Salt Lake County’s District Attorney isn’t surprised by a new report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy that says the War on Drugs has failed with devastating consequences. Sim Gill notes the United States spends in excess of $60 billion a year incarcerating people for drug crimes, compared to about $6 billion in the 1970s.
Salt Lake County is trying to keep waterways clear of potential flood-causing debris as temperatures rise and snowpack melts. Many areas of northern Utah have already experienced flooding, and as KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, the county isn’t ruling it out along the flood plains of the Jordan River.
Minnesota-based OptumHealth will take over the management of Salt Lake County’s publicly funded mental health services beginning July 1st. The for-profit company will contract with service providers, including the non-profit Valley Mental Health, which is the county’s current manager, to oversee the Medicaid program, county-funded services for the uninsured and federal mental health block grants. As KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, officials say it should be a near-seamless transition.
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.
No one has officially made a bid for Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon’s job, which is up for grabs in the 2012 election, but there are a few hopefuls willing to say it’s in the cards. Democrats lost control of the county council in the last election. As KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, could that mean the Mayor’s office is next?
The Utah Taxpayers Association is an influential voice in Utah policymaking and will soon have its annual Taxes Now conference. The conservative group is crusading against the restaurant tax and the taxpayer-funded UTOPIA fiber-optic network. We were joined by the association’s Royce Van Tassell.
The Salt Palace Convention Center is preparing for a 2.5-megawatt jolt from what’s being called the largest single rooftop solar system in the United States. The project, led by Salt Lake County, took off last September, but hit a speed bump when the county didn’t complete contracts in time to receive necessary federal tax credits. Darrin Casper, the county’s chief financial officer, says they were just late in the process, so they had to wait for the 2011 tax credits.
Sim Gill is in his fifth month as Salt Lake County’s new District Attorney, and in the middle of implementing some of the reforms he pledged when he ran for the job. He’s also brought a resolution to the controversial and disturbing case of D.J. Bell. Gill joined us in the studio to talk about what he’s doing as the new D.A., and what’s ahead for his office.
Women will now be leading Salt Lake County’s two major political parities. Mary Bishop was elected as chair of the Salt Lake County Democratic party on Saturday, following the election of Julie Dole as chair of the county GOP. Bishop, born and raised in Salt Lake City, says she has always been a Democrat, but really became active in politics as a small business owner trying to find health care for her and her employees.
The Salt Lake Valley Health Department says people at two recent events may have come in contact with someone infected with the measles.
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