Access Utah

For decades, Walter Cronkite was known as "the most trusted man in America." Millions across the nation welcomed him into their homes, first as a print reporter for the United Press on the front lines of World War II, and later, in the emerging medium of television, as a host of numerous documentary programs and as anchor of the CBS Evening News, from 1962 until his retirement in 1981.

In the first test in the nation of an “Ag Gag” law, a Utah woman was recently charged for using her cell phone to film a slaughterhouse. Charges against Amy Meyer were subsequently dropped. Under Utah’s law (H.B. 187) passed in 2012, it is illegal to film an agricultural operation while trespassing or entering the premises on false pretenses. Meyer says that she became an animal rights activist and vegan after learning about the conditions in factory farms and that people deserve to know where their food is coming from. Supporters of the law say that these secret recordings do nothing to help the public and that if a person suspects wrongdoing at an agricultural operation the proper step is to contact law enforcement.

On Tuesday’s Access Utah we’ll revisit a conversation from January with 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.”

As we head towards summer, we’re talking books on Monday’s Access Utah. What are you reading now? What’s on your summer reading list? We look forward to your suggestions for children, young adults and adults. Our guests will include Margaret Brennan Neville from The King’s English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Andy Nettell from Back of Beyond Books in Moab and Catherine Weller from Weller Book Works in Salt Lake City. They’ll talk about their current favorites and books being published soon that they’re excited about.

The Boy Scouts of America is proposing a compromise. They are prepared to allow gay youths to join, while continuing to bar gay leaders. BSA is preparing to vote on the proposal later this month. The plan has received the backing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, BSA’s top sponsoring organization.

Hunter Lovins, President of Natural Capitalism Solutions, will make the business case for sustainability on Wednesday’s Access Utah. Trained as a sociologist and lawyer, Lovins is a professor of sustainable business management at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, Bard College, and Denver University. She gave the keynote address at the recent Intermountain Sustainability Summit in Ogden.

In the late 1940s Helmuth Hubener, a Mormon teenager, decided to leave Hitler’s Youth and confront the Nazi regime and his church leaders. Eventually, he was excommunicated from his church and became one of the youngest opponents of the Third Reich to be executed. We’ll examine the conflict of conscience occasioned among Mormons by the extreme circumstances of the Third Reich; and consider the question articulated by German novelist Gunther Grass: Why did [Hubener] know and I didn’t know?

One in three adults in the U. S., and one in five children, is clinically obese. In his new book “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us” Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times investigative reporter Michael Moss argues that many of the big companies in the processed food industry are at least partly to blame.

A clean and abundant water supply is the most pressing issue facing our society today. Joining Sheri Quinn on the program is Utah State University water quality expert Nancy Mesner. She works with state agencies to ensure our watersheds remain healthy into the future.

Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute, argues in his new book “The Road to Freedom: How to Win the Fight for Free Enterprise” that the American traditions of entrepreneurship, personal responsibility, and upward mobility have been weakened in recent years by an explosion in the size of government and a move towards redistributing wealth rather than rewarding merit. He argues that free enterprise requires a moral defense based on the ideals of earned success, equality of opportunity, charity, and basic fairness.

“The sound of parenthood is the sigh.” So writes Maximilian Werner in his new memoir “Gravity Hill” which is about growing up, getting older, looking back, and wondering what lies ahead—a process that becomes all the more complicated and intense when parenting is involved. Werner narrates his struggle growing up in suburban Utah as a non-Mormon and what it took for him, his siblings, and his friends to feel like they belonged. Bonding in separation, they indulged in each other, in natural and urban landscapes, and sometimes in the destructive behaviors that are the native resort of outsiders including promiscuous and occasionally violent sexual behavior—and for some, paths to death and suicide.

You spoke and UPR listened. Tuesday on Access Utah Jennifer Pemberton will be here to present some of your questions and comments on how air pollution has affected your health. If you haven’t told us your story, phone lines will be open for you. You can also share your story with us at our online form. In the second half: after a particularly bad winter, we’ll ask: what’s next in our search for solutions?

Amy Irvine McHarg, author of “Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land” and Stephen Trimble, author of “Bargaining for Eden: The Fight for the Last Open Spaces in America” and other books will join Tom Williams for Access Utah on Earth Day 2013 to reflect on environmental issues and read from their works.

On the program, Sheri Quinn talks to author Caleb Daniloff about his new book called "Running Ransom Road," a vivid account of his 18-month-long experience running marathons in the cities he wrecked havoc in as an alcoholic. With each marathon, he confronted the past and paved his road to redemption.

StoryCorps founder David Isay joins Tom Williams for Thursday’s Access Utah on the first day of registration for a free recording session in the StoryCorps booth during StoryCorps’ upcoming stay in St. George. David Isay is editor of several books from StoryCorps including “Listening Is an Act of Love.” He’ll talk about the power of listening and the importance of each life story. StoryCorps’ mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.

Are GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms beneficial or dangerous to global health? Are GMOs critical to sustainability or a danger to the environment? Should companies have the right to patent seeds? Can GMOs co-exist with organic farming? We’ll seek answers to your GMO questions from Jennifer Reeve, USU Associate Professor of Organic and Sustainable Agriculture; David Hole, USU Professor of Plant Breeding/Genetics; and Amelia Smith Rinehart, U of U Associate Professor of Law.

The U. S. Senate appears to be moving towards a compromise on immigration. We’ll ask you where you stand. Do you support the principles in the Utah Compact? Do you prefer an Arizona-style solution? Should any plan lean towards border security and enforcement or a path to citizenship for those now here illegally? Should Utah implement its currently-delayed guest worker law? What does a good solution to the immigration problem look like?

Should Governor Herbert’s veto of HB 76 be overridden? HB 76 would loosen restrictions on the use of concealed weapons. Should national background checks be expanded? How do we reduce gun violence? We’ll look for your response to these questions on Monday’s Access Utah. Our guests are Sen. Allen Christensen R-North Ogden, Senate sponsor of HB 76, Rep. Brian King D-Salt Lake City; Maryann Martindale, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Better Utah; and Clark Aposhian, Chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council.

Today on the program we hear from former state archeologists Kevin Jones about his new book "The Shrinking Jungle." In his book, he takes us on a journey with the Ache of Paraguay, one of the last hunter-gatherer groups to come into contact with the western world. His story is a fictional tale based on experience with the Ache' and their efforts to save the gradually diminishing rainforest.

Many of us believe in sustainability. But do we walk the talk? We’ll ask you what you’re doing in your daily life to promote sustainability, to personally be part of a green solution to our environmental problems. What changes have you made? What solutions have you found that you‘d like to share with us?