Medical marijuana and Medicaid expansion became law. Mitt Romney and Ben McAdams will become lawmakers.

A new Mormon prophet emerged, embracing the prophet part while eschewing the “Mormon” moniker.

A student athlete was slain on a university campus, and a Utah mayor was gunned down at an Afghan base.

A falling tree felled a firefighter while a fleeing car killed a police officer.

A small Utah county saw a big change, a sizzling housing market froze out would-be buyers, spreading flames set Utah’s forests ablaze, rising gun violence fired up Utah students, and a red-hot rookie fired up Jazz fans.

Here is a look at the leading headlines of 2018.

The grass roots

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) People cast their votes in the early hours shortly after the polls opened for the midterm elections on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, at the First Congregational Church in Salt Lake City.

Voters sent a resounding message to Utah’s Capitol Hill: Leave the lawmaking to us.

Armed with a ballot packed with grass-roots initiatives, they turned out in numbers not seen in a midterm election in more than half a century and decided issues legislators had been either unwilling or unable to resolve.

Medical marijuana? Sure, despite opposition to this particular measure from the state’s predominant faith and force. Medicaid expansion? Sign us up, even if it was envisioned under “Obamacare.” Independent redistricting? Do it, though it could shade — and, in some places, shed — the state’s partisan red complexion.

At the same time voters were trying their hand at citizen lawmaking, they strengthened the hand of their elected representatives, giving the Legislature the power to call itself into special sessions.

And although Proposition 2’s promise of medicinal cannabis and a possible antidote to the opioid epidemic drew more total votes than any other measure or candidate on the ballot, it wound up living for all of two days. Quicker than you can say tetrahydrocannabinol, lawmakers passed and the governor signed a substitute law — backed by some Prop 2 supporters and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — with tighter controls.

Prop 3’s Medicaid expansion still needs to overcome operational hurdles, and Prop 4’s anti-gerrymandering vision may yet be clouded by legal and legislative challenges.

So even when voters appear to have the final say, they don’t always have the last word.

Capitol gains and games

(Tribune file photos) Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, right, edged out U.S. Rep. Mia Love to represent Utah's 4th District in Congress.

It was a Florida-worthy political brawl — a verbal-sparring, donation-guzzling, ad-blitzing campaign followed by a lingering, seesawing, nail-biting vote count.

By the time the final 4th District tally went up, the GOP stranglehold on Utah’s congressional delegation had gone down. Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams had broken through, squeezing past two-term Rep. Mia Love by 694 votes, a Beehive State contribution to the larger Democratic takeover of the U.S. House.

McAdams declared an eagerness to reach across the partisan chasm. Love, now 2-2 in 4th District races and still the only black Republican woman ever elected to Congress, did not go gentle into that political night, scolding her opponent, her party and her president.

As for the sole statewide candidate contest, it was lights out from the moment Mitt Romney, the move-in from Massachusetts, declared his desire to replace Orrin Hatch, the long-ago transplant from Pittsburgh who became the longest-serving Republican senator in history.

Romney, who himself made history six years ago as the first-ever Latter-day Saint to become a major presidential nominee, won in a walk and will enter the upper chamber nearly a quarter-century after he faltered against another Senate icon: the late Ted Kennedy.

Polls show most Utahns are eager for their soon-to-be newly seated senator to stand up to President Donald Trump. So, in an ode to Romney’s Olympic pedigree: Let the Beltway games begin.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mitt Romney visits with Danny Goode and his son Russell Goode, 7, at Romney headquarters in Orem as they wait for the polls to close on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018.

Unleashing the Nelson era

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dallin H. Oaks and Russell M. Nelson at a news conference in the lobby of the Church Office Building in Salt Lake City, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Nelson was named the 17th president of the 16 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Oaks was named first counselor in the governing First Presidency.

If movement within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seemed dormant during the waning years of enfeebled President Thomas S. Monson’s tenure, that ended in 2018.

After Monson’s death at age 90 two days into the year and the ascension of apostle Russell M. Nelson, the second oldest man ever to rise to the presidency, the deluge of changes, adjustments, announcements, rescissions and reforms came at a dizzying pace.

But perhaps most talked about was Nelson’s resolve — a push resulting, he said, from revelation — to excise the use of “Mormon” and “LDS” when referring to the church and its members. The famed Tabernacle Choir even dropped the moniker.

Although 94, the globe-trotting Nelson, a former heart surgeon, appears far from slowing down. “There is much more to come,” he vowed. “… Wait till next year. And then the next year. Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest. It’s going to be exciting.”

Lauren’s life

(Photo courtesy of Jill McCluskey) In this undated photo, Lauren McCluskey makes the "U" with her hands.

Lauren McCluskey was a model student athlete at the University of Utah.

