Ground Report

Expecting a $15 refund from the Utah department of commerce, Jerry Mika of Salt Lake city opened his mail recently to find a $2,245,342 cheque. "I kept trying to find a way to make it legitimate so I could cash it," he said. "I did think about all the things I could do with the money … who wouldn’t?" Mika returned the cheque — a mistake that occurred when an employee entered a serial number, not an amount — to state finance offices on Wednesday. "Clearly we have an honest, honest citizen. I wish I could do something more than say thanks," commerce department director Francine Giani said. Mika, who runs the nonprofit Providence Foundation to help Nepalese sherpas, said he’s had great fun showing off the state’s mistake. "Everybody looked at it, started giggling and asked why I wasn’t already in Switzerland," he said.