Home Care In Virgin, UT

As a population immersed in hookup, body count and flat-out sex culture, most college students see sex as a big deal. But despite the hype around sex in college, part of the student population continues to hold fast to their virginity.

In the hypersexualized environment of UT, student virgins still face criticism for not having gotten laid. But while often stigmatized for such a personal decision, some students keep the v-card in their deck for reasons ranging from a busy schedule to a fear of sexually transmitted diseases.

Business freshman Nikhil Baliga said he isn’t waiting until marriage for sex, but he wants his first time to be special because it is something to be fondly remembered.

“It’s definitely an important part of someone’s life,” Baliga said. “Your first time is always special. That person is remembered. It’s like you’ll never forget who your high school prom date was. You’ll never forget who you had sex with for the first time.”

Nancy Daley, psychologist and educational psychology senior lecturer, said the sex-centered culture of college campuses makes it difficult for virgins to come to terms with their choice.

“It’s unfortunate that if you’re not sexually active, there (might be) something uncool about you (or) something wrong with you, in particular for males,” Daley said.

Baliga, like many students, said he does not want his sexual status to define him.

“Some people, myself included, may feel embarrassed of it because they don’t want to be looked down upon because of social norms,” Baliga said. “They don’t want to be thought of as like, ‘Oh, they can’t get it.’”

The taboo nature of virginity continues, but the reasoning behind its stigmatization remains unclear. Daley said there are many reasons for students to remain virgins throughout college. She said judgment from non-virgins is unwarranted.

“Some students are just busy,” Daley said. “Some don’t feel like dealing with any of the contraception methods. Others are very shy and introverted don’t really see a way to dive into that pool. People judge (virgins) because they’re anxious, they’re guilty, they’re immature. They want to judge before they get judged.”

While some students judge those who have yet to lose their virginity, others admire the presence of the v-card. Sociology senior Isabel Garcia said she is impressed by people who hold true to their values and don’t succumb to social pressure.

“(My friend) was wearing a ring of celibacy and my reaction (was), ‘Wait what? You’ve never had sex in college?’ But she went on to talk about her own beliefs,” Garcia said. “She was really passionate about waiting until marriage for sex. It’s really cool that she stuck onto her beliefs and didn’t let anyone else affect what she was thinking.”

Daley said the best way for virgins to find comfort rather than embarrassment in their sexuality is to acknowledge it and be confident in the choices they made, similar to the way Garcia’s friend did.

“Like any other aspect of sexuality, people starting to come out and own it and put it out there (will decrease the stigma). Students (should) say, ‘Judge me if you want to. I don’t care. It doesn’t bother me,’” Daley said.

Official in the town near Zion National Park voted repeatedly to up their pay without properly codifying the increases.

| Updated: 10:26 a.m.

Virgin • Municipal officials in Virgin, a small town 15 miles west of Zion National Park, voted repeatedly to increase their pay between fiscal years 2018 and 2022 without holding a public hearing or codifying the increases by ordinance as required by state law.

Mayoral pay went up from $400 to $1,000 a month, a 150% increase, over that period. Members of the Town Council increased their monthly pay by 250%, from $100 to $350. They also more than tripled the Planning Commission chair’s pay from $85 to $325. Pay for others on the commission jumped from $65 to $255.

By Mayor Jean Krause’s reckoning, Virgin overpaid its elected and appointed officials by $78,240 during that four-year period. Krause, who became mayor last January, said the pay hikes happened during former Mayor Matt Spendlove’s watch and doesn’t know why town officials quit complying with the law.

“It’s up to the mayor and town council that’s in office to know how to do things right,” Krause said. “My educated guess is that the previous council thought they knew what they were doing.”

Spendlove did not return phone calls, but Councilman Gene Garate, who has been on the council for three years and voted to approve some of the increases, said there was nothing nefarious going on. He said the previous mayor and council thought they were complying with the law by putting the increases in the budget each year.

Garate said each time the budget came up for approval, the meeting was properly noticed and copies of the budget with the proposed pay hikes were available to the public and discussed openly. But the increases were never put in ordinance form.

“Ignorance and errors on our part did not mean malfeasance on the part of the individuals that screw[ed] up. We just didn’t know,” he said. “It’s real easy for people to jump in and say all this shady crap is going on in this town. And that’s not the case. We try to do the right thing but holy criminy, there’s so much to keep up with.”

