“The forecast is trending hotter and hotter,” National Weather Service meteorologist Barry Pierce said. “We’re set for several scorching days.”

Cannabis is legal-ish in much of the nation now, creating new opportunities for investors. Kiplinger’s recently talked to Matt Hawkins, partner at Entourage Effect Capital, who’s firm has committed $200 million in 68 different legal cannabis investments, most of which are private companies.

The teenager who pulled out her cellphone and began recording when she saw George Floyd being pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer was given a special citation by the Pulitzer Prizes on Friday for her video that helped to launch a global movement to protest racial injustice.

For a short time, the Wetlands Park is home to a temporary art exhibit, populated by works from talented artists throughout Nevada.

You can find Ted Groene behind the chutes at events such as this weekend’s Unleash The Beast Las Vegas Invitational. But he’s quick to move out front when the situation demands it.

A motorcycle club joined hands Friday night with the family of a 58-year-old moped driver who was killed last week on a southwest Las Vegas road.

Here’s today’s local and national sports schedule, including television and radio listings.

Longing for the pre-obstructionist Republican Party.

Let’s go in with California, Arizona on desalination plant.

Parental involvement in a child’s learning process should be the real subject of this debate.

As the coronavirus pandemic ebbs, dog trainers are seeing a predictable increase in separation anxiety and undersocialized pups as their humans venture back into the world for longer periods of time.

One significant result of the COVID-19 pandemic is that U.S. consumers have become more interested in buying American-made products. Recent polling shows that 40% of all consumers will no longer buy anything made in China. This is good news for America’s manufacturers, as the poll also found that nearly 80% would be willing to pay more to see production move from China back to the United States.

A gentle wind on a sunny day created the perfect atmosphere for visiting monuments on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., honoring America’s war dead on Memorial Day.

Those starving for something to bet midday during the summer are in luck for the next month. ...

Nevada has become the latest flashpoint in a national debate over how to teach students about racism and its role in U.S. history, with parents clashing over curriculum proposals.

Despite a lack of history together — just six all-time meetings — there are countless narratives to follow in this series.

Former President Donald Trump has made no secret of his long list of political enemies. It just wasn't clear until now how far he would go to try to punish them.

Not long after rolling into town, Michael Phelps would dutifully pop into the interview room to muse on his outlandish accomplishments in the pool.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed into law Friday a measure requiring mail-in ballots to be automatically sent to active voters in future elections.

Heat warnings and advisories also were issued for large parts of California, Nevada and New Mexico ....

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during an NBA basketball game in Boston. | Charles Krupa, Associated Press Planning to invest on Robinhood? Here’s what Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban thinks Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has some advice if you’re planning to invest in cryptocurrency or stocks on apps — make sure you know why you’re investing. Mark Cuban on investing in Dogecoin, on Robinhood Cuban recently spoke with The Daily Beast on a number of topics, including the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic and “Shark Tank.” He also talked about investing in cryptocurrency and stocks using apps like Robinhood. Cuban said you have to know why you’re investing in meme cryptocurrencies and stocks. “It’s easy to get lost in the hype of Dogecoin, GameStop or AMC, and I’m not saying don’t invest in those companies because they can be good investments, but you’ve got to know why you’re investing,” he told The Daily Beast. “Are you investing because of some video you saw on TikTok, or a video you saw on YouTube, or a friend told you? Those aren’t good enough reasons. Part of the fun in investing is doing the homework, finding out companies and seeing if it’s something you agree with — and believe in.” More advice from Cuban Cuban told The Daily Beast you should pay off your credit cards because you’re getting ripped off from paying interest. He told The Daily Beast you should have a rainy-day fund in case anything problematic happens. If there’s anything left over, use that for fun stuff. More on Robinhood apps Cuban has previously criticized Robinhood because Robinhood has made it hard for Dogecoin investors to withdraw their holdings, as I wrote for the Deseret News. “The greatest inhibitor to its growth is that you can’t spend the Doge you buy on Robinhood,” Cuban tweeted. Investor Warren Buffett told CNBC that investing in stocks and cryptocurrencies on apps like Robinhood is a similar experience to gambling. He said Robinhood has “become a very significant part of the casino aspect, the casino group of people, that has joined into the stock market in the last year or year and a half.” “The degree to which a very rich society can reward people who now know how to take advantage essentially of the gambling instincts of not only the American public but the worldwide public, it’s not the most admirable part of the accomplishment,” said Buffett.

