Jezebel: Utah

School Can't Call Its Team the Cougars Because It's Offensive to Older Ladies

Cassie Murdoch — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:05:00 EST

Changing the names of high school sports teams to be less offensive to certain groups—like Native Americans, for instance—is nothing new, but now a school board in Utah has taken it to a whole new level. A high school is opening in 2013 in the town of Draper, Utah, and they wanted to call their team the Cougars. The school board said they couldn't, however, because they worried the name might be offensive to middle-aged women. Jeeze, get your minds out of the gutter, school board members. And is the term cougar even offensive? There are certainly worse names to call a girl—and a team. More »

Awesome Freestyle Skier Sarah Burke Has Died

Cassie Murdoch — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST

It's a sad day in the world of sports. Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke has died from injuries sustained during an accident on January 10th. The 29-year-old skiing phenom was training at a resort in Park City, Utah, on The Superpipe (a daunting canyon with 22-foot high walls that's carved into the side of a ski slope) when she fell and ruptured an artery in her neck. Ultimately, the damage done to her brain proved to be irreversible, and she passed away this morning. More »

This Woman's Tale Of Ordering Abortion Drugs On The Internet Is The Most Depressing Story Ever

Erin Gloria Ryan — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:15:00 EST

Last Christmas Eve, a 32 year old Idaho woman took RU-486 in an attempt to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. This January, police found the fetal remains on her property and charged her with inducing her own abortion, a crime in the state. The case was dismissed due to lack of evidence, but not before everyone in town ostracized the woman for her acts. Now, some state officials want the authority to charge the woman again, and they're prepared to use the case as a means to issue another challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court. And we just won Depressing Abortion Story Bingo. More »

The Romney-Approved 'Hey Mitt, We Love You!' Collector Pins

Whitney Jefferson — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:45:00 EDT

What you see here is a real thing that exists — and that Mitt Romney gave the go-ahead to put into mass production. You see, the year was 2002, and Romney was acting as the chief executive of the Salt Lake Olympics — but other than those facts, there's really not a whole lot known about the origins of this pin. In fact, the farthest I could trace this image back to is a mostly-blank page on the Boston Globe's website with the description, Olympics promotional buttons bearing Mitt Romney's likeness were accompanied by slogans like ''Hey, Mitt, we love you!'' and ''Are we there yet, Mitt?'' More »

Utah May Have Their First Openly Gay Political Party Leader

Lane Moore — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:04:00 EDT

The Utah Democratic Party has voted "overwhelmingly" in favor of electing co-founder of Equality Utah and the Utah Pride Center, Jim Dabakis, as their new chairman. More »

Utah Makes It Illegal To Act Like A Hooker

Anna North — Wed, 25 May 2011 12:30:00 EDT

A strange new Utah law would make it a crime not just to explicitly offer sex for money, but also to "indicate, through lewd acts," that you're willing to do so. In addition to scaring ladies into hiking down their skirts, the legislation could allow cops to target legal businesses, like strip clubs. More »

Creepy Group Distributes Due Dates Of Allegedly Illegal Pregnant Immigrants

Irin Carmon — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:13:00 EDT

An anonymous group in Utah has been circulating a list of 1300 people it claims are illegal immigrants, plus personal information such as Social Security numbers and due dates of pregnant women. The government is investigating a possible leak. More »

And All That Jazz?

Anna Holmes — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:10:00 EDT

[Denver, April 19. Image via Getty]

"Intentional" Miscarriage Now Homicide In Utah

Anna North — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:40:00 EST

Last month, Utah sought to criminalize a woman's "reckless act" that led to miscarriage. Now the governor has signed a bill designating "intentional or knowing" miscarriage as criminal homicide — which really isn't much better. More »

Good News: Utah Tones Down Miscarriage Bill. Bad News: It's Still Murder

Anna North — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:30:00 EST

The Utah bill that would have criminalized miscarriage is going back to the State Legislature, which will remove some of its worst elements. However, Utah still wants to make some miscarriage a felony. More »

The Next Anti-Choice Target: Miscarriage

Anna North — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:30:00 EST

A new Utah law could charge women with homicide if they miscarry, making women's rights advocates concerned that women will be brought up on murder charges for drinking, failing to wear a seatbelt, or falling down the stairs. More »

Electric Youth

Anna Holmes — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:15:00 EST

[Park City, January 26. Image via Getty]

Store Fears Repeat Tomato Attack Against Palin

Margaret Hartmann — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST

Tomatoes were temporarily taken off the shelves of a Utah Costco last week while Sarah Palin did a book signing. The management didn't want their produce hurled at Palin and figured protesters wouldn't resort to tube socks. [N.Y. Magazine] More »

Eyes On The Prize

Anna Holmes — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:10:00 EST

[Park City, November 12. Image via Getty]