State code requires the cities to provide notice at least seven days before a public hearing to increase salaries. If municipal officials decide to hike pay, the code requires them to enact that increase by ordinance. Virgin town officials did neither.

Councilman Paul Luwe, a former city attorney for Bozeman, Montana, discovered the problem after he took office in January and wondered why he was receiving $350 a month instead of the $100 listed in the municipal ordinance. He notified Krause that the ordinance needed to be amended to reflect town officials’ current salaries.

Luwe said the mayor agreed but asked him to hold off until after the budget for fiscal year 2023, which contained yet another proposed pay increase was approved, so the city would not be processing two amendments to the salary ordinance in a short time.

Krause said town officials intended to provide the public notice of the proposed pay hikes in July, but someone dropped the ball. Nonetheless, the salary increases went into effect in July, despite the lack of a public hearing.

Another public hearing set for August had to be continued to September, the mayor added, after another item on the agenda took up the whole meeting. On Sept. 28, the mayor and council members voted 4-1 to approve the ordinance to hike municipal pay and made the increases retroactive to July. Luwe voted against the increase.

The latest pay hikes for the fiscal year 2023 bumped up the mayor’s monthly pay from $1,000 to $1,200 and council members’ pay from $350 to $400. The planning commission chair’s pay increased from $325 to $400, and other commissioners’ salaries went from $255 to $300.

Ann Beshell, who has lived in Virgin for 20 years, said the lack of transparency is something many residents have come to expect from their elected representatives.

“I understand people need to get paid, she said. But they need to do everything according to the law. They can’t just say, ‘Let’s give ourselves a raise’ and not have to ask the townspeople about it.”

California transplant Tony Sweett, who has lived in Virgin since 2019, is more inclined to give Virgin leaders the benefit of the doubt. He said his interaction with council members Garate and Leroy Thompson has shown him they are upfront guys. “I have the utmost confidence in them,” he said.

Heath Snow, Virgin’s part-time city attorney, said he did not know until just recently about the illegal salary increases. Krause said it is unfair to pin the problem on Snow, who only weighs in on matters when asked by town leaders.

“He would never have been aware that the town had not done an ordinance for salary,” the mayor said. “[Part-time city attorneys] do not sit there with a microscope and watch every little thing the town does. That is not their job.”

At any rate, the mayor and council agree, the question remains what to do about it. Krause said a representative of the state Auditor’s Office, who contacted her after receiving a complaint about the salary irregularities, told her the council needs to decide to recoup the cost or enact an ordinance to forgive the overpayments.

Snow has advised town leaders the latter might be the better option. Luwe concurs, saying trying to force current and former city officials to repay the amount they were overpaid could cost the city more in legal expenses than the amount of money they could recover.

“You might have to proceed with a civil action to collect the money,” Luwe said. “You’re going to be suing many of your citizens. This is a small town, so suing citizens is going to have a detrimental effect on people serving [in municipal government] in the future.”

Garate doesn’t mince words about which of the two options he prefers.

“We’re a very small town; everybody knows everybody,” he said. " If you come in and start saying, ‘Well, we’re going to sue you to get the money — the $300 or $500 or whatever it was that the town paid you that wasn’t put into ordinance because we messed up.’ Holy criminy, it would rip our town apart.”

Krause and council members will meet Nov. 16 to consider their options. While the outcome of that meeting is not set in stone, the city is currently drafting a proposed ordinance that would essentially forgive the overpayments by approving the increases from fiscal years 2018 to 2022 and making that approval retroactive.

Correction, Nov. 10: This article was updated with the correct percentages of increases for the mayor and Town Council.

Virgin Orbit has developed a new bridge ventilator that can be mass produced to help in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The Virgin Orbit team has been consulting with the Bridge Ventilator Consortium (BVC), led by the University of California Irvine (UCI) and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). The group came together to design, develop and build simple ventilators to aid in the current COVID-19 crisis.

Pending clearance by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Virgin Orbit aims to start production at its Long Beach manufacturing facility in early April, sprinting to deliver units into the hands of first responders and healthcare professionals as soon as possible.

As the COVID-19 crisis worsens and the shortages of medical equipment has become more and more clear, the Virgin Orbit team has been motivated to try and help. On a normal day, the team is building rockets for space launch. While they are not medical doctors or manufacturers of medical devices, they do have a team of incredibly innovative and agile thinkers — experts in designing, fabricating, programming, testing — who are eager to lend a hand.