The “Friends” reunion, which started streaming May 27 on HBO Max, acknowledges the impetus to turn backward while gently reminding viewers that, after a moment of nostalgia, it is ultimately time to move on. | Chester from Toronto, Wikimedia Commons At this point it might be easier to list the classic sitcoms from the last 30 years that aren’t getting a reboot. From “Roseanne” to “Full House” to “Frasier” to “Will and Grace” to nearly 30 more that have appeared in the past few years, our culture is caught in a fit of nostalgia — a kind of cultural arrested development (also recently rebooted). And it’s unlikely that we will be saved by the bell (also recently rebooted) anytime soon. The “Friends” reunion, which started streaming May 27 on HBO Max, acknowledges the impetus to turn backward while gently reminding viewers that, after a moment of nostalgia, it is ultimately time to move on. I remember in the pre-streaming days heading to the library to check out the DVDs to see just what everyone had been talking about. I spent more hours than I care to admit, anxious to see what Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe were up to next. So when HBO’s special opens with David Schwimmer walking back onto the reconstructed set looking every one of the 17 years older, there is an immediate incongruence. As viewers, we are not back. For as much demand as there has been for these TV reunions, the “Friends” cast had been famously reluctant. So even though HBO Max reversed a dump truck of cash right into the COVID-19-induced schedule opening, the actors still appear as themselves, not as their characters. The final product is part documentary, part interview and part 17-year reunion party. And throughout it all, the actors consistently reminisce. Past tense. It was fun. The special never lets you escape the passage of time, even in these mundane exchanges. Matt Leblanc looks around and observes to Jennifer Anniston, “Everything looks so small.” “That’s impossible,” she replies, “because we haven’t grown.” And Matt LeBlanc replies, “Speak for yourself.” The appeal to nostalgia, of course, is nothing new. Styles are repeated, eras are revisited. And there’s good reason that high school reunions remain a rite of middle-age passage. But the television reboot is something, if not entirely new, at least more popular today than ever before. James Francis, a film studies professor at Texas A&M, wrote for The Conversation that the increasingly fractured television landscape has incentivized an increase in reboots because the shows come with built-in audiences much larger than a new show would find today. Even if these shows can only manage to capture a fraction of its former audience it would be more than enough to please the executives greenlighting them. But I would suggest that for a generation of viewers, the trend is more than just business-driven. There was once a communal experience around these television sitcoms. With fewer options, everyone was funneled into a shared watching experience. Friends could discuss “Friends.” Today, that community seems, well, lacking. And there remains a lingering anxiety for those who grew up on these sitcoms that it’s never going to come all together for them like it did for the generation before, and so looking back brings comfort. Ross Douthat, in his book “The Decadent Society, ” discusses the “doom loop” where the success of the past has put us in a malaise. He devotes a chapter to “repetition,” focusing on our stuck pop culture. And while he praises the auteurs of the golden age of television, he notes that it has given way instead to peak TV which is “algorithmically optimized, tending inevitably toward its own forms of repetition, mediocrity.” Regardless of the cause, nostalgia by nature presses the pause button, which is lovely for a moment, but with the increasing frequency of these reboots, it’s worth asking when we’ll push play again. There was once a communal experience around these television sitcoms. ... Today, that community seems, well, lacking. After the cold open of the actors revisiting the old set, the “Friends” reunion special plays the classic “Friends” opening credit sequence. Even during the run of the show the opening credits were an uncomfortable reminder of the passage of time. The opening sequence would cut in the classic scenes of the cast playing in the water fountain, which was recorded at the same time as the pilot, with scenes from the current season. By the tenth season, the difference had begun to become clear. The reunion special follows the same pattern, but cut into the opening credits with scenes from the special itself juxtaposing past scenes. Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc leaning back in recliners and then cutting to the episode scene where they had done the same years before. Another feature of the reunion is the cast now doing table reads of scenes from classic episodes, and then quickly cutting between that and the original scene. That was then; this is now. Near the end of the special, James Corden — who is a serviceable host for the reunion — asks the group if they would ever return to their characters through a reboot or film. Lisa Kudrow answers for the group, “No. At my age, to say ‘floopy?’ Stop. You have to grow up.” While Kudrow seems to be channeling the sentiments of this particular group of artists, she could just as easily be speaking to all of us. Yes, I am glad we had a moment to look back and revisit. Nostalgia has a place. Walking through the set one last time, Jennifer Aniston contemplates, “This is it. This is the last time we will all be together answering questions about this show. We won’t be doing this again in 15 years.” It was fun. Now, it’s time to move on. Christopher D. Cunningham is the managing editor of Public Square Magazine.

Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic (44) and LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) fight for the ball during the NBA playoffs in Salt Lake City on Thursday, June 10, 2021. The Jazz won 117-111. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News If you were to have surveyed 100 NBA analysts before the playoffs began, including myself, asking which Utah Jazz player would have a breakout defensive performance, Bojan Bogdanovic might have been at the bottom of the list. It’s not disrespectful or a hot take to say that Bogdanovic is known more for his offense — that’s why the Jazz went out and got him in the 2019 offseason. They wanted snipers, and Bogdanovic is one of the best shooters out there. The space and gravity he provides the Jazz’s high-powered, shoot early and often offense is without a doubt his greatest weapon. But through two games against the Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference semifinals, Bogdanovic has not only shined on the defensive end, he has downright dominated. What makes this development even more shocking are the possessions in which he has looked like an All-Defense type player against two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. Actually, one of the biggest question marks looming over the Jazz throughout the regular season was whether or not they could get through the playoffs without another lengthy wing defender. I promise you, no one thought the answer was Bogdanovic. It’s not just that the Jazz’s perimeter defense was a question heading into the postseason, but Bogdanovic was looked at as a weakness. He would be someone that the opposing team could hunt and switch onto when they wanted to get a bucket. That has absolutely not been the case. In two playoff games against the Jazz, Leonard has scored a total of seven points when guarded by Bogdanovic. In those minutes, Leonard has taken just a single 3-pointer, a shot he missed, and hasn’t been able to facilitate as well as you’d think, dishing out just one assist over two games. “He’s gonna hurt himself!” Joe Ingles said with a hearty chuckle after the Jazz’s 117-111 Game 2 win over the Clippers. “Because now for 82 regular season games he’s gonna have to pick up full court.” Ingles then tried his best to compliment Bogdanovic’s effort throughout the regular season, saying that his teammate is often overrated because of how good he is on the offensive end. “He is so good offensively that you think of Bojan and that’s what you think,” Ingles said. “He was very matter of fact in that it’s the playoffs, and he’s ready and he’s locked in and that’s what you’ve seen. He is one of the more competitive guys that I’ve ever been around, and that translates to both ends of the floor.” — Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder on Bojan Bogdanovic Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said that before the postseason began, the coaching staff had a discussion with Bogdanovic about the need for him to be more aggressive on the defensive end and to fight for rebounds. “We were on him a little bit,” Snyder said. “He was very matter of fact in that it’s the playoffs, and he’s ready and he’s locked in and that’s what you’ve seen. He is one of the more competitive guys that I’ve ever been around, and that translates to both ends of the floor.” Bogdanovic has been fighting through screens, helping with double teams and playing one-on-one, not rattled by any switch and certainly not fazed when having to guard one of the most dominant scorers in the game in Leonard. Meanwhile, Bogdanovic has still been able to contribute on the offensive end. He had 16 points in the Jazz’s Game 2 win, which included really important fourth quarter buckets. The Jazz knew that they were going to need Bogdanovic in the playoffs because of what he offers on the offensive end, both as a playmaker in the paint and as a 3-point shooter. But what he’s been able to do on the defensive side has been a revelation. “I think that our defense is the key in this series,” Bogdanovic said. He’s right. And against all conventional wisdom, he’s been a big part of the Jazz’s defense dominating against the Clippers.

Children play on a court at Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp on the west shore of Flathead Lake in Montana on July 9, 2020. The cost of summer camp is an increasingly tough issue. | Hunter D’Antuono, Flathead Beacon via Associated Press How can regular Americans afford summer camps? The answer: most of us can’t I used to love summer: the heat, the beach, the afternoon thunderstorms, those sickeningly sweet, dye-infused, high-fructose corn syrup filled popsicles that suddenly appear in the grocery store. But now that I’m a working mom with two children, turning the calendar over from May to June fills me with dread. It’s not because my kids are home for the summer — in fact, I wish I could spend several months on holiday with my children. No, I dread summer because of the cost of summer camp, which is obscenely, ridiculously expensive here in Palm Beach County, Florida, as it is in much of the country. This summer, we will pay upwards of $1,700 per month to send our two kids to summer camp — $300 more than we pay for preschool during the year and $300 more than we pay in rent every month. Sit with that for a minute: In a normal month, we pay almost the same amount of money for rent as we do child care. In the summer, we pay more for child care than we do rent. But I want to make summer camp happen for my kids because, when I was young, I felt the pain of missing out. My parents couldn’t afford camp, so I often accompanied my dad, who was a janitor and lawn man, as he cleaned one sorority house and then cut grass at another. For my help, he paid me a small wage. And while I did learn a lot about real life and hard work and responsibility — lessons that have served me well, of course — I sometimes think I missed out on some quintessential aspect of childhood: a true summer. Like my parents, I could probably keep my kids home as I work now. I could plop them down in front of the TV with some sweet squeezy-pops in hand. But I want their summers to be more than that. I want them to have fond memories of water play with friends and singing songs and immersing themselves in art projects that end up hanging on the walls of our home. And so here I am, so worried about paying for summer camp that I’m tightening my belt — literally. For lunch most days, I’m opting for seltzer. Two birds, one stone: I save money and slim down for weekend trips to the beach. That so many American families are struggling to pay for summer camp is a failure of both society and policy. For school-aged kids, there are far too few free or low-cost camp options and not enough spots. It’s the rare summer camp that offers scholarships. And demand outstrips supply. But don’t just take it from me. A new report by the Afterschool Alliance says the same. The special report on summer camp, “Time for a Game-Changing Summer, With Opportunity and Growth for All of America’s Youth,” reveals that not only do Americans struggle with a lack of child care options in the summer months, but also that, as is the case with everything in this country, the issue is rife with economic inequalities (that often translate to racial inequalities). An “increase in summer program participation,” the study notes, has been “driven largely by families with higher incomes, while unmet demand for summer programs remains high, especially among families with low incomes.” “For every child in a summer program, another would be enrolled if a program were available,” the report notes. So that means that we need at least double the amount of spots that we currently have. I asked other working moms about the summer camp conundrum and most said they spent the year saving for summer camp, only to start the new school year wiped out financially and beginning to save again for the next summer. Some who couldn’t afford summer camp talked of complicated schedules that involved swapping child care responsibilities with other friends with kids. Many mentioned that the YMCA offers summer camp on a sliding price scale but also added that the program filled up quickly; others felt their local YMCA programs were still financially out of their reach. On the other end of the financial spectrum, I’ve got a colleague in New York City who would probably love to pay $1,700 a month for summer camp. In her neighborhood, summer camp runs $1,500 a week. Per child. With two kids, she would pay $3,000 each week, for a grand total of $12,000 a month. From where I sit, my colleague is wealthy. But she and her husband don’t have that kind of money, so they’ve crafted a unique summer camp plan. They’re renting a house in Connecticut and sending their kids to day camp there — renting a house for the summer is actually cheaper than paying for New York’s programs. This whole conversation applies to after-school programs, too. In the fall, my daughter will begin public school. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be off the financial hook. The starting bell rings at 7:45 a.m. and school lets out at 2:45 p.m., a little over half way through my work day. Her public school has no free after-school program. We will have to either pick her up or pay. This is the case in much of the country: The Afterschool Alliance notes that for every kid in an after-school program, there are three waiting to get in. I’m not going to blame the camps or after-school programs themselves. They have their expenses and their owners need to turn a profit (probably so they, in turn, can send their own kids to astronomically expensive summer camps and after-school programs). Instead, I see this as a major policy failure. And though the Biden administration is promising free preschool for 3- and 4-yearolds, what about good, safe, high-quality summer camps and after-school programs for all of America’s children, regardless of age and income? Without support, parents are left to figure it out on their own, often sacrificing their savings, if they have some. Moms sometimes abandon their career plans to take jobs that allow them to pick up their kids after school or have summers off, and then get stuck in what has been called the “pink collar ghetto” of jobs that allow us to work and take care of the kids. I wonder how low-income and middle-class women and families will ever get ahead in this country that talks a lot about “family values” but does little to actually help us stand on our feet. And I wonder how America will remain ahead in the world without its women — half the population — fully engaging in the workforce because we don’t have the supportive policies we need to do so. The summer camp conundrum — and other policy gaps — exact an unmeasurable toll. The psychological impact of running up against the other glass ceiling — that of unaffordable child care and the way women must scale back their ambitions accordingly — is devastating. This is the type of thing that infuriates me to the point that I’ve considered throwing my hat into the political ring. AOC rode the whole “I’m a waitress from the Bronx” thing into office. Why can’t I take my “I’m a mom who’s outraged about how expensive summer camp is” platform all the way to D.C.? I’m telling you, I’d do it ... if only I weren’t so darn busy sipping seltzer and researching low-cost — or at least semi-affordable — summer camp options for my kids.

