POSTED // Nov 12,2008 - We’re No. 3nOklahoma and Wyoming now rank ahead of Utah in the competition for most red state, following the Nov. 4 election. Both states gave a greater share of votes to McCain than Utah. The Republican presidential candidate won Utah with a paltry 29 percent margin. That compares to the 45.5 victory Utah gave George W. in his last go-round. It takes a magnifying glass to see it, but the U...

POSTED // Nov 5,2008 - Helping HandsnWith Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. cheerleading, Utah businesses and aid agencies are reaching out to help residents who have lost jobs or homes to the economic crisis. United Way of Utah recently announced the Neighbor-to-Neighbor program hoping to quickly raise $5 million to help families in crisis. Seeded with money from the LDS Church, the initiative will provide community grants to hel...

POSTED // Oct 29,2008 - Insurance CostsnUtah’s Legislature took the ax to health insurance for poor people on Medicaid this summer. A new study shows the picture isn’t much brighter for those lucky enough to have health insurance at their job. According to the Families USA study, Utah health-insurance-premium costs have increased at five times the rate of income growth since 2000. The average worker now pays...

POSTED // Oct 22,2008 - In 2007, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. joined Utah up with California (that’s “The People’s Republic of California”) and its governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger (a foreigner married to a Kennedy), in a (United Nations-style) plan to curb global warming (which might not even exist). nWhatever Utah’s global-warming-denying Legislature might say about the plan, it’s true that,...

POSTED // Oct 22,2008 - Ethical Rewrite nSome Utah legislators have joined Utah’s Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates in calling for ethics reform next year. The request comes after a frustrating, weeklong House Ethics Committee hearing that ended with the committee dropping all charges against Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, but penning a letter calling him a naughty boy. In the bizarre letter, the comm...

POSTED // Oct 1,2008 - Off Gassing Not satisfied to wait for federal action on global warming, seven states, including Utah, have joined with four Canadian provinces on a plan to cap greenhouse gas emissions in the West. The recently unveiled blueprint is a “cap-and-trade”...

POSTED // Oct 1,2008 - The dawning of the 21st century promised to bring a fire sale of public lands in the West. In 2004 and 2006, Congress passed laws selling tens of thousands of acres of federal land in Nevada to developers, and it looked like Utah would be next. But some...

POSTED // Sep 24,2008 - Drinking Logic A statement recently posted at the LDS Church’s official Webpage holds good news for those who think the time has come to chuck Utah’s ridiculous private club law: It doesn’t say “No.” The statement makes...

POSTED // Sep 24,2008 - The nip in the air has some Utahns already itching for snow, but some worry a key partner in their enjoyment of the backcountry—the Utah Avalanche Center—won’t be around when the snow arrives. A dip in funding for the organization that...

POSTED // Sep 17,2008 - Footloose Redux If it seems more like 1984 every day, you’re not imagining things. Not only is the government spying on citizens as in George Orwell’s novel 1984, but a mid-’80s Kevin Bacon dancing movie is about to play out in Bountiful....