The 2012 legislative session concluded with lawmakers finalizing the details for the state’s $13 billion dollar budget Thursday. As KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, several programs were saved and public employees got raises with the help of increased revenues.
A bill that makes small changes to Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act unanimously passed the House of Representatives today.
While the Catholic Church has battled the Obama administration on mandatory contraception coverage for health insurance plans, Utah’s dominant religion, which does not oppose birth control, has been quiet on the issue. But that doesn’t mean prominent LDS Church members like Mitt Romney and Orrin Hatch have stayed silent.
It looks as though many Utah high school students won’t be able to get college credit through concurrent enrollment courses for free in the near future. As KCPW’s Jeff Robinson reports, a bill that allows Utah colleges and universities to charge them for that privilege is close to becoming law.
With the signature of Governor Gary Herbert, smoking of hookahs and e-cigarettes will be banned in public under the state’s Indoor Clean Air Act.
State Superintendent Larry Shumway received a prompt reply to a letter he sent U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan this week. Shumway wrote the letter to assert that Utah has complete control over its public school learning standards, amid concerns from Utah lawmakers, who are considering a resolution that urges the State board of Education to reconsider adopting the Common Core standards.
With the end of the legislative session just hours away, the question over funding for Juvenile Justice Centers still remains. Lawmakers say they are millions of dollars short of funding several centers for troubled youth, which means layoffs and closed centers across the state. KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports on what lawmakers are saying about the situation.
The Utah Senate approved a bill this morning that requires some welfare recipients in the state to be drug tested if they want to continue to receive benefits. Under House Bill 155, anyone applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF will have to complete a questionnaire designed to determine the likelihood that they’re using drugs. If it suggests they are, they’ll be asked to submit to a drug test.
The Utah Senate has passed a bill that was initially intended to thwart Salt Lake City’s anti-idling ordinance. But as KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, the city will get to keep its clean air initiative after all.
Segment 1: Saving the Planet Over 20 years ago, author and environmentalist Bill McKibben penned “The End of Nature,” the first mainstream writer to red flag climate change. He continues to push for reducing carbon emissions and moving beyond fossil fuels through the grassroots campaign 350.org and his latest book, “Eaarth: Making a…
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