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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department will "absolutely" consider the role of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other philanthropic entities as it seeks to adjust foreign aid programs.

“We’re going to be doing humanitarian relief, disaster relief,” Rubio said. “The difference is it’s going to be coordinated out of the umbrella of the State Department, and it’s going to be part of a cohesive, coherent foreign policy. And it’s going to be driven by our embassies and our regional bureaus.”

Utah Sen. John Curtis, a member of the church who served a two-year mission in Taiwan as a young man, said faith groups are ready to help “rebuild and restructure” U.S. foreign aid to “complement the vision” Rubio described “without a drag on the U.S. tax dollar,” Brigham Tomco reported.

“I know there are a lot of people like that ready to jump in and be part of this,” Curtis said.

Here are three key points, reported by Tomco:

Utah a ‘middle of the pack’ state for military retirees

When considering how Utah ranks in its ability to provide a comfortable military retirement, Utah is about in the middle — it ranked No. 29 in a recent study.

The top five states for American military retirees are South Carolina, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Virginia.

The study used 28 key metrics, measuring three key dimensions in the following:

Utah scored well in the economic environment, ranking in at No. 4 in that dynamic. It didn't fare as well in the "quality of life" and "health care" rankings — scoring 31st and 47th, Jason Swensen reported.

The Beehive state has a relatively small number of veterans per capita — 48th in the nation.

Based on how states voted in the 2024 presidential election, red states are more friendly toward military retirees than blue states.

Read more about military retirees.

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Utah

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