All Hands On Deck

Anna Holmes — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:10:00 EDT

[Provo, October 27. Image via Getty]

Pre-Teens Buying Into Slutoween? • Arnie Signs Bill Commemorating Harvey Milk

Katy Kelleher — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:40:00 EDT

• "It's going to be one happy Halloween for the Roman Polanskis of this world... This year, in a growing trend that is truly scary, fifth-graders are encouraged to dress like cheap hookers," claims the Daily News. • More »

Five-Year-Old "Eating Herself To Death"; Gay Couple's Announcement Nixed By Paper

Dodai Stewart — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:40:00 EDT

Doctors in India fear that Suman Khatun, a five-year-old girl who weighs 168 pounds — at three and half feet tall — is eating herself to death. More »

Women Avoid Cycling Due To "Helmet Hair" • Ex-Mormon Gives $1M To Support Gay Marriage

Maria — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:40:00 EDT

• According to a survey commissioned by Cycling England, 58% of English women don't ride their bike to work because they don't want to arrive sweaty and 27% avoid riding because they don't want "helmet hair." • On Thursday, Tennessee State University gave degrees to 10 black students (3 of them posthumously) that the University had previously expelled after the students were arrested as part of the Freedom Riders in the '60s. • A former Mormon in Utah (and founder of WordPress!) responded to calls from the Mormon church urging him to support a proposition to outlaw gay marriage in California by giving $1 million to a group opposing the proposition.• More »

Diet Tricks

Dodai Stewart — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:30:00 EDT

Utah cops say a woman stole two 14-karat gold bracelets from a pawn shop by swallowing them. The bracelets, valued around $2,000, have been recovered. Police spokesman Jeff Bedard says he doesn't know just how the jewelry was collected. And frankly, we don't want to know. [CBS News] More »

Utah Residents Love Balls • College Dean Puts Kibosh On "Douchebag Party"

Maria — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:20:00 EDT

The Testicle Festival in Utah drew "hundreds" looking for a chance to eat balls (bull's balls to be exact) this past weekend. Think Alec Baldwin made an appearance? • An Italian court of appeals has ruled that wives forfeit their rights to shared assets if they use their marital bed for infidelities. • A NY teen who was arrested for a DUI claims she blew a .15 blood-alcohol level because she made out with a drunk boy. • Plan your life around your menstrual cycle! Including the "worst" time to do coke and when "nature conspires to make you pregnant" by making you walk sexier. • Party-pooping dean of students at Seattle University shuts down "Douchebag Party" for gender bias. • Although the International Olympic Committee states it is against gender discrimination, it still allows countries that ban female athletes to compete. • Women who have caesareans are sometimes denied insurance coverage or are made to pay higher premiums. • Two men rob a Colorado convenience store with thong masks. • Eager 95-year-old man proposes to 95-year-old girlfriend on the first date, gets married 18 months later. • Men and women metabolize fructose differently, making some doctors rethink the factor of gender in the study of metabolic disorders. More »

Your Nagging Ancient Mormon Underage Sex Cult Questions, Answered At Last!

Moe — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EDT

So these polygamists: how did they pull it off? How did Warren Jeffs find time time to impregnate 70 women and run from the law? When your spiritual leader is on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List and you've been chased out of two states and your creepy molestation cult is the subject of a Jon Krakauer book, just how do you go about finding the proper plot in West Texas on which to build your theme park-sized compound and commence bilking the government? Don't these people have a problem with birth defects? What of all the excess dudes? 100 years we've been putting up with this? What, is there some formidable pro-polygamy lobby keeping authorities from charging all these creepy old men marrying 13-year-olds because it will "break up families? (A: yes!) Didn't homeowners in El Dorado fear the whole "Waco" stigma? (Also yes!) Why was a sixteen-year-old who didn't even know how to spell her name the proverbial smoking gun here? And what's with the macro diet? Does it make up for all the inbreeding? Glamocracy's Megan Carpentier and I yearn to know more about Yearning For Zion, and we do all the morbid internet research so you don't have to, after the jump. More »

A bunch of Mormon kids from Brigham Young...

Slut Machine — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:45:00 EST

A bunch of Mormon kids from Brigham Young University are freaking out about the video programming at their local Gold's Gym, calling it "pornographic," even though no nudity or sex scenes are involved. (One of the offensive sources cited is Ludacris' music video for "Shake Your Money Maker," which features women dancing in shorts and bikinis, and giving the middle finger, which already has a "censored" box placed on it.) Five student-run anti-pornography organizations sat down with the gym's director and made demands that include, among other things, banning R-rated or sexually explicit PG-13 movies and installing blinds on aerobic room windows to block views of "provocative dancing." [Desert Morning News via AVN] More »