"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is seeking to intervene in a court case that could hamper its plans for a new Church History Library on the northern border of its downtown campus.

Still distressed over parking woes associated with the LDS Church's Conference Center, which opened five years ago, a pair of Capitol Hill residents have sued trying to block the library plan. They say current plans could further hamper parking in Salt Lake City's northern neighborhoods.

The suit filed in September asks a 3rd District Court judge to stop the existing library plan because it would replace a surface parking lot and 283 parking stalls. The suit points to the Capitol Hill Master Plan, which suggests that developments that take up parking spaces need to find alternative spots for new parking."

"Writing an opera is a daunting task, but add in a tight deadline and working without the music and it's almost impossible.

Ariel Bybee, who plays Lucy Mack Smith, rehearses for the Joseph Smith opera, "Book of Gold," which will premiere at Brigham Young University.

That's what Glen Nelson took on when he agreed to write the text for "Book of Gold," the opera making its world premiere at Brigham Young University Friday.

"To create something of this scale in such a brief period is extraordinary, and more than a bit crazy. Usually, grand operas have very long gestation periods. When a major opera house commissions a new work, as much as a decade can pass before it is staged," Nelson said.

However, Nelson, working with composer Murray Boren, finished the libretto in time, largely because he and Boren have worked together for years on various projects. In fact, Nelson wrote the first draft before any music had been composed."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Tuesday it plans to appeal a $4.2 million award decided on by a Washington jury in a case alleging an LDS bishop failed to report to law enforcement the sex abuse of two teenage girls at the hands of their stepfather.

A jury last Friday found the LDS Church liable for misconduct and negligence in the case of Jessica Cavalieri, 24, and her younger sister, Ashley, 19.

Attorney for the girls, Timothy Kosnoff, said at trial that the girls were abused in their home from 1988 to approximately 1994 and that Jessica Cavalieri told her bishop, Bruce Hatch, in 1994 about the alleged abuse and that Hatch did not report the abuse to law enforcement.

She told the Deseret Morning News in the days before Christmas that "Book of Mormon product sales (including the Book of Mormon on cassette, CD, DVD, VHS, Book of Mormon Heritage Edition, and the Book of Mormon in triple combination on CD, and MP3) from August through December are at approximately 28,000 pieces," more than double the 11,000 sold in the same period last year.

"It's been tough to keep up with demand. The orders have been coming in non-stop since that day" last summer when President Hinckley issued the challenge, meaning the company has had to hire extra people in its shipping and marketing departments.

Pre-Christmas sales were hot, "especially since the end of year has come and those that have put if off are trying to catch up. Listening for them is a lot faster than reading — listening on the way to work or traveling to shop, so they do it at times they wouldn't be able to read."

A missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was fatally shot Monday night and his companion wounded after the two were attacked while proselyting door-to-door, according to police and Virginia media reports.

The attack occurred just after 6 p.m. in the Deep Creek area of Chesapeake when a man approached the 21- and 19-year-old men, shot them and fled, police said.

Church spokesman Dale Bills said the two, Elder Morgan W. Young of Bountiful and Elder Joshua Heidbrink of Greeley, Colo., were serving in the Chesapeake area, part of the Richmond Virginia mission. Bills did not know the ages of the victims.

The Youngs refuse to believe they are now a five-member family.

"Life is eternal, and we are always a family," Kathy Young said.

As for the man who is now accused of shooting their son, the Youngs don't hold any anger.

"Just sorrow," Mark Young said. "The consequences of this are going to last some time."

"I'm proud that he died with his boots on," Kathy Young said of her son.

Property Reserve Inc., the real estate arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Tuesday it is negotiating to buy out the lease of the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel, 122 W. South Temple in downtown Salt Lake City.

"If negotiations are successful, the majority of the building will continue to operate as a hotel," Bills said, "with remaining space allocated for proposed use as housing for LDS Business College students."

The LDS Business College is expected to move from its current location at 411 E. South Temple into the Triad Center in fall 2006. The LDS Church purchased the Triad Center, located between North and South Temple and 300 and 400 West, in June 2004.

OREM — Utah's religious divide appears to have a physical as well as spiritual side — LDS Church members on average weigh 4.6 pounds more than their counterparts in other religions.

A recently completed study shows that Utah, and particularly its LDS population — for many years seen as a bastion of health in a nation where fitness is on a steady decline — is slipping, especially around the waistline.

The study, involving a cross section of Utah adults from different religions over a nine-year period, also found that LDS Church members are 14 percent more likely (18 percent for males, 9 percent for females) to be obese than their non-LDS counterparts.

