The Weekly Run is The Salt Lake Tribune’s weekly newsletter on the Utah Jazz. Subscribe here.

While the NBA season officially kicked off Tuesday night with Celtics-Sixers and Warriors-Thunder, most of the rest of the league tips off tonight, including the Jazz, who will face the Sacramento Kings at 8 p.m. MT.

There’s more hype surrounding this iteration of the franchise than there has been in years. A 29-6 stretch run, a playoff series victory, and the return of almost everyone from that roster will have that effect.

When asked how this team compares to last year’s at the same time, Donovan Mitchell was initially self-deprecating.

“To be honest with you, I barely remember! I’d like to forget the first 10 games of [last] season,” he said.

Ultimately, though, he expressed excitement, noting that an extra year of experience for almost everyone on the roster ought to make a huge difference.

“The one thing I did notice, for me personally … there was a lot of uncertainty last year. We didn’t know what the hell to expect. Obviously, losing Gordon was tough, we had six or seven new guys trying to learn the offense,” Mitchell said. “Now this year, we really only have Tyler, Grayson as the only two new guys. And those guys are catching on so fast. We know where we need to be, we know our spots. So it’s a lot easier for us to come in this year with the expectations and knowing what we need to do.”

Because we’re not all stuck in a time-warp (as far as we know), some things will be different, of course. Derrick Favors was “dead-ass serious” in working on his long-range shooting. Quin Snyder is emphasizing taking more 3s in general. Ricky Rubio has gotten more acclimated to playing off the ball. Dante Exum expects to spend some time at the 3, and Thabo Sefolosha, once he returns from suspension, figures he’ll get plenty of minutes at the four.

One thing that won’t change, so long as Snyder is around, is the team’s commitment to defense.

The coach acknowledged that it wasn’t where he wanted it to be in a couple of the preseason games. But he also feels like it’s coming around, just in time for the games that count.

“A lot of it, for us, is just focus, mentally. Some of our habits are there. But like anything, if you don’t do it, it can cease to become a habit. Sometimes there’s a sense that, in practice you work on those things but in a game you get to do whatever you want to, and there’s maybe less attention to detail in that sense, less concentration,” he said. “I feel like, the last couple games, we’ve been able to drill down on that. I think that’s what competition does for you. Sometimes, in the moment, competition helps you focus.”

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

• Sans Gordon Hayward and off to a 19-28 start a year ago, both pundits and opponents may have overlooked and underestimated the Jazz. They know that won’t be the case this season. [Tribune]

• For more than a decade under Jerry Sloan and Ty Corbin, the Jazz were always one of the league’s worst teams in free throws allowed, which hindered the efficacy of the defense. The Trib’s Andy Larsen explains how Snyder has been changing that. [Tribune]

• Obliteration. Annihilation. Total and utter destruction. Whatever you label it, that’s what the Jazz did to the Kings in their preseason finale. So with the rematch coming in tonight’s season opener, how does Utah avoid being overconfident based on that result? [Tribune]

• More from Andy: The last time Alec Burks was totally healthy and playing a major role for the Jazz was 2013-14. But he’s been one of the team’s best off the bench this preseason. Longtime teammate Derrick Favors declared AB is back to where he was. Burks says he’s actually much better now. [Tribune]

• More still from Andy: Thabo Sefolosha will sit out the season’s first five games after being suspended for violating the NBA’s anti-drug program. His absence could be an opportunity for former G-League standout Georges Niang, who will be with the Jazz full-time this year. [Tribune]

• The Tribune’s Digital Life reporter, Sean P. Means, came upon a Vice food blog which revealed that London restaurateur Gordon McGowan has a trendy cocktail bar there named after former Jazz point guard John Stockton. [Tribune]

ICYMI … THE SEASON PREVIEW SECTION

• Mitchell became beloved in the community not merely for his on-court exploits, but for scheduling events at high schools, attending college football games, attending random pool parties, even buying people’s groceries, the Trib’s Christopher Kamrani wrote. Mitchell is learning, though, that much as he may want to, he can’t say yes to everything. [Tribune]

• There were no expectations of the Jazz a season ago. There sure are now. So what do we expect now that we’re expecting? What exactly is this team’s ceiling? [Tribune]

• Rudy Gobert is on record as saying, “We want to be world champs.” Tribune columnist Gordon Monson takes a look at whether the Defensive Player of the Year is delusional or actually on to something. [Tribune]

• Andy explores the intriguing tale of Grayson Allen, from how he wound up in a Jazz uniform, to the surprising contributions he may make as a rookie, at least if his preseason performance means anything. [Tribune]

• Many fans of the team got sticker shock when restricted free agent guard Dante Exum was retained with a new three-year, $33 million contract. But the former lottery pick and oft-injured Aussie is determined to prove he can still be the player the team thought it was getting five years ago. [Tribune]

SOME OTHER PERSPECTIVES

• Deseret News columnist Brad Rock takes note of the fever pitch going on locally about the Jazz and issues words of caution that it may be best to not expect too much. [DN]

• Meanwhile, Reid Forgrave of cbssports.com went the opposite direction in his “Bold NBA predictions” column, prognosticating an NBA Finals matchup between the Toronto Raptors … and the Utah Jazz. [CBSSN]

• Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer also gives the Jazz a shot at the Finals in his “Best Case, Worst Case” assessment. The latter, at least, simply has the Jazz making the playoffs but going nowhere in them. [Ringer]

• Analytics website fivethirtyeight.com rates the Jazz as the fifth-best team in the league, and gives them a 98-percent chance to make the playoffs, a nine-percent chance to make the Finals, and a five-percent chance to win it all. [fivethirtyeight]

THE WEEKLY RUN PODCAST RETURNS

The podcast is back! I make my debut, and the deceptively benevolent-looking Andy quickly throws me to the wolves by revealing my deepest, darkest, dirtiest secret. Also, we take a took at some Jazz over/unders from Bovada.

