Access Utah

Many people have not returned to the workforce following the height of the Covid pandemic. Higher-than-usual numbers of employees have quit in some areas.

HB 147, sponsored by Rep. Lowry Snow, R-St. George, which would have repealed the death penalty in Utah and replaced it with a possible sentence of 45 years to life, was defeated in committee. The debate will go on, however, today on Access Utah.

Since U. S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement last month, speculation about his replacement has ramped up.

Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, is sponsoring HB98 which would create a third-degree felony offense of sexual conduct without affirmative consent. Current Utah law defines sexual abuse as when “the victim expresses lack of consent through words or conduct.”

The New York Times reports that “Russian troops are encircling Ukraine from three sides. In Washington and Brussels, there are warnings of crushing sanctions if Vladimir V. Putin orders an invasion. Embassy families — both American and Russian — are being evacuated from Kyiv.” We will be talking with Anna Pechenkina, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Utah State University.

Cache County Executive David Zook joins us to talk about public health, transportation, homelessness, mental health, the economy, immigration, COVID and other issues.

The Times reports that mink farms (some of them in Utah) threaten to become a source of new coronavirus variants — and an object lesson in how ‘spillback’ can make deadly diseases even deadlier. Today we’ll talk with David Quammen about spillover, spillback, Coronavirus and future viruses.

How do we heal from the traumas of the past, without forgetting the events that happened? Today on Access Utah we explore the Hyrum City Museum's newest exhibit and ongoing events commemorating the 159th anniversary of the US Army’s massacre of Shoshone at Boa Ogoi.

Every ten years, following the United States’ release of the Census report, we take to the drawing board and redefine district lines in order to more appropriately represent U.S. citizens in the House of Representatives. On this episode, we discuss what the new maps mean for Utah.

On Thursday's Access Utah, we talk about such issues as recognition of rights, the sharing of Jerusalem, delineation of borders, West Bank settlements, security and refugees.

Rep. Brad Wilson, Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives, is convening a Great Salt Lake Summit, and ahead of that summit we’ll be talking to Lynne De Freitas, Executive Director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake; Wayne Wurtsbaugh, USU Emeritus Professor of Watershed Sciences; and Marcelle Shoop, Director of the National Audubon Society’s Saline Lakes Program.

Recent events at several Utah schools have shown the danger, including the potential for violence, in the misuse of social media. We talk about the risks, the causes and how to address them on Access Utah.

Tuesday was the opening day of the 2022 Utah Legislature. We broadcast live from the state capitol in Salt Lake City and talked about the issues likely to be addressed in the legislature this year.

The Choir of Man is a hit musical from Andrew Kay and Nic Doodson, featuring pub tunes, folk, rock, choral and Broadway numbers. We talked with three of the cast members on Thursday.

Almost two years into the pandemic, there are record numbers of new COVID cases and hospitalizations. Today we’ll talk with ER doctor and writer Marion Bishop about hope, endemicity, health care workers and about how many of us are just “over it” — and where that leaves all of us.

Utah poet and Sonosopher Alex Caldiero has died. We remember him by revisiting our New Years poetry episode featuring him, from January 2022.

Today we’ll be talking with Pitzer College professor Suyapa Portillo and DePaul University professor Ester Trujillo about the root causes of immigration from Central America, the dangerous immigrant journey and integration of immigrants into the United States.

In her new book, “Forced Out: A Nikkei Woman’s Search for a Home in America,” Judy Kawamoto offers insight into “voluntary evacuation,” a little-known Japanese American experience during World War II.

One beautiful September day, three men convene on Martha’s Vineyard, friends ever since meeting in college circa the sixties. They couldn’t have been more different then, or even today – Lincoln’s a commercial real estate broker, Teddy a tiny-press publisher and Mickey a musician beyond his rockin’ age.

With police shootings in Utah reaching record highs amid a nationwide debate over police accountability, FRONTLINE and The Salt Lake Tribune are presentingShots Fired: the first nationally broadcast documentary stemming from FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative.

As we head toward the holidays we want to know what you’re reading. What’s on your nightstand or device right now? Is there a book that has had a big impact on you? Which books are you looking forward to reading or giving as gifts? Perhaps you’d like to tell us a personal story connected to a favorite book. We’d love to hear about books in the adult, young adult and children’s categories. One sugg...

The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece is the true crime story-behind-the-story of Dostoevsky’s greatest work, Crime and Punishment, and why it changed the world. November 11th marked the 200th anniversary of Dostoevsky’s birth and author Kevin Birmingham spent years researching archival material to evoke Czarist Russia at the birth of the Russia...

Bridge of Clay is the new sweeping family saga from Markus Zusak, author of the international bestseller The Book Thief, which swept the world and was made into a movie.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan raises important questions about the meaning of peacekeeping and peacebuilding in the 21st century. There is a panel discussion today (4:30 p.m. in Old Main 115 at USU and on Zoom) called “The Afghanistan Crisis: The Challenges of Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding.”