On the track, the 21-year-old heptathlete (who also ranked 10th all-time at the U. in the pentathlon) was determined to run faster, jump higher and throw farther.

In the classroom, the Pullman, Wash., native (who earned All-Academic Pac-12 honors) was driven to work harder, write better and think deeper.

In her personal life (she volunteered at pet shelters and loved cats, her faith, her friends and her family), she strived to help more, share more and love more.

On Oct. 22 — almost a year to the day after another campus killing — all that persistence, purpose and promise ended when McCluskey was slain outside her campus dorm by a former boyfriend, Melvin S. Rowland, who died by suicide hours later.

McCluskey had complained repeatedly to campus and Salt Lake City police about harassment from Rowland, a paroled sex offender, in the weeks after she had learned about his past and broken off their brief relationship. Multiple investigations were launched to review law enforcement’s actions and inactions.

An independent review for the U. identified missed opportunities when police and staffers could have intervened and spelled out numerous measures to upgrade procedures, policies and training, but the school insisted there was “no reason to believe” her slaying could have been prevented. McCluskey’s parents and other observers dispute that conclusion.

Perhaps the resulting changes will help authorities pattern the drive-to-improve example McCluskey set in her all-too-short life and respond faster, work smarter and protect better.

Fallen patriot

(Facebook) "My 'after mountain climbing' breakfast. Grapefruit, oatmeal, omelette, yogurts, boxed soymilk (we don't have the real stuff), juice, chili, and Cheerios. Gotta make those calories back up! P.S., my friends threw in all the salt and pepper packets to make fun of me for taking a picture of breakfast in the first place! " This photo was posted in a public Facebook group on Oct. 17, 2018, by North Ogden Mayor and National Guardsman Brent Taylor, who was killed in Afghanistan.

He was more than the mayor of North Ogden; he was a public servant determined to bridge divides and build communities. He was more than a member of the Utah Transit Authority board; he was a reformer bent, against stiff opposition, on mending a troubled agency. He was more than a major in the Utah National Guard; he was a disciple of democracy, a patriot preaching the sweetness of freedom to those who have never tasted it and reminding those who have of their “precious right to vote.”

So when Brent Taylor, The Salt Lake Tribune’s Utahn of the Year, was gunned down in November during an insider attack while serving a second stint in Afghanistan — his fourth deployment overall — the 39-year-old soldier-statesman, who left behind a wife and seven children, was saluted as a hero, not for how he died but for the way he lived.

Redrock country turns blue

(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) This Aug. 4, 2016, file photo shows Willie Grayeyes of Utah Dine Bikeyah raising his hand as he is recognized during a news conference in Salt Lake City.

The shift in San Juan County’s political landscape has been as monumental as the Bears Ears designation that reshaped its natural setting.

For decades, southeastern Utah’s American Indian majority answered to white leaders. Come January, though, two new faces will usher in a new era and, presumably, new policies.

Thanks to federal court-ordered redistricting, Kenneth Maryboy and Willie — on the ballot, off the ballot and back on again — Grayeyes, both Navajo Democrats, were elected to the three-member County Commission, making San Juan the state’s first county to be governed by a nonwhite majority.

The two newcomers support the larger, Barack Obama-designated, tribal-backed Bears Ears National Monument, not the smaller, Trump-truncated, tribal-balked version.

A real (estate) crisis

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Skyhouse Apartments, under construction on West Temple in Salt Lake City, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018.

Don’t let all those cranes fool you. Yes, 6,650 apartments are going up in Salt Lake County. Yes, another 9,700 could follow. And, yes, starts on single-family homes shot up 25 percent this spring. But, no, the area isn’t out of its housing crunch.

Home prices are surging; supplies are lagging. The state, officials warn, finds itself in a housing “crisis.” Utah needs as many as 55,000 additional affordable dwellings.

Higher-density developments could ease if not erase the shortage, but prospective neighbors have been bucking such projects. Voters shot down Holladay Quarter — with its plans for a 775-unit high-rise apartment complex and 210 single-family homes — at the Cottonwood Mall-turned-moonscape site. Under intense pressure, county Mayor Ben McAdams vetoed Olympia Hills — with its plans to house 33,000 residents on 900 acres — near Herriman. And, in Utah County, residents recoiled at the 1,600-unit Palos Verdes complex planned near Orem’s booming Utah Valley University.

You can go home again

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Josh Holt, who was released from a Venezuelan prison earlier this year after being held for nearly two years, is joined by his wife, Thamara, as they join America's Freedom Festival Grand Parade on July 4, 2018, in Provo.

Love drew Josh Holt to Venezuela; lawlessness kept him there.

The Riverton man had ventured to the troubled South American nation in June 2016 to marry Thamara “Thamy” Caleno, whom he had met online.

