Access Utah

Today we’ll check in with reporter Alex Hager. He reports for the Colorado River Reporting Project and you hear his stories regularly on UPR.

“Today we live in a fire age in which ancient prophecies of worlds destroyed and renewed by fire have become contemporary realities, even for people living in modern cities," Stephen Pyne says.

Tom Romano taught writing and English methods in USU’s English Department from 1991-1995 and consulted with the statewide Utah Writing Project for many years. A 17-year career of high school teaching led to his first book, Clearing the Way: Working with Teenage Writers (1987).

Gardening expert and UPR friend Dan Drost joined us today to answer your questions. Whether you’ve got a large backyard garden, participate in the community garden or have a small box near your window, Dan can help.

Climate change has become an unavoidable fact and an ongoing catastrophe. The science was clear decades ago. How did so many Americans come to doubt evidence so widely accepted and compelling?

Mountain lions are considered the apex predator of the Mountain West. Heavy hunting has reduced their number, but sightings are on the rise in Utah. Today we revisit our discussion about mysterious and misunderstood lives of cougars.

In the tradition of books like "Breath" and "Wintering," "Sleepless" combines science, historical research, and personal experience to explore the complicated relationship women have with darkness.

James Davison Hunter, who introduced the concept of “culture wars” 30 years ago, tells us in this new book that historic sources of national solidarity have now largely dissolved.

Kevin Fedarko has spent the past twenty years writing about conservation, exploration, and the Grand Canyon. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, the New York Times, and Esquire, among other publications.

Today we’ll talk with historian Joshua Zeitz about some of his recent articles in Politico magazine: A Trump-Biden Tie Would Be a Political Nightmare — But Maybe a Boon to Democracy. Biden Can Still Win — If He Runs Like Harry Truman. And 4 Ex-Presidents Who Ran Again — And What They Mean for Trump.

Our guests are CAPSA Social Services Director Makayla Hancey, and Emmalee Fishburn CAPSA’s Director of Projects and Initiatives.

We revisit our conversation with Judith Tick about her book Becoming Ella Fitzgerald, where she offers a portrait of this ambitious risk-taker whose exceptional musical spontaneity made her a transformational artist.

Loren Grush is a space reporter for Bloomberg, where she covers everything from NASA, human spaceflight, and the booming commercial space industry to distant stars and planets. The daughter of two NASA engineers, she grew up surrounded by space shuttles and rocket scientists—literally. Prior to joining Bloomberg, she was a senior science reporter for The Verge, where she covered space and hosted her own online video series called Space Craft, a show that examined what it takes to send people into the cosmos. We revisit our conversation.

Our guest is Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (NEHMA) Museum Director and Chief Curator, Katie Lee-Koven, and we talk about current exhibits at the museum.

The nonprofit Bridle Up Hope works to improve the mental health of girls and women through the healing power of horses.

Today we’ll talk with Zak Podmore, an environmental journalist and writer based in Bluff, Utah. He is author of two books, including the forthcoming Life after Deadpool. We’ll also be joined by Eric Balken, Executive Director of Glen Canyon Institute.

Professor Guiora has published extensively both in the U.S. and Europe on issues related to national security, limits of interrogation, religion and terrorism, the limits of power, multiculturalism, and human rights.

Sam Passey is Director of the Uintah County Library in Vernal and we revisit our conversation with him, reviewing current challenges and opportunities and looking to the future.

Every year for Earth Day, we check in with writer and photographer Stephen Trimble, author of “Bargaining for Eden: The Fight for the Last Open Spaces in America,” and many other books. He, alongside other guests join this episode to discuss plans for the environment under a reelected Biden administration, and under a second Trump administration.

Heidi Kühn is our guest for this episode. Through the nonprofit organization Roots of Peace, which she founded in 1997, Kühn has led initiatives to restore agriculture in former conflict zones, restore soil health, enhance food security, support livelihoods and help sustain local communities with new sources of food and income.