Virgin Orbit contacted Governor Gavin Newsom last week to see what they could do, and were directed by his office to the California Emergency Medical Services Authority (CEMSA) and put in contact with the BVC.

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Incredibly proud of the @Virgin.Orbit team who have designed and developed a new bridge ventilator that can be mass produced to help in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Head over to @Virgin.Orbit to find out more

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The BVC is a team of brilliant doctors, medical device experts, and researchers at UCI and UT Austin who are working around the clock, sharing ideas across a broad national and international network to share best practices and design insights and to accelerate progress on solutions to this equipment shortage.

Today, complex, high-end, ICU-capable ventilators are sometimes the only option available for moderate cases — for people who don’t necessarily need intensive care or have partially recovered. By supplying “bridge” ventilators, Virgin Orbit’s device can free up those critical resources for the most ill.

“We are all heartbroken each night as we turn on the news and see the predicament facing doctors and nurses as they heroically work to save lives,” said Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart. “I have never seen our team working harder. Never seen ideas moving quicker from design to prototype. We are hopeful that this device can help as we all prepare for the challenges ahead.”

Virgin Orbit engineers have taken rapid scaling into account from the beginning of the design process, taking advantage of the most common and robust manufacturing and assembly processes. The company’s aim is to have a functioning, deployable bridge ventilator in production in early April. Virgin Orbit would continue on to rapidly scale up to mass production in its Long Beach facility, in addition to potentially activating other manufacturers as soon as the new device is reproducible and production-ready.

“We face a slow-motion Dunkirk, and getting ventilators out there is very important to save lives,” said Dr Brian JF Wong, assistant chairman of otolaryngology at UCI. “The demand outstrips supply, so it is important the government, industry, academia, non-profits, and the community work together to identify solutions, and design and construct them as fast as possible.”

Visit Virgin Orbit to find out more.

Our biological instinct to want to explore is something that is rooted deep within us - something that the trail builders of the Greater Zion area in Southwestern Utah made sure to implore in their construction of this entire area. Every trail feels like an adventure as unique terrain and breathtaking views are implemented in every inch of Greater Zion, just 170 miles northeast from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

I’ve spent the last four years traveling to the Greater Zion area for Red Bull Rampage to shoot some of the world’s best freeride mountain bike athletes, only to hear stories about the world-class cycling that lay above me, atop the mesas. I finally had the chance to take an in-depth look at the terrain that would change the way I view Utah mountain biking forever.

We may have been pretty ambitious with all of the riding we wanted to get done over our three-day trip, but it is possible. However, give yourself at least a couple extra days if you want the full experience of Greater Zion riding.

Our first day began exploring the southern mesas above Virgin, the home turf of Red Bull Rampage and Rockville, both home to some classic riding. Grafton was an obvious first choice. Not only is Grafton entirely shuttle-able (either via 4x4 from Rockville or a longer, smoother back route out of Hurricane), but it encompasses some of the most diverse riding in the area. Grafton is most well known for the trail “Grafton Mesa” which ends near the infamous Grafton Road Gap, but it’s not just double black riding here.

Up top you’re gifted with full 360-degree views on Dig It. Nothing beats morning light hitting Zion National Park in the distance. Dig It, while being a black trail, has multiple line options as well as roll arounds for some of the bigger features. If you’re wanting to push yourself a bit, or maybe just take a look from afar, this zone would be great for you. A lot of the riding in Greater Zion sits on top of these mesas, but they're more than just quick ups and downs.

After making your way north across the mesa, you’ll find yourself at the infamous Grafton Mesa overlook.

What you can see below you might make you really stoked... or really nervous. This trail is rated a double black and it’s that way for all of the right reasons. Look ahead and you see big, sharp rocks that are mandatory hits, look to your right and you see 100-foot cliffs, dwelling a mere 10 feet or less to your side.

This trail is no joke... a downhill-only trail covering 720 feet of descent over just one mile.

Once you reach the Grafton Ghost Town and cemetery, you know your technical riding can finally come to a close.

