Mapleton

Home values may be dropping, and food and gasoline prices are higher this year. But that didn't stop hordes of bleary-eyed, tryptophan-high bargain hunters from braving bone-chilling cold in the wee hours of Black Friday for extreme bargains at malls, and big box and department stores throughout Utah County and the state.

Retailers like Mervyns, J.C.

Visitors got a unique look from the sky at a new development in Mapleton on Friday.

The Preserve at Mapleton, at 1600 South and 1250 East, had its open house Friday, and developers offered helicopter tours over the 240-acre development, as well as ground tours in a Land Rover.

"It's a unique property, and they wanted people to see all views of it," said Lori Swenson, a sales agent for Landmark Real Estate.

The open house, through Landmark

Like their scantily clad stylists, the prospect of a Bikini Cuts opening in Utah County has been a bit of a tease.

Between 2005 and 2006, the Utah-based mostly-for-men salon promised to open up shop in Provo. The situation got so far as to include Municipal Council meetings and radio ads that poked more than a little fun at the valley's buttoned-down image.

But just as things seem to have quieted down, the salon whose name leaves little

WASHINGTON -- Government health regulators recommended adding label precautions about neurological problems seen in children who have taken flu drugs made by Roche and GlaxoSmithKline.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released its safety review of Roche's Tamiflu and Glaxo's Relenza.

As you and millions of other Americans go to bed tonight, your kidneys will be kicking into overdrive. Turkey, yams, pie. It all has to be sent through the body's filter if you don't want to die of a nasty backup of toxic material. Few people know the feeling of having traitorous kidneys, and fewer still are as gratefully aware of a healthy kidney as BYU professor Diana McGuire.

Riding high to bed ridden

In 1968, in a small community

First rain and sleet fell, then the temperature dropped and it started to snow. Thanksgiving weekend 2005 was wet, cold and dangerous. The roads were covered in sheets of black ice when BYU senior Katie Renville and her mother were heading to Provo so Renville could return to school after the holiday break.

On Interstate 15 their Jeep rolled after hitting black ice.

Twelve-foot-high crosses honoring deceased Utah troopers along state highways are not an illegal public endorsement of religion, a judge said.

U.S. District Judge David Sam said the 14 crosses communicate a secular message.

"Even classic religious symbols may have various meanings and purposes depending on their context," he said Tuesday.

This is the time of year when the storied rivalry between BYU and Utah reaches a boiling point, and vendors looking to make a few bucks at the schools' expense know how to make the most of it.

• THE RIVALRY between Brigham Young University and the University of Utah is as heated as ever, but that's not keeping the two schools from joining forces to fight counterfeit team merchandise.

COUNTYWIDE

• Organizations working to provide holiday assistance to Utah County residents can crosscheck their information with United Way of Utah County Sub for Santa to find out if those applying for help through their programs are receiving help elsewhere.

NEW YORK -- Donny Osmond has apologized to Larry King for criticizing the CNN talk-show host after he revealed that Marie Osmond's 16-year-old son had entered rehab.

"I was very upset about it," the 49-year-old singer said in an interview that aired Monday on NBC's "Today" show.

For 20 years, Utah has stayed under its spending cap, garnering awards for fiscal restraint and wise planning. But a blistering economy and the massive surpluses that come with it are making it surprisingly difficult to budget.

For the 2008 legislative session, which begins Jan.

After working for two years at an investment bank in New York, Hannah Huegel was ready to trade Manhattan for the mountains.

She chose Utah, joining tens of thousands of others from across the country who contributed to the largest population increase in state history.

Between July 2006 and July 2007, Utah's population grew by 84,425 to nearly 2.7 million, according to figures released Thursday by the state's population estimates committee.