Latest news with #KristinMurphy
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
These new Utah laws take effect Wednesday
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Two months after this year's general legislative session ended, many new laws are taking effect. The laws will impact Utahns' lives on a variety of issues, from health and safety to how much we pay in taxes to housing. Here's a look at what's changing starting Wednesday. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks in Salt Lake City on April 7. Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, HB81 bill sponsor, and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, listen. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Health The Capitol is pictured in Salt Lake City, on Feb. 8, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Business and taxes Fatal doses of heroin and fentanyl are on are display at the Drug Enforcement Administration Salt Lake City District Office in Salt Lake City on July 25, 2024. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Crime and policing Signage from Oak Ridge National Labratory is displayed during The Advanced Reactors Summit XII and Technology Trailblazers Showcase held by the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council in Salt Lake City on Feb. 18. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News Transportation, energy and environment Nuclear energy : Utah is pushing to go nuclear. HB249, which takes effect Wednesday, is designed to lay the groundwork for bringing nuclear power to the state. It creates the Nuclear Energy Consortium to advise on nuclear development in Utah and recommend appropriate regulations for it, among other things. Water conservation: Municipalities in Utah now have to factor in water conservation when setting water rates under HB274. Road safety projects: SB195's one-year moratorium on road safety projects in Salt Lake City begins Wednesday, as the Department of Transportation studies the impacts of such projects. A voter drops their ballot in a drop box at the Utah County Health and Justice Building in Provo on Oct. 30, 2024. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News Elections, transparency and governance Protesters unfurl a 200-foot transgender flag during the start of a march down State Street starting at the Capitol for Transgender Day of Visibility in Salt Lake City on March 29. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Social issues and education Flag ban: One of the most closely watched bills of the recent session, HB77, takes effect Wednesday, barring gay pride and 'Make America Great Again' flags from being flown in public school classrooms or at government buildings. Gender Inmates won't be able to initiate gender-related surgeries or hormone treatment while in prison. HB252 also requires inmates be housed in facilities matching their biological sex. It also prohibits staff in juvenile detention centers from engaging in sexual relationships with inmates in custody up to the age of 25. Hands-on education: Aimed at getting more high school students into career and technical education programs, HB447 will support 'catalyst centers' across the state. The new law championed by Utah's House speaker allocates $65 million to create or expand those centers in the next fiscal year, with an ongoing cost of $150,000 to manage the program. Isa Empey, left, and Haley Kline, center, both hold vigil candles during the annual Homeless Persons' Memorial Vigil in Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City on Dec. 19, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Housing and homelessness
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
What was learned about state of college basketball from the Sweet 16 field — and why it matters
What was learned about state of college basketball from the Sweet 16 field — and why it matters The NCAA March Madness logo is pictured on the basketball court at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News College sports has become little more than a game of mercenaries, a constant coming and going of hired guns who wear a school's jersey long enough to collect an NIL check and then move on to the next highest bidder. Advertisement Just look at what's happening in the ongoing NCAA Tournament. There's a post on X this week that shows the starting lineup of each team in the Sweet 16, with the players represented only by a school logo of the school where they began their college careers. 'Try to figure out which teams are which,' says the tagline. In many cases, it's impossible. Michigan's starting five is represented by five different logos, none of them Michigan's. They're from North Texas State, Texas Tech, Texas Tech, Auburn and Yale. Not a single starter began his career at his current school. Ditto for Arizona and Kentucky. Advertisement Auburn's starting unit is represented by one Auburn logo and logos from four different schools. The starting lineup for nine of the 16 schools features four or five players who began their college careers elsewhere, and many of those players have played for more than two schools. In all, 51 of the 80 starters in the Sweet 16 originally played for other schools — an average of 3.1 per team. According to CBS, transfers accounted for more than half of the scoring through the first two rounds of the tournament. Not that loyalty is completely dead. All five of Purdue's starters have been at the school since the start of their collegiate careers. Duke and Michigan State are next, with four (BYU has three). Advertisement Taken a step further, another X post showed the original schools for the top eight players (based on minutes played) of every team in the Sweet 16. All eight of Kentucky's players originally played elsewhere. Michigan and Texas Tech have only one player among their top eight who began their careers at those schools; Ole Miss, Alabama and Arkansas have just two apiece. Purdue again leads the way in loyalty, with all eight players having never played for another school. Michigan State (7) and BYU (6) are next. Because of the lure of NIL money and the ease of moving elsewhere via the transfer portal, schools and their basketball teams are not destinations anymore — they're layovers for players on the move to another school. Advertisement Travis Branham of 247Sports reported that when the transfer portal opened on Monday, more than 700 players signed up — some even as their teams were heading to the Sweet 16. It has now topped 1,000. College athletes have more freedom of movement than their professional counterparts. It's difficult to understand why this situation would be appealing to anyone. Why do boosters donate vast sums of money to the NIL pot of their favorite school to rent players for a year or two — players who have no ties to, or truly represent, the school, culture or community. They are just wearing a jersey and a year later they'll likely be wearing some other school's jersey. Why would fans enjoy this? They're cheering