Access Utah

Shannon Hale is the Utah-based New York Times best-selling author of the Princess Academy series, Rapunzel’s Revenge and Austenland, which was made into a movie. Her latest, Amethyst, is on our latest UPR Booklist.

A TikTok video of a young Scottish mailman singing the traditional sea shanty “Soon May the Wellerman Come,” and memes that poked fun at the self-described “QAnon Shaman” were among the top digital folklore trends of 2021.

There are many needs in our communities and many step up to help. On this episode, we shine a light on non-profits and individuals doing good in our communities.

We’ll talk about fossil fuels, renewables, nuclear, hydrogen, methane and more.

In the past thirty years, more than 2,700 innocent American prisoners - their combined prison sentences adding up to nearly 25,000 years - have been exonerated and freed.

Could the liberal arts be the future of the digital world?

Have you ever thought about how Covid-19 has changed the way our religious communities continue to organize their efforts in promoting and maintaining spiritual faith? On this episode of Access Utah, we are joined by five religious leaders/academics who will be informing us what kind of changes they have noticed in their respective religious communities throughout the pandemic, and what the future might hold in store for them.

Many people have not returned to the workforce following the height of the Covid pandemic. Higher-than-usual numbers of employees have quit in some areas.

HB 147, sponsored by Rep. Lowry Snow, R-St. George, which would have repealed the death penalty in Utah and replaced it with a possible sentence of 45 years to life, was defeated in committee. The debate will go on, however, today on Access Utah.

Since U. S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement last month, speculation about his replacement has ramped up.

Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, is sponsoring HB98 which would create a third-degree felony offense of sexual conduct without affirmative consent. Current Utah law defines sexual abuse as when “the victim expresses lack of consent through words or conduct.”

The New York Times reports that “Russian troops are encircling Ukraine from three sides. In Washington and Brussels, there are warnings of crushing sanctions if Vladimir V. Putin orders an invasion. Embassy families — both American and Russian — are being evacuated from Kyiv.” We will be talking with Anna Pechenkina, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Utah State University.

Cache County Executive David Zook joins us to talk about public health, transportation, homelessness, mental health, the economy, immigration, COVID and other issues.

The Times reports that mink farms (some of them in Utah) threaten to become a source of new coronavirus variants — and an object lesson in how ‘spillback’ can make deadly diseases even deadlier. Today we’ll talk with David Quammen about spillover, spillback, Coronavirus and future viruses.

How do we heal from the traumas of the past, without forgetting the events that happened? Today on Access Utah we explore the Hyrum City Museum's newest exhibit and ongoing events commemorating the 159th anniversary of the US Army’s massacre of Shoshone at Boa Ogoi.

Every ten years, following the United States’ release of the Census report, we take to the drawing board and redefine district lines in order to more appropriately represent U.S. citizens in the House of Representatives. On this episode, we discuss what the new maps mean for Utah.

On Thursday's Access Utah, we talk about such issues as recognition of rights, the sharing of Jerusalem, delineation of borders, West Bank settlements, security and refugees.

Rep. Brad Wilson, Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives, is convening a Great Salt Lake Summit, and ahead of that summit we’ll be talking to Lynne De Freitas, Executive Director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake; Wayne Wurtsbaugh, USU Emeritus Professor of Watershed Sciences; and Marcelle Shoop, Director of the National Audubon Society’s Saline Lakes Program.

Recent events at several Utah schools have shown the danger, including the potential for violence, in the misuse of social media. We talk about the risks, the causes and how to address them on Access Utah.