A photo of the Marvel Studios logo. | Marvel The Marvel Cinematic Universe — also known as the MCU — is the entire story of the Marvel movies “Loki” is out now. “Black Widow” is on the way. Needless to say, there’s a lot of new Marvel content coming out. But did you know that it all connects together in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Here’s an explainer on the MCU. What is the Marvel Cinematic Universe? The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a collection of movies and television series that tell a singular narrative related to Marvel characters, settings and stories. The MCU is a product from Disney and Marvel that brings us heroes from Black Panther and Doctor Strange to Spider-Man and Iron Man. What is the MCU story so far? The MCU started when Tony Stark became Iron Man. The 2008 “Iron Man” movie showed Tony Stark trapped in a cave in the Middle East, with the only survival tactic being to create an artificial heart using nanotechnology. That helped him become Iron Man and set the course for the future MCU. We saw introductory films for heroes such as Thor, The Hulk and Captain America, learning about how they all tied into the Avengers Initiative — a plan by Nick Fury’s SHIELD agency to fight off big threats. When aliens invade Earth in search for the Tesseract — which is in the hands of the mischievous Loki — Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow and other heroes form a team known as the Avengers, who work together to stop an invading alien army. Once that’s done, we learn more about Captain America’s return to the real world and how the Avengers deal with the fallout of the Battle of New York. It’s then that Stark decides to build some androids to help fight off crime so the Avengers don’t need to act alone, including a rather powerful one named Ultron. But things turn haywire as Ultron turns on the Avengers and threatens to destroy the world. They stop him, but at a major cost as hundreds of thousands of people die. The MCU takes a turn toward space as well with the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, which focus on a group of heroes who are trying to stay safe out in space while protecting others. It’s then that we learn more about Thanos’ plan to capture all the Infinity Stones, which have the power to destroy the universe. Back on Earth, we see Captain America and Iron Man face possible charges for what’s been done with the world — unless they sign the Sokovia Accords, which allow superheroes to be registered with the U.S. government so they can’t go rogue. This starts a civil war between our heroes, splitting them into two groups. They have a huge fight against each other, which ends with them going down different paths. Not long after that, Thor and his family and friends are attacked out in space by Thanos, who is still searching for the Infinity Stones. Thanos makes his way toward Earth. This unites the Avengers toward a single goal — defeat Thanos. But Thanos has collected all of the Infinity Stones and decides to wipe out half of the universe’s population, hoping it’ll keep resources fresh for people. Many of our heroes disappear. Five years pass before the Avengers squad teams up again to stop Thanos. They kill him easily. But then, they travel back in the past to collect the Infinity Stones so they can bring back their friends who were lost. But a past Thanos arrives to stop the Avengers. This culminates in a huge battle. Spoiler: Our heroes win. Now, questions arise about what’s next. We know all of the surviving heroes are dealing with the fallout from Thanos, and there seems to be a creation of new timelines and alternate reams. So, we’ll see where this leads. Full list of current Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and TV shows. The Infinity Saga Phase One Iron Man (2008) The Incredible Hulk (2008) Iron Man 2 (2010) Thor (2011) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) Phase Two Iron Man 3 (2013) Thor: The Dark World (2013) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) Ant-Man (2015) Phase Three Captain America: Civil War (2016) Doctor Strange (2016) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Black Panther (2018) Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) Captain Marvel (2019) Avengers: Endgame (2019) Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) Phase 4: “WandaVision” (January 2021) “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (February 2021) “Loki” — June 19 “Black Widow” — July 9 “What If … ?” — Summer 2021 “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” — Sept. 3, 2021 “Eternals” — Nov. 5, 2021 “Spiderman 3: No Way Home” — Dec. 17, 2021 “Ms. Marvel” — TBD 2021 “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” — March 25, 2022 “Thor: Love and Thunder” — May 6, 2022 “Black Panther 2” — July 8, 2022 Untitled Marvel film — Oct. 7, 2022 “Captain Marvel 2” — Nov. 11, 2022 “Hawkeye” — TBD 2022 “Moon Knight” — TBD “She-Hulk” — TBD “Secret Invasion” — TBD