Grafton Mesa mountain biking trails

Make sure to take the drive up to Springdale, the entrance to Zion National Park, for some outstanding food. We grabbed Ryan not one, but two, nitro cold brews from Deep Creek Coffee Co. before making the ridiculously long trek across the street to a local favorite, Oscar’s. I cannot express with words how satisfied I was with their food. I was instantly sold on their Pork Philly that’s slow roasted for eight hours. Eight hours, guys. If there’s anything in this article you want to fully believe the hype on, trust me.

I was thankful December in Greater Zion is temperate, because a bunch of pork maybe isn't the best thing to eat before riding. Up next we headed back up the 4x4 road to get to Gooseberry Mesa. Gooseberry lies just west of Grafton and is actually completely connected via singletrack (albeit ten miles, but thankfully only 265ft of elevation gain), if you’re feeling frisky.

Gooseberry is another must if you’re in the area. This is the zone I had heard the most cyclists in the area mention when I asked about the Greater Zion trails. We quickly made our way out to the west end of Gooseberry, which is also where you’ll find the most ultimate viewpoints.

Gooseberry, while similar in style to how the slickrock trails of Moab are designed, felt extremely unique. There was a lot of flow through the rocky zones while also keeping things fast with intermittent singletrack and hard pack. The west side felt like a playground with a near infinite amount of lines through some areas and with some of the most stunning views.

While we didn’t get a chance to ride every trail in the area, we did take a look at North + South Rim, as well as Hidden Canyon, my personal favorite. As we were returning to our car, we took Hidden Canyon as a bit of a shortcut, and I can’t tell you how incredibly excited I was to ride that trail. Unfortunately, the sun was setting quickly as we powered through, but this area felt otherworldly with multiple deep-rock cutouts and trail meandering under millions of years of history.

Gooseberry Mesa mountain biking trails

For day two, we took a short trip down to St. George to check out what our friends down south had for us to see. We started our morning at the Snake Hollow Bike Park which has over 80 acres of terrain and is the only year-round bike park in all of Utah. I think those details speak for themselves.

Nestled up against the iconic red rocks, Snake Hollow has multiple dirt jump lines, slopestyle, and pumptracks. But to me, what was really unique compared to all of the bike parks I grew up riding around Colorado was their inclusion of flow lines. Their slopestyle area also has rhythm sections and lines built similar to dual slalom tracks which kept things feeling very interesting. On top of all of that, there was an entire back section with a smaller skills park that’s perfect for the whole family.

After lunch, we had to go see for ourselves if the trails of St. George compared to the amazing riding we had seen the day prior. In the Green Valley area, we began on Bearclaw Poppy, which had what I would call the “freeride Jr.” zone known as “Five Fingers.” This was pretty cool to see in a public access zone, one main drop point led to five or more lines with varying difficulties.

If you continue along past Five Fingers, you get some very moderate green pedaling. Next, we hopped on the Barrel blue connector to ride the lower section of Barrel also known as “Playground.” We saw some local kids riding this zone, likely because of the freedom of line choice, as well as incrementally larger hits. Lots of natural and man-made hits made this section ridiculously fun. Up higher on Barrel, which we didn’t have time to see, is some really technical rocky terrain that a lot of local pros ride consistently for training.

We saved the best for last - the Zen Trail. The Zen Loop is a six-mile ride with just over one thousand feet of vert. If you ride counter-clockwise like we did, you get a pretty painful climb up to the edge of the mesa, but it is absolutely worth it.

As you approach the cliffside, you’re instantly greeted by massive slickrock and towering boulders.

This trail had a lot more old-school tech riding than Grafton and Gooseberry, and also more fast, flowy, continuous riding. If you want a ride that feels more like a mountain bike ride and less playful, that’s what St. George can offer you.

Green Valley mountain biking trails

Our final day was spent back at higher elevation, and this time just across the valley from our first day on Grafton and Gooseberry. We began our morning over on Guacamole, just north of Virgin. Guacamole has a very similar style of terrain to Gooseberry with countless pillow slickrocks and moderate elevation.

You can link up 22 miles of unique riding or take extra laps around one of the many loops. You begin on Margarita, a nice mellow blue pedal over slick rock as far as the eye can see. It can get a bit tricky to follow sometimes, but just keep an eye out for one of the many cairns. All along the way approaching Guacamole and Holy Guacamole, the two back loops, you’re riding along the base of Crater Hill, a dormant volcano from nearly 120,000 years ago, as well as the classic view of Zion in the background.

