Twenty-six million Americans still don’t have high-speed Internet access, according to the FCC’s annual report to Congress. As KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, Utah has met high standards in broadband deployment, but there are some areas that are falling behind.
Downtown Salt Lake City will start filling up on Thursday nights this summer as the 2011 Twilight Concert Series returns to Pioneer Park for a second time. Ten artists have been announced for seven dates throughout the summer. Concert Director Casey Jarman announced the concert line up yesterday, and said the first show will be July 14th.
After being found factually innocent after serving 17 years behind bars, a Logan woman may have to return once again to the courtroom. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is reversing a decision he made two weeks ago, and will now appeal a judge’s decision to declare Debra Brown innocent of a 1993 murder. But as KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports, Brown’s lawyers say the decision to appeal amounts nothing more than a tragic case of sour grapes.
The loudest objections to the Patriot Act in the United States used to come from the political left. But increasingly, the right has been raising its voice against the heavily scrutinized surveillance measure. And that could be a problem for Republican Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, who continues to back it.
A former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen’s visit to Salt Lake City yesterday came at an ideal time to discuss the country in turmoil, with President Barack Obama calling on embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down from power in the midst of a political crisis. Barbara Bodine, who was U.S. Ambassador to Yemen from 1997 to 2001, spoke yesterday to the Salt Lake Committee on Foreign Relations.
Brian David Mitchell, the man recently convicted of kidnapping and sexually abusing Elizabeth Smart nearly nine years ago, will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Mitchell was sentenced by a federal judge yesterday, putting an end to an ordeal that has plagued Smart since she was just 14. KCPW’s Jessica Gail was in the courtroom as Smart addressed Mitchell for the first time since being held captive.
President Obama’s trip to London makes it a busy time for the BBC World Service, which has been covering his visit extensively here on KCPW. It’s the president’s first official state visit to the capital of the U.K., leading to lots of speculation about the exact nature of the relationship between the two nations. One journalist who’s been covering President Obama’s visit is Lawrence Pollard, a presenter for The World Today, heard on the BBC World Service.
Utah Senator Mike Lee says he’ll vote no on extending the PATRIOT Act when the Senate takes a final vote later this week. Lee says he disagrees with the roving wiretap provision, and one that allows the government to search and seize without probable cause.
A Salt Lake City Councilman no longer had criminal charges hanging over his head when he attended Tuesday’s council meeting. Soren Simonsen was cleared on Monday for allegedly breaking into the cottage of his former business partner, but as KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports, his legal troubles may not be over.
The Utah Association of Counties is rounding up support to defend the restaurant tax against a lawsuit filed by the Utah Taxpayers Association and Utah Restaurant Association against Utah County. As KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, Salt Lake County is standing up for what it says are vital tourism dollars that would be lost if the tax were snuffed out.
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