Cafe Trio Park City closed its doors recently, about 18 months after opening in Kimball Junction.

Owner Mikel Trapp is not sure why the popular restaurant chain — which has two successful locations in the Salt Lake Valley — didn’t work in Park City. But he has a few theories.

One is the Park City employee pool, which is more seasonal than Salt Lake City; as a result, it’s more difficult to find long-term employees. Additionally, the Park City market is extremely competitive.

Trapp expressed disappointment that the location didn’t pan out, especially because so many employees depended on the work. But in closing the location, at 6585 N. Landmark Drive, he tried to ensure the majority of the Park City employees could relocate to Trio’s other locations.

As for future endeavors, Trio and its affiliated restaurant Current Fish and Oyster have made a bid to open a location at the Salt Lake International Airport, now under construction. If they succeed, the new site would join the Salt Lake City and Cottonwood Heights locations.

When legislators meet in a promised special session next month to address medical marijuana, they may also try to fix a problem that could in the next couple of years prevent Utahns from using their driver licenses to pass through airport security.

The Legislature’s Transportation Interim Committee took an initial step Wednesday to make that happen — endorsing a bill to make the fix, and calling for it to be considered in the expected special session.

The problem comes because the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is requiring Utah to reissue all of its driver licenses by Oct. 1, 2020 — to include a gold star on the front as a sign that Utah reviewed birth certificates or passports to prove license holders are U.S. citizens.

Without the gold star — which allows officers to see compliance at a glance — DHS is warning it would no longer accept Utah driver licenses at airport security or to enter federal facilities after the 2020 deadline.

The problem is, the Legislature in 2010 banned any further steps to comply with the federal REAL ID Act. Because of that state law — which was a protest over unfunded federal mandates — state officials say they cannot now legally add the required gold star without action by lawmakers to allow it.

Sponsors of the protest legislation, HB234, have both moved on from the Legislature. Former Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, retired earlier this year and then-Rep. Steve Sandstrom, also R-Orem, left in 2012.

State officials say the law presents a problem that could cost up to $5 million if the state moves slowly to address it, but perhaps only $3.4 million if it moves quickly. The cost might be even less, an estimated $2 million, if it acts in a special session next month.

That’s because more soon-to-expire licenses could be replaced with new ones containing a gold star at the same time drivers renew licenses, rather than sending a duplicate with the proper symbol later.

Christopher Caras, director of the Utah Driver License Division, said his agency could add the star to new licenses beginning in December, if the special session authorizes it in November.

“It will be critical to citizens of Utah who want to travel,” he said Wednesday. Caras added that every month of delay will cost about $80,000 in additional costs.

Gov. Gary Herbert promised earlier this month to call a special session next month regardless whether the Proposition 2 initiative on medical marijuana is approved by voters to consider compromise legislation hammered out in weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiation among state lawmakers, faith leaders and medical cannabis advocates.

Over the last 40 years, the brutal murder of Anthony Adams has been described as a hate crime, a political assassination and a robbery gone bad. But one description never applied is “solved.”

The cold case is one of many being re-examined by the Salt Lake City Police Department. And Adams’ murder is notable not only for its enduring mystery, but also for the evidence that has allegedly gone missing as the city continues to try to find his killer.

On this week’s episode of “Trib Talk,” Eric S. Peterson, founder and director of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project, joins Tribune reporter Benjamin Wood to explore the ongoing investigation into Adams' death. The case includes old history, new leads and a breakdown in evidence handling before and after the creation of a state crime lab.

“Trib Talk” is produced by Sara Weber with additional editing by Dan Harrie. Comments and feedback can be sent to tribtalk@sltrib.com, or to @bjaminwood or @tribtalk on Twitter.

Click here to listen now. Listeners can also subscribe to “Trib Talk” on SoundCloud, iTunes and Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher and, beginning this week, on Spotify.

The stage for the 1st Congressional District debate Wednesday night will be the most crowded of the Utah Debate Commission series, as three candidates square off at Utah State University just three weeks before the midterm election.

United Utah Party Eric Eliason was the only third party candidate in any major race to make the commission’s cut for a debate, with the support of 6.6 percent of the district’s voters. He’ll face eight-term incumbent Rep. Rob Bishop and Democrat Lee Castillo, a social worker.

A new Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found Bishop has a clear path to re-election, with 52 percent of voters favoring him — a 32-point lead over Castillo. Some 10 percent of surveyed voters expressed support Eliason.

Federal Election Commission filings show the third party candidate has outraised his Democratic opponent this quarter, bringing in just over $22,000 to Castillo’s $13,100. But both fall far short of Bishop’s spending power. The congressman has raised more than $243,800 from July 1 to Sept. 30 — and he has around $525,700 in cash on hand.