Photo illustration by Michelle Budge Federal law enforcement officials report computer network ransomware attacks are on the rise in Utah as recent cybercriminal “double-extortion” schemes are earning headlines for multimillion dollar payouts. Once upon a time, cybercriminals were content with breaking into a company’s computer network with the sole purpose of locking out access to the business’ own data and then demanding a ransom payment to provide a code or “key” to restore operations. But digital thieves have shown an evolving approach in successful attacks in recent weeks on meatpacking multinational JBS and East Coast fuel network operator Colonial Pipeline. In these cases, hackers first harvest — or “exfiltrate” — sensitive customer and/or employee data, then perform lockouts. This tactic creates a double-tiered threat that ensures that, even if a business target has backup copies of data secured in another storage location that it can easily recover, criminals have snared information they can threaten to make public, like personal credit details or proprietary secrets. Laura Hoffner, chief of staff for Seattle-based strategic security consulting firm Concentric, said there’s an emerging hacker business model that employs a double-extortion approach to squeeze ransom money out of attack targets and sometimes in multiple payments. “We’ve seen a lot more of this in the past year and a half,” Hoffner said. “First, hackers take control of a company’s network or cloud backup. But, they’ve already extracted any sensitive data and that can be used to get a bigger or secondary payout after they’ve unlocked access.” Hoffner said not only are the volume of cyberattacks on the rise, up over 300% from 2019 to 2020, but dollar values of the ransom demands associated with network intrusions are also rising dramatically. While questions and concerns rise about whether acceding to ransom demands only serves to exacerbate the criminal ransomware ecosystem, Hoffner said the decision to pay is often based on simple economics. “Our government is saying, ‘Don’t pay these ransoms ... the money often goes to support terrorism,’” Hoffner said. “But what else are these companies going to do when they are victims of these attacks? The cost of waiting the attackers out is typically about three times the amount of whatever the ransom payment would be.” And the amount of money paid out in recent attacks gives some insight into how big those numbers can get. Brazil-based JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company, said it paid the equivalent of $11 million to hackers who broke into its computer system late last month. The company said on May 31 that it was the victim of a ransomware attack, but Wednesday was the first time the company’s U.S. division confirmed that it had paid the ransom. “This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally,” said Andre Nogueira, the CEO of JBS USA. “However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers.” Production at some JBS meatpacking facilities, including one in Utah that employs about 1,200 people, suffered temporary closures as a result of the hack. But the company said that even though the vast majority of its facilities were operational at the time it made the payment, it decided to pay in order to avoid any unforeseen issues and ensure no data was exfiltrated. The FBI has attributed the attack to REvil, a Russian-speaking gang that has made some of the largest ransomware demands on record in recent months. The FBI said it will work to bring the group to justice and it urged anyone who is the victim of a cyberattack to contact the bureau immediately. Earlier this week, the Justice Department announced it had recovered most of a multimillion-dollar ransom payment made by Colonial Pipeline, the operator of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline. Colonial paid a ransom of 75 bitcoin — then valued at $4.4 million — in early May to a Russia-based hacker group. The operation to seize cryptocurrency reflected a rare victory in the fight against ransomware as U.S. officials scramble to confront a rapidly accelerating threat targeting critical industries around the world. Utah Department of Public Safety and FBI Cybercrime Task Force member Sgt. Jeffrey Plan said he is also seeing an uptick in double-extortion scams that rely on first exfiltrating sensitive data ahead of ransom demands and is also concerned about emerging pay-to-hack services being offered by some criminal groups. “Another trend on the rise is the fact that you have a lot of criminal gangs that have become proficient at operating ransomware attacks starting to offer, basically, ransomware as a service,” Plank said. “In these cases, you don’t need to know anything about intrusion or setting up a ransomware crime, you simply pay to have the service done.” Plank also noted that ransomware attacks have been on the rise in Utah in recent weeks, with dozens of cases reported. One of the biggest Utah cases involving a ransomware scam happened last summer. The University of Utah was stung by cybercriminals for almost $500,000 in ransom following a July attack that gave the state’s flagship institution the choice of sacrificing private student and employee data, or paying up and hoping the information wasn’t compromised. The U. reported that on July 19, computing servers in the College of Social and Behavioral Science experienced a “criminal ransomware attack, which rendered its servers temporarily inaccessible.” The school said it immediately isolated the servers from the rest of the institution’s computer network systems, notified appropriate law enforcement entities and deployed its Information Security Office, which, according to a web posting, “investigated and resolved the incident in consultation with an external firm that specializes in responding to ransomware attacks.” That resolution included making a bitcoin payment of $457,059 to the hackers who provided a code to unlock the data servers. The school said the payment was covered by its insurer and the school but stipulated that “no tuition, grant, donation, state or taxpayer funds were used to pay the ransom.” On Thursday, Corey Roach, the U.’s chief Information security officer, said the ransomware attack against the University of Utah in 2020 “certainly raised awareness of IT security issues among our staff and students. It was an example of how an attacker can leverage minor security events like phishing to gain a foothold in an organization.” “The attack helped our users understand the need for more modern security controls such as multi-factor authentication,” Roach said in a statement. “It also illustrated how interconnected our organization is and that we need to enhance security in all areas, not just those with sensitive data. “Recent significant ransomware incidents at other businesses remind us that we were lucky to contain the attack to a small portion of our environment and to drive us to continue to improve our security program.” Cybersecurity experts say the ability to trick humans into clicking on or downloading malicious code continues to be the most common entry point for hackers and emphasize that training employees and staff members on how to identify, and avoid, malicious activity is critical to keeping companies safe from hackers and potential ransomware attacks. Further information on strategies to prevent cyber attacks can be found at ready.gov/cybersecurity. Contributing: Associated Press