for strangers every year. It's not as if they can even credit their school's program for having developed the players. NCAA basketball (and football) is soulless. Advertisement Under the heavy hand of NCAA officials, college athletics has always been marked by extremes, and they never get it right. The NCAA was so stingy and mean-spirited — with transfers and benefits — that things swung dramatically so far the other way that it is equally untenable. The NCAA brought all of this on in the first place and now the coaches, boosters and players are like kids who have escaped a stern parent and are drunk with freedom. Not that any of the above — transfers and big financial incentives, etc. — is truly new in college sports; it's just that now it's no longer done under the table because the rules sanction it. It has blown the lid off the whole thing and exposed college athletics for what it really is. It's all out in the open now and, as a result, transfers and payments have proliferated to the extent of making college sports unrecognizable. Advertisement It remains to be seen how sustainable it will be.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Rutgers transfer Mawot Mag, BYU's ‘3 and D specialist,' takes center stage in return to Big Apple
BYU forward Mawot Mag practices with his team for the upcoming Sweet 16 game against Alabama at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News NEWARK, New Jersey — Leading scorer Richie Saunders told and retold his story about becoming the 'Tater Tot King,' 26-year-old Trevin Knell joked about being so old that he could have been on BYU's last Sweet 16 team in 2011, and teenager Egor Demin drew a lot of attention because he might be an NBA lottery pick in June if he decides to leave BYU after just one year. But the player who drew the most attention from the East Coast media on Wednesday when the No. 17 BYU Cougars (26-9) spoke to reporters on the eve of Thursday's Sweet 16 showdown with No. 7 Alabama (27-8) was Rutgers transfer Mawot Mag, naturally. Advertisement Mag played for Rutgers — Jersey Mike's Arena in Piscataway is less than an hour's drive down Interstate-95 from Prudential Center — for four years before moving on to BYU for his final season of eligibility. Suffice it to say, some folks in Piscataway, New Brunswick, and other parts of the so-called Garden State (seriously?) were not happy that the man who Maryland coach Kevin Willard called the best defender he's ever coached against left Rutgers. 'I just felt like it was best for me,' Mag said. 'I spoke to my family. I felt like it was time. I spent four years here and I just felt like it was time to have a change of scenery.' The 6-foot-7 graduate who was born in Sudan and moved to Melbourne, Australia, when he was 2 was asked several times about the differences — culturally, geographically and everything else — between Utah and New Jersey and every time took the high road. Brigham Young Cougars guard Egor Demin (3), forward Richie Saunders (15) and guard Trevin Knell (21) laugh during a press conference about BYU's upcoming NCAA Sweet 16 basketball game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Brigham Young Cougars forward Richie Saunders (15) speaks during a press conference about BYU's upcoming NCAA Sweet 16 basketball game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Brigham Young Cougars guard Trevin Knell (21) speaks during a press conference about BYU's upcoming NCAA Sweet 16 basketball game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Brigham Young Cougars guard Egor Demin (3) speaks during a press conference about BYU's upcoming NCAA Sweet 16 basketball game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News BYU head basketball coach Kevin Young speaks during a press conference about BYU's upcoming NCAA Sweet 16 basketball game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News BYU head basketball coach Kevin Young speaks during a press conference about BYU's upcoming NCAA Sweet 16 basketball game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Brigham Young Cougars forward Richie Saunders (15) speaks during a press conference about BYU's upcoming NCAA Sweet 16 basketball game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News 'I always liked being in Jersey and I am glad I am back here,' he said. '… I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Rutgers. … It is pretty cold, but it is Jersey, so you can't really complain.' Advertisement Mag has played at Prudential Center — which also houses the NHL's New Jersey Devils — several times against Seton Hall in what is called the Garden State Hardwood Classic. Rutgers won last season's matchup 70-63 at Prudential Center and Mag scored four points and had eight rebounds in 24 minutes. 'I played well, and we won,' he said. 'So hopefully I play well tomorrow and end on a good note, too.' The BYU-Alabama winner will face the Duke-Arizona winner on Saturday for a chance to go to the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas. Coincidentally, Alabama's Clifford Omoruyi and Mag were roommates and teammates all four of their years at Rutgers. Omoruyi scored 11 points and had 13 rebounds in last year's game at Prudential Center. Advertisement Mag said they haven't spoken much this season, except on Selection Sunday when it became apparent they could face each other in Newark, but will chat after the game. 'We are pretty close. We will definitely get time to talk,' Mag said, noting that the 6-foot-11 Omoruyi was born in Nigeria in West Africa and he was born in Sudan, in Northeast Africa. 'We both came in (to Rutgers) and we were young and left full grown. … We grew a lot. Won some games, lost some games. But we grew a lot. That's my brother, so yeah.' In Provo and throughout BYU's national fanbase, Mag will always be remembered as the defensive stopper who caused Wisconsin's John Tonje to put up an airball after Tonje had torched BYU for 37 points in a Round of 32 game. He said his phone 'definitely blew up' after the big play sent BYU to the Sweet 16. Advertisement 'I definitely had a lot of texts. I lost count,' he said. 'It took me until the next day to reach back to everybody. So, I appreciate them for supporting me.' BYU had a team dinner planned for Wednesday night, but no other activities were on the docket because coaches want the players focused solely on the Crimson Tide and what is arguably BYU's biggest game in 14 years. That means Mag won't get to play tour guide, or that he even wants to. Backup guard Trey Stewart is also familiar with the area because his father, Ray, a former BYU women's basketball assistant coach and Utah Valley basketball star, grew up in the Newark area and played prep basketball for Perth Amboy High in New Jersey. 'Yeah, we talk about Jersey all the time, me and Mo,' Stewart said. 'My dad actually grew up 30 minutes from here. So we just talk about New York, just the vibes here. Mo is really excited. This is like his second home. So he's really excited. He's grateful to be here.'
