Access Utah

Some say that federal control of public lands in Utah has resulted in stunted economic development, an imbalance in access, and increased fire danger in national forests. A new study from the University of Utah Law School’s Wallace Stegner Center argues that a Utah takeover of 31 million acres of public lands could lead to less public access and less public involvement in land-use decisions. Utah Assistant Attorney General Tony Rampton, Director of Public Lands Litigation, is our guest in the first half of Wednesday’s AU. House Minority Leader, Rep. Brian King D-Salt Lake City will join us in the second half of the program.

Today we revisit a conversation from August, 2014 with Jeff Guinn, author of "Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson" says he wanted to answer two questions with the book: "Why does Manson's name still resonate with us, all these years after those famous murders? And what happened in his life to make him the way he turned out?" Guinn says that in answering those questions "it was really like a trip across American history because Manson represents so many aspects of American society." More than 40 years ago Charles Manson and his mostly female commune killed nine people, among them the pregnant actress Sharon Tate.

Luisa A. Igloria is winner of the May Swenson Poetry Award, a competitive prize granted annually to an outstanding collection of poetry in English, named for Logan Utah native May Swenson, one of America's most vital and provocative twentieth-century poets. Igloria's collection "Ode to the Heart Smaller than a Pencil Eraser" is published by Utah State University Press. Originally from Baguio City in the Philippines, Igloria is Professor of Creative Writing and English, and Director of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University. Since November 20, 2010 she has written a poem every day.

Cache Valley air quality has been getting a lot of attention the last several years. A few days a year, usually in the wintertime, the air pollution in Logan is worse than most other U.S. cities. On Friday's AU, Sheri Quinn talks to Utah State University environmental engineer Dr. Randy Martin about his current research on the major air pollution culprit, PM2.5

Professional speaker, storyteller and writer Janice Brooks will join Tom Williams for the hour on Thursday's AU Brooks is performing her one-woman show "Traveling Shoes"Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Caine Performance Hall on the USU campus in Logan. "Traveling Shoes" depicts eight women of American history: Sojourner Truth, Barbara Jordan, Harriet Tubman, Shirley Chisholm, Buffalo Soldier Cathay Williams, Rosa Parks, Biddy Mason, and Jane Manning. The show is presented by UPR and is part of the USU Provost's Series on Instructional Excellence in celebration of Black History Month.

Seventy percent of the country uses Facebook each month-50 percent of Americans under 35 check it first thing every morning. By 2015, people will have tweeted more words than in every book ever printed. A third of all marriages in the United States now begin online-meaning one in three children in the class of 2032 will have been facilitated by an algorithm. Social media has become essential to the fabric of our society.

In the 1960s, Mormon housewife Helen Andelin countered the second wave feminist movement by preaching family values and urging women not to have careers, but to become good wives, mothers, and homemakers instead. Andelin, who sparked a large movement herself, taught that a woman's true happiness could only be realized if she admired, cared for, and obeyed her husband. In December, many listeners joined our Access Utah conversation with Julie Neuffer prompted by her book "Helen Andelin and the Fascinating Womanhood Movement" It was clear from that discussion that many women are thinking through their roles in today's shifting environment.

This week high-ranking officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held a news conference to address of religious freedom, and discrimination against the LGBT community.On Monday's AU we'll look at legislation being proposed this year regarding these issues. We'll hear from Governor Gary Herbert, Senator Stephen Urquhart and Representative Jacob Anderegg.

According to University of Utah anthropologist Ryan Shot, men want commitment when women are scarce. In his new study published in the Royal Society Open Science Journal, he challenges the sexual stereotype that women want commitment and men want commitment only sometimes. His study of the Makushi in Guyana shows mate choice is much more complex. He found men are more likely to seek long-term relationships when women are in short supply.

On today's Access Utah, we're taking a look inside the Sundance Film Festival, the largest film screening in the United States. Known for it's glamor and celebrity, the festival is also a strong supporter for the arts and the untold stories they feature.

Homesickness today is dismissed as a sign of immaturity: It's what children feel at summer camp. But in the nineteenth century it was recognized as a powerful emotion. When gold miners in California heard the tune "Home, Sweet Home," they sobbed. When Civil War soldiers became homesick, army doctors sent them home, lest they die.

It was 2004, and Sean McFate had a mission in Burundi: to keep the president alive and prevent the country from spiraling into genocide, without anyone knowing that the United States was involved. The United States was, of course, involved, but only through McFate's employer, the military contractor DynCorp International. Throughout the world, similar scenarios are playing out daily. The United States can no longer go to war without contractors. Yet we don't know much about the industry's structure, its operations, or where it's heading. Even the U.S. government-the entity that actually pays them-knows relatively little.

On the opening day of the 2015 Utah Legislature, we’re live at the State Capitol.

Utah State environmental officials are proposing a seasonal wood burning ban in seven Utah Counties, in an effort to reduce particle polution during Utah’s winter inversions. If implemented, the proposal could become the strictest wood burning ban in the country. Residents in the affected counties (Cache, Box Elder, Salt Lake, Davis, Utah and Weber) have all been invited to attend public meetings held by the Utah Division of Air Quality, to offer input on how the proposed ban can affect their winters and impact the health of Utah's citizens.

In her latest book “The Human Age: The World Shaped by Us” Diane Ackerman writes that “our relationship with nature has changed radically, irreversibly, but by no means all for the bad. Our new epoch is laced with invention. Our mistakes are legion, but our talent is immeasurable.”

As a loving father, Paul Holton found it hard to reconcile his innate goodwill with his role as an interrogator for the Army National Guard. Until one day, deep in Iraqi territory, surrounded by the horrors of war, he realized how he could make a small but significant difference in the lives of the children all around him.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints renounced the practice of plural marriage in 1890. In the mid- to late nineteenth century, however--the heyday of Mormon polygamy--as many as three out of every ten Mormon women became polygamous wives.

The Great Salt Lake is so big, it is visible from outer space. This so-called "Dead Sea" is a Utah gem and is teeming with life. It hosts millions of migratory shore birds, hordes of aquatic insects, algae and of course brine shrimp.

For Don Tillman--a brilliant, if socially awkward, genetics professor--order is a way of life. Methods, schedules, and data are his language. Until recently, Don had never had a second date.

Mining is part of Utah’s history and culture, and mining resources and safety are key themes in the West. The Morning Edition Book Club has selected for January: Hector Tobar’s “Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle That Set Them Free.” The book address faith, safety, economics, technology and the survival of humanity under difficult circumstances. Utah Public Radio is beginning a UPR Chapter of the Morning Edition Book Club. We invite you to join us in reading and discussing each month’s book at www.upr.org