A woman receives the AstraZeneca vaccine during a mass coronavirus vaccination for public transport workers at the Kampung Rambutan Bus Terminal in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, June 10, 2021. | Achmad Ibrahim, Associated Press Here’s how the situation could go from bad to worse if nothing changes. Indonesia — the world’s fourth most populous country — may face massive COVID-19 outbreaks if health officials do not take immediate action, reports Reuters. Already, the country of 270 million people has one of Asia’s highest COVID-19 caseloads. Experts have called Indonesia a “coronavirus time bomb,” per The Telegraph. The country will face an “explosion of cases” if further measures are not taken, according to CNN. Cases have been rising in Indonesia over the last few weeks and beginning to strain local health systems, reported ABC. Jakarta, the country’s capital, has emerged at the epicenter of the outbreak. How bad is Indonesia’s current coronavirus outbreak? Thursday, Indonesia reported over 200 coronavirus deaths and almost 9,000 new infections, the highest single-day of COVID-19 cases since late February, said ABC. Last week, the country’s positivity rate was 35.8%. Kudos, an area in central Java, saw cases skyrocket by 7,594% within days, said CNN. Local hospital capacity reached 90% To date, Indonesia has recorded almost 1.9 million COVID-19 cases and over 52,000 fatalities, reports ABC. However, a recent report estimates that actual COVID-19 figures are several times higher than official counts, said Reuters. The discrepancy is due to weak testing and contact tracing capacities. Officials are increasingly concerned that Indonesia may face similar devastation as India if another wave of COVID-19 outbreaks hits, according to The Telegraph. Why is Indonesia seeing a spike in coronavirus cases? The recent surge in cases comes from two driving causes: Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country, the world’s largest, and three weeks ago, Muslims celebrated the end of their holy fasting month, Ramadan. Many Indonesians ignored the country’s temporary travel ban to visit their families for these holidays, reported CNN. The new COVID-19 Delta variant is rapidly spreading in other Southeast Asian nations and potentially worsening Indonesia’s outbreaks, reported ABC. This remains uncertain because the country has limited genome sequencing. The Alpha, Beta and Delta variants have been identified in Indonesia, per The Telegraph. How is Indonesia responding? Indonesia has not announced any national restrictions or lockdowns. Rather, officials have announced some localized lockdowns, reported The Telegraph. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has emphasized fighting rising infections through faster vaccination, said The Telegraph. So far 6% of Indonesians have been fully vaccinated and about 9.4% have received one dose, said Reuters. Wednesday, Jakarta opened vaccinations to all those over the age of 18 to help fight rising infections.

Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson (00) reacts after sinking a three during game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the LA Clippers at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, June 8, 2021. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News Reports of hate crimes have increased over the last year, but the high-profile stories coming out of New York and California can feel separate and distant to us in the interior of the country. Two recent stories from Utah, though, show that the problem exists in our own backyard. A Jewish synagogue was defaced with a swastika in May. This week, the World Famous Yum Yum Food Truck was vandalized and covered in graffiti containing racial slurs and epithets. The food truck, which serves Filipino fusion cuisine, and the vandalism was put in the spotlight when Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson, who has Filipino heritage, was among many locals and businesses to pitch in and help get the truck immediately cleaned up and restored. It was another act of hate that hit close to home and had me thinking about my friends and family in the local Filipino community. The news also comes just days before Philippine Independence Day on Saturday, June 12. Yum Yum Food Truck had recently posted that they would be serving food at a local celebration. With every new story the sting and sadness don’t lessen. It will always be painful to see others attacked for the way they look or what they believe. In this instance, the community was quick to rally around the victims and show support on social media and by quickly working together to not only return the truck to its former glory but make it better than before with fresh paint, detailing and a brand new logo. Acts of hate can be swift and destructive. Acts of love are faster and stronger. I stand in solidarity with Utah’s Filipino community – love is more powerful than hate! #utahfilipino #StopAAPIHate #stopasianhate— Jordan Clarkson (@JordanClarksons) June 9, 2021 The initial act of vandalism may have only been committed by one or two people full of anger, but many more opted to show love Just days later, the original post from Yum Yum has more than 2000 reactions and close to two hundred comments of love and support, not to mention the attention brought by Clarkson’s notoriety. Such an outpouring of support is noble and welcome. It’s evidence there is more positivity and inclusion out there than misguided or bigoted thoughts. Yet, the whole instance retains an undercurrent of disappointment because it never should have happened in the first place. The increase in hate crimes is not something a problem exclusive to other states or regions. It is here in Utah. It’s everywhere. And it can’t be ignored by those wishing that was the case. Maybe reading these stories and hearing about these incidents is growing tedious. I’m tired, too. I’m tired of explaining to others what it’s like to be targeted because of the way you look. Tired of having to see the hateful words spelled out and directed at me and the people I love. Tired of the lived reality that such beliefs could be held by someone on my street or that I attend church services with. It is tiring. But it matters. And something should not have to happen to you for it to matter to you. What happened with the World Famous Yum Yum Food Truck this week is an example of the dangers of being a perceived other. I have never known the Filipino community to be hostile. In fact, they are often some of the most welcoming and loving people anywhere. The truck did nothing to provoke such an attack, but simply existing was enough of a threat to some. The response to the vandalism is an example of what real inclusion can look like in practice. A community immediately came together not just online, but through real tangible efforts to preserve and help those in need — to help one of their own. The community defended victims not just with words and heartfelt messages, but with actions showing the vandals that it was they who did not belong. Weeds of distrust and hatred are in our own backyard, but together we have the power to pull them out.

Runners compete during the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday, June 11, 2021. | BYU Photo Garrett Marsing, a senior from Price, finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase Friday evening to highlight the final day of competition for the BYU men at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Marsing finished with a personal-best time of 8:31.54. Kigen Chemadi of Middle Tennessee State won the race with a time of 8:28.20, the fastest collegiate time of the year. BYU, ranked fifth in the final regular season poll, finished 17th in the team standings with 16 points. The championships conclude Saturday with the final day of the women’s competition, and the Cougars have set the stage for a good showing. Courtney Wayment (steeplechase), Anna Camp (1,500-meter) and Claire Seymour (800-meter) had the first, second and third fastest times, respectively, in Wednesday’s semifinals, and Whittni Orton (5,000-meter) has the fastest time in the nation this season in her event. Other than Marsing’s performance, the BYU men had a quiet day on Friday. Casey Clinger, a sophomore from American Fork, placed 16th in the 5,000-meter run. Oregon’s Cooper Teare won the race with a meet-record time of 13:12.27. Michael Bluth, a senior from Riverton, finished eighth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 45.91. The race was won by Randolph Rose in a world-leading time of 43.85. Talem Franco, a graduate student from Heber City, finished ninth in the 1,500 with a time of 3:40.61. The race was won by Oregon’s Cole Hocker with a time of 3:35.35, just .05 off the meet record set by Sydney Maree in 1981. Dallin Shurts, a freshman, was 15th in the discus with a throw of 178-9 and teammate Dallin Vorkink was 17th in the decathlon with a score of 6,388 points.

