Utah

His name might not rank with Amelia Earhart's and Judge Crater's, but the disappearance of Everett Ruess has been an enduring legend of the Southwest for 75 years. Only 20 at the time of his disappearance, the writer, artist and environmentalist who has been compared to a young John Muir was last seen near Utah's Davis Gulch in 1934. Numerous search parties failed to find him, and authors have speculated widely about his demise. Many believed he drowned in the Colorado River.

Shortly after sunrise last week, a squad of flak-jacketed federal agents surrounded the remote home of Dr. James Redd, arrested his wife and then stopped the 60-year-old doctor as he returned from his morning rounds to arrest him as well.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) on Wednesday grilled Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. on why more than 100 federal agents were needed to round up two dozen suspects accused of stealing Native American artifacts from public land. The day after last week's raids, one of the suspects, Dr. James Redd of Blanding in southern Utah, killed himself. Residents and officials in Blanding, where 16 suspects live, complained that authorities used unnecessary force to arrest nonviolent offenders.

The wife of a southern Utah doctor who killed himself after his arrest on charges of stealing Native American artifacts from public lands pleaded guilty on Monday to similar charges. As part of a plea agreement, Jeanne Redd, 59, pleaded guilty to seven counts of theft of government and tribal property and trafficking in stolen artifacts. Federal prosecutors agreed to seek a lesser penalty at her September sentencing than the maximum 10 years in prison provided for under the charges.

Federal prosecutors have charged a southern Utah man with threatening to beat a confidential informant who was pivotal in a widespread investigation into the looting of Native American artifacts, authorities said Monday. Charles Denton Armstrong, 44, was arrested Saturday and charged with one count of retaliation against an informant. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in federal prison.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday that only 17 of 77 oil and gas leases on Utah public lands that the Bush administration auctioned off in December were valid and that his agency would prevent development on the remaining parcels, at least in the near future. Salazar spoke at a Washington news conference to announce the findings of a report he commissioned this year on the parcels, which became the subject of a fierce controversy during the waning days of George W. Bush's presidency.

The Times' Chris Dufresne unveils his preseason college football top 25, one day (and team) at a time: Utah No. 18 Utah's ranking is less a belief it will go undefeated again and more a make-up call for last year's preseason non-ranking. Sorry. It illuminates what is fundamentally wrong with a fabulously flawed sport: a school can get boxed out of the BCS title because pundits in August were slow out of the poll gates. This isn't a conspiracy against schools from outside the power conferences, as politicians mounting legal challenges against the Bowl Championship Series would argue.

. -- Kyle Whittingham wishes that Utah's ride would have gone on forever. The Ducks were more than happy to bring it to a screeching halt. LaMichael James rushed for a career-high 152 yards and a touchdown, and Oregon overcame four turnovers and an abysmal performance by quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to beat the No. 18 Utes, 31-24, and snap the nation's longest winning streak. Utah (2-1) had won 16 straight games, including its stunning 31-17 upset of heavily favored Alabama in the Sugar Bowl last January.

Ernie "Indian Red" Lopez, a popular boxer in the 1960s and '70s who twice lost title fights before sellout crowds at the Forum and was found in a Texas homeless shelter just in time to be honored for his accomplishments in the ring, has died. He was 64. Lopez died Saturday in Pleasant Grove, Utah, from complications of dementia, said one of his sisters, Naomi Adams. He had lived with Adams' family for five years before recently moving into a rest home, she said. "He never became a champion, but he was very popular with the fans," said Bill Caplan, longtime Los Angeles boxing publicist.