Access Utah

Having lost eight friends in ten years, Cooley retreats to a tiny medieval village in Italy with her husband. There, in a rural paradise where bumblebees nest in the ancient cemetery and stray cats curl up on her bed, she examines a question both easily evaded and unavoidable: mortality. How do we grieve? How do we go on drinking our morning coffee, loving our life partners, stumbling through a world of such confusing, exquisite beauty?

President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement was met with mixed reactions across the country and especially in Utah. While some climate scientists and government leaders including Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski called the decision a mistake, others argued the decision could have positive economic consequences for the United States.

Michael Patrick Lynch is featured in a TED talk about "Finding Common Reality." In his talk, Lynch explains the future of how we know information is true. Just because we can Google information does not mean the information is accurate. And even more surprising, Lynch explains how we are not just polarized in our opinions or values, but in the facts we learn.

After oil was discovered beneath their land in the 1920's, the richest people per capita were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. They rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions and sent their children to study in Europe.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is preparing a ruling to roll back net neutrality rules enacted under President Obama, to, in part, spur innovation and investment. President Obamademanded that the FCC reclassify the Internet as a public utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. He wanted rules to ensure “that neither the cable company nor the phone company [would] be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online."

The Colorado River is an essential resource for a surprisingly large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by someone. David Owen traces all that water from Colorado's headwaters, to its parched terminus, once a verdant wetland but now a million-acre desert. HE takes readers on an adventure downriver, along a labyrinth of waterways, reservoirs, power plants, farms, fracking sites, ghost towns, and rv parks, to the spot near the U.S.-Mexico border where the river runs dry.

According to the Dessert News, "Some disaffected Republicans and Democrats who say extreme views are co-opting their parties have decided to carve out a middle ground in Utah politics. Taking a centrist approach, the group announced the formation of the United Utah Party.

NPR reports that “The World Health Organization has called on nations around the globe toenact taxes on sugary beverages. AndBloomberg Philanthropies says raising taxes on sugary beverages can be part of the strategy to ‘reduce consumer demand for unhealthy foods and beverages, improve the food environment, and make healthier choices easier for everyone.’”

Margaret Atwood’s influential novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” was published in 1985. The new Hulu series based on the book is creating quite a bit of buzz and some are saying the book’s themes are prescient in our times. Others are pushing back on that idea. Wednesday on Access Utah we’ll talk about it with Erin Webster Garrett, Professor of English at Radford University; and Sarah Jones, Social Media Editor with The New Republic magazine. You can comment right now to upraccess@gmail.com on Twitter @upraccess and on our Access Utah Facebook page.

There are over 30 million birders in this country alone, according to the Cornell Institute of Ornithology. Why are so many people interested in birds and birdsong?

The words “Nixonian” and “Watergate territory” are being used increasingly in connection with the Trump Administration.

Las Vegas-based writer Laura McBride, is out with a new novel. “‘Round Midnight” spans the six decades when Las Vegas grew from a dusty gambling town into the melting pot metropolis it is today. It is the story of four women-- one who falls in love, one who gets lucky, one whose heart is broken, and one who has always wondered--whose lives change at the Midnight Room.

As of last year, suicide was the leading cause of death among 10- to 17-year-olds in Utah and the youth suicide rate had tripled since 2007. Teen suicide is a hot topic lately with the advent of the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why.” Several groups, including The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide, have expressed concerns that the media tends to glamorize and sensationalize suicide. We’ll talk about it next time on Access Utah, when our guests will include a representative from the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide.

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the American Health Care Act which, they say, fulfills their promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The bill now moves to the Senate.

David Sandum appeared to have it all: a beautiful young family and a promising career ahead as a business consultant. But his life started veering off course, and upon returning to his native Scandinavia, he fell into an inexplicable, deep depression.

President Trump has ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to conduct a review of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments (along with many other other national monuments) and to report back with recommendations. Secretary Zinke is in Utah now, consulting with various stakeholders. We’re going to talk about this mandated review of national monuments today. Our guests include Josh Ewing, Executive Director of Friends of Cedar Mesa; Matt Anderson, Public Lands Policy Analyst with the Sutherland Institute; and Willie Grayeyes, Board Chairman with Utah Dine Bikeyah.

If you were lost on a mountain, who would come to your rescue? Mother Nature can be harsh, especially if you're unprepared or in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fortunately, hundreds of men and women are wiling to risk their lives to bring other to safety.

USU Marketing Professor Edwin Stafford and his family have been early adopters of various forms of green technology. They have solar panels and a ground sourced energy system, for example. The next step, they decided, was the purchase of a Tesla electric vehicle as the new family car. Professor Stafford recounts some of their experiences in his article “Bridging the Chasm: An Early Adopter’s Perspectives on how Electric Vehicles Can Go Mainstream,” to be published in June in Sustainability: The Journal of Record.

We have established an Access Utah tradition: On or near Earth Day each year we invite Utah writer Stephen Trimble and other guests to talk about the earth, the land, and the environment. Here is Trimble’s suggestion for this year: Why don’t we talk about young people’s responses to the land, especially young people who are writing about the land. We’ll talk about it with Stephen Trimble, author of “Bargaining for Eden: The Fight for the Last Open Spaces in America;” naturalist, teacher, and activist, Jack Greene, and his students Josh Velazquez and Darrin Bingham and, from Capitol Reef NP, UVU Adjunct Instructor Kiri Manookin and some of her students.