By TOM WHARTON, Salt Lake Tribune

What economic downturn? Skin artists are thriving in these rocky economic times.
At the sixth annual Salt Lake City international tattoo convention this week, vendors said economic downturn isn't preventing customers from spending hundreds of dollars for skin art.

An anatomically correct sculpture of a fertility god in a Utah state park is standing at the center of a controversy pitting "values" and "censorship."

NASCAR newcomers get indoctrinated quickly. They get invited to massive tailgating parties, get exposed to plenty of expensive beer, pick a favorite driver, buy all kinds of kitschy souvenirs and, of course, sample speedway cuisine.Most at least have to try a giant barbecued turkey leg, which many say is the signature NASCAR meal.

WILLARD, Utah -- Hundreds, if not thousands, of migrating pintail ducks and snow geese filled the gray sky on a remote stretch of the Great Salt Lake where Jeff and Lynn Pace and Rich Noble skimmed across the shallow waters northwest of Willard Bay in airboats.

LEES FERRY, Ariz. -- Unless a visitor knew what to look for, the tiny endangered pedio cactus near the top of the Grand Canyon would be easy to miss. Judy Durzo, an Albuquerque, N.M., lawyer and a founder of the Grand Circle Field School, knows just where to look.