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Show x pri 20,2006 pis www. heraldextra.com 7 50 CENTS 4 YOUR TOWN: YOURNEIG,,,. SPORTS in me On eras yea IT TO WEAVER WHEREIS HE NOW? PLAYING BASEBALL AT BYU LEYatest een D | famous artists on display at BYU Uniform Utah sales tax ead U.S. death decline The number of U,S. deaths appears to have dropped by nearly 50,000 in 2004, the steepest decline since 1938. AnnualU.S. deaths Proposal may mean cities would raise property taxes to makeuploss 2,448,288 2003 2.5 million Brock Vergakis THE ASSOCIATEDPris SALT LAKE CITY — The amount of sales tax consumers pay in Utah would be the same regardless ofthe city or county where a purchase ismade under a proposal being considered bylegislators. 343,217 0 1900 1 ‘40 The total amountof-sales tax consumers end'up paying ranges from 5.75 per_cent to 8.1 percent. But three proposals unveiled Wednesday by Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, would create a — ara Fewer 1900 ‘20 The state charges single sales tax rate of 4.75 percent, butcities and counties can — and do — add taxes beyond that. ‘60 ‘80 “The.closer we can getto onerate, single sales tax rate of 6.5 percent and the easierit is to administer andthe less likelihood mistakes are made. We're very muchin favorof simplifyingit The problem with having sales tax the Utah Retail Merchants Association, said at an interim Taxation and Rev- a fourth proposal would set it at 5.75 percent rates changeatcity and countylines is thatit makes it difficult for businesses with multiple locations to administer the tax correctly and for the state to collect whatis due, Harpersaid. nn with onerate,” Jim Olsen, presidentof enue Committee meeting Wednesday. Under Harper's proposals, the loss in local option sales taxes for cities and See SALES TAX, A2 ae HARBOR JETTY IN DANGER 2000 , Disease Control and Prevention people kick the bucket Mike Stobbe THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA — In what appears to be an amazing successfor American medicine,prel governmentfigures released Wednesday showed thatthe annual numberof deaths in the _U.S. dropped by nearly 50,000 in 2004 — the biggest decline in nearly 70 years. The 2 percent decrease, reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, came as a shock to many, becausethe U.S. is aging, growing in population andgetting fatter. In fact, some experts said they suspect the numbers maynot hold up when a final report is released later this year. Nevertheless,centerofficials said the statistics, based on a review of about 90 percent of death records reported in all 50 states in 2004, were consistent across the country and were deemed solid enoughto report. The center said drops in the death : ates for heart disease, cancer and stroke accounted for most of the decline. “Weweresurprised by the sharpness of the decrease.It’s kind ofhistorical,” said statistician Arialdi Minino, lead author of the report. The governmentalso said that US.life expectancy has inched up again to 77.9 years, a record high but still behind that of about two dozen other countries. The preliminary numberof US. deaths recorded for 2004 was 2,398,343. That represents a decline of 49,945 from the wr JEREMY HARMON Daily Herald Ladd Dubray, of Round Mountain, Nev.,fishes off the south jetty at tah Lake State Park on Wednesday. Rising waters threaten to coverthe jetty. Rising water threatens new improvements at Utah Lake Caleb Warnock DAILY HERALD JEREMY HARMON/Daily Herald’ Lake water is starting to rise above the southjetty at Utah LakeState Park. . Evenas they accepted perhaps the largest gift ever made to Utah LakeState Park,officials were fighting to save the harbor. So highis the lake that when the wind blows, water is overtopping the new southjetty and has already eroded it 1-1/2 feet in some places, said Ty Hunter, park director, “Webasically went into an emergency situation to save the in- vestment we'veplaced out there,” Huntersaid. Hoping to improve boating on Utah Lake, crews have spent more than $1 million working toreconfigure the harbor, which had been made up of two parallelearth-andconcrete berms. Because the parallel design allowed the harborto collect windblownsilt, making it more shallow eachyear, last year the Army rps of Engineers removed 800 feet of the existing 2,000-foot-long southjetty. A new arm of the south Rove changes role; McClellan out. | | Gly ental decd nezarred slightly each year. The last de- Sec DEATHS x> ee ; SPORTS BY WEATHER ————_ Movies COMICS w CELEBRATIONS AG Sunny, pleasant ORTOMS HIGH 64 ae OBITUARIES C4 BUSINESS £6.) LOW 35 OPINIONS. as VOLUME83 ISSUE 263 || | illUM, Ssatt 6 9 | Deportee’s U. . Sojourn THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTONWhtHowe illuminates rootsofcrisis political mastermind Karl Rove surendered akeypolicy role ‘ednesday and press secretary oe Mi resij one: calation of a Bush pieced driven by Renicen INSIDE See UTAH LAKE, A2 IMMIGRATION DEBATE | Terence Hunt _jetty was then added, extending toward thenorthjetty at a 90-degree angle. The twojetties now cometogeth_er to form a mouth about100 feet wide, but the south jetty “takes the full bruntofthe lake,” Huntersaid. Crewshavebuilt a four-foot rock berm onthe westside of the jetty “to stop the waveaction and prevent the worst case, a breach ofthejetty,” he said. “Wearejust hoping that will minimize the ManuelRoig-Franzia THE WASHINGTONPOST is CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Beanfields and a stooped back,callused hands and an empty wallet were all Jose B. Flores could envision for himself in Salvatierra, a dusty smudgeofa place in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato. Such was the lot oS his father, a weary sort who collapsed eachnig] Shaegave up his responsibilities as chief policy coordinator, a position he assumed just more than a year agothat strengthenedhis in- fluence over matters ranging from exhaustion homeland security and domestic policy to the economy and national . The promotion had left his father’s father. Flores escaped his certain fate 10 years ago,slipping — at the reckless age of 15 — across the U.S. border south of San Diego.It all seemed too easy until a traffic stop earlier this month in Wisconsin set off a chain of eventsthat led to his deportation and landed him in a church-run help center in a him stretched too thin in the eyes of some officials, as the White House grappled with mounting problems. RON EDMONDS/AssociatePress| re White House press secretary Scott cClellan at the White House on Wednesday. McClellan announced See STAFF, A2 Weilsesdap that he is stepping down as White House press secretary. | SESS 7WWWHERACDERTRA.COM5°CALL375-5103 TO SUBSCRIBE died young, and such was thefer- See IMMIGRATION, A2 |