The Utah Board of Education is thinking of ways to get more ways to get students thinking about going to college. One idea that’s emerged is making it mandatory for all students to take the ACT college entrance exam. It could also mean giving well performing students a separate diploma that indicates they are “college and career ready.”
This Sunday is Father’s Day, and every year the Utah Foster Care Foundation celebrates foster dads and foster families at the annual Chalk Art Festival, going on today and tomorrow at the Gateway. KCPW’s Janice Evans asked Deborah Lindner, of the Utah Foster Care Association, to explain what you’ll see and why the festival helps Utah’s foster kids.
Many Utah kids who are on Medicaid aren’t receiving the most basic dental care, even though it’s a federal requirement. Utah dentists say they aren’t reimbursed adequately for services and in many cases have to turn away patients. As KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, dentists could be tightening their belts even further as the state prepares to implement Medicaid reform passed into law during the 2011 legislative session.
The number of unwanted guests crawling their way into Utah beds is reaching exponential numbers, according to the Salt Lake Valley Health Department, and now they want residents to talk about the bed bug problem. KCPW’s Jessica Gail talked with experts about why the blood-sucking bugs are a big problem, and what they’re urging people to do to help stop it.
Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman will formally announce his plans to run for President next Tuesday. And then he’ll be off on a whirlwind tour of several states, including his home state of Utah, where he just might run into another Utah favorite: Mitt Romney. 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 conservative group is choosing this weekend’s Republican state convention to launch its campaign to “retire” Utah Senator Orrin Hatch. FreedomWorks PAC, which also took on former Utah Senator Bob Bennett last year, says Hatch is not the fiscal conservative he’s portraying himself to be.
Warmer weather means summertime scams are on the rise, according to the Utah Department of Commerce. Mark Steinagel, Director of the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, says his department is already getting calls from victims reporting a scam that hits Utahns year after year.
One state lawmaker who owns and operates a private childcare business says publicly funded childcare providers are stomping out private sector competition by avoiding taxes and regulations required of private businesses. But as KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, several community advocates and public childcare providers made a case for the necessity of such programs yesterday.
County clerks are asking the legislature to allow them to hold on to voter email addresses, but keep them private, in an effort to have more online correspondence and cut down on the cost of mailing and postage. Many voters won’t list an e-mail address, because like physical addresses and phone numbers, they are currently made public.
The Utah Board of Education and the Legislature are working on a bill aimed at making it possible for more Utah students to go to college. Their latest ideas presented this morning Wednesday during an interim session meeting would change what tests are given to students, including making it mandatory for every Utah student to take the ACT. KCPW’s Jessica Gail explains what’s behind the new measures and how soon they could be put into place.
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