Dennis Romboy reports:

"As the Salt Lake City Council prepares to vote next week on raising the sales tax rate for an ambitious downtown revitalization project, perhaps the largest stakeholder in the urban core is carefully watching the proceedings.

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not have a financial stake in the Smith Entertainment Group’s proposal for a sports, entertainment, culture and convention district, which includes renovating the Delta Center to accommodate the new Utah Hockey Club along with the Utah Jazz. But the church does have 'a shared interest with other stakeholders in the community' and in having 'a vibrant downtown.'

“'We will be neighbors. We are neighbors today. The entertainment district that they’ve talked about runs parallel to Temple Square and so of course we have an interest in what happens there. But we think it’s an exciting proposition and there’s a lot of interest in what they’re doing,' Bishop L. Todd Budge, second counselor in the church’s Presiding Bishopric, told the Deseret News in an interview."

Gravel pits may be ugly to look at it, but they’re necessary

"Utah has been the fasting growing state in the nation, with a hardy population increase of nearly 24% since 2010.

"With that growth rate comes the need for new housing, new roads and other necessary infrastructure like utilities to provide sewer, water and other services to the rapidly expanding population.

"In addition, Utah consumers are hungry for solar panels, with the state logging the No. 9 position in the country during the first quarter of 2021 for solar installation, according to Ecowatch.

"All this growth comes with the need of aggregate materials — cement, gravel and sand — necessary components of construction and renewable energy.

"The trouble is, no one wants a rock quarry or gravel pit near their community, even though their community is highly dependent — like it or not — on the material in order to grow and thrive," Amy Joi O'Donoghue writes.

More in Utah

What was Utah’s response to a Supreme Court ruling allowing a ban on public sleeping to remain in place? (Deseret News)

Photo of the day: Air Show Practice and Naturalization Ceremony (Deseret News)

Utah is aging, but new Census Bureau data shows benefits in its youth (KSL)

Faith

195 years later, the witnesses of the Book of Mormon are receiving more attention than ever (Deseret News)

Dell Van Orden, former editor of the Church News, dies at age 88 (Church News)

Politics

An inside look at political coverage (Deseret News)

A-List ambivalence: Does Hollywood have mixed feelings about Biden? (Deseret News)

Supreme Court hands limited victory to a Jan. 6 protester (Deseret News)

The Nation

Judge partially ends court oversight of migrant children, chipping away at 27-year arrangement (Associated Press)

The World

Israeli war’s latest phase may reckon with tension between dismantling Hamas and rescuing hostages (NBC News)

Atlantic storm develops into season's first hurricane (BBC News)

Sports

Draft Day 2: Utah makes two trades early in the second round, brings in ‘star, elite defenseman’ (Deseret News)

One former BYU runner’s Olympic hope continues, another’s is dashed in heartbreaking fashion at trials (Deseret News)

Did Utah Hockey Club’s GM just leak the future name of the team? (Deseret News)