Attorney General

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that the Justice Department will take appropriate action in the killing of Trayvon Martin if it finds evidence that a federal criminal civil rights crime has been committed.

SALT LAKE CITY — Weber County Attorney Dee Smith made it official today, filing for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General.

SALT LAKE CITY — One expert on the legal right of the state to control land within its own borders says a potential court challenge by state lawmakers to federal land holdings in Utah comes down to a simple concept: control.

“He who controls the sod, controls the people,” Bill Redd said of a potential showdown over the 67 percent of the Beehive State owned by the federal government. Redd, a former San Juan County commissioner, said he has experienced firsthand the negative side of federal land control.

There are four bills now in front of the Utah House of Representatives that form the basis of a legal challenge to the federal government’s right to control approximately two-thirds of the land in the state. The bills invoke promises dating back to when Utah gained statehood in 1896.

SALT LAKE CITY — A group of Utah lawmakers is ready to take on the federal government over the transfer of federal lands to the state, citing a promise made 116 years ago when Utah gained statehood.

Lawmakers considered five separate bills dealing with the transfer of land to the state in committee Tuesday. Members of the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Standing Committee approved four of the five and will forward them to the House for consideration.

Those measures include a joint resolution on the federal transfer of public lands to Utah, House Joint Resolution 3, sponsored by Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville, calling for the federal government to turn over federal land to the state by Dec. 31, 2014. Other measures address some of the mechanisms to make that happen, including an act addressing potential litigation of the issue at the federal level.

NORTH OGDEN — City Attorney Dave Carlson has accepted a job with the state attorney general’s office in the criminal justice division. Today is his last full-time day with the city.

FARMINGTON -- A 33-year-old Bountiful man, currently serving a federal prison sentence for production of child pornography, is now accused, in connection with the same case, of sexually molesting an 8-year-old girl for more than a year while he was her baby sitter.