While it’s unusual to see three candidates on stage at a debate, this isn’t the first time the fledgling United Utah Party has qualified under the Utah Debate Commission’s rules. Last year, UUP candidate Jim Bennett narrowly qualified to join Democrat Kathie Allen and now-Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, at a 3rd Congressional District debate after the debate commission ran a second poll to determine voter support levels.

The debate will begin at 6 p.m. in the Caine Performance Hall at Utah State University. The Utah Debate Commission plans to livestream the event on its Facebook page.

The Salt Lake Tribune will update this story.

A progressive group is condemning a Republican state House candidate for offensive social media posts, such as one calling a woman who’d reported sexual assault a “psycho gold digger.”

The organization, Alliance for a Better Utah, on Wednesday released a collection of screen grabs taken from the Facebook and Twitter accounts of Fred Johnson, a West Valley City resident who’s running to represent Utah House District 31.

In one tweet from January, he compared Women’s March participants to “pigs” based on an Infowars reporter’s account of the mess the demonstrators left behind.

When commenting on a video of a teachers strike in 2012, he wrote, “Looks like most of those fatties can use the exercise." He ended the tweet with an emoji winking and sticking its tongue out. In response to a 2015 Washington Post article about how black men are at greater risk than whites of being killed in police shootings, he said, “Maybe they should rethink their lives of crime.”

Reached by phone Wednesday, Johnson, a 69-year-old craftsman, didn't contest that he'd posted the comments and apologized if anyone was offended by them.

"I've been told I should post more like a politician and less like a bricklayer," he said.

#mcmafia at his announcement in Salt Lake. The kid is genuine. pic.twitter.com/ibzgGhGwrm

— didisaythatoutloud? (@outlowd) October 29, 2016

But he charged Alliance for a Better Utah with cherrypicking his worst tweets and launching a “smear attack” to derail his campaign against the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Elizabeth Weight. The district is a competitive one, he said, noting he lost the seat to a Democrat in 2012 by a mere 77 votes.

Johnson was the Republican nominee last election in state Senate District 1, where he lost to Democratic incumbent Sen. Luz Escamilla.

Signs look good in your front yard, and the make excellent targets after the election! Picture shooting the stars off the elephant! pic.twitter.com/jiePRzhpRM

— didisaythatoutloud? (@outlowd) October 4, 2016

Katie Matheson, spokeswoman for Alliance for a Better Utah, said the social media posts aren’t just poorly worded — they contain reprehensible ideas.

"I don't live in that district, but as a woman, it's incredibly disturbing to hear the things that he said about women. And as a woman with children, it's disturbing to hear the things he said about teachers," she said.

And some of the troubling tweets are from earlier this year, not from the distant past, she said. In March, news broke about a woman who’d alleged the former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Missionary Training Center in Provo had sexually assaulted her in the 1980s. In response, Johnson tweeted, “Can you say, ‘psycho gold digger’?”

Can you say ‘psycho gold digger’?

— didisaythatoutloud? (@outlowd) March 22, 2018

Johnson acknowledged the post was inappropriate, explaining that he’s sometimes too hasty to defend the LDS Church.

“It seems like there’s a lot of people attacking it for no reason,” he said.

As an uncle to several police officers, it can also touch a nerve with him when people criticize law enforcement, he said.

Johnson acknowledged he’s outspoken — his twitter username is “didisaythatoutloud?” — and believes political correctness is stifling free discourse across the nation. On the other hand, he does believe people should use judgment in their online commentary.

Weight did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

The Tribune will update this story.

It’s the toughest assignment a member can get in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — bishop.

It’s a lay calling that brings with it no pay but heavy demands. The bishop is responsible for the spiritual and even temporal well-being for hundreds of families and individuals in his area. All of this on top of the needs of his own loved ones and full-time job.

Ross Trewhella has been serving in this taxing but rewarding task for nine years, shepherding his Latter-day Saint flock in Cornwall, England. Hear his thoughts on the shift coming in January from three hours of Sunday services to two hours, the appeal to stop using the word “Mormon," the challenges his faith faces in the United Kingdom and more.

Listen here:

As he stepped on to the field for his first Major League Soccer start in July, Real Salt Lake right back Aaron Herrera felt the nerves flow though him. And while he had spent the week leading up to the game making sure he was as mentally sharp as possible, it still took a while for the butterflies to float away.

Even now, with almost an entire regular season under his belt, Herrera still can’t comprehend the idea that he is a professional soccer player.

“I still don’t think it’s hit me,” Herrera said. “Sometimes I sort of forget that this is my job now.”

But the MLS rookie and homegrown player has proven he belongs in the league. He has started the last 12 games for RSL and averaged 89.2 minutes in those starts — numbers commensurate with veterans. And it’s all come as somewhat of a surprise to him.

Herrera wasn’t supposed to see the field with RSL much at all this season. He expected to spend the majority of the time playing with the Monarchs. If he did get to share the field with RSL’s first team, he thought, it would only be during the occasional training session.

But during the preseason, injuries to other players and the lineup shifts that followed allowed Herrera to sneak in to the list of available players. He was slated to play against FC Dallas in the season’s opener before he suffered a hamstring injury that kept him out six weeks.

“It was tough,” Herrera said of the injury. “Ever since then, I had to work my way back in.”

