Tribune Editorial: Why Orrin Hatch is Utahn of the Year  —  These things are often misunderstood.  So, lest our readers, or the honoree himself, get the wrong impression, let us repeat the idea behind The Salt Lake Tribune's Utahn of the Year designation.  —  The criteria are not set in stone.

TRUMP SNUB FEAR Government pleads with Prince Harry not to invite Barack Obama to his wedding  —  Prince, 33, became friends with former US President after bonding with them at the Invictus Games  —  GOVERNMENT mandarins are urging Prince Harry not to invite the Obamas to his wedding for fear of infuriating Donald Trump.

America Is Not Yet Lost  —  Many of us came into 2017 expecting the worst.  And in many ways, the worst is what we got.  —  Donald Trump has been every bit as horrible as one might have expected; he continues, day after day, to prove himself utterly unfit for office, morally and intellectually.

Kremlin trolls burned across the Internet as Washington debated options … The first email arrived in the inbox of CounterPunch, a left-leaning American news and opinion website, at 3:26 a.m. — the middle of the day in Moscow.  —  “Hello, my name is Alice Donovan and I'm a beginner freelance journalist …

Trump's first year was even worse than feared  —  Grit your teeth.  Persevere.  Just a few more days and this awful, rotten, no-good, ridiculous, rancorous, sordid, disgraceful year in the civic life of our nation will be over.  Here's hoping that we all — particularly special counsel Robert S. Mueller III — have a better 2018.

Where is Trump's Cabinet?  It's anybody's guess.  —  The Cabinet members carrying out President Donald Trump's orders to shake up the federal government are doing so under an unusual layer of secrecy — often shielding their schedules from public view, keeping their travels under wraps …

Big Tech: The New Predatory Capitalism  —  This article appears in the Winter 2018 issue of The American Prospect magazine.  Subscribe here.  —  “We're making the world a better place.”  —  The phrase is thrown around so often in the tech world that it became a punch line on the HBO satire Silicon Valley.

Exclusive: Iconic White House tree to be cut down  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  Washington (CNN)The south facade of the White House will undergo a dramatic change this week: the historic Jackson Magnolia, a tree that has been in place since the 1800s, is scheduled to be cut down and removed.

President Trump Spent Nearly One-Third of First Year in Office at Trump-Owned Properties  —  Unlike his predecessors, president traveled frequently to places he owns but where others pay to stay  —  President Donald Trump, who is currently spending a 10-day Christmas vacation …

Topless Femen activist tries to snatch Jesus statue from Vatican crib  —  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A topless activist from the feminist group Femen tried to snatch the statue of the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square on Monday but was stopped by police as she grabbed it.

Secret Service interviews person over manure sent to Mnuchin  —  LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Secret Service says it has interviewed someone claiming responsibility for delivering a gift-wrapped package of horse manure addressed to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (mih-NOO'-shin).

Trump predicts GOP and Dems will agree on health care plan  —  President Donald Trump is predicting that Democrats and Republicans will “eventually come together “on a new health care plan for the country.  —  Sending a Twitter post early Tuesday from his Florida resort, Trump said …