The winners and the losers

Winner: It's hard to understate the importance of a new five-times-a-week nonstop flight from Salt Lake to Tokyo. That announcement this week by Delta Air Lines can be taken as a sign that the city's existing nonstop service to Paris is a success. Already, Japan is Utah's fourth-largest trading partner. The new direct flight will likely increase that presence. It also is a rare piece of good economic news. Because it is a part of the global economy, Utah isn't likely to avoid tough times ahead, but news like this may mean the state is poised to come back strong when things turn around.

Loser: Beware of companies that perform genetic tests to determine your ancestry. The American Society of Human Genetics this week warned there are no guidelines for these services, and their results can be unreliable. There are small variations in the human genetic code that exist today but may not have been there many generations back. The best bet is still old-fashioned genealogical research using documents and other histories.

Winner: Utahns have plenty of reasons to worry about the economy. Still, it was interesting this week to learn from the Zions Bank Small Business Index for Utah that the state's unemployment rate actually dropped in October, from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent. That compares with a national rate of 6.5 percent. That may just be a short-term anomaly. We hope not.