That did not prove too cumbersome for Herrera, who has worked his way in to beneficial situations for his entire soccer career. Growing up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and playing for club teams as a boy, Herrera always competed with and against players a year older than he, said RSL assistant coach Freddy Juarez, who is from Las Cruces and coached a young Herrera.

When it got the point where competition in his hometown was too easy for him, Herrera moved to Arizona and joined RSL’s academy.

“He needed a different level,” Juarez said. “There was only so much home could do.”

At first, however, Herrera struggled to compete at the same level as his academy teammates. Physically, he was much smaller at the time. But Herrera became a gym rat, lifting weights before and after practice. He was a frequent participant in soccer tennis. Anything Herrera could do to improve, he did.

“The dedication has always been there,” said RSL defender Justen Glad, who attended the academy with Herrera. “That’s just how he is.”

Meanwhile, Jeremy Fishbein, head coach of the University of New Mexico’s men’s soccer team, watched Herrera from afar. Fishbein saw potential in him since his days at the academy. But it wasn’t until Herrera’s final year, when he started to match and surpass his competition, that Fishbein thought he could mold Herrera into a professional.

Herrera’s last year at the academy coincided with his involvement in the U.S. Soccer’s under-20 men’s national team. In 2017, he went South Korea and competed in the U-20 World Cup with Glad, Sebastian Saucedo, Brooks Lennon and Danny Acosta.

That experience told Fishbein that Herrera was ready for the next level. He recruited Herrera to UNM, where he played three seasons before signing his contract with RSL.

Herrera said his rookie season has gone better than he could have imagined. But it hasn’t been without its adjustments.

While he is primarily a left-footed player, Herrera has been relegated to playing on the right side of the field. RSL head coach Mike Petke, who said he saw “something special” in Herrera, likes how the rookie defender has adjusted to that role.

“He’s playing out of position a little bit, but he’s still taking the opportunity and running with it,” Petke said.

Accepting his role is not the only way Herrera has shown his professionalism over the course of the season. He said he has picked up weightlifting and training habits from veterans like Damir Kreilach and Kyle Beckerman. About a month ago, he started going to Juarez and asking to review film so he can see what areas of his game he can improve.

“As a young player, [if] you get too confident, you start getting complacent and you start thinking that you’ve made it and stuff like that,” Saucedo said. “He’s just complete opposite.”

But in some ways, soccer still feels to Herrera like it did at UNM. Like it did when he was a skinny teenager at the RSL academy. Like it did when he was a little boy from New Mexico who once scored on a goal in the wrong net after being asked to switch teams in the middle of a U-6 practice.

“It still just feels the same,” Herrera said. “I just enjoy it like I always have when I was young.”

The NBA regular season is here, and so is the Weekly Run.

On this week’s episode, Andy Larsen introduces new Jazz beat writer Eric Walden. How did Eric find himself as a Jazz beat writer, what will he bring to the job, and how can we best make fun of him?

Then, we talk about the Utah Jazz, and in particular, Vegas' over-unders for the important Jazz players. Will Ricky Rubio score 13 points per game? Will Rudy Gobert get 12 rebounds per contest? All that and much more is discussed.

Here’s a rundown of this week’s podcast:

At 1:05 • A revelation about Eric’s past.

At 2:30 • Getting to know Eric Walden

At 8:15 • Concerts in stadiums: good or not good?

At 10:40 • Jazz over-unders begin: how many points will Donovan Mitchell score?

At 15:20 • Rudy Gobert’s scoring and rebounding totals

At 21:50 • Ricky Rubio’s points and assists per game

At 28:20 • Derrick Favors' points and rebounds per game

At 33:18 • Joe Ingles' points per game and 3-point shooting percentage

You can subscribe and listen on iTunes. Or, hey, just listen below on SoundCloud:

Washington • Outside groups are pouring more than $1.5 million into television ads in Utah amid a neck-and-neck race between Rep. Mia Love and Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams.

The bulk of the money, some $1.14 million, is coming from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a political action committee aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan who is trying to retain a GOP majority in the chamber against a possible blue wave.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved $235,000 in commercial time in Salt Lake City as Democrat McAdams attempts to unseat Republican Love in a bitterly fought campaign.

Another Democratic group, Patriot Majority USA, is expected to toss in some $500,000 in the state for commercials raising questions about Love’s campaign contributions and office spending.

The outside spending, which is not directly tied to either campaign, is detailed in reports filed by television stations and cable networks with the Federal Communications Commission as well as media buyer information.

Outside groups can legally run such ads as long as it is not in concert with a candidate's committee.

“The choice is clear,” says a narrator in the Congressional Leadership Fund ad. “Mia will help grow the economy. McAdams will grow government. We can’t afford Ben McAdams.”

The ad echoes the argument Love has made about McAdams.

Patriot Majority USA's ad hits Love on accepting $1 million in campaign donations for a primary she never faced, an issue the Federal Election Commission has said may have violated the law. (Love said the FEC has cleared her of any wrongdoing, a point the FEC has not confirmed.)

“It’s another scandal for Mia Love,” the narrator intones, citing news stories about the primary contributions and older articles about reimbursing her congressional office for flights to Washington to attend the swanky White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

Outside groups have sunk millions in 4th District races in the past, mainly by conservative groups who had hoped to oust then-Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson and prop up Love.

