … What they’re building over there is something that I’m proud of being a part of." pic.twitter.com/z1vq7TguY7

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) July 9, 2019

“This is a business and you understand that things [don’t] work the way that we want in the beginning, I guess. There’s things that change,” he said. “… I was just really excited with the two years I spent out there — I really learned a lot. Coach Quin [Snyder] is special. And what they’re building over there is something that I’m proud of being a part of, that organization. But it’s time for me to move on, and I’m really excited to be here.”

Now, instead of setting up the likes of Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles, he’ll be looking for Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and rookie sharpshooter Cameron Johnson.

After the team took heat a year ago for not having a true floor general on the roster, Phoenix general manager James Jones said it was imperative to add a point guard this summer, and was confident Rubio would do all he could to earn the $51 million he’s due over the next three seasons.

“We’re just really thrilled to have Ricky with us, knowing that his experience, his winning pedigree, his ability to control a team, to run a team, to lead a team is something that we’ve missed, something that we haven’t had recently in Phoenix,” Jones said. “And with his addition, I expect our young guys to be able to take a huge leap forward this year.”

New coach Monty Williams added that adding Rubio to the mix will help the Suns both on and off the court.

“He’s about all of the things that we want to promote — the habits, the attitude, the experience. … I’m really excited about him as a person,” Williams said. “… Like James said, he’s gonna make all of us look a lot better than we should. Our young guys are gonna be in for a treat just being around him.”

For his part, Rubio (who will wear No. 11 with Phoenix) acknowledged that the change in circumstances, in teammates would be an adjustment.

That said, he added that part of the appeal of joining Phoenix is that his veteran status could make a significant difference on a young, developing squad trying to find its way.

“It’s been an honor to really see a franchise where they’re building something special. A lot of young guys, and I can bring to the table my experience,” Rubio said. “I’m already 28, been eight years in the league. … I think I can bring that to the young guys, really help them reach the level that they deserve. … It’s just a really exciting project — it’s a challenge.”

New York • The Justice Department can’t replace nine lawyers so late in the dispute over whether to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census without explaining why they are doing so, a judge said Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman, who earlier this year ruled against adding the citizenship question, put the brakes on the government’s plans a day after he was given a three-paragraph notification by the Justice Department along with a prediction that the replacement of lawyers won’t “cause any disruption in this matter.”

"Defendants provide no reasons, let alone 'satisfactory reasons,' for the substitution of counsel," Furman wrote, noting that the most immediate deadline for government lawyers to submit written arguments in the case is only three days away.

The judge said local rules for federal courts in New York City require that any attorney requesting to leave a case provide satisfactory reasons for withdrawing. The judge must then decide what impact a lawyer's withdrawal will have on the timing of court proceedings.

He called the Justice Department's request "patently deficient," except for two lawyers who have left the department or the civil division which is handling the case.

The new team came about after a top Justice Department civil attorney who was leading the litigation effort told Attorney General William Barr that multiple people on the team preferred not to continue, Barr told The Associated Press on Monday.

The attorney who was leading the team, James Burnham, "indicated it was a logical breaking point since a new decision would be made and the issue going forward would hopefully be separate from the historical debates," Barr said.

Furman's refusal came in a case that has proceeded on an unusual legal path since numerous states and municipalities across the country challenged the government's announcement early last year that it intended to add the citizenship question to the census for the first time since 1950.

Opponents of the question say it will depress participation by immigrants, lowering the population count in states that tend to vote Democratic and decreasing government funds to those areas because funding levels are based on population counts.

At one point, the Justice Department succeeded in getting the Supreme Court to block plans to depose Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Nearly two weeks ago, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the plans to add the census question, saying the administration's justification for adding the question "seems to have been contrived."

Afterward, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau began printing census questionnaires without the question and the Department of Justice signaled it would not attempt to continue the legal fight.

It reversed itself after President Donald Trump promised to keep trying to add the question.

The Justice Department then notified judges in three similar legal challenges that it planned to find a new legal path to adding the question to the census.

Furman said the urgency to resolve legal claims and the need for efficient judicial proceedings was an important consideration in rejecting a replacement of lawyers.

He said the Justice Department had insisted that the speedy resolution of lawsuits against adding the question was "a matter of great private and public importance."

"If anything, that urgency — and the need for efficient judicial proceedings — has only grown since that time," Furman said.

Furman said the government could re-submit its request to replace attorneys only with a sworn statement by each lawyer explaining satisfactory reasons to withdraw so late. He said he’ll require new attorneys to promise personnel changes will not slow the case.

Midway • Nothing leading up to the Utah State Amateur golf tournament this week suggested that University of Utah junior Colton Tanner would rise to the top of the leaderboard after two rounds of stroke-play qualifying for match play.

But as the current Park City resident notes, “golf can be funny that way.”

And now he’s doing all the smiling. Tanner became the surprise medalist Tuesday afternoon after shooting a 3-under-par 69 on the Gold Course to go with the 5-under 67 he shot on the Silver Course on Monday for a 36-hole total of 8-under 136.

Defending champion Preston Summerhays bogeyed his final hole Tuesday or he would have tied Tanner for medalist honors. He finished at 7 under and said he was aware of how he stood going into the final hole.

“It’s not super important [to win medalist],” Summerhays said. “I wanted to do it going into the week, but the No. 1 goal is just to get to match play.”

Meanwhile, Summerhays’ sister, Grace, who turned 15 on Tuesday, celebrated her birthday by becoming the second woman ever to make match play at the State Am. She fired an even-par 72 on the Gold Course to finish at 2-over 146 and tied for 29th in stroke-play qualifying.

“I don’t really have anything to lose at this point,” Grace said after matching Annie Thurman Young’s feat from 2004.

Preston seconded that notion, saying he is “super excited for her” and that he knew she could do it.

“She’s a 14-year-old girl,” Preston said, briefly forgetting the birthday. “Whoever plays her is going to have a tremendous amount of pressure on them.”

That will be former USU golfer Brennan Coburn.

Tanner redshirted his first season at Utah, then played in only three tournaments last season and couldn’t crack the starting rotation. But he saved his best for this summer — after getting some good instruction from teaching pro Corey Badger at the Golf Lab in Salt Lake City — and is suddenly a threat to win the whole thing.

“I really thought I had a good chance of playing really well,” Tanner said. “You don’t want to put a number on it, so I don’t want to say I thought about winning, but I told my dad [Kirk] that I felt really good about my game and might have a chance at the whole thing.”

Tanner’s round Tuesday consisted of an eagle and four birdies to offset three bogeys. Monday, he made a 50-foot putt for birdie on No. 8 and has rolled ever since.

Although his parents are Utah graduates, Tanner attended high school in Dallas and Connecticut and at a boarding school in South Carolina, the International Junior Golf Academy. Twice before he’s made it to the Round of 64, but fell in the opening rounds two and three years ago.

“The motto me and my mom [Diane] have had yesterday and today was to just send it — not hold back,” he said. “I feel if I can just kinda let myself go, I can give it a pretty good run. But anything can happen. All the players who will make it to the 64 are going to be pretty good.”

Match play begins Wednesday morning at 7:30 a.m.

