Enough is enough. That’s what some in Utah’s LGBT community are saying after a nondiscrimination bill considered by the state legislature failed to make it to the floor of the Senate or House for the fifth year in a row. And today, they’re taking their message to the state capitol, holding a Human Dignity Rally.
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar fielded several questions from Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee when presenting his budget request to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday. Lee questioned the secretary on his recent proposal to put the Central Utah Project, a decades-long water distribution project, under the authority of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
A new billboard along I-215 in West Valley City aims to get out an anti-war message, but in a very provocative way, declaring “Bomb Iran!” If you go to the website listed at the bottom of it, you’ll quickly find that’s just what its sponsors don’t want to happen.
Former Utah House Speaker David Clark now has his sights set on a higher political office, running for Congress in the 2nd District. The state lawmaker of 12 years counts several ethics reforms passed in the Utah legislature among his accomplishments. He joined us to discuss what he has to offer voters.
Could comments made this week by the top aide for Utah’s freshman senator lead to a rift with Utah’s senior senator? That’s in question now, after Mike Lee’s chief of staff told Politico that Orrin Hatch’s decades of experience in Washington will be a negative thing during this election cycle. Every Friday, we talk with Thomas Burr, Washington Correspondent for the Salt Lake Tribune and author of Political Cornflakes, a daily, online round-up of Utah politics.
A strong advocate for downtown businesses in Salt Lake City was struck and killed by a Utah Transit Authority bus this morning. Police Sergeant Shawn Josephson says 82-year-old Richard Wirick, longtime owner of the Oxford Shop, was crossing 400 South at 200 East this morning at about 7:30 a.m. when the light changed as he was in the middle of the street.
Following last year’s uproar over major changes to Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act, or GRAMA, a bill that makes smaller tweaks to the open records law unanimously passed out of a Senate committee this morning. Republican Senator Curt Bramble’s SB 177 is the product of the GRAMA working group, which included lawmakers, business leaders and the media.
Some state liquor stores may be open on holidays after all. After previously rejecting a bill to create a pilot program for selling alcohol on holidays, the House Government Operations Committee approved it this morning. Republican Representative Lee Perry amended the bill to clarify that on certain major holidays, stores could not remain open, despite the pilot project.
A new study in Eastern Utah’s energy-rich Uintah Basin is being called the most comprehensive air quality study ever done in Utah. And the study includes participation by oil and gas drillers who extract resources from the basin. We talked with Lowell Braxton of the Western Energy Alliance about how the industry is taking part.
It’s no surprise that Republicans in Utah’s Congressional delegation have nothing positive to say about President Obama’s new budget proposal. But how could it potentially impact the state if parts of it are actually passed by Congress? Every Friday, we talk with Thomas Burr, Washington Correspondent for the Salt Lake Tribune and author of Political Cornflakes, a daily, online round-up of Utah politics.
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