This year's race between Love and McAdams appears to be a nail-biter.

A Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll recently found the race for the 4th Congressional District a dead heat with each grabbing 46 percent of voters and 8 percent undecided. The Cook Political Report, a political handicapper, calls the race a “toss up” after moving it from a previous rating as “lean Republican.”

The DCCC, the Democrat's House campaign arm, is spending millions across the country trying to win back the chamber. A spokesman for the group says McAdams is a solid candidate and the DCCC wants to have his back.

"Ben McAdams is a game-changing candidate – he puts this seat in play,” said DCCC spokesman Andrew Godinich. “No question at all about that."

Republicans hold a 42-seat majority in the House but are defending a large number of GOP-leaning seats in the midterm election. Political forecasters say Republicans are likely to lose a slew of seats and, possibly, control of the chamber.

FiveThirtyEight, a date-driven analysis outlet, says Democrats have an 83 percent chance of winning the House.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, which is backed by GOP leaders, did not respond to questions about its Utah ad buys but noted in a news release recently that its ad against McAdams “contrasts Mia Love’s efforts to rein in government spending and lower taxes” with McAdams spending in Salt Lake County.

Neither the Love nor McAdams campaign can tell the outside groups what to say or how much to spend and both camps say they’re focused on their own messages to voters.

“We just have to deal with it,” says Love campaign manager Dave Hansen. “Obviously we can't coordinate with them or their messages or anything like that.”

He called the Patriot Majority USA ads “over-the-top false” but praised the Congressional Leadership Fund spots as fair in showing a contrast between the candidates.

McAdams' campaign manager, Andrew Roberts, said his team isn't paying attention to the outside ads other than monitoring what they say.

“The mayor has run a strong campaign up to this point and has been able to make his case to the voters without their help,” Roberts said.

The BYU women’s basketball team faces a rebuilding season after losing three starters to graduation last year, but the coaches in the West Coast Conference are still giving the Cougars plenty of respect.

BYU was picked to finish third in the WCC women’s basketball race this upcoming season by the 10 WCC coaches who voted in the preseason poll.

BYU junior Brenna Chase, the team’s leading returning scorer, and sophomore Sara Hamson made the preseason team.

Gonzaga received seven of 10 first-place votes and put a league-high three players on the preseason All-WCC team. The Zags went 27-6 last year and won their second-straight WCC regular-season title.

Saint Mary’s received two first-place votes and was picked to finish second. BYU, which went 16-14 last year, received one first-place vote. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own teams.

Chase, from Thornton, Colo., was an WCC first-team selection last year and Hamson was the WCC Defensive Player of the Year. Hamson, who also plays volleyball for the Cougars, sustained an ACL injury last summer and is not expected to return to the team until Dec. 1.

Cooper Baskett embodied Jack-Jack from the movie “The Incredibles 2” as volunteers at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Salt Lake City transformed his wheelchair into the Incredimobile. Mimicking a fight scene with a raccoon from the movie, Cooper, 3, put his fists up as he delighted in the attention.

“This is something he gets to have all his own,” said his mother, Tonya Baskett, as they got their first look at his Halloween costume. Cooper, who has skeletal dysplasia, doesn’t get to run around like his cousins, which usually makes the holiday difficult. However, this year the whole family plans to dress up as characters from the same family of superheroes.

For the third year in a row, Shriners put on a costume clinic to trick out and transform the wheelchairs for kids. In its first year, the volunteers helped eight children. On Wednesday, it was 28.

Volunteers tried to cater to the desires of each kid, crafting costumes out of cardboard, fabric, PVC pipe, paint and foam.

Gathered under seven canopies, crews worked on the chairs of four kids throughout the day, with a two-hour window for each transformation.

With a little bit of advance planning, the teams were ready for each kid turning their chairs into Batmobiles, monster trucks, cupcakes, princess carriages, Millennium Falcons, pirate ships and fighter jets.

Employees with Spirit Halloween, a costume retailer, volunteered during last year’s event and saw the need for wheelchair costumes. This year, the company helped craft four costumes.

One of those was a monster truck assembled around Jonathan Clark, 6, who has cerebral palsy. His dad, Jeremy, who’s in the process of adopting his fourth child with special needs from Bulgaria — was excited to watch his son’s eyes light up. Jonathan, who is part of a special needs baseball league in West Jordan, will get to move around in his new wheels for the upcoming showcase indoor baseball game. Clark said: “It will be cool to see him run the bases in a monster truck."

A man is in critical condition after he was shot by an officer Wednesday following an alleged robbery at a Mexican restaurant in Kearns.

Unified Police Department detectives responded to Fiesta Olé, at 4098 W. 5415 South, on a robbery call at about 1 p.m. James Lyle Kuehn, who was armed, took off when he saw the officers, said UPD Sgt. Melody Gray.

Police confronted Kuehn at a nearby house, and he reportedly threatened them. Gray said she did not know whether he had a weapon at that point. One officer fired his gun, Gray said, hitting him. Kuehn, 61, was taken to a nearby hospital.

The incident is now under investigation by the Salt Lake City Police Department.

Kuehn has an extensive criminal history — stretching back to 1987 in Utah — that includes dozens of misdemeanors for theft and possession of drugs. One was filed as recently as Sept. 10.