As usual, Tuesday’s thickest drama focused on the cut for match play, and the pressure-filled playoff for the final few berths. Twelve golfers who shot 5-over 149 entered the playoff for the final nine spots.

Tommy Johnson, Patrick Horstmann, Christopher Romney, Greg Slack, Zane Brownrigg, Aaron Smith and Brett Garner made pars on the first hole and advanced.

Kurt Owen and 15-year-old Cooper Jones made birdies on the second playoff hole to advance, ousting Alex Smith, Bryan Dalton and Bob Mitchell.

Owen, the Salt Lake City Amateur champ, and his playing partners earlier Tuesday, Kyler Dearden and Hunter Howe, were assessed one-stroke penalties for slow play or Owen would not have been forced into the playoff. Dearden and Howe both qualified, but got worse seeds because of the penalties.

“A tough break,” Dearden said, noting that the group was slowed because it spent 21 minutes looking for lost balls on three consecutive holes. “Hopefully karma will be on my side tomorrow.”

Owen declined to comment on the matter.

121st Utah State Amateur

Stroke-Play Qualifying Results

136 — Colton Tanner (67-69)

137 — Preston Summerhays (67-70)

139 — Cole Ponich (73-66)

140 — Colton Dallimore (72-68)

141 — Denny Job (72-69), Cameron Tucker (72-69), Mitchell Schow (73-68)

142 — Nathan Ouimette (65-77), Masen Ward (71-71), Brigham Gibbs (68-74)

143 — Kelton Hirsch (71-72), Chase Lansford (75-68), Tanner Telford (73-70), Christopher Cheney (71-72), Carl Jensen (72-71)

144 — Triston Gardner (73-71), Dan Horner (72-72), Reed Nielsen (70-74), Cole Ogden (71-73)

145 — Jake Vincent (74-71), Alec Williams (71-74), Joshua Pehrson (74-71), Peyton Hastings (68-77), Ryan Barber (75-70), Spencer Dunaway (72-73), Thomas Young (73-72), Braydon Swapp (76-69)

146 — Boston Watts (77-69), Ryan Brimley (75-71), Dylan Chugg (74-72), Spencer Wallace (78-68), Kyler Dearden (70-76), Brennan Coburn (73-73), Ryan Seamons (73-73), Blake Murray (72-74), Grace Summerhays (74-72)

147 — Jayce Frampton (77-70), Nick Becker (73-74), John Owen (74-73), Steven Croft (75-72), Hunter Howe (74-73), Derek Penman (72-75), Andrew Cottle (73-74), Joshua Lansky (71-76), Kyle Tueller (74-73), Clay Bingham (75-72), John Reid (74-73), Cole Wecker (73-74), Michael Branca (76-71),

148 — Elijah Turner (73-75), Tanner Alder (73-75), Paul Cannon (73-75), Clark Jones (71-77), Noah Schone (77-71)

149 — *Tommy Johnson (71-78), *Aaron Smith (73-76), Alex Smith (73-76), *Patrick Hortsmann (73-76), *Zane Brownrigg (75-74), Bob Mitchell (74-75), *Kurt Owen (69-80), Bryan Dalton (73-76), *Christopher Romney (73-76), *Greg Slack (74-75), *Cooper Jones (77-72), *Brett Garner (73-76). * - Denotes playoff survivor

Did not make cut

150 — Brady Bigler (74-76), Tanner Taft (77-73), Helaman Ofahengaue (80-70), Patrick Murphy (78-72), Jason Hargett (74-76), Logan Skalka (76-74), Tyler Labrum (73-77), Christian James (75-75), Eric Loveland (77-73), Joshua Savage (71-79), Lane Season (71-79)

151 — David Jennings (77-74), Steve Borget (75-76), Tommy Forsman (76-75), Randy Hicken (76-75), Brendan Dennis (77-74), Caden Hamill (76-75), Willard Richards (77-74),

152 — Brock Nielson (78-74), Zack Neff (74-78), Preston Wallace (79-73), Sean Lam (75-77), Joshua Lillywhite (81-71), Greg Baumgartner (74-78), Jeff Jolley (75-77), Lucas Schone (73-79)

Cleveland • For one night, the pitchers took back the power.

Hours after an awesome Home Run Derby got everyone buzzing even louder about monster shots and juiced balls, only a couple flew out of Progressive Field on Tuesday.

Instead, Justin Verlander blazed 97 mph heat, Shane Bieber and Aroldis Chapman each struck out the side and the American League slowed a loaded NL lineup 4-3 for its seventh straight win in the All-Star Game.

“I know it’s the year of the home run, but pitching dominated today,” Colorado slugger Nolan Arenado said.

Sure did — at least until play resumes Thursday.

Facing Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger and a bunch of boppers, the AL staff combined to strike out 16.

“Baseball is a funny game,” said Bieber, a most unlikely MVP after being added late to the roster.

With fans hoping to see a replay of Monday’s jaw-dropping aerial show when 312 homers cleared the walls, this became the Arm-Star Game up until the late innings.

Derby champ Pete Alonso of the Mets grounded a two-out, two-run single past Gleyber Torres in the eighth to close the NL’s gap. After a double steal put runners at second and third against Cleveland reliever Brad Hand, White Sox catcher James McCann made a tumbling catch on Mike Moustakas’ twisting foul pop to end the inning.

Chapman closed to give the AL its 19th win in 22 games, with a tie stuck in there. He got a little encouragement with two outs — Yankees teammate CC Sabathia, honored this week for his contributions on and off the field, strolled to the mound to talk to the flamethrower.

Chapman then struck out Yasmani Grandal for a save , giving the AL an overall 45-43-2 lead in the Midsummer Classic.

No need, either, for the experimental rule that was set to go effect: If the game went into extras, each team would’ve started the 10th with an automatic runner on second base.

Major League Baseball is on a record-shattering pace for homers this season, but no one came close to clearing the walls until Charlie Blackmon connected in the NL sixth to make it 2-1. Texas’ Joey Gallo countered with a solo drive in a two-run seventh.

Still, it was a far cry from last year’s All-Star Game that featured a record 10 home runs.

“I kind of expected it, to be honest,” former NL MVP Kris Bryant said. “You only see them once, so they have the advantage.”

“There are a lot of hard throwers and great pitchers over there. Unless you’ve seen them before, it’s a difficult matchup,” he said.

Cleveland favorite Michael Brantley had an early RBI double off losing pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Jorge Polanco drove in a run with an infield single for a 2-0 edge in the fifth and another scored on a double-play grounder.

“I wanted to swing the bat early. I had some nervous jitters I wanted to get out,” Brantley said.

Winning pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, Lucas Giolito and Shane Greene did their parts to protect the lead with scoreless innings.

Bieber dazzled in front of a chanting home crowd, striking out Willson Contreras, Ketel Marte and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the fifth with a 1-0 lead.

“It was electric out there, the fans got in it and it was fun,” AL manager Alex Cora of the Red Sox said. “And I’m glad that he got the MVP. He plays at this level. He’s really good.”

