(SALT LAKE CITY)-The state of Utah’s highest court is set to issue a decision Tuesday morning in polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs’ appeal of a 2007 rape conviction. A judge sentenced Jeffs to consecutive 5-to-life prison terms in 2007 for his role in the spiritual marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin. Elissa Wall, who is now an adult, testified in court that she had expressed concerns that she was too young to marry and preferred to marry someone else other than her cousin. Jeffs appealed this case on the grounds that he was merely acting as a spiritual adviser and never promoted non-consensual sex between the couple. Last month, Arizona prosecutors dismissed four charges of sexual misconduct with a minor against Jeffs. These charges stemmed from two arranged marriages between teenage girls and older male relatives. Prosecutors dropped the charges when two alleged victims no longer wanted to proceed with the prosecution. This dismissal could also speed up prosecution in Texas where Jeffs was charged with sexual assault of a child and bigamy in the months after the raid of the Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas in 2008. Jeffs was transported to the Utah State prison in June and will appear in a West Jordan, Utah courtroom tomorrow.

(PARAGONAH)-Prairie dogs that have been digging up Paragonah’s cemetery are being evicted, although not swiftly enough for local officials, who are complaining about the animals toppling headstones as they dig. At the Paragonah Cemetery, a fence with a ground curtain was recently installed to keep the prairie dogs out, but dozens were already inside the perimeter, so trappers are trying to get them out. In southern Utah, prairie dogs have been federally protected since 1973 and they also have a proclivity for destroying golf courses as well as cemeteries. The cinnamon-colored rodents have caused significant frustration in the past few years and some Utahns say its protected status has hindered development and economic growth in one of the state’s fastest-growing areas, Iron and Washington County. In the 1920s, there were about 95,000 prairie dogs in Utah and after a movement to eradicate them, there were about 3,000 left in the 1970s. Federal protection has caused numbers to increase and officials said, there are currently about 10,000 of them in Utah.

(SALT LAKE CITY)-Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions Inc. has withdrawn its application to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy. The company sent the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a letter requesting its application be withdrawn Friday. The move to withdraw the import license application comes after the company announced this month that it would no longer seek to dispose of foreign nuclear waste at its disposal facility in Utah’s west desert. Instead, the company says it will try to help build and manage overseas disposal sites. The application to import the waste and dispose of it in Utah was opposed by two Utah governors. Furthermore, the U.S. House passed a bill banning the importation of low-level radioactive waste. The bill has stalled in the Senate.

(PAGE, Ariz.)-A 32-year-old Greek man fell 600 feet to his death Saturday at the Horseshoe Bend overlook near Page, Ariz. Charalampos Grammatoglou of Thessaloniki, Greece, was standing on a thin sandstone ledge overlooking the Colorado River when the ledge gave way around 11:25 a.m. Saturday, reported Lieutenant Ron Anderson of the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office in Page. Just before his fall, members of his entourage told him to get back, Anderson reported Monday. The Sheriff’s Office and National Park Service responded, verifying Grammatoglou was deceased. The death was the first for the popular overlook in 14 or 15 years, Anderson said. The Colorado River is located about 1,000 feet below, at the bottom of a steep cliff. Anderson said he has long cautioned visitors from getting too close to the edge.

(SALT LAKE CITY)-Next month, the Salt Lake City television market is receiving a blast from the past with former competitors joining forces. The Salt TV Network, a new independent local news web cooperative, launched in beta version last week and is expected to be fully functional in August. It is currently being funded by startup investors, but the founders plan to seek advertising and paid subscribers. The talent is a who’s who of Salt Lake City broadcasting icons such as Dick Nourse, Kimberly Perkins, Randall Carlisle, Reece Stein and Tom Barberi, among others. The site has been under development for about a year and as the Internet continues to emerge as a global force, this is expected to be a worthy investiture for all parties involved.

(MOAB)-Federal managers at Arches National Park are revisiting the rules regulating rock climbing on the famous arches and natural bridges in southeast Utah. National Park Service officials say they’ll consider broadening the regulations but not until they consider public comment, which will be accepted through August 10, on the new Climbing and Canyoneering Management Plan. The park’s planning and compliance coordinator, Sabrian Henry, says officials recognize rock climbing and canyoneering as significant park activities although the new plan is still needed to ensure increased park use doesn’t ruin the land’s unique natural and cultural resources. Canyoneering will be monitored introspectively because of its increased popularity and its consistent role of ascending and descending on the park’s rocks. This review comes four years after Arches first tightened its rulings on climbing after first discovering regulations were too vague to prosecute climber Dean Potter who made a controversial “free solo” climb of the iconic Delicate Arch in the park in May 2006. The current rules make it quite clear that rock climbing on any arches or natural bridges is prohibited as is slacklining, or walking on a flat, nylon webbing or rope anchored between rock formations, trees or any other natural feature. Commercial guiding will also be examined, as will be the need for a possible permit system, group size limits and the policy on installing or replacing bolts, anchors or software.

(WASHINGTON)-Owners of the iPhone will now be able to break down electronic locks on their devices in order to download applications that have not been approved by Apple Inc. under government rules announced Monday. The decision to allow this practice, commonly known as “jailbreaking,” is one of a multitude of newly installed exemptions from a federal law which prohibits the circumvention of technical measures controlling access to copyrighted works. Every three years, the Library of Congress allows certain exemptions in certain instances to ensure the existing law does not prevent non-infringing use of copyrighted material. Another exemption would allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.

(SALT LAKE CITY)-While Arizona’s new immigration law is expected to be officially enforced Thursday, Utah congressman, Jason Chaffetz, says addressing legal immigration should be a priority for the federal government. Chaffetz believes reforming the visa program, coming up with a guest worker program and deporting criminal illegal immigrants should be priorities. He also says requiring businesses to check the immigration status of employees would help. Chaffetz also said he has been informed by the Department of Homeland Security that 40 percent of people who come to the U.S. on visas never return. In closing, he reported that he thinks rounding up and deporting millions of people is “not reasonable” and he wants to target illegals who have committed crimes.

(ZION NATIONAL PARK)-Zion National Park officials say three men who were swept away in a flash flood in a canyon were able to signal for help and be rescued. Zion spokesman Ron Terry says the men from the Las Vegas area were hiking in Spry Canyon on Saturday when about an inch of rain fell in less than 30 minutes. Terry reported all three men were washed over a 40-foot drop and two of them went over another 60-foot plunge as water rushed through the canyon walls. One of the men used a headlamp to signal a distress call and an off-duty park ranger spotted the flash. Two of the men were flown to a St. George hospital and Terry said their names were not being released and had no word of their condition on Sunday.