Sacramento, Calif. • The spotlight will be squarely on Donovan Mitchell as the Jazz start the season, but Mitchell doesn’t want to change how he approaches his job: “I have to treat it the same as I did last year: being humble, coming into it with a selfless mindset.”

But Mitchell is smart enough to know he will be treated differently; he’ll be at the top of opposition scouting reports.

“The game plan for the other team [changes] — the way they guard me in the pick and roll, the way they guard me off the ball,” Mitchell said before Wednesday’s season-opening tipoff against the Sacramento Kings. “I’m not going to be able to sneak around like I did last year.”

He also says he’s more “poised”, and more “relaxed” coming into the season this year, as opposed to last season where Mitchell’s youthful energy got him into occasional trouble. But he acknowledges that there’s an additional factor, too: playing the Kings on the road Wednesday is an easier test compared to what comes later in the week: a Friday home matchup on national TV against the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

Allen ready to start career against old teammate

Grayson Allen thinks he might feel some of those first-game jitters.

“I’m really excited for it to be my first official game now. I feel like I kind of got the nervousness of it out of the way, but we’ll see. When the game time comes I’ll probably be nervous, it’ll probably come back, but I’m just really excited to get this going,” Allen said.

With the arrival of the regular season comes an entirely different schedule, too. Preseason is played at an almost collegiate pace: with five games in 23 training camp days, it’s very different than the regular season. Now, though, the Jazz play their first five games in an 11-day stretch.

″Things are starting to go by a lot faster since we’re traveling and playing a lot more games now, but I know it’s going to be fun," Allen said. "I’m going to enjoy every moment of it.”

Allen, by the way, will see a familiar face in the opposition: rookie Marvin Bagley Jr., who also played for Duke last year. They talked after last Thursday’s preseason game against the Kings, though not since.

Injury report

Raul Neto will miss at least the next week with what the team is calling a right hamstring injury. He’s scheduled to be re-evaluated next Wednesday. Thabo Sefolosha is suspended for the first five games after violating the terms of the NBA’s Anti-Drug Program last season.

For the Kings, former Jazz draftee Kosta Koufos is out with a hamstring strain of his own. Sharpshooting Bogdan Bogdanovic will also miss Wednesday’s game, he’s recovering from minor knee surgery.

Expanding Medicaid under Proposition 3 would turn Utah’s budget on its head and put the state on a road to bankruptcy, a dozen Republican lawmakers warned Wednesday.

And Sen. Jacob Anderegg, R-Lehi, said he’s prepared to sponsor legislation repealing Proposition 3 if voters approve the initiative in November.

“With the public vote, I don’t think that that’s sacrosanct,” he said. “If we don’t [repeal Prop 3] and the numbers turn out where we think they are, I don’t know how we’re going to fund it.”

Utah’s Legislature has defeated past attempts at full expansion of Medicaid in the state. But while individual lawmakers have voiced opposition to Proposition 3, Wednesday’s statements — delivered in the state Capitol Rotunda — was the most visible and aggressive attack against the initiative in the current election cycle.

The gathering of legislative opponents — which included House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper — was also held on the same day that the Prop 3-backing Utah Health Policy Project (UHPP) released a report estimating the creation of roughly 14,000 jobs in the first year after implementation of full Medicaid expansion.

“A healthier population helps all of us,” UHPP policy analyst Stacy Stanford said. “We see huge economic benefits that come from expansion."

If approved by voters, Proposition 3 would combine roughly $90 million — through a state sales tax increase of 0.15 percent — with $800 million in new federal funding to provide health care coverage to 150,000 low-income Utahns.

The coverage level would exceed that of a partial expansion plan approved earlier this year by lawmakers, which has not yet received federal approval.

Hughes said he’s spoken with the leaders of other states where Medicaid has been expanded. The consistent message, he said, is that Medicaid costs have exceeded expectations and put a strain on government spending.

“That budget grows,” he said. “And they don’t have ways to slow that down and it comes at a price.”

It would be wrong to make promises to those in need that the state can’t deliver, Hughes said. And the way for lawmakers to help low-income Utahns, he said, is through the careful allocation of state resources.

“We can’t ignore the bottom line,” he said. “We can’t ignore the budget.”

Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, is the co-chairman of the Social Services Appropriations Committee. He said Medicaid costs will “skyrocket” under a full expansion plan, which will require him to pull funding from other programs.

“I’m going to cut [services for] children and I’m going to cut disabled people because I have no other option,” Ray said. “This is really a terrible idea. It’s not needed and it’s going to be very expensive to the taxpayers.”

But Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, disagreed with his colleagues in the Legislature. He said budget challenges related to health care are universal, in states that both have and have not expanded Medicaid.

And while full-expansion states have seen their costs rise, Ward said, none have attempted to pull back from expansion.

“Every one of them fully intends to continue the program and keep those people covered,” said Ward, a physician. “Other states have figured out a way to make this work — their people are benefitting. And we can figure out a way to make it work.”

Stanford said there’s a “ripple effect” to expanding Medicaid, as federal dollars are injected into the state’s health-care system and a healthier workforce contributes to the economy.

And Utah taxpayers are currently subsidizing Medicaid patients in other state, she said, instead of the individuals and families in their own communities.

“When we shift that money back to Utah, we see a really direct benefit in our economy," Stanford said, “including the creation of thousands of jobs every year.”

A new poll released Thursday by The Salt Lake Tribune and Hinckley Institute of Politics shows a 59 percent majority of registered voters in support of Proposition 3. And the opposition by lawmakers arrived late in the election cycle, with less than three weeks to go before balloting and by-mail voting underway.

Anderegg said he’s not worried about the political blowback of potentially repealing a voter-approved initiative.

“In my Senate district?” he said. “Not at all.”

He said he expects the partial expansion bill approved earlier this year to continue to have support among lawmakers. And he will work to persuade any of his colleagues who are reluctant to overturn a vote of the public.

“It may sway some,” he said. “I don’t know.”

Utah state government ended the fiscal year with some $265 million in surplus, elected leaders announced Wednesday.

Under state budget law, $107 million will automatically go into so-called “rainy day” or reserve accounts as a buffer against down times. That leaves an additional $158 million — $150 million from state income tax and another $8 million in sales tax revenue.

The state’s fiscal year ended June 30.

“This one-time surplus revenue will help our Legislature lend short-term support to our education system for one-time expenses such as buildings," Gov. Gary Herbert said in a prepared statement. "But we still need a long-term solution to fund excellence in our classrooms.”

Automatic transfers totaling $107 million were made to reserve accounts, with $65 million of that going into the education reserve, $30 million in Medicaid reserve and $12 million into other rainy day accounts.

Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, said the estimated surplus reflects "our growing economy, but we must continue to be conservative when planning the entire state budget to ensure we find the correct fiscal balance.”

Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, echoed the slow-as-you-go message. "We must remain vigilant as we plan for our future to continue investing in critical areas such as education, transportation, public safety and our rainy day fund,” Hughes said in a prepared statement.

A list of recommendations aimed at improving school safety in Utah, including on-campus mental-health professionals and the retrofitting of aging buildings to restrict access, could cost the state nearly $100 million in its first year, according to numbers provided to lawmakers on Wednesday.

The recommendations, similar to the recent findings of the Utah School Safety Commission, were presented to members of the Education Interim Committee by State Superintendent Sydnee Dickson and Christy Walker, a safety specialist with the Utah Board of Education.

“There’s been a lot of mental-health concerns growing in our communities and our schools,” Walker said.

Lawmakers were pitched on the idea of providing funding to create threat assessment and student support teams at Utah’s public schools, and a coordinating school safety center at the Utah Board of Education.

But significant cost estimates came in the form of $30 million annually to hire or contract with mental-health professionals for on-site work with students, and $65 million to create single points of entry and add other security measures at the state’s existing schools.

After the first year, the retrofitting costs could be reduced to $33 million to maintain and upgrade surveillance technology and security software, Dickson said.

During the presentation, Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns, emphasized that the state’s priority should be the physical safety of students, rather than emotional well-being.

Both approaches are “critical," he said, but schools already sponsor clubs aimed at inclusion and an employee hired to assess threats should not be involved in advising things like LGBT support groups.

“I would want to make certain that we don’t have a position that forgets that they’re there to keep kids from getting shot and physically harmed,” Hutchings said, “and instead focuses on positive affirmations.”

The committee did not take a vote on any of the proposals Wednesday. And additional legislation aimed at gun ownership and the seizure of weapons through court order is anticipated in the upcoming legislative session.

Dickson said a school safety advisory committee — composed of representatives from the Utah Board of Education, Department of Public Safety, Division of Human Services and other education and government entities — would continue to meet quarterly to evaluate initiatives.

“It’s not just about meeting a few times and coming up with recommendations,” she said. “It’s really about ongoing coordination.”

And Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, who facilitated the meetings of the Utah School Safety Commission, said he plans to sponsor legislation based on Dickson’s presentation.

“I will be bringing back to you a bill that reflects, in large part, many of these priorities you have heard,” he said.

This Pat Bagley cartoon appears in The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. You can check out the past 10 Bagley editorial cartoons below:

• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/16/bagley-cartoon-eat-poor/" target=_blank><u>Eat the Poor</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/15/bagley-cartoon-trumps/"><u>Trump’s BFFs</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/12/bagley-cartoon-first-2/"><u>First Ladies</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/11/bagley-cartoon-face/"><u>The Face of the Supreme Court</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/07/bagley-cartoon-general/"><u>General Conference Closed Captioning&nbsp;</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/02/bagley-cartoon-scary/"><u>Scary for Young Men</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/01/bagley-cartoon-new-trail/"><u>A New Trail of Tears</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/09/28/bagley-cartoon-believe/"><u>Believe Her</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/09/27/bagley-cartoon-womens/"><u>Women’s Work</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/09/26/bagley-cartoon-kavanaughs/"><u>Kavanaugh’s Gang</u></a>

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For the first time in franchise history, the Jazz began the season with the same starting lineup that they used in the previous season’s opener.

It didn’t go well. After a preseason finale in which the Jazz got out to a 47-12 run against the Kings, this time, it was Sacramento who jumped all over Utah early, to the tune of a 25-9 lead after six minutes.

Maybe continuity isn’t everything.

“The continuity that we have as a team isn’t an end in itself,” Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. “But it allows us the opportunity to study our team, to learn about our team from last year, anticipate certain things we can do better, and to make adjustments with the group that we have.”

Adjustments were made quickly, and unlike last Thursday’s contest, the team that was down fought back, to the tune of a 123-117 win over the Kings.

In fact, the Jazz did so quickly, thanks to the insertion of backup guard tandem Dante Exum and Alec Burks. Both players showed off their remade skillsets, making their 3-point shots and making the right read in pick and roll situations. Going to a smaller lineup also helped open up the space for those players to succeed. In the end, the Jazz cut the lead to four by the end of the first.

By the second quarter, the Jazz’s offense was rolling again. Joe Ingles caught fire, scoring 17 first-half points thanks to 3-of-3 3-point shooting and crafty finishing around the rim. The end result was a 68-55 halftime lead that made it seem like nothing had ever gone wrong.

But just as they did in the first half, the starters again scuffled to begin the second half, even losing the lead. Snyder, having learned from what had happened an hour earlier, put Exum and Crowder in quickly, just three minutes into the third quarter. Again, the Exum-led small lineups had more success, and he ended up finishing the game, playing 27 minutes.

It wasn’t a shining first game back for Ricky Rubio, who struggled with many of the same things he did in his sketchy start to his 2017-18 campaign. He missed layups, lobbed Rudy Gobert with passes that were even too high for the lanky Frenchman, and tried to draw fouls that ended up just looking like ugly plays. In the end, Rubio finished with only 1 point, plus just four assists, and a team-worst -16 plus-minus.

Donovan Mitchell started slowly, but ended up finding his game late. Despite his calm demeanor before the game, he forced some iffy looks and wild drives. But despite that, he ended up as the Jazz’s leading scorer with 24 points on 8-21 shooting. That being said, he wasn’t the Jazz’s best player of the game: that title belonged to Ingles who had 22 points on only 12 shots, plus a team-high six assists.

Defensively, the Jazz weren’t anywhere near their usual standard. They allowed 110 points per 100 possessions to the Kings, and gave a lot of easy baskets to Willie Cauley-Stein, Nemanja Bjelica, and others. Gobert did finish with 19 points and 15 rebounds, but the Defensive Player of the Year wouldn’t have earned the same award for his defensive play in Game 1 of 82.

But while it may have not been in their traditional manner, the Jazz’s familiar cast of characters pulled out a win. And Snyder is happy about that, if not the overall performance.

“It’s a group that I really like, so I’m glad they’re back,” Snyder said.

Los Angeles • Clayton Kershaw bounced back from one of his worst postseason starts with one of his best, pitching the Los Angeles Dodgers past the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2 Wednesday to move one win from a return trip to the World Series.

The Dodgers took a 3-2 lead in the NL Championship Series, boosted by Max Muncy’s go-ahead single in the sixth inning. Kershaw held the lead, scoring an insurance run in the seventh and then exiting.

Game 6 is Friday night in Milwaukee. The Brewers will start left-hander Wade Miley, who walked Cody Bellinger to open Game 5 before getting pulled in an interesting piece of strategy by manager Craig Counsell. Lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu will go for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers haven’t been in back-to-back World Series since losing to the Yankees in 1977 and ‘78. They were beaten by Houston in Game 7 last year.

The teams reconvened less than 15 hours after the Dodgers eked out a 2-1 victory Tuesday night on Cody Bellinger’s RBI single with two outs in a 13-inning game that lasted over five hours.

Kershaw was well-rested and masterful in allowing one run and three hits over seven. He struck out nine, all on breaking pitches, and walked two.

Kershaw recovered from the shortest postseason start of his career. He lasted just three innings in losing the NLCS opener while giving up five runs — four earned — at Miller Park.

“I don’t know if it was that much better, just a little bit better execution maybe. Maybe I threw some more curveballs today than I did in Game 1,” Kershaw said.

The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner pitched in and out of trouble in the third, when the Brewers loaded the bases and scored their lone run. Kershaw struck out Jesus Aguilar to end the third, the first of 13 consecutive batters that the left-hander retired.

Curtis Granderson hit an RBI double in the ninth. Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers’ third pitcher of the ninth, came in for the last two outs and the save.

Brewers star Christian Yelich, who nearly won the NL Triple Crown this season, was hitless in four at-bats. He is 3 for 20 without an RBI in the NLCS.

The Dodgers’ offense broke loose with five runs over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings that had the sellout crowd of 54,502 on its feet whipping blue towels and cheering loudly.

The team that hit a franchise and NL-leading 235 home runs in the regular season did it playing small ball instead, driving in all but one of its runs on singles.

Tied 1-all, Muncy grounded a 1-2 pitch from Brandon Woodruff into left field, scoring Justin Turner, who led off wiht a single. Pinch-hitter Yasiel Puig singled to center with two outs, bringing home Manny Machado after he was hit by a pitch from Corbin Burnes.

Los Angeles extended the lead to 5-1 in the seventh on Turner’s RBI single that scored Kershaw, who walked, and pinch-hitter Brian Dozier’s RBI groundout.

Kershaw has struggled in the postseason during his career, with his numbers never matching his excellence during the regular season.

But his outing Wednesday nearly matched what he did in Game 2 of the NL Division Series against Atlanta. Kershaw allowed two hits over eight shutout innings, struck out three and walked none in the best postseason outing of his career.

The Brewers led 1-0 in the third on Lorenzo Cain’s RBI double to deep center.

Milwaukee had gone scoreless over the final eight innings Tuesday and the first two innings Wednesday.