The biggest misplay of the night might have been on the scoreboard. NL All-Stars David Dahl of Colorado and Willson Contreras of the Cubs had their names misspelled — “Davis Dahl” and “Wilson Contreras” — on the outfield videoboard. Jeff McNeil was spelled correctly, but the photo accompanying it was of Mets teammate Jacob deGrom.

“That was tough, to see deGrom’s picture up there,” McNeil said. “I didn’t really like that. I wanted to see my picture up there. I know my family did, too. What are you going to do, I guess, but I don’t think that should happen.”

Fittingly, the first batter of the game was the guy who leads the majors in home runs — Yelich, the NL MVP with 31 homers at the break, hit leadoff for the first time this year.

Yelich lined out and Verlander quickly fanned Javier Báez and Freddie Freeman to finish his work.

Those lively balls that Verlander is complaining about? Didn’t bother him a bit.

NL starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, deGrom and Luis Castillo threw scoreless innings to keep the NL close in the early going.

Pittsburgh dynamo Josh Bell was part of the youngest starting lineup in All-Star history, with the NL crew averaging under 26 years old.

Overall, there were 36 first-timers, a number boosted by the absence of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, José Altuve and several past perennials. And consider this: Of the 16 AL pitchers on the 2017 All-Star roster, zero made the roster this year.

TRIBUTE

All players wore a uniform patch with No. 45 to honor late Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Los Angeles teammates Mike Trout and Tommy La Stella switched their jerseys to Skaggs’ number, and there was a pregame moment of silence.

UP NEXT

The regular season resumes on Thursday night with one game, Houston at Texas. All teams are back in action Friday. ... Next year’s All-Star Game is at Dodger Stadium for the first time since 1980.

———

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

Recognition of Muslim holidays and a cabinet-level diversity officer and were among measures proposed by Salt Lake City’s six mayoral candidates in a forum Tuesday on issues affecting the city’s Muslim community.

The candidates focused on ways to ensure cultural competency and diverse representation in city government, some highlighting their own experience with discrimination.

“I have experienced hate based on my race, ethnicity, gender and national origin,” state Sen. Luz Escamilla said in the forum, hosted at Salt Lake Community College by the Emerald Project, a Utah-based nonprofit focused on combating Islamophobia. “Representation does matter.”

Escamilla and environmental lawyer David Garbett proposed elevating the city’s commissioner for diversity and human rights to a cabinet-level position.

City councilwoman Erin Mendenhall proposed “a zero-tolerance policy” for police officers assigned to schools if they have “any kind of a history of … cultural bias.” She also called for accommodations such as transit fare and child care stipends to allow a more diverse pool of candidates to join the city’s boards and committees. Mendenhall and Escamilla both urged that meetings be held in low-income neighborhoods to allow more citizens to participate.

Former state Sen. Jim Dabakis and former city councilman Stan Penfold called for a Salt Lake City street to be named for a prominent Muslim, as the city has renamed streets for Harvey Milk, Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr.

“These are important to us as a community because they show we acknowledge … broad diversity,” Penfold said. Several candidates drew analogies to Salt Lake City’s celebration of Pride Month in June as evidence that marginalized communities can be acknowledged and elevated in city government.

Asked whether they would continue to staff an office of diversity and human rights, all six candidates said that they would, but most agreed that the city must go further to ensure cultural competency was a priority in all departments.

“The challenge that the city faces now is we have to avoid the tokenism of just an office or a person,” Penfold said. “We need to make sure diversity is integrated into everything we do.”

Businessman David Ibarra said any progress would require the mayor to take a vocal stand against anti-Muslim bigotry.

“I’m not going to be polite like I was the first quarter of my life,” he said. “A mayor calls it out.”

Washington • Eager to focus voters on immigration in the lead-up to the midterm elections, President Donald Trump on Monday escalated his threats against a migrant caravan trudging slowly toward the U.S. border as the Pentagon prepared to deploy thousands of U.S. troops to support the border patrol.

Trump tweeted: “This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!”

His warning came as the Pentagon began executing a support mission dubbed Operation Faithful Patriot to provide military assistance requested by the Customs and Border Patrol. Two U.S. officials said the troop total was likely to be slightly above 5,000, with troops coming mainly from major Army bases from coast to coast. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a troop plan that was not yet publicly announced.

The Customs and Border Patrol is pushing a surge in personnel in response to the caravan of Central American immigrants, which was still hundreds of miles from the U.S. border, three administration officials said. The military troops are intended to assist the border patrol, not engage directly with migrants, several officials said.

The White House is also weighing additional border security measures, including blocking those traveling in the caravan from seeking legal asylum and keeping them from entering the U.S.

The escalating rhetoric and expected deployments come as the president has been trying to turn the caravan into a key election issue with just days to go before the midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans maintain control of Congress.

“This will be the election of the caravans, the Kavanaughs, law and order, tax cuts, and you know what else? It’s going to be the election of common sense,” Trump said at a rally in Illinois on Saturday night.

He continued his threats on Monday, tweeting, without providing evidence, that, “Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border.”

“Please go back,” he urged them, “you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!”

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that the planned deployment, first announced late last week, was likely to be much larger than the preliminary figures of 800 to 1,000 troops. The Journal reported that the Pentagon plans to deploy 5,000 troops, mainly military police and engineers.

The troops are expected to perform functions such as transporting supplies for the Border Patrol, but not engage directly with migrants seeking to cross the border from Mexico, officials said. One U.S. official said the troops will be sent initially to staging bases in California, Texas and Arizona while the CBP works out precisely where it wants the troops positioned. U.S. Transportation Command posted a video on its Facebook page Monday of a C-17 transport plane that it said was delivering Army equipment to the Southwest Border in support of Operation Faithful Patriot.

National Guard troops routinely perform those same functions, so it remains unclear clear why active duty forces would be used. The National Guard is often used by states to help with border security. But active duty troops are rarely deployed within the United States except for domestic emergencies like hurricanes or floods.

The U.S. military has already begun delivering jersey barriers to the southern border in conjunction with the deployment plans.

Mattis told reporters traveling with him Sunday that the deployment was still being worked out, but that the additional troops would provide logistical and other support to the Border Patrol and bolster the efforts of the approximately 2,000 National Guard forces already there. That includes functions such as air support and equipment, including vehicles and tents.

As the race to become Salt Lake City mayor heats up ahead of the August primary, several candidates are pushing for free UTA fares within city boundaries and for city taxpayers as a way to promote transit ridership and improve air quality.

Jim Dabakis and Stan Penfold floated the idea in separate interviews with The Salt Lake Tribune, as well as at a transportation forum Wednesday evening co-hosted by Bike Utah and the Utah Transit Riders Union at the downtown Salt Lake City Library.

“I am convinced that one of the first steps for getting people on transit is to eliminate the fare,” Penfold, a former Salt Lake City councilman who worked on establishing the first free-fare day for red air during his time on the council, said in an interview before the debate. “I think that’s the No. 1 thing we can do, personally, to work on our air quality is provide opportunities to get out of a car. So that’s a priority for me.”

UTA does have a free-fare zone in the central downtown area for TRAX, bus and paratransit riders, but it encompasses only a small portion of the broader city boundary.