As you approach Guacamole, you ride through burnt trees and tall grass with the sight of large slickrock just over your horizon.

Here, the first big loop starts, so pick your poison as you make your way back to why you really came, Holy Guacamole. You’ll meander through terrain very similar to Gooseberry all along the remainder of Margarita. Shortly after hopping onto Holy Guacamole, if you’re going counter-clockwise, you will find yourself surrounded by petrified wood, some of it is even showing itself in the trail down the way.

Were you sick of valley overlooks atop of mesas yet? Good, we aren’t either. You’re bound to find at least one of these on nearly every trail you ride in Greater Zion, and the view never gets old.

Guacamole mountain biking trails

For our final leg of riding here in Utah, we headed back across the valley one last time to see Wire Mesa. The farthest east of the trail systems we experienced in Greater Zion, Wire Mesa had the most stunning views of Zion.

Wire is, overall, a very mellow ride, a seven-mile blue trail atop the mesa with only about 550 feet of elevation change. You won’t be bored though because the mix of alternate black routes and fast, hardpacked sections make this trail a grand old time.

Plus, making it out to the “Diving Board” is a spectacle in and of itself. We made sure to time our sunset with landing here, which made for a dark ride out, but it was well worth it. One last 360-degree view to close out our trip with a perfect cotton candy sunset and the castle rocks towering above us, even from afar.

Wire Mesa mountain biking trails

Greater Zion may have earned a lot of its fame from Red Bull Rampage and being known as the freeride capital of the world, but I can promise you, that is merely scratching the surface of what there is to find across the many mesas. Come here not only to experience Zion National Park, but bring your bike and be sure to ride anything and everything. I guarantee it'll be as memorable for you as it was for us.

The small-satellite launch company Virgin Orbit has developed a new ventilator meant to be mass-producible to help support teams taking care of patients affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, another space company in the Virgin Group are putting forth an effort to aid the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Virgin Orbit worked with physicians and medical-device experts at the University of California Irvine (UCI) and the University of Texas at Austin, as part of the Bridge Ventilator Consortium, a group formed recently to quickly find a solution to the shortage of ventilators during the pandemic.

While Virgin Orbit is usually building space technology, the new device is a ventilator designed for partially recovered patients and those not in intensive care, called a "bridge" ventilator. Such devices could free up more powerful, intensive care capable ventilators for patients in more severe conditions, the company said in a statement Monday (March 30).

Related: Coronavirus in the US: Latest COVID-19 news and case counts Updates: The coronavirus pandemic impacts on space exploration

"Getting ventilators out there is very important to save lives," Dr. Brian J.F. Wong, an assistant chairman of otolaryngology (the study of the ears, nose and throat) at UCI who is a part of the Bridge Ventilator Consortium, said in the statement. "The demand outstrips supply, so it is important the government, industry, academia, non-profits and the community work together to identify solutions, and design and construct them as fast as possible."

Virgin Orbit's version is designed to be mass-produced, and the company hopes that a design will be ready for production in early April, according to the statement.

Virgin's efforts

But Virgin Orbit isn't the only Virgin Group company stepping up to the plate.

According to a statement from Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company and Virgin Group are all helping with relief efforts.

In-house flight doctors Virgin Galactic, a space tourism company building a fleet of suborbital SpaceShipTwo spaceliners, are part of a team at the company that is providing support for hospitals, medical equipment suppliers and the government. The company has so far donated supplies targeted to the coronavirus, including masks (including N95 masks), protective suits, gloves and Powered Air Purifying Respirators, to a number of hospitals.

Virgin Galactic is also working to acquire and donate additional equipment and supplies and are helping facilities in Mexico and California to buy faster testing equipment.

Virgin Galactic engineers and outside collaborators are designing a low-cost oxygen hood; these tools can help patients who do not yet need ventilators but are having some trouble breathing.

The company is also helping to provide food and medical supplies to medical centers in New Mexico and California.

Space videos

In addition to these efforts to support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Virgin Galactic is also launching a live, online educational video series. The series, Spacechat LIVE, is part of the company's Galactic Unite outreach initiative and will run every Thursday on the company's YouTube channel.

This Thursday (April 2), in the first episode of the series, Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic's Chief Astronaut Instructor, will chat about what it's like to go to space. The episode will air at 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT).