July 2011 - KCPW

Teachers Rally in Salt Lake City

July 31, 2011 Whittney Evans

Dozens of teachers rallied outside the Salt Lake City Main Library Friday, calling on state lawmakers to show them more respect and stop what they believe are attacks on public education. Third-grade teacher Heidi Jensen says they gathered in response to what happened in Ogden recently, where teachers were presented a contract to sign without any negotiations. Jensen says lawmakers want to make that a state policy even though they’re not experts on education.

Local News

Tape Surfaces of Mark Hofmann Scamming Church Officials

July 29, 2011 Whittney Evans

A Provo bookstore owner and collector has come across new developments in the 25-year-old Mark Hofmann case. Hofmann is serving a life sentence at the state prison in Draper for forging LDS church documents and murdering two people with bombs. As KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, the discovery is a recording made by Hofmann in 1981 of telephone conversations between him and authorities of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

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Legislative Coverage

Politics Up Close: House Minority Leader David Litvack

July 29, 2011 Jeff Robinson

In a special session last week, the Utah Legislature weighed in on the current debt ceiling crisis by passing another resolution urging Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. But it got no support from a clearly frustrated Democratic caucus in the Utah House of Representatives.

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Education

Becoming a Teacher Without a Teaching Degree

July 28, 2011 Jessica Gail

If you think you need a teaching degree to begin working in a Utah classroom, the State Office of Education says think again. Over the next few weeks, the staff there will be going over applications of hopeful teachers who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher and are hoping to make the transition into teaching. KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports on how the program works and talks to one teacher who’s benefitted from it.

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Local News

Utah’s Credit Rating Might Not Fall with Federal Default

July 28, 2011 Whittney Evans

Utah’s AAA bond rating may not be affected if the federal government defaults on its bills. Senator Lyle Hillyard, co-chair of the Utah Legislature’s Executive Appropriations Committee, says unless the federal bond rating takes a significant downgrade, Utah should be in the clear.

Local News

McCain Berates Tea Party Senators, Like Lee

July 28, 2011 Jeff Robinson

Utah Senator Mike Lee and other Tea Party Republicans pushing a balanced budget amendment during the debt ceiling crisis got a verbal thrashing this week from former presidential candidate and Senator John McCain. The veteran lawmaker not only described their efforts as “foolish” but “bizarro.” Every week, 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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Local News

New System Takes Anonymous Crime Tips via Text, Mobile Apps

July 27, 2011 Whittney Evans

Utah’s attorney general and law enforcement agencies across the state have introduced a new tool for solving crimes. TipSoft is an anonymous service that allows anyone to report information about a crime via text, online or a mobile app. And law enforcement can reply to tipsters without knowing their true identities. As KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, law enforcement officials say it will make fighting crime more effective and efficient.

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Local News

SL County Redistricting Commission Holds Open House Thursday

July 27, 2011 Jessica Gail

While Utah lawmakers are in charge of re-drawing their own legislative boundaries, an independent commission has been tasked with that job for the Salt Lake County Council and local school boards. And tonight, the county’s redistricting commission is encouraging the public to voice their opinions on the proposals under consideration. KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports on why this redistricting process is different from years past.

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Legislative Coverage

Legislature Wraps Up Community Redistricting Hearings

July 27, 2011 Jeff Robinson

For many weeks now, lawmakers on the Utah Legislature’s Redistricting Committee have gotten an earful from communities across the state about how the new legislative and congressional boundaries should be drawn. Some rural cities and towns say ‘give us our own district,’ others say they want to be included with the more urban Wasatch Front. So now that the community hearings are over, how will the legislature take these conflicting ideas and actually draw the boundaries?

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