Dabakis, a former state senator, said 11% of the agency’s revenue comes from fares — a small price to pay, he argued, when considering that past free-fare days have boosted ridership.

“Eleven percent, it’s not worthy,” he said. “How much does it cost just to collect that? To have people checking in to have set up all those boxes and collecting the money out of them and auditing and the rest?”

Earlier this year, UTA and other partners offered three free-fare days, which increased overall ridership about 16 percent, according to UTA officials. The agency estimated about 10,500 vehicles were removed from the road each those days and had prevented more than 2.5 tons of pollutants and 80 tons of greenhouse gases daily.

I'm at a mayoral transportation debate, which is being co-hosted by Bike Utah and the Utah Transit Riders Union at the downtown Salt Lake City Library. Stay tuned to learn more about the candidates' views on a variety of transportation issues. #utpol

— Taylor Stevens (@tstevensmedia) June 6, 2019

Some bus systems in Utah — in Park City and Cache County — already offer free fares at all times, so Salt Lake City wouldn’t be the first to do this. UTA has been offering it, thanks to a federal grant, on its new Utah Valley Express bus rapid transit system in Provo and Orem. The agency has said the free fares quintupled ridership from the old bus routes it replaced.

In an experiment to reduce air pollution, the Legislature this year created a pilot program to create more free-fare days, which will be triggered by inversion forecasts.

During the forum Wednesday night — the first of the mayoral election cycle — a crowd of more than 50 listened to seven of the nine candidates in the race answer questions about topics ranging from active transportation and safety to equity and parking.

In separate interviews, nearly all of the candidates told The Salt Lake Tribune they would be committed, if elected, to promoting alternatives to cars, particularly in the face of massive population growth.

“We’re not going to be able to expand and see capacity for cars in this city anymore," said David Garbett, former executive director of the Pioneer Park Coalition. "And with growth, in order to have a city that people can move around quickly, we know that we’re going to need to get more people out of cars. And so I think that’s really a strategy of getting more people onto bikes, getting more people to walk, getting more people to use public transit.”

Candidates also said they view transportation as intimately related to affordable housing, another major issue facing the city’s next mayor.

Housing advocates have estimated there is a gap of at least 7,500 apartments that are affordable to renters making $20,000 or less. Meanwhile, rent in the county jumped from an average of $720 a month in 2010 to $1,072 last year, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s midyear 2018 Apartment Market Report.

“We have 200,000 people leave here every night and come back every morning; 40% of them want to live in the city but can't because of affordable housing,” said businessman David Ibarra. “If we could get them here and then move to a way that we move people throughout this city — and I believe that way is an autonomous electric car system that moves folks from grid to grid to grid to location — we would then improve our environment, improve our affordable housing opportunities and we'd improve transportation.”

While candidates are focused on public transportation and other alternatives to cars, that doesn’t mean they’re not thinking about city roads, two-thirds of which are in poor or worse condition, according to a pavement survey commissioned in 2017.

State Sen. Luz Escamilla said she would take a “holistic approach” to transportation, if elected, and would look at everything "from roads that are decent roads” for cars, to ensuring people who are interested in bicycling “have a road area and the roads where they can do that in a safe manner.”

Salt Lake City residents last year approved an $87 million road reconstruction bond to fix some of the failing roads. But Salt Lake City Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall said that’s not an end-all solution and argued she’s best equipped to lead the city forward.

“As bold as [the bond] was, that’s only a fraction of the actual need for our streets," she said. “So we need a mayor who is willing and understands the financial realities of what it’s going to take to really improve our roads."

Aaron Johnson, a military veteran and novice politician, said that as mayor he would look to do away with one-lane areas in downtown, which he said causes congestion during peak rush hours. Richard Goldberger, a freelance journalist, said he would like to create a program, if elected, where block captains and co-captains would work to clean the city’s “filthy” sidewalks and would push for an expansion of transit to the prison.

Update: As of July 10, a man has been charged with aggravated murder and other counts in the death of University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck.

MacKenzie Lueck took a ride with a Lyft driver from Salt Lake City International Airport early June 17 to North Salt Lake’s Hatch Park — where she met someone in a vehicle, say Salt Lake City police.

That’s the last time police, or Lueck’s family and friends, know the whereabouts of the 23-year-old University of Utah student, said Tim Doubt, assistant police chief.

In that week, Lueck missed a midterm exam and a scheduled flight to California on Sunday. She has not used her phone and has not visited her home near Trolley Square. Her family filed a missing-persons report Thursday afternoon.

There is still no evidence of foul play, Doubt said, but “we want to make sure she is all right.”

Police spent Monday canvassing the Hatch Park area and following leads from a newly created tip line. Six detectives are answering calls — at 801-799-4420 — and others are chasing down the information.

Doubt pointed out that Lueck could be “off the grid” voluntarily and does not want to be found. Doubt addressed Lueck directly, through the media: “MacKenzie, we are asking you to please reach out. … We just want to make sure that you are safe, and we will respect your wishes.”

Doubt gave this timeline of Lueck’s activities on June 17: Her plane from California landed at 1:35 a.m. She texted her mother at 2:01 a.m. She caught a Lyft at 2:42 a.m., riding to Hatch Park, arriving at 2:59 a.m. There she met someone in a vehicle.

Lueck did not appear to be in distress, the Lyft driver told police, and the Lyft driver went on to pick up other passengers. Doubt said police need to confirm the make and model of the vehicle, and a description of the person Lueck met, before releasing those details. Police are looking at surveillance footage around Hatch Park, Doubt said, adding that there were no cameras inside the park.

Opening the tip line, Doubt said, will enlist the public in answering questions the police are still investigating: Whom Lueck met in North Salt Lake? Whether she has an alternate phone or social media accounts the police do not know about? And whether she has been in contact with anyone on social media since last Monday?

The University of Utah released a statement Monday afternoon saying officials are “deeply concerned" about the well-being of Lueck and her family, and that the school is cooperating with the police investigating her disappearance.

“MacKenzie is enrolled part time as a senior at the U., and is majoring in kinesiology and pre-nursing and minoring in health,” the statement said. “She has been enrolled at the U. since fall 2014. Because of privacy laws that protect MacKenzie’s personal information, the university cannot provide further details.”

The U.'s dean of students has spoken with family to offer support and to express the campus community’s shared hope for her safe return, the statement notes. The dean’s office is also talking with and providing support to MacKenzie’s classmates, and the U.’s Counseling Center is available to assist those in need.

In a prepared statement sent to FOX 13, Lueck’s family said they were "grateful for the concern, prayers and the tireless efforts of the Salt Lake City Police and members of the community.”

Earlier in the day, Salt Lake City police posted on Twitter a tip line specifically for the case. Anyone with information should call 801-799-4420 and reference case 19-111129.

SLCPD stood up a dedicated tip line specifically for #MissingPerson Mackenzie Lueck, case 19-111129. Please call 801-799-4420 with any information. #MackenzieLueck

— SLC Police Dept. (@slcpd) June 24, 2019

Editor’s note • The Salt Lake Tribune and FOX 13 are content-sharing partners.

Hugh Jackman’s Laughing Man Coffee company will serve up free cups of joe Thursday morning in Salt Lake City. And if you go, pay careful attention to who your server is — it just might be Jackman himself.

The star of everything from “X-Men” to “Les Miserables” to “The Greatest Showman” is bringing his “The Man. The Music. The Show.” tour to Vivint Smart Home Arena on Thursday and Friday evenings. And as he’s done in other cities, he’s bringing along Laughing Man coffee — which will be available at the Gallivan Center (239 S. Main St.) from 7 to 10 a.m. on Thursday. All you have to do is show up and stand in line.

Jackman’s people aren’t saying whether the Emmy and Golden Globe winner will be there himself. But he showed up in Boston. And Chicago. And Dallas. And Denver on Wednesday. He’s been autographing paper coffee cups as he hands them out to fans. And he’s posted pictures and videos of himself on social media, passing out coffee from inside the Laughing Man truck.

Thank you for turning out to see us Denver!! @laughingmanco @Keurig #makeeverycupcount pic.twitter.com/YFvEaY6A8h

— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) July 10, 2019

“Hugh has been making surprise visits at each of the last locations!” said a spokeswoman, who added, “At the moment, we don’t have specifics on whether or not he is planning” to be at the Gallivan Center.

Well, she didn’t rule it out.

On a trip to Ethiopia in 2009, Jackman met a young coffee farmer trying to lift his family out of poverty, and he was inspired to provide a way for farmers to sell their products in the United States. He created the Laughing Man brand and the Laughing Man Foundation in 2011.

Next stop .... #Dallas @laughingmanco pic.twitter.com/mPt5aGWsHr

— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) June 18, 2019

A portion of Laughing Man coffee sales “supports coffee farming communities and programs that clear the way to sustainable health, growth, and success for coffee farmers and their families,” according to the foundation. And Laughing Man will make a donation to the foundation for every cup handed out in each city Jackman visits on the tour.

His opening act on Thursday and Friday is Keala Settle, who’s perhaps best known for her performance of the Oscar-nominated song “This Is Me” in “The Greatest Showman.” Settle is a graduate of Southern Utah University.

By the way, limited tickets still remain for both the Thursday and Friday performances at Vivint Arena. They’re available at the box office; online at vivintarena.com, TicketMaster.com or UtahJazz.com; or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

Boston baby! @laughingmanco pic.twitter.com/bJqY8ItBb2

— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) June 27, 2019

Turf wars are nothing new in city government, but what about an artificial turf war? That’s exactly the fight Matt and Jessica Boardman have waged.

Back in 2016, the Boardmans bought a home not far from the 9th and 9th neighborhood in Salt Lake City, a brick bungalow with a xeriscaped yard and a tall tree that dropped big seed pods.

It was a headache to maintain — they couldn’t rake the rocks, a blower didn’t work and in the spring they were getting weeds coming up through the rocks.

They considered putting in grass, but worried it wouldn’t get enough light because of the big tree. And there was no way they were going to cut down the tree. So in the summer of 2017 they ponied up some $10,000 to install synthetic turf — no watering, no weeds, and it’s easier to maintain.

“It’s the prettiest yard on the whole street. It has been for the last couple of years,” Matt Boardman told me.

But in February 2018, the Boardmans got a notice — thanks to a complaint to the city— that they were violating the ordinance which, enforcement officials said, bans artificial turf in front yards, although I’ve read it and it’s fairly vague.

Joel Paterson, zoning administrator with the city planning office, said the ordinance requires live plants over a third of a front yard. The rest can be covered with rock, gravel or mulch, but because artificial grass is not explicitly listed in the ordinance, it is not permitted.

“I really had no reason to think I was doing something wrong,” Boardman said. “If you read this not having any prior context you would never expect you couldn’t have artificial grass.”

For more than a year now, the Boardmans have been fighting the city and working with city council members to try to keep their grass. They appealed the city’s interpretation, arguing it was vague and outdated, but in March their appeal was rejected.

Now they’re at a crossroads. The city has given them until Thursday to rip out the turf or it will start fining them $25 each day until it’s gone.

“I don’t feel like we have worked with anyone in the planning office who cares and is a reasonable person,” said Boardman, who is hoping to get a last-minute extension. “I don’t want to sound rude or insensitive, but they’re like robots.”

This sort of conflict with the city is uncommon, but they are not alone.

About a year ago, while my friend Scott Platz was still in the hospital recuperating from a nasty bicycle accident, the guys from our softball team went to his house to finish work he had started on his front yard and they laid down artificial turf.

A few months later, Platz got a notice saying he was violating the ordinance. The city gave him until after winter to rip it out or, like the Boardmans, pay fines.

“Nobody really had a good reason for why,” he said. But earlier this year he complied and tore it up. Now all he’s got there is the gravel that was put down underneath the turf. It’s not really an improvement aesthetically, but it complies with the letter of the city’s zoning rules.

And then there’s Annie Hildebrandt, who lives in California but owns a half dozen rental properties just a short distance up the road from the Boardmans’ home. It was a big investment to water all those lawns, so she saved money for a couple years and bought turf.

“With every water bill you get it says, ‘Be water wise, beware of sprinkler use,’ so it just kind of went together. We see so much of [the turf] in California and it saves so much water,” Hildebrandt said

That’s a key point. This wet summer, notwithstanding, we still live in a desert and water conservation and sustainability should be more than buzzwords. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average U.S. family of four uses 400 gallons of water a day, and 30 percent of it is used to keep lawns and gardens green.

Faced with drought conditions, parts of Arizona, California and Nevada have all offered incentives to homeowners to ditch their water-guzzling grass and replace it with either xeriscaping or fake grass.

(By the way, all you mayoral candidates who might be reading this: Incentives for water-efficient yards would be a really good idea for Salt Lake City, too.)

In fairness, there are some concerns the city has about artificial grass that are legitimate. California has been studying whether contaminants leach from it, although that work is mostly focused on the shredded rubber used as a base layer for athletic fields — like the University of Utah football field.

Turf is not as hospitable for birds and critters, the city says, and it gets hotter than living grass.

But the city’s logic falls apart when you consider this: When Hildebrandt pulled up the turf from the front yard, she didn’t get rid of it. She put it in her backyard. And the city has no restrictions on that. And if the Boardmans don’t get their extension, they plan to tear their turf up and give it to Matt’s brother who, you guessed it, will put it in his backyard.

So if it’s about contaminants or heat or birds and bugs, then why is it OK in a backyard?

Ana Valdemoros, the city councilwoman representing both the Boardmans and the area where Hildebrandt’s rentals are located, said she was swayed by the city’s concerns.

“After meeting with them and getting some compelling reasons about it, we determined it might not be the best thing for the environment,” she said. “It was really interesting in this case to dig a little deeper and see what the real reasons were.”

Boardman contends the city’s policy is based on outdated information and needs to be overhauled.

Here’s the good news: The city’s public utilities department plans to work with Utah State University to better understand some of the issues related to synthetic turf and stormwater quality and the city plans to do a water conservation master planning later this year.

Then we can get a better understanding of the costs and hopefully the benefits of artificial turf. Unfortunately, for the Boardmans, who have fines hanging over their heads, it may be too late.

St. George • A school for troubled youth has decided to close after it faced intense scrutiny following a riot and recent revelations about the number of staffers accused of assaulting students.

Sequel Youth and Family Services, the company that owns Red Rock Canyon School in St. George, confirmed Tuesday evening that it will shutter its campus within the next 60 days.

“Over the last few months, in working with the Utah Department of Human Services, we have recognized that we have not consistently delivered on our mission,” the company said in a statement. “As a result, we’re taking this action proactively to do what’s in the best interest of our students and staff, while we address the identified deficiencies and make the program consistent with our standards for the future.”

Sequel owns three other facilities in the state that differ from Red Rock. Lava Heights Academy focuses on art therapy, Falcon Ridge Ranch is a girls-only school that includes therapy with horses and Mount Pleasant Academy is a small center that provides treatment to boys struggling with sexual issues.

Red Rock Canyon School provides residential treatment and schooling for youths ages 12 to 18 — a mix of teens whose parents pay for them to stay there, out-of-state foster children and some who are ordered to be there by a judge.

Red Rock also has been frequently visited by police investigating staffers for child abuse, drugs and most recently sex crimes, according to a Salt Lake Tribune investigation. Utah regulators haven’t been heavy-handed with the company through most of those instances, at least until the riot broke out in April.

Utah authorities then threatened to pull Red Rock’s license if more than a dozen changes weren’t made. The school has also been the subject of several legislative hearings in Oregon, and officials there and in Washington have removed most of their foster children who had been placed there, citing safety concerns.

Sequel stressed that the decision to give up Red Rock Canyon School’s license was voluntary, and that the company plans to transfer its students to other places to receive similar care.

Amanda Slater, Utah’s licensing director, said in a statement Tuesday evening that state officials are supportive of Sequel’s decision to give up its license for Red Rock and believe it is “appropriate action in the interest of the health and safety of youth residents and staff.”

“Our primary focus is to oversee and support the safe relocation of these youth who have complex behavioral needs,” she said. “We will immediately begin the process working with Red Rock to see the safe transition of the 49 youth currently residing at the school to other facilities, home states or their caregivers with as little disruption in their treatment as possible.”

Eleven of those students are foster children from Oregon, according to an Oregon Department of Human Services email sent to senators there. Four will be taken back to their home state, while state officials there are working to find other placements that will “enable them to continue their treatment plan in a way that meets their needs with the least amount of disruption.”

Oregon Sen. Sara Gelser last month questioned why Utah allowed Red Rock to remain open in light of the reports of abuse, and on Tuesday, she applauded the closure. She worries, though, that some of the foster kids in Oregon may be shuffled to another Sequel facility in a different state that faces similar issues.

“I want all our kids back in Oregon,” she told The Tribune. “I understand kids may need to go to highly specialized facilities. These are not highly specialized facilities. I don’t have a problem with a specialized facility that is high quality, trauma-informed and nonviolent. But the primary staffing requirement there is to have a heartbeat and be able to restrain a kid.”

Even in the past few weeks, new reports of sexual abuse have surfaced, with two police departments in two different states conducting investigations.

Both St. George police and officers in Porterville, Calif., are investigating whether Red Rock staffers sexually abused students, officials in both departments have confirmed.

California officials recently confirmed they have been investigating the possibility that a Red Rock staffer fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl who had been at the school.

Porterville police reached out to a St. George officer in April, according to a search warrant affidavit, and asked the Utah officer to gather DNA from the 28-year-old staffer for a paternity test.

The girl reported to police in her home state that she had met the man at Red Rock and began an “online relationship” with him last January after she left the school. He would travel to California monthly, according to the affidavit, and take the then-14-year-old girl to hotel rooms where they would have sex.

Hotel records showed the staffer checking into a Motel 6 in Porterville during that time, police say. The last time he checked into the hotel was July 2018 — and the girl gave birth about nine months later.

Officials with the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that they are reviewing the case for potential criminal charges, and expect to wrap up that review by mid-August.

Meanwhile, back in Utah, St. George police officials are conducting a separate investigation into a sex assault involving a Red Rock Canyon School employee. Police here have remained tight-lipped on any specifics beyond confirming it was not related to Porterville case.

Since 2017, St. George police have been called to Red Rock Canyon School a total of 72 times, according to hundreds of pages of recently released police reports. In that time, 24 staffers were investigated for child abuse.

Prosecutors in late June charged a staffer with child abuse, alleging he punched a 17-year-old girl in the face and pulled her around by her hair during the April 28 brawl.

He is the 10th staffer in the past 2½ years to be charged with child abuse, with accusations ranging from choking, pushing or punching kids in the face.

And two employees since 2017 have faced drug charges, accused of accidentally leaving methamphetamine in areas of the school.

One employee was accused in court papers of leaving meth in a staff break room in 2017, while another allegedly dropped a baggie of meth in a student dorm room in May. The staffer who was charged most recently has a history of drug convictions, according to court records.

Most members of Utah’s Medical Care Advisory Committee oppose the state’s plan to partially expand Medicaid through the imposition of service reductions, spending and enrollment caps and patient work requirements.

Ten of the advisory committee’s 19 members — who are appointed by Utah health care entities — signed on to a June 30 letter addressed to the state Department of Health asking local and national administrators to reject proposed changes to Utah’s Medicaid program, which “could risk the health and security of many Utah Medicaid beneficiaries.”

“These are unprecedented changes with the potential for serious consequences in Utah and across the nation,” the letter states.

Bill Cosgrove, a retired pediatrician and the advisory committee’s chairman, said some of the panel’s members are unable to take a public position on policy issues due to their employment with public and private health care agencies. For that reason, Cosgrove said, the letter was circulated for co-sponsors to add their name rather than being brought up for a public debate and vote during an advisory committee meeting.

“We, as a committee, have sort of assumed responsibility for oversight of the Medicaid process,” Cosgrove, chairman of the Salt Lake County Board of Health, said. “It made sense that we have an opinion and we should state it.”

The advisory committee’s objections were made as part of the public comment for a waiver that Utah is seeking from the federal government to implement a scaled-back version of Medicaid expansion approved by lawmakers earlier this year. The Legislature’s plan, SB96, replaced Proposition 3, a full Medicaid expansion initiative approved by voters last year that would have extended Medicaid services to tens of thousands of additional low-income Utahns.

In its letter, the advisory committee highlights four areas of concern with Utah’s waiver request: a per-capita funding scheme that could leave the state liable for increased health care costs without matching federal funds; enrollment caps that could exclude otherwise eligible patients from Medicaid if funding runs dry; a requirement that patients prove they are working, looking for work or engaged in other qualifying activities to participate in Medicaid; and the elimination of some Medicaid benefits for 19- and 20-year-old patients.

“The proposed changes will make it more complex and difficult for Utah Medicaid participants to access the care they need to improve their circumstances and become self-sufficient,” the letter states.

Among the letter’s signers are advisory committee Vice Chairwoman Jessie Mandle and committee member Danny Harris — who campaigned for Proposition 3 in their private roles with Voices for Utah Children and AARP Utah, respectively — and individuals who opposed SB96 during legislative deliberations, like Cosgrove and advisory committee member Stephanie Burdick.

Advisory committees are required by federal Medicaid laws, but Cosgrove said the makeup and authority of those panels vary from state to state. In Utah, the committee is strictly advisory, he said, with members seeking information from and offering recommendations to state Medicaid administrators, but having no enforcement powers.

“We don’t get much influence,” Cosgrove said, “but we’re going to use as much as we have.”

While Utah’s waiver includes elements that are not explicitly outlined in SB96, the broader elements — per-capita funding, work requirements and enrollment caps — were mandated by the Legislature, giving the state Department of Health limited ability to respond to public feedback. But whether Utah’s partial expansion program will be approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, is unknown, because many of the elements in the state’s waiver are outside the requirements of federal law.

Similar proposals in other states have been denied by CMS, or approved and later overturned in court. And Medicaid expansion supporters have indicated that a lawsuit challenging SB96 is likely if its more restrictive elements are approved and implemented.

Last month, the Utah Health Policy Project released a report suggesting that per-capita funding could cause Utah’s Medicaid program to face a $39 million budget shortfall by 2024. Budget constraints were among the primary motivations cited by lawmakers in repealing and replacing Proposition 3 with the scaled-back expansion of SB96 intended to control costs.

In a prepared statement, Courtney Bullard, Utah Health Policy Project education and collaborations director, said per-capita caps are not the fiscal solution that Utah legislators are seeking.

“Per-capita caps create a growing gap between the money that Utah’s Medicaid program needs, and the money that the federal government will give," Bullard said. This feature, she added “will never operate within the interest of the state and state’s health care consumers."

If CMS or the courts were to reject Utah’s waiver, a fallback provision in SB96 could see the state allow full Medicaid expansion to take effect, similar to the structure of Proposition 3.

Cosgrove said his goal in signing and submitting the June 30 letter is to prolong the approval process to the point that SB96′s fallback expansion is triggered.

“If we can pause it long enough," he said, “then they run out of time."

Cosgrove said he is most bothered by the work requirements of SB96 — sometimes called a “work effort” or “community engagement” requirement by lawmakers — which positions subsidized health care as a transactional good, rather than a right or privilege.

“You have to work, and, according to these rules, you have to work this much, before we will allow you to have access to health care,” Cosgrove said, “which is just dumb for so many reasons.”

Utah Department of Health spokeswoman Kolbi Young said state officials are going through the comments received from the public to sort and respond to them, at which point the state’s waiver request will be formally submitted to CMS, likely in the coming weeks. At that point, an additional public comment period will be opened at the federal level ahead of either approval or denial of the state’s waiver.

Utah’s Medicaid program currently is operating under a temporary waiver, often referred to as the “bridge” plan, which includes a limited expansion population and approval for work requirements, but those work requirements have not been implemented.

Young said it is unclear when CMS will rule on Utah’s permanent waiver. So far, roughly 10,000 Utahns have enrolled in Medicaid under the bridge expansion, on top of another 20,000 who were previously enrolled in state-run health care programs and moved into Medicaid.

“As with any application or waiver request that we’ve made in the past,” Young said, “the time frame for response from the federal government has varied wildly.”

Happy Wednesday!

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell compared himself to former President Barack Obama by noting they both have ancestors who were slave owners.

“You know, once again I find myself in the same position as President Obama, we both oppose reparations, and both are the descendants of slave holders,” McConnell said. [CNN]

Topping the news: An act of civil disobedience against Utah’s Inland Port became riotous on Tuesday and ended in eight arrests, scrapes and bruises and outrage from political leaders. [Trib] [DNews] [KUTV2] [Fox13]

-> The Salt Lake City Council is considering a new social media policy in response to a First Amendment suit by a resident who claims his online comments were censored. [Trib]

-> A University of Utah alumnus was among seven plaintiffs who won a First Amendment ruling that President Donald Trump is barred by the U.S. Constitution from blocking his critics on Twitter. [APviaTrib]

Tweets of the day: From @KatieMcKellar1: “@tstevensmedia and I got pinned up against the wall while trying to cover the police forcing protestors out of the Chamber building. Police and protestors began shoving. @tstevensmedia was pushed to the ground. We are OK, not hurt."

-> From @stevensmedia: “Pure chaos.”

-> From @jbouie: “if i were a liberal billionaire with a $100 millions to burn i’d spend it on a nationwide voter registration drive instead of a vanity presidential campaign.”

Happy Birthday: to Former state Sen. Dan Liljenquist and the Tribune's Lee Davidson.

In other news: A bipartisan group of Utah legislative leaders say they trust but want to verify that state public safety officials are protecting the privacy of residents’ driver license records from fishing expeditions by law enforcement. [Trib] [DNews]

-> Utah County Commission Chairman Bill Lee drew ire from his colleagues on Tuesday after he joined four county residents in filing a petition to block a vote to put a change-of-government question on the November ballot. [Trib] [DNews]

-> Sterling Van Wagenen, a Latter-Day Saint filmmaker, was given a second prison sentence on Tuesday after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a child. [Trib] [DNews]

-> Utah is struggling to prevent the spread of quagga mussels. [Trib]

-> After a decadeslong condor restoration program, the 1,000th condor chick has hatched in southern Utah’s Zion National Park. [Trib]

-> Cedar Highland’s Mayor Steven Swann resigned last month, citing “a rogue town council,” amid a harsh state audit. [Trib]

-> Cartoonist Pat Bagley illustrates injustice in the American justice system. [Trib]

-> After the deaths of two baby kestrels, the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources is asking residents not to tamper with bird nests. [Fox13]

-> Sen. Mike Lee is concerned about the safety of social media apps used by children. [DNews]

Nationally: Democrats are calling for Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to resign over his 2008 handling of a sex trafficking of minors case against billionaire sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein. [Reuters]

-> A panel of federal appeals court judges heard arguments Tuesday about whether the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that most people have health insurance is unconstitutional. [NYT] [DNews]

-> United States zoning laws helped create a driving culture to the detriment of the environment and human lives. [The Atlantic]

-> President Donald Trump plans to announce an overhaul of the nation’s organ transplant and kidney dialysis systems on Wednesday. [WaPo]

-> The Virginia General Assembly abruptly ended a special session on gun violence just 90 minutes in without voting on a single bill. [WaPo]

-> Tensions are simmering between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and four left-wing Democrats in Congress. [NYT]

Got a tip? A birthday, wedding or anniversary to announce? Email us at cornflakes@sltrib.com. If you haven’t already, sign up here for our weekday email to get this sent directly to your inbox.

-- Dan Harrie and Sara Tabin

I vividly remember skiing in the 1970s, while I was in my 20s, sinking up to my thighs because the snow density was so light.

This past winter our mountains received a lot of snow, but its density was nothing like 40 years ago. I skied untracked snow in an area that had received three to four feet of new snow, and sank maybe 10 inches.

We lived for several years in Virginia and would often experience severe rain storms. We hadn’t experienced anything like that in Utah. When we had several severe rain storms this past spring we had to change the drainage system in our yard to accommodate the excessive water.

