Candwich Creator Has High Hopes Despite Setbacks

     The creator of Candwich, a convenient sandwich-in-a-can, is hoping that despite recent setbacks his company has faced, the product will hit stores and vending machines soon.

     "There are 12 billion cans of soda sold in vending machines a year, so if they buy a sandwich, there's a real profit," said Mark Kirkland, a Sandy resident who has been working to capitalize on his idea for the past decade to the Deseret News.  "It's actually good. I'm not kidding," Kirkland said.  "The bread is the main thing. It's soft and tastes great."

     Candwiches faced a major blow earlier this month when it was revealed that a major investor was being sued by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.  Travis Wright, a Draper resident, promised investors returns of up to 24 percent on real estate, but instead used their money to support Candwiches, a movie about Pinewoord Derbies, and on vacations and home improvements for him and his family.

     The negative publicity however, might be just the thing Kirkland needs to get the Candwich in the hands of consumers.  Since news of the shady investor went public, Kirkland has been featured on Newsweek, National Public Radio, "The Colbert Report", and of course, 17 Tracks.

     "I'm getting 10 million bucks of free publicity now, but a month later would have been better,"said Kirkland.

     There are currently three flavors of Candwich planned - PBJ Strawberry, PBJ Grape, and BBQ Chicken, but Kirkland says he plans to roll out Pepperoni Pizza and French Toast.

     "I want it to be more of a convenience food, like bottled water," Kirkland said. "When bottled water first came out, everyone thought, 'Who would pay for that when there's a drinking fountain over there?' Now, I have a bottle of water every day."

1 Woman, 2 Uteruses, 2 Babies, 2 Due Dates

Our fellow Utahn, Angie Cromar from Murray, who has TWO uteruses discovered that she is pregnant with TWO babies that have TWO different due dates. The condition is called a double pregnancy and is very rare. According to science, there have been less than 100 double pregnancies that have occurred in the world.

Cromar said that her first ultrasound ended in a huge surprise for both her and her doctor. Her doctor said that the babies have two separate due days which are about a week apart.

"I'm five weeks and four days in one, and six weeks and one day in the other," stated Cromar.

So how does one come to be pregnant in both of their uteruses?

Red States, Blue States, and Adult Obesity: What Fitness Levels Say About Our Politics

     The 2010 "F as in Fat" report has been released, showing the levels of adult obesity across the United States.  Colorado leads the list as the fittest states with only 19.1% of adults considered obese.  Utah comes in 7th as the fittest state.  For the sixth year in a row, Mississippi topped the scales with 33.8% of its adult population considered obese.

     What does this report tell us about the ongoing battle between red states and blue states?  The above map shows all the states color coordinated based on the 2008 Presidential election and the message is clear: Republicans can stand to lose some weight.

     Of the 20 states with the lowest obesity rates, 15 of those are blue states.  For the states with levels above 30%, all were red states.  Utahans don't need to feel that guilty though, because the Beehive state was the fittest red state.  In fact, the whole "Book of Mormon belt" of Idaho, Utah, and Arizona did well for itself, all falling below 26% adult obesity.

Find out how your favorite state fared after the jump.

Utah Investors Lose Big in Canned Sandwich Scheme

     A Utah man who promised investors returns of up to 24 percent on real estate is facing a lawsuit after he took $145 million of investor's money and instead put it other places, including "Candwiches", a sandwich-in-a-can product.

     Travis L. Wright of Draper is facing a lawsuit from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.  The litigation release accuses Wright of assuring investors "that their funds would be used only to make loans secured by commercial real estate, when in fact he used their funds primarily for loans and investments having nothing to do with real estate."

     In addition, the document states that "he was using investor funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle for himself and his friends and family."

     Wright's companies, under the collective name of Waterford Funding, also worked on products such as Pepperoni Pizza Pocket and French-toast-in-a-can, all which were intended to be sold in vending machines.  Candwiches were to be marketed as "the perfect product for people on the go," that had "a long shelf life perfect for emergency food storage needs in the event of natural disasters".  Wright also invested in a company he co-owned with his brother to distribute a movie about a cub scout Pinewood Derby.

Utah Firing Squad Tweet Ignites Controversy

     Today, Utah found itself in the international spotlight after the Attorney General tweeted about the nation's first execution by firing squad in 14 years.  Convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was sentenced to death following a fatal 1985 shooting that occurred after a failed escape from a courthouse in Salt Lake City.  At the time, he was facing a murder charge for the shooting of a bartender a year earlier.

     Prior to the execution, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff took to his Twitter account, posting, "A solemn day. Barring a stay by Sup Ct, & with my final nod, Utah will use most extreme power & execute a killer. Mourn his victims. Justice," and later, "I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner’s execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims."

     Shurtleff's postings have generated a global debate about not only the ethics of capital punishment, but what is appropriate to post on social media sites.

Romney Returns To Utah For "No Apology" Book Tour

     Former Massachusetts Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke to a supportive crowd at Salt Lake City's Salt Palace Saturday as part of his "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness" book tour.

     When asked by a twelve-year-old if he would run for president again, Romney said, "That's not a decision we've made at this point," but he said that he could decide by Christmas whether or not he would run.  "There will be somebody who runs in the Republican Party.  I can tell you I'll either be that person, or I'll be working my tail off for that person, and I want you to, as well, because we've got to take back America."

     Most of the Romney's remarks were about his ideas on strengthening America.  "Nothing is as vulnerable as entrenched success," he said before talking about numerous world powers throughout history that grew complacent.  "We could end up being the France of the 21st century.  That is unacceptable."

"There are four strategies competing for world leadership in the 21st century," Romney said, naming Russia, China, and militant Islamnic fundamentalism as the powers competing with the United States and the West for ideological and political power in the world.  "Ours is based on two fundamental principles: economic freedom and political freedom - personal freedom".

     Romeny also spoke to the crowd of 4,000 about his recent trip to Vancouver for the Olympics saying that nothing compares with Salt Lake City and the volunteers for the 2002 Games.  His joke about President Obama received generous applause.  "We had the thrill of watching Lindsey Vaughn and saw her, as many of you did, win the downhill, get the gold medal for the United States...It was so sad to hear that the medal had been stripped from her, that the US had lost that medal, because they found to that President Obama has gone downhill faster."

     Romney's Salt Lake City stop supported the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics.  Ironically, the U of U volunteers recieved no applause when they were acknowledged, but the BYU ones did.  "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness" currently the atop the New York Times Bestseller list.

BYU is like the Most Popular University in like the Country

     Who said you couldn't be stone cold sober and popular?  Brigham Young University has unseated Harvard as America's most popular university according to U.S. News & World Report.  What exactly does that mean?  Does Cougar football have the highest television ratings?  Does the BYU Bookstore sell more true blue gear than any other University?  Actually, most popular means that BYU has the highest percentage of applicants attend after they are accepted.  Not surprisingly, Ivy League schools rank high on the list.  U.S. News & World Report lists Harvard, Standford, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, Colombia, and Princeton in the top ten.

Clown Faced Man Arrested In Ogden

     U.S. Marshals arrested a clown-faced man in Ogden Thursday.  The man, Tony Alexander Pete, 43, had clown tattoos on his eyes and mouth, and goes by the street name "Happy".  Pete, a suspect in a Feb. 24 home burglary, was discovered when officials went into the Ogden home looking for a different individual. 

     "He was hiding or living in a closet," deputy U.S. marshal Troy Briggs said.
 
     Pete was arrested on a $500 warrant for criminal trespassing says the Deseret News.  If more criminals got ornate face tattoos, I'm guessing the crime rate would drop.