OREM — Despite characterizations by some Latter-day Saints that their theology eschews the theory of evolution, two LDS scientists say their church has no definitive position on whether humans evolved from earlier life forms.

William Evenson and Duane Jeffery told dozens of people gathered at Utah Valley State College on Tuesday that what definitely has evolved over time is the position taken by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the issue.

They came to that conclusion after dissecting the history of statements made by past LDS leaders at the request of former Brigham Young University president Rex Lee. In 1991, Lee asked Evenson — then dean of physical and mathematical sciences at BYU — to draft a document that could be given to students who routinely queried him on the church's position.

"There was a committee organized to put together a packet of materials. . . . The idea was to assemble those things that had some authority to represent the position of the LDS Church," Evenson said.

SALT LAKE CITY — A gay man who is a lifetime member of the LDS Church could be facing disciplinary action and excommunication after legally marrying his partner in Canada.

Buckley Jeppson, 57, said he's been informed verbally that his life is incompatible with the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that a disciplinary council will address the matter.

"If the person later decides to reject these core principles, they have the right and freedom to do so," she said. "However, they cannot reasonably expect to reject the most fundamental teachings of the church and still wrap themselves in the cloak of church membership. Of course, they would be welcome to continue to attend church services."

"The church's position has been that they really didn't have anything against gays, although everyone had to obey church rules to not have sex outside of marriage. But now many countries are allowing legal same-sex marriage. What are they going to do in all of those countries where they are sending missionaries?"

Where there used to be an American Eagle Outfitters, a Speedo store, Mervyn's, Victoria's Secret and a nail salon in Crossroads Plaza, dark storefronts and white-paneled walls sit amid cheery signs promising change.

Crossroads Plaza remains mostly vacant except for Nordstrom and a handful of stores on the first floor.

The change, though, hasn't come yet, after years of whispers and rumors about how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will handle the massive redevelopment of its downtown malls and surrounding properties.

Much of the complexity comes from having to move tenants from long-held leases. One holdout is Utah Woolen Mills, which has 63 years left on a 90-year lease. Company president Bart Stringham doesn't want to give up the store's private parking and prime storefront facing Temple Square, which draws about 5 million people a year.

"We're dealing with the church, and they have a lot of power, a lot of say, a lot of money," Stringham said. "The holdup is that maybe we've been expected to just roll over and play dead and do what they will."

It's not every metropolitan downtown that features its very own ghost town, but Salt Lake City does. It's called the Crossroads Plaza, a k a the Ghost Mall.

Admission is free and directions are simple. Just walk 2 1/2 blocks due east of the bustling, thriving Gateway development and enter through the doors with the '80s style "CP" stenciled on the glass.

Just like that you're into Salt Lake's very own mall-turned-mausoleum.

What was once a bustling, thriving shopping mecca with 140 stores and restaurants and people fighting over parking places now has exactly 15 places still in business, and 10 of those are in the basement.

On the main level, there's one bank, one department store, one bookstore and two dress shops, both of which are, as we speak, holding 50 percent going-out-of-business sales.

Beyond that, there's so much empty space it reminds you of Wyoming. Downtown Ophir is busier. They could hold a Formula One race in the Crossroads Plaza and no one would get hurt.

For all the uncertainty and angst experienced by many who contemplate leaving the LDS Church, one thing is certain: They know that they don't know it is the "only true church" any more.

Active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints embrace their faith not only as deeply held theology and ritual but as a set of definitive answers to life's greatest questions: "Where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going?" In Utah particularly, that shared knowledge undergirds a specific lifestyle, culture, social network and even unique terminology that some refer to as "Mormon-speak."

A former convert who resigned his membership in the church a few years ago, Dobbs understands that Latter-day Saints "are expected to know the gospel is true. They don't talk about believing. They talk about knowing. ... When you've spent years believing or knowing something you can no longer sustain by the evidence, that's pretty traumatic," he said.

"http://www.postmormon.org/" is not merely a Web site but an organization of former Latter-day Saints that was formed about five years ago in Logan by Jeff Ricks to help people making the transition from an active LDS belief and lifestyle to "post-Mormon" life, while trying to maintain relationships with family and friends who fear for their salvation.

Michelle Bliss was thrilled Monday when she received a call telling her that her daughter's essay about a true Christmas story had been selected to run in a supplement to the Deseret Morning News.

Her elation was short-lived, however. The woman asked whether she was Mormon. When she replied that she was not, the woman apologized and said they were only running essays on Mormon families.

Her daughter, seventh-grader Georgia Clyde, was one of several students whose class essays were sent to the paper by Olympus Junior High School English teacher Jennifer Allred for consideration in its "Christmas I Remember Best" contest.