Running. For president, YEAH SAMAKE, 42, in his native Mali, Western Africa. Samake, who converted to Mormonism in 2000 while living in New York, has a master’s degree in public policy from BYU and is currently the mayor of Ouelessebougou, in southwestern Mali.
Remarried. Singer and actress MARIE OSMOND, 51, to her first husband STEPHEN CRAIG, 54, in the Las Vegas Temple. Her second marriage ended in 2007. A promoter of Nutrisystem weight loss products, Osmond wore her original wedding gown for the 4 May ceremony. The blissful couple drove away from the temple in a white stretch Humvee.
Posted. A video on Vimeo.com showing Marshall Miller and Hartman Rector III BASE jumping from the Church Office Building in Salt Lake City last November. Earlier this year, the duo pleaded guilty in abeyance to an infraction for leaping from the building. Rector is the son of former Sunstone publisher Daniel Hartman Rector.
Transferring. To the University of Washington, University of Utah President MICHAEL K. YOUNG, 61. Young served as chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom during 2003 and 2004. In a recent BYU conference on religious freedom, Young said that Mormons “should be among the most passionate civil libertarians in the world,” and “all ought to be members of the ACLU.”
Stepping Down. Mormon Olympic gold medalist PETER VIDMAR, 49, from his post as head of the U.S. Olympic team. Vidmar received criticism from some athletes after the Chicago Tribune reported that he had contributed to the campaign to pass Proposition 8. “I wish that my personal religious beliefs would not have become a distraction from the amazing things that are happening in the Olympic movement in the United States,” Vidmar stated. “I simply cannot have my presence become a detriment to the U.S. Olympic family.”
Showdown? JON HUNTSMAN, 50, Jr., and MITT ROMNEY, 63, both emerging Republican presidential hopefuls. While Romney presents himself as religiously devout, with solid conservative credentials, Huntsman, who served as ambassador for a Democratic White House and supports civil unions for same-sex couples, projects a more independent image. “I can’t say I’m overly religious,” Huntsman told Fortune magazine in 2010. “I get satisfaction from many different types of religions and philosophies.”
Deported. FELIX CALLEJAS, who’d served as a branch president in Draper, Utah, after a failed attempt to obtain asylum from his native El Salvador. Church spokesperson Scott Trotter told the Salt Lake Tribune that “this case reminds us all of the need to address immigration reform.”
Sentenced. KEITH SCOTT BROWN, 55, father of the five piano-playing siblings who perform as The 5 Browns. Brown was sentenced to ten years to life for sexually abusing his three daughters when they were children. DESIRAE, 32, DEONDRA, 30, and MELODY, 26, said that after learning that their father was planning to mentor other children in musical careers, they decided to reveal his earlier abuse.
Died. Pollster Richard B. Wirthlin, 80, from natural causes. As Ronald Reagan’s chief strategist, Wirthlin had helped steer Reagan’s political career from his early days as California governor through his two terms in the White House. A brother of apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin, he had served as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy between 1996 and 2001.
Honored. Theric Jepson by the Association for Mormon Letters for guest editing issue 160 of Sunstone—also known as the comics issue. According to the citation, the issue has “created a foundation we hope will initiate a legacy of quality comics that takes Mormon literature in new and exciting directions.”
In Heaven. Samuel Keith McBride, known to Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium attendees as an enthusiastic promoter of Emmanuel Swedenborg’s teachings. He handed out hundreds of books on Swedenborg and Helen Keller during his years at the Symposium.
Retiring. Arch-conservative Utah state senator CHRIS BUTTARS, 69. A blunt critic of gays and lesbians, Buttars was admired by supporters as a champion of moral causes. Buttars attracted controversy in recent years for comments that critics charged were racist and anti-gay.
Suspended. BRANDON DAVIES, 19, from the BYU basketball team, for allegedly having sex with his girlfriend. The story, which received widespread national attention, comes one year after footballer HARVEY UNGA withdrew from BYU on similar grounds. Unga has since had a son, married BYU girlfriend and fellow athlete KEILANI MOEAKI, and signed with the Chicago Bears.
Honored. Presiding Bishop H. DAVID BURTON, 73, a recipient of Salt Lake City’s “Giant in Our City” Award. During a banquet in his honor, Burton reaffirmed the Church’s commitment to revitalizing downtown Salt Lake City, noting that the $1.5 billion City Creek Center under construction across from Temple Square is scheduled to open in March 2012.