Access Utah

It’s been an eventful few weeks: First, a federal judge struck down Utah’s laws against gay marriage, including Constitutional Amendment 3, which defined marriage as only between a man and a woman. More than a thousand gay and lesbian couples were married across the state. Then, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay as the ruling was appealed to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Now Governor Herbert has announced that Utah will not recognize marriages performed during that window.

A group called the Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) says that In light of Utah’s growing air quality concerns and the real and potential effects of climate instability, the time to act is now. The purposes of Citizens Climate Lobby are: 1) to create the political will for a stable climate; and 2) to empower individuals to have breakthroughs in exercising their personal and political power They engage in non-partisan lobbying for a gradually increasing tax on carbon-based fuels with all revenues returned as a dividend to households, as a way to drive our economy away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy.

“The gap between rich and poor has never been wider . . . legislative stalemate paralyzes the country . . . corporations resist federal regulations . . . spectacular mergers produce giant companies . . . the influence of money in politics deepens . . . bombs explode in crowded streets . . . small wars proliferate far from our shores . . . a dizzying array of inventions speeds the pace of daily life.” Headlines like these were characteristic of America’s Progressive era, that tumultuous time in the early 1900s when the nation was coming unseamed and reform was in the air.

Why is it so hard to define folklore? Lynne McNeill, in her new book from USU Press “Folklore Rules,” says “...well you try to explain what a creation myth, a jump-rope rhyme, a Fourth of July BBQ, & some bathroom graffiti have in common and you’ll find it’s not a terribly easy task either.”

For our Access Utah Holiday Special, we feature guitarist and USU professor emeritus Mike Christiansen, and story teller Daniel Bishop to bring you great holiday guitar music and holiday stories on today's program. You can listen to more music and stories by Mike Christiansen and Daniel Bishop on their webistes. From the Utah Public Radio family, we hope your holidays are filled with great music and stories, and we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Two Cache Valley women are giving Utah prisoners a new chance behind the bars using dried plants. Today on the program, producers Sheri Quinn and Elaine Taylor explore the "plants in jail" program started by Sara Lamb and Mary Barkworth, where inmates prepare plant material for the Utah State University herbarium.

“Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” We’re going to apply this oft-quoted quip to sustainability on Access Utah. Many of us believe that universal and individual changes are needed to ensure a sustainable & healthy life for us all.

In the wake of a federal judge’s ruling effectively de-criminalizing polygamy in Utah, we’ll talk with Jonathan Turley, the attorney representing the Kody Brown family, which brought the lawsuit. We’ll also talk with a former member of the FLDS community.

Yellowstone has undergone a number of transitions in the 140 years since its national park designation in 1872. The period from the late 1930s through the early 1970s marked one of the most significant as the Park Service shifted focus from public recreation to interpretation and education.

The Dutch company Mars One Foundation announced this week they have received more than 20,000 applications from aspiring astronauts who are willing to travel to mars on a one-way ticket. Friday on Access Utah, Sheri Quinn talks to aerospace engineer Walter Holemans, who joins her from Washington DC to talk about why he thinks they should stay on earth. Mr. Holemans also sums up the major accomplishments of the aerospace industry in 2013.

The Utah Republican Party will hold a special State Central Committee meeting on Saturday to nominate three individuals from among seven Attorney General candidates. Governor Herbert is expected to choose the next AG from this group. State Republican Party Chairman James Evans has organized a committee to verify that each candidate meets the requirements to serve as Attorney General and does not have any blatant conflicts of interest. The Republicans were also holding a candidate debate Wednesday evening. The Utah Democratic Party says there are major conflicts of interest and ethical questions surrounding the candidates being considered by the Republican Party.

“SLAPPED!” is a new novel based of the true story of a strategic lawsuit against public participation (S.L.A.P.P.) in Utah. Two headstrong conservative Mormon housewives, bent on preserving open space near Utah's Jordan River for their children and coming generations, speak out publicly against a multimillion-dollar commercial project that they believe would encroach on the river and destroy wildlife habitat.

Utah has been the focal point for many brave settlers yearning for a new way of life. While Utah's Mormon legacy is well documented, there are lesser-known stories that contribute to the state's history. In “Hidden History of Utah,” public historian, author and history columnist Eileen Hallet Stone looks into the state's forgotten past and presents a revelatory collection of tales culled from her Salt Lake Tribune "Living History" column.

Alyson Hagy’s latest novel "Boleto," explores the themes of men and horses, the American West, and the dream of a ticket out. The protagonist Will Testerman is a young Wyoming horse trainer determined to make something of himself. Money is tight at the family ranch, where he's living again after a disastrous end to his job on the Texas show-horse circuit.

USU graduate student Andrew Durso thinks snakes get a bad wrap and is working hard to change their bad reputation with his online blog titled “Life is short but snakes are long.” He has garnered an online following including editors of the magazine “Scientific American.” This Monday, Dec. 9, he is co-hosting a Blog Carnival in recognition of the year of the snake. Sheri Quinn talks to Durso about his reptile research and online success.

Craig Anderson, a resident of St. George Utah and native of Cache Valley, had a long career with the United States Agency for International Development as an agricultural specialist.

Meet Don Tillman, hero of Graeme Simsion’s new novel “The Rosie Project.” Don Tillman is a brilliant yet socially challenged professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. And so, in the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers. Rosie Jarman is all these things.

Sherri Mills has been a hairdresser for more than forty-five years. She has had her own salon long enough to see life happen before her very eyes. She has listened to real-life problems and followed real-life outcomes—successes and failures—and through several generations, longer and more extensively than marriage counselors can.

Generations of Ogdenites have grown up absorbing 25th Street’s legends of corruption, menace, and depravity. The rest of Utah has tended to judge Ogden—known in its first century as a “gambling hell” and tenderloin, and in recent years as a degraded skid row—by the street’s gaudy reputation. Present-day Ogden embraces the afterglow of 25th Street’s decadence and successfully promotes it to tourists. In the same preservationist spirit as Denver’s Larimer Square, today’s 25th Street is home to art galleries, fine dining, live theater, street festivals, mixed-use condominiums, and the Utah State Railroad Museum.

Australian fingerstyle guitarist Adam Miller included Logan among his stops on a recent American tour. He stopped by the UPR studios to talk about finding just the right sound in a guitar; to describe his travels--including to Afghanistan to play for the troops there; and, of course, to play us a few songs, including “Carpal Tunnel Blues,” (Miller has battled the malady,) and a tune written during his wedding speech. Logan-based guitar maker, Ryan Thorell, joins in the conversation to describe his craft.