Utah

WASHINGTON – For years, the federal government has recommended that pregnant women and young children limit their consumption of fish to avoid exposure to potentially harmful amounts of mercury.

Now, two top consumer protection agencies are at odds on whether that advice should be reconsidered to encourage all people to eat more fish, in order to promote healthy hearts.

The Food and Drug Administration has been circulating a draft report within the government that argues the health benefits of eating fish outweigh the potential ill effects of mercury. But the Environmental Protection Agency has fired off a memo to the White House calling the 270-page FDA study "scientifically flawed and inadequate" and an "oversimplification" lacking analytical rigor. more >>

A Christian legal group asked the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to review and overturn a lower court decision that ordered a Utah city either to allow a non-mainstream religious group to erect its monument next to the Ten Commandments or to take down all monuments.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said it filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the case of Pleasant Grove City v. Summum with plans to file a similar petition in a second case involving Duchesne City in Utah. The legal group is representing both cities in the cases.

In both cases, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Summum, an obscure religious movement that began in 1975, had a right to free speech and could demand the city to erect its private “Seven Aphorisms” monument in the city parks because cities already displayed Ten Commandments monuments. more >>

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that memorial crosses erected along Utah highways to honor fallen state troopers communicate a secular, non-religious message and do not violate the Constitution.

U.S. District Judge David Sam ruled in favor of the Utah Highway Patrol Association (UHPA), which was facing a lawsuit from American Atheists Inc. over 13 memorial crosses.

In a 28-page opinion, the judge said he found “no Establishment Clause violation of either the First Amendment of the United States Constitution nor Article I of the Utah Constitution.” more >>

One day after the nation paid tribute to fallen members of the military, an atheist group argued before a federal judge that the placement of memorial crosses on Utah highways to honor fallen Highway Patrol troopers is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge David Sam heard arguments Tuesday from lawyers in a controversial case where American Atheists Inc is battling Utah and the state’s Highway Patrol Association over 13 memorial crosses erected along Utah highways.

Each cross is placed on or near the place where events occurred resulting in the death of an officer. more >>

Family members of the six miners trapped in mine in Utah are struggling to accept that they will never see the bodies of their love ones, who will remain permanently entombed in the coal mine after officials ordered an end to the search effort.

“It’s a hard thing. Some are coping with it better than others,” said Colin King, a spokesman and lawyer for the miners’ families, according to The Associated Press. “They’re still dealing with the fact they have to accept now that these miners are not going to be recovered any time soon – that they’ve died, in all likelihood.”

A federal official said Saturday there is “no remaining hope” after nearly a month of rescue efforts discovered no signs of life, according to CNN. On Friday, rescue efforts at the Crandall Canyon Mine were suspended indefinitely. more >>