The Fall of the Zion Curtain
The “Zion curtains” separating restaurant patrons from the horror of witnessing the mixing of drinks came tumbling down on May 12—for some dining establishments, at least. As part of the 2009 session’s controversial liquor-reform package, restaurants with existing drink partitions or those with drink partitions under construction got to take down their curtains, but new restaurants that serve liquor will have to build a wall and live with the dividing structure for time and all eternity (or until the Legislature reforms booze laws again—whichever comes first).
No Stinkin’ Peace Flags
The Main Library downtown recently nixed a project that had been months in the waiting to string colorful peace flags across Library Square. The flags, created by local groups including a Tibetan Buddhist Temple, the Sugarhouse Boys & Girls Club and the Jewish Community Center, got the kibosh due to the square’s space constraints. Hmmm, too little room for peace flags but just enough room, apparently, for Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s proposed five-story public-safety building? The 16-flag display can still be seen at no cost at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, 1355 W. 3100 South in West Valley City.
Prescription for Prevention
With that whole, probablepandemic problem—following the recent swine flu outbreak—researchers at the University of Utah are taking the scare as a shock to the system and working to reform the state’s system for monitoring and detecting the pattern of flu outbreaks. Through the use of electronic medical records, U public-health researchers are teaming up with the members of the Utah Department of Health and other local health departments to craft a system for monitoring, in real time, patterns of flu outbreak. The technology and the tracking techniques are in their infancy, but researchers hope the new partnership will equip researchers with the tools necessary to be able to counter and contain the next potential epidemic.
