Draper

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.

The next time you talk to a cop in American Fork, remember to smile. You're on camera.

EHS Inc., a Spanish Fork company that specializes in communications equipment for law enforcement and military personnel, is touting its latest product, the VIDMIC, a microphone and video camera combination that clips onto the front of an officer's uniform.

The device is one of a kind, with nothing else like it on the market, said Mike

Utah college student body presidents are uniting to get state legislators to drop the sales tax on text books.

The student leaders, including Summer Price from Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State College student body president Kris Coles, gathered at the state Capitol on Wednesday to support a proposed bill to exempt textbooks from the tax.

The statewide ban on diapered kids in pools has been lifted.

Since the beginning of June, 1,912 cases of cryptosporidiosis have been reported statewide. But in the last three weeks, there have been only six additional cases.

Cryptosporidium is a parasite that causes long-lasting, often debilitating, diarrhea that is traditionally transmitted from fecal matter in swimming pools.

Hey, toddlers, back in the pool.

Utah health officials say swimming restrictions have been lifted for kids who aren't potty-trained and anyone else who wears a swim diaper. The number of cases tied to cryptosporidium are finally slowing down.

There have been only six cases of crypto in the last three weeks.

It's not the sewer plant and it's not lake stink.

That big ol' smell is from a small agricultural burn that was started near 1500 South and Geneva Road last week. The fire spread to peat several feet under the soil.

The fire's stench may be causing a few hundred thousand people to press firmly on each side of their nose, but it poses little health hazard.

Clinging to a potato box in the Kula Gulf, Ernal Underwood didn't have much time to think about his second brush with Japanese torpedoes.

When a big ship sinks, it creates a certain amount of suction (think Titanic if you must) and Underwood and his fellow seamen were trained to get at least 50 yards away lest they get pulled under.

That July 6, 1943, the Salem resident floated near remains of the USS Helena.

PROVO, Utah -- People who live in voting precincts near Brigham Young University had the lowest voter turnout in all of Utah County.

The 10 precincts with the lowest voter turnout surround the BYU campus.

Although there are about 7,000 registered voters within the precincts' boundaries, only 890 showed up at the polls.