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⛅ 35 – 62° Logan | ⛅ 44 – 67° Salt Lake

⛅ 28 – 62° Manti | ☀️ 37 – 70° Moab

☀️ 31 – 68° Cedar City | ☀️ 44 – 78° St. George

🐰 Happy Easter!

The latest BYU-Utah softball series was a thrilling watch. BYU won handily Saturday, but Thursday and Friday night's games were down-to-the-wire.

Both nights were seventh-inning comebacks for BYU. During Friday's game, the Cougs were down 8-1 when they stepped up to the plate at the bottom of the seventh inning. It ended with a walk-off home run that clinched the game for BYU.

On Saturday, BYU won 14-5 to complete the series sweep.

The Cougars exploded for nine runs in the third, including two runs scored by junior Lily Owens. Her 3-run homer in the inning extended the Cougars’ lead to six at 10-4, Sam Foster writes.

“This weekend has been electric,” Owens said. “Game three was just ‘Come out and have fun and keep scoring.’ Scoring is fun.”

🥎 Read more about BYU's win over Utah.

What does society owe to Christians who celebrate Easter?

It was once common for schools, sports clubs and other community organizations to acknowledge and accommodate religious aspects of the Easter season, Kelsey Dallas reported.

With major shifts in the U.S. religious landscape, it's become more on Christians to carve out time to celebrate the significant holiday of Easter despite secular scheduling conflicts.

Here are some of the recent religious trends and reasons that could be a contributing factor to the rise in Easter scheduling conflicts:

Since 2007, the share of adults in the United States who identify as Christian has fallen from 78% to 63%.
Just one-third of Americans say they attend religious services in person at least once a month.
Easter is not celebrated on a fixed date, and one factor fueling scheduling conflicts this year is it lands as late on the calendar as the holiday ever does.

“As American culture grows increasingly secular, big Christian holidays are still going to be within everybody’s consciousness, and so Americans are not going to be surprised if someone is celebrating Easter or Christmas,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, which conducts surveys on faith and culture. “But there won’t be a cultural expectation to cancel sporting events, work or other things happening.”

Utah skier pushes the limits of endurance

Thomas Hart is looking to break his own Guinness World Record. The

64-year-old North Ogden man is on his way to skiing more than 10 million vertical feet in one year.

What does that require?

Each day, he's in bed before 9 p.m. and up at 4 a.m.
He gets to the Snowbasin gondola as one of the first in line at 7:30 a.m.
On a typical day, he'll make 40, sometimes 50 runs.

Last ski season, he skied an astounding 8,513,340 feet in vertical distance.

Dennis Romboy caught up with the skier to find out more about him and what makes him tick.

“Paul McCartney did not envision someone like me when he wrote the song ‘When I’m Sixty Four,’” Hart told Romboy.

He says skiing never gets old.

“Oh, I just love to ski. And I love all my friends. I wouldn’t miss a day for anything,” he said.

🎿 Read more about the skier.

FROM OUR SPONSOR CLEARSTONE PUBLISHING

What Happened to Turn Easter into an Insignificant Holiday?

Christians generally believe that Jesus’s resurrection was unique because it demonstrates our personal identity, our spirit, or soul continues to exist after we die. That idea did not grab anyone’s attention in antiquity since practically everyone already believed this. Learn more.

Utah

Goldman Sachs extends $100M program for rural small businesses to Utah (KSL.com)
Southwest Utah drought: 'A real possibility' for state of emergency, governor says (St George News)
The importance of land: Orem’s Wilkerson Farm saga highlights ongoing land-use conundrums in Utah Valley (Daily Herald)
As offseason looms, local businesses catch a breath before summer (The Park Record)
Grieving University of Utah student creates overdose prevention program in friend's honor (KSL.com)

Health

Here's how to use nasal spray right and more tips for managing spring allergies (NPR)
Processed foods that support weight loss (Healthline)

Politics

Judge strikes down Utah’s school choice program, leaving kids in limbo (Deseret News)
Louisiana joins Utah, Texas in suit on nuclear reactors (Deseret News)
Utah congressman visits El Salvador prison where deported man is being held (Deseret News)
Utahns back Gov. Cox and Legislature, but support is waning among these voters, according to new poll (Deseret News)
Jay Evensen: The refugees I have known make our country better (Deseret News)

The Nation and the World

Poll: Americans less likely to buy homes, other big-ticket items due to Trump tariffs (Deseret News)
Supreme Court temporarily blocks new deportations under Alien Enemies Act (CBS News)
Putin declares Easter ceasefire in Ukraine as hundreds of prisoners are exchanged (NBC News)

Sports

Utah gymnastics’ bid to end its national title drought comes up short again (Deseret News)
Relive some of the best moments in Utah Hockey Club’s inaugural season (Deseret News)
Key NBA lottery and draft dates and deadlines (Deseret News)
Call it a dynasty: UVU’s Spirit Squad wins 4 years in a row in Daytona (The UVU Review)
BYU All-American swimmer Mackenzie Miller Lung to return for one more season (The Daily Universe)

🗓️ Events Calendar

No events to highlight today. Here's the calendar list of events and activities going on around the state of Utah during this month.

Please reach out to me at sgambles@deseretnews.com if you have any thoughts, feedback or ideas you would like to share!

✨ Cheers ✨

— Gambles