Low water levels are pictured in Echo Reservoir north of Coalville on Thursday, May 6, 2021. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Las Vegas is banning “nonfunctional” grass. Lake Mead hit its record-low level, threatening water supply for millions. Utah’s governor is encouraging yellow lawns as the new normal. The news reports are clear: The West is in an historic drought. According to The Associated Press this week, a new Nevada law will outlaw about 31% of the grass in the Las Vegas area in an effort to conserve water amid a drought that’s drying up the region’s primary water source, the Colorado River. Cities and states around the U.S. have enacted temporary bans on lawns that must be watered, but legislation signed by Gov. Steve Sisolak makes Nevada the first in the nation to enact a permanent ban on certain categories of grass. The Southwest relies on two major reservoirs on the Colorado River to keep water flowing to the arid region: Lake Powell and Lake Mead. But the surface elevation of Lake Mead along the Nevada-Arizona border dropped to 1,071.56 feet — it’s the lowest level since Lake Mead was filled in the 1930s and which was matched in 2016 “We’re expecting the reservoir to keep declining until November, then it should start to rebound,” U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman Patti Aaron told the AP Wednesday. The Colorado River supplies 40 million people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming as well as a $5 billion-a-year agricultural industry. But already in Arizona, farmers in Pinal County south of Phoenix have had to stop irrigating their fields because of the cutbacks in water from the Colorado River. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has already issued three drought emergency declarations, cutting lawn watering at state facilities. He’s asked other cities and counties to do the same, and some like Salt Lake City already have. Cox also wants residents to find ways to cut down on water usage. Here’s what we’ve learned of the situation so far: Baby, it’s dry outside — How the drought is affecting Utah: The U.S. Drought Monitor puts 90% of Utah in the category of “extreme drought” and says that more than 2.7 million people in the state are impacted. What do people think should be done to save water? Some irrigation companies are taking punitive measures a step further this year, warning of penalties as high as $5,000 and a loss of 10 water turns if users flagrantly break the rules and are using water outside their allotted time slot. If you think the weather’s been the driest you’ve seen in your life, you’re right: The summer of 2020 was the driest ever logged in Utah and Nevada since record keeping began 126 years ago, and this year hasn’t been any better. One congressman says ‘we are a special kind of stupid’ when it comes to drought: Some GOP members of Congress say it is federal and state policies that are the main culprit behind the unprecedented drought gripping the West, not just the weather. Love, hope, worry, fear as Lake Powell drops: The steep vertical drop in water levels at Lake Powell is recontouring the lake, stranding launch ramps, and adding to the fears of boaters — while brightening the hopes of those who would like to see the lake permanently drained. Utah governor bans fireworks on state lands, orders more watering cutbacks amid severe drought: Yellow lawns will likely be the norm for the summer as Utah Gov. Spencer Cox issued his third water restriction in four months on Tuesday with the state suffering under unprecedented drought conditions. Why Utah lawmakers are worried about having enough water in the future: Utah lawmakers say drought and the dwindling Colorado River make it more important than ever for the state to act now to safeguard its interest in the river.

A man who says he was shot during a police brutality protest in Provo last year is now running for mayor of the city.

Most of Utah is already at the worst drought level and over half of the western United States is experiencing severe drought conditions, and farmers warned it's taking a toll on Utah's food supply.

Steel, lumber, plastic and fuel. Corn, soybeans, sugar and sunflower oil. Houses, cars, diapers and toilet paper. Prices are rising almost everywhere you look.

Ever since East High alum Ryen Jiba scored the equalizing goal of Salt Lake Community College's 2-1 win over top-ranked Iowa Western in the NJCAA national championship match Thursday night, a smile hasn't left his face. For good reason, too.

Get your air conditioners ready because the triple-digital heat is returning to Utah with vigor by the end of the weekend.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced four bills on Friday aimed at reining in the power of the tech giants, with one potentially leading to their break-up.

Have you ever made a mistake as a parent and actually owned up to it? Recently, I had to do this. Here's how it went.

The pandemic created learning gaps for some Utah students, and it's led to an uptick in enrollment for summer school.

The Hill Cumorah in Manchester, New York, will undergo long-term rehabilitation to preserve the site and share its story.

Here are the latest updates on wildfires burning across the state of Utah.

Dallas police are investigating a shooting that injured five people Friday, including a 4-year-old girl.

• Four people were rescued off a boat 'teetering' at the edge of a dam, police say

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A shooting in Savannah, Georgia, on Friday killed one person and injured at least eight others, including a 2-year-old and a 13-year-old, police said.

At least 12 people were injured after a shooting in Austin, Texas, officials said.

The US is reopening far and wide just in time for the summer, a sign that millions are ready to get their life back.

Soon after the coronavirus began spreading in the United States, it became clear that the pandemic would hit parts of Indian Country hard.

Joél Junior Morales was at Pulse the week before a gunman killed 49 people there.

Joél Junior Morales was at Pulse the week before a gunman killed 49 people there.

As the nation nears 600,000 deaths, the U.S. may be unlikely to meet President Joe Biden's July 4 vaccination goal. Latest COVID-19 news.      

President Joe Biden and other world leaders to talk economy, foreign policy and health care on second day of G-7 summit in Cornwall, England.      

President Biden will attend the G-7 summit and meet Queen Elizabeth, the Westminster Dog Show moves north and more news to start your weekend.      

The early-morning attack at a gay nightclub in Florida on June 12, 2016, left the LGBTQ community grieving and on edge during Pride celebrations.      

Why has it been so easy to vaccinate against COVID-19 when other medical problems remain intractable? Biology.      

Loving Day is celebrated on June 12, the anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, a historic court decision that overturned bans on interracial marriages.      

This is a story about the internet, the spontaneous generosity of thousands of people and the healing power of food. Or, the healing power of lamb.      

Chris Paul and Devin Booker combined for 56 points as the Suns moved one win from the West finals after beating the Nuggets 116-102 in Game 3.      

Israel's parliament will vote Sunday on ending Benjamin Netanyahu's tenure as prime minister and approving a new coalition that includes an Arab party      

The Sixers took a 2-1 series lead with a 127-111 win that showed why they're the top seed in the East and why the Hawks have not yet arrived.