Yes, as was reported in the July 7 Salt Lake Tribune, Utah may host the 2030 Olympics, and we may be lucky, but maybe not. This past week Anchorage hit a record high of 90 degrees, 25 degrees above average.

What if Utah experienced a similar hot spell in February? Park City’s temperature could soar into the 60s.

Congress is considering effective climate legislation, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. Please, Reps. Rob Bishop, Chris Stewart, John Curtis and Ben McAdams, co-sponsor and pass this legislation.

We need our snow.

Marc Peterson, Sandy

Submit a letter to the editor

Curt Bramble, David Irvine, and Paul Mero only have part of the answer in their July 7 commentary, “Utah’s senators should vote no on Ron Mortensen.”

They outline many reasons why Mortensen should not be confirmed.

“However, his long record of maligning faith leaders, as well as his deeply disturbing close ties to the white nationalist and eugenics-founded Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), should disqualify him from this or any government job.”

They also mention that for Mortensen this is a re-nomination. If someone keeps nominating an individual like this, perhaps it is because they share the same values.

They should also call out the president for his obvious support of maligning faith leaders and close ties to white nationalists. He has nominated this individual twice.

If he has nominated him for this position (twice) he must share the same values.

Mike Mitchell, Salt Lake City

Submit a letter to the editor

Rulings by our Supreme Court are supposed to be the final word on disputes among us. That was the intent of the authors of our Constitution, and that’s why it’s called the “Supreme” Court.

But Donald Trump doesn’t see it that way. He wants to monkey with the court’s ruling that bars the citizenship question from our census questionnaire.

Trump’s interference is another example of his authoritarian predilections and disregard for the rule of law.

It’s also further evidence that he should be impeached by the House and put out of office by the Senate.

Allan W. Smart, Salt Lake City

Submit a letter to the editor

Fortunately, not all Americans have forgotten democracy. Many of us still vote and speak up to their elected representatives.

For example, supporting the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has resulted in the U.S. House of Representatives voting to increase the pledge to this life-saving initiative.

With more than 27 million lives saved, millions of infections averted and health care systems strengthened, it is no wonder there is bipartisan support.

Can we do the same with a tax credit for renters? Add your voice and let’s see. Call, write or visit those representing you.

If they are listening and taking action toward a better America for all, they deserve your vote in the future.

Willie Dickerson, Snohomish, Wash.

Submit a letter to the editor

On Independence Day, the president proudly proclaimed, “there will be nothing that America cannot do.”

Today in America, however, we cannot treat refugees humanely, give all people equal rights under the Constitution, let every citizen exercise their Constitutional right to vote, provide safe schools for teachers and students, provide adequate and affordable health care, protect women’s rights to control their own bodies and thereby their lives, ensure clean water and air, or even protect the future of our planet.

Under this administration, our country cannot even ensure that everyone, especially large corporations, contribute by paying their fair share of taxes.

On that point, we don’t have anything close to a fair and equitable election system, especially while corporations can make unlimited amounts of political contributions (aka, legal bribes), putting them more in control of the country than voters.

And, just a couple of weeks ago, the Supreme Court legalized political gerrymandering, with crucial votes being cast by the current president’s tainted appointees.

Given the amazing people in this country, I have no doubt that there is nothing we cannot do. With this administration, however, rather than strength, we show weakness.

It will only be under new leadership that, “there will be nothing that America cannot do” with regard to anything that is worth doing.

William Richter, Millcreek

Submit a letter to the editor

The women of the U.S. national soccer team are famous for being extraordinary athletes, repeat world champions — and plaintiffs.

The team’s lawsuit alleging pay discrimination against the U.S. Soccer Federation has done much to define its identity. A nearly perfect run through the World Cup has been widely interpreted as vindication of the merits of its case, so much so that fans chanted “equal pay” after the U.S. victory in the final over the Netherlands and booed the head of FIFA, the sponsor of the World Cup, during the trophy ceremony.

It's not to take anything away from the women's achievement — they never trailed the entire tournament — to note that the equal-pay complaint is almost entirely bunk.

It is true that the American women, who sweat and practice as much as their male compatriots (perhaps more, given their superior results), don't make as much. But the women's game isn't as popular or profitable, which fundamentally drives pay.

The total prize money for the women’s 2019 World Cup was $30 million, with the champion taking away about $4 million. The total prize money for the men’s 2018 World Cup was $400 million, with the champions winning $38 million.

This seems blatantly unfair, until you take into account the completely different viewership and revenue from the two events. FIFA raked in more than $6 billion from the 2018 men's World Cup. The women's 2019 World Cup has been projected, when all is said and done, to make about $130 million.

The women's tournament this year may have garnered about a billion viewers across all platforms, nothing to sneeze at, but the 2018 men's World Cup had more than a billion viewers just for the final game.

It has been reported that the U.S. women's team has been generating more game revenue than the U.S. men the past couple of years. This is telling, although not quite in the way that those who allege pay discrimination think. The women are celebrities and cultural heroes, winners of four Olympic gold medals and four World Cups. The men are nobodies who failed to qualify for last year's World Cup. Yet from 2016 to 2018, according to The Wall Street Journal, the women barely out-earned the men, $50.8 million to $49.9 million.

The lawsuit’s explanation for a smaller audience for the women’s team is what it calls “manufactured revenue depression,” a deliberate effort by the federation to squelch the women’s reach and undercut their ticket prices. Perhaps the federation should have done more, and can do more, to promote the women’s game, but the smaller women’s audience can’t be the work of one organization.

Another element of pay for women's and men's players is their play for professional leagues, where the scale of the audiences is, again, vastly different.

The National Women's Soccer League has two strong teams that average more than 10,000 fans per game, but the other seven teams in the league average fewer than 5,000. Sky Blue FC, based in Piscataway, New Jersey, averages 1,432.

By way of comparison, the worst of the men's Major League Soccer teams, the Chicago Fire, averages 11,417. The best-attended team, Atlanta United, has drawn roughly 70,000 people for four home games this season, about the total attendance for all NWSL games so far.

All that said, according to a Washington Post analysis, the women's national team actually made more in bonuses and salary than the men in 2018 (although they played more games and, needless to say, won more).

The women and men have two different collective bargaining agreements, and different World Cup hoops to jump through, so making direct apple-to-apple comparisons is complicated. It's hard to argue, though, with the simple approach the women say that they have proposed in the past — revenue sharing based on how much money they bring in.

There's risk to this arrangement if the women underperform, but this group is nothing if not self-confident, and so far has always delivered.

Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review. comments.lowry@nationalreview.com

Logan • Researchers from Utah State University are inviting residents to contribute to a project studying insects.

The Herald Journal reports researchers from the university's biology department and ecology center are asking the public to take photos of insects on alfalfa plants and upload them online so they may study interactions between the bug and plant.

Researcher Lauren Lucas said they chose to focus their project on alfalfa as the plant is cultivated locally in Cache Valley and easy to spot.

She said widespread community participation can help identify patterns of different plants throughout the valley.

The project is also meant to help farmers determine which bugs are good and bad for their crops.