Access Utah

Tom Williams’ guest for the hour on Thursday is journalist Ioan Grillo, who has written about Mexican narcotraffickers for the past decade, even interviewing members of the cartels and their death squads. He says that “El Narco is not a gang; it is a movement and an industry drawing in hundreds of thousands from bullet-ridden barrios to marijuana-growing mountains.” Grillo believes these cartels “...

In 2008, a group of armed Hindu extremists attacked and burned a village of Christians in Odisha state in India, seeking to forcefully reintegrate the villagers into the caste system left behind by their Christian beliefs. The survivors fled into the jungle to escape. National Geographic photojournalist Lynn Johnson and human rights advocate Jen Saffron have organized the Koraput Survivors Project...

Our air quality problem is visible above the inversion line and is physically noticeable when passing below. Utah’s air at times has been rated the worst in the nation. Our questions are: What can be done? What should be done? What can regular citizens do? What should the government do? During the first half of the show, Bo Call, manager of the Air Monitoring Center for Utah Division of Air Qualit...

In the first half of the program we discuss the controversy over the name Dixie State College. Some say the name Dixie holds negative connotations of slavery and the Confederacy. Others say that the southern Utah area has always been known as Dixie, and that the name hearkens back to the settling of the area by Mormon Pioneers. We talk with former president of Dixie State College, Doug Alder and U...

Steven Rinella, author of "Meat Eater—Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter," says that hunting is intimately connected with our humanity and that assuming responsibility for the meat that we eat, rather than entrusting it to proxy executioners, processors, packagers, and distributors is one of the most respectful and exhilarating things a meat eater can do. In his book, Rinella examines...

You got that great new gadget for the holidays, perhaps it's already broken or you need a lot of advice on how to work it. We're going to give you some help on the first half of the program. Jonathan Choate with SD7 Technologies, our computer expert is in with some advice. Whatever technology problem you have. We'll also be talking cool new gadgets with Jonathan, including a new wearable video cam...

On today's Access Utah we celebrate the holidays with music and poetry. Utah State University music professor Mike Christiansen, plays the guitar live in our studio. University of Utah theater professor Tim Slover, author of the book and radio series, "The Christmas Chronicles: The Legend of Santa Claus," reads excerpts of poetry.

Writer Ceiridwen Terrill writes about how, at a particularly sad and frightening time in her life, a wolf dog was the kind of companion she was searching for. In her book, "Part Wild: Caught Between the Worlds of Wolves and Dogs," she talks about an animal who's heart is divided between the woman she loves, and the desire to roam free. In the end, Terrill realized she must confront the reality of...

Proponents of reparative or conversion therapy say it can help people transition away from unwanted homosexuality, while opponents believe the therapy is not only harmful, but flawed in its premise.

The immigration debate has raised some of the most difficult questions our nation has ever faced. How can we preserve the integrity of sovereign borders while also respecting the dignity of human begins? How should a border be humanely and effectively maintained? To understand the experience of those directly impacted by the immigration crisis, Ananda Rose traveled to the Sonoran Desert -- a borde...

Major scientific studies conducted by a team of international scientists, warn there will be no virtually no fish or seafood from the ocean by the middle of the century. Only 50 years left for sea fish. Mark Kurlansky, prominent author of numerous non fiction books and articles, well-known for his bestseller COD: the fish that changed the world, has a new book out now for children and adults, call...

How much weight does international treaty have on our lives? Today we specifically talk about the U.N. convention and the rights for persons with disabilities. That was defeated in the senate recently; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says this is an expression of American leadership throughout the world, and will help disabled veterans. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) expressed the views of some, saying those w...

"I didn't know about sex trafficking until I was in the middle of it. I found out that they actually had chosen me."

Brigham Young was a rough-hewn craftsman from New York who's impoverished and obscure life was electrified by the Mormon faith. he trudged around the US and England to gain converts for Mormonism, spoke in spiritual tongues, married more than 50 women, and eventually transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God.

Bullying is receiving a lot of attention right now, which seems an opportune time to discuss it on Access Utah. According to The Bully Project's website, 13 million kids will be bullied this year, and 3 million will be absent from school, because of it. Some kids may take their lives.

Today on Access Utah, Sheri Quinn talks with writer Patrick Radden Keefe. With the drug-related violence in Mexico thriving, understanding how the drug industry operates is crucial to combatting it. Keith investigated the business side of the blooming illegal drug trade and in June 2012 his report, Cocaine Inc. was published in the New York Times Magazine.

We've been hearing about the death of Twinkies. The closure of the company Hostess has the public fearing the treats such as Twinkies and Ho-Hos, and has shined a spotlight on unions.

Utah's laws underwent extensive reform a few years ago, and now Sen. John Valentine is creating a bill that would create a "master license" for hotels, which would free up licenses currently required for the restaurants, catering services and bars inside the hotels.

One mother talks about the gap between when her son is seen as "normal", and when he's seen as "not normal." She's talking about his invisible disability - a disability which at first glance isn't readily apparent, and includes intellectual impairments such as autism and other disorders.

We're talking immigration on Access Utah, specifically illegal immigration. There are an estimated 110,000 illegal immigrants in Utah according to the Pew Center, and more may arrive. The Republican Party's stance on immigration seems to be softening after the election, although not in Utah. Some legislators are suggest pushing back the controversial guest worker act.

Today on the program Sheri Quinn talks to paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Carpenter about recent advances in the study of dinosaurs and why Utah is one of the best places on earth to study them.

With the expansion of mobile computing, we are all more or less living in the "cloud."

We meet photojournalist Scott Wallace, who wrote "The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes." It's the story of a journey into the deepest recesses of the amazon to track one of the planet's last uncontacted tribes in the world.

Utah is the only state in the U.S. to enact a law that requires someone who is engaged in bioprospecting to notify the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands before removing certain microorganisms, plants, or fungi from state lands. Bioprospecting is the search for and collection of biological material, usually microbes, that could prove either economically useful or in environmental pro...

We turn the focus now to you, listeners and voters. Maybe you want to share who you voted for and why? What issue were you focused on this election season? Maybe you ran for office or worked for a candidate? Did your experience last night make you more or less hopeful about the democratic process?