Three weeks later, the newlyweds were imprisoned, accused of having weapons that U.S. officials suspect were planted by corrupt cops. The couple never got a court date.

Days of political pressure from Utah and Washington to win their freedom turned into weeks and then months.

Finally, in May, nearly two years after their arrest, Holt, his wife and her daughter were freed. They returned to a triumphant White House welcome followed by a euphoric Utah homecoming.

Last call for first responders

Matt Burchett, 42, who died fighting wildfires in California. Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. Photo courtesy of Unified Fire Department

A veteran firefighter and a first-year police officer died in the line of duty last year, reminding Utahns of the potential perils these first responders face.

Draper Battalion Chief Matthew Burchett was killed in August — not battling blazes in his home state but rather fighting the largest wildfire in California history. A Boeing 747 dropped retardant while flying too low over the Mendocino Complex Fire, uprooting an 87-foot tree that fell on Burchett. The 42-year-old Burchett, who had logged 20 years with the Unified Fire Authority before joining the Draper department, left behind a wife and a 6-year-old son.

In late November, South Salt Lake Police Officer David Romrell, who had been with the suburban force for 11 months, was struck by a car and killed while confronting two burglary suspects. A former Marine, the 31-year-old Romrell left behind a wife and a 4-month-old son.

(Photo courtesy of South Salt Lake Police Department) Officer David Romrell

Up in smoke

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) An air tanker spreads fire retardant on the Pole Creek Fire.

Dollar Ridge, Rough Canyon, Coal Hollow, Pole Creek, Ensign Peak, Bald Mountain, Black Mountain, Trail Mountain, Willow Patch, Hilltop, Moab, Herriman. These slices of Utah geography all sound innocent enough — until you plant the word “fire” after each one.

The Beehive State endured more than 1,200 wildland blazes in 2018. Flames scarred 340,000-plus acres, blackened 370 structures, cost at least $80 million to suppress and further stained the already-gray air. The toll of charred acres, burned buildings and lost lives (witness California) just keeps rising in Utah and across the West.

Forecasters expect that tragic trend to continue — and worsen — as the climate warms and forests dry out.

High five

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah State University President Noelle Cockett, University of Utah President Ruth Watkins, Westminster College President Beth Dobkin, Salt Lake Community College President Deneece Huftalin and Utah Valley University President Astrid Tuminez.

The state added three more women to its deepening roster of female university presidents.

Ruth Watkins became the 16th head of the state’s flagship University of Utah and its first female president, though Jerilyn McIntyre twice served as interim U. president.

Astrid Tuminez duplicated that first-ever feat at mushrooming Utah Valley University, whose student population is growing so rapidly that the Orem school now ranks as the state’s largest higher-education institution.

On the private-school side, Westminster joined the wave, naming Bethami Dobkin as the east-side Salt Lake City college’s second female president.

The three women join Utah State University’s Noelle Cockett and Salt Lake Community College’s Deneece Huftalin as barrier-busting female academic administrators. Together, they make up Utah higher ed’s mighty five.

Targeting gun violence

(Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Participants march from West High School to the state Capitol during the March for Our Lives SLC, Saturday, March 24, 2018.

Weary of the scourge of school shootings and wary about their own safety in the classroom, thousands of students along the Wasatch Front staged a walkout in March in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., massacre.

They followed up that protest with a mass March for Our Lives to the Utah Capitol, where the 8,000-strong demonstrators — pleading for action from politicians and policymakers against gun violence — ran into hundreds of counterprotesters, trumpeting the right to pack pistols and assault rifles (which many did).

For March for Our Lives organizer Wilhelmina Graff, however, the issue isn’t about the left or the right. “It’s about life and death.”

Donovan & friends

(Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell celebrates a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder as he walks off the court. The Jazz defeated the Thunder 96-91 to win the first-round playoff series, Friday, April 27, 2018.

Gordon who?

In one sensational season, Donovan Mitchell — with his crossover drives, rainbow threes and showcase slams — so captured the dreams of Jazz Nation that fans rarely, if ever, mentioned the departed Hayward.

But Mitchell has claimed more than the minds of Jazz die-hards, he’s won the hearts of Utahns everywhere. The Where’s Waldo of the NBA, he pops up at school assemblies, football games, family barbecues. He pays for a stranger’s groceries at the market and a customer’s iPhone repairs at the mall.

“I just want to do good,” he shrugs. If he combines that off-the-court goodness with on-the-court greatness, he may someday leave Jazz fans asking, “Karl who?”

And much more …

(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) McKenna Denson, the plaintiff in a lawsuit against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, smiles as she leaves a news conference with her attorney Craig Vernon after a news conference April 5, 2018.