Winner: Finally, college football is back in the fast lane. Today marks the first full week of the 1999 college football season. That includes local teams. Utah opens its season on the road against Washington State with Utah State traveling to Georgia. Weber State opened its season with an impressive win Thursday night against Western State. Southern Utah University hosts Fort Lewis tonight. And those darker blue Cougars? Well, they hope to make Washington feel blue Thursday night in Provo.To some spouses who may be a little less enthusiastic about the sport, be a little patient with your mates today.
Winner: "You've got mail" took on a whole new meaning for a West Valley City woman who says her husband was threatening to take her hostage. She was able to summon help via e-mail, which led to his arrest. Police said the man threatened to hit his wife if she used the phone, but she was able to send an e-mail without him noticing. He had earlier been charged with aggravated assault against her. He is now in jail on that charge.
Winner/Loser: The good news is construction crews have cleared the local freeways for the Labor Day weekend. The bad news is Salt Lake City/Provo-area gasoline prices are at an all-time high, with consumers paying an average of $1.39 for a gallon of self-serve unleaded regular, according to AAA Utah. The national average is $1.31. That's an increase of 11.5 cents a gallon since late June and more than 25 cents higher than a year ago.
Still, gasoline prices could be a lot worse. In San Francisco and Lake Tahoe it costs $1.76 a gallon.
Winner: There is "pandamonium" at the San Diego Zoo, thanks to the birth of a giant panda. While this "giant" is only about the size of a stick of butter now, it still is big news as its the first giant panda birth in nearly a decade in the Western Hemisphere. Since it is such a rarity, the zoo research team has put the mother and the cub off limits to the public in the hopes the mother won't get upset and endanger the cub.
The gift shop, however, is not off limits and patrons are welcome to spend plenty of cash on stuffed pandas and other memorabilia.