Democracy Now! looks at how how the economics of austerity exacerbate global health problems.---
Top of the Alty World
“Why Austerity Kills”—Democracy Now!
Mother Jones asks if climate change is responsible for the Oklahoma tornado.—Mother Jones
Slate looks at why President Barack Obama’s approval ratings haven’t been hurt by recent scandals.—Slate
An undercover police officer in Chicago has been found to be spying on teachers and their supporters who protested a large public-schools closure.—Truthout
Top of Alty Utah
A study has found Salt Lake City number one in the nation for same-sex couples raising children.—Utah Political Capitol
Mia Love is officially making another run for the 4th Congressional District.—KUER
Hundreds protested Utah’s “ag-gag” law outside a Draper slaughterhouse.—KCPW
Gay minority students at Lone Peak High School were targeted by a Twitter account.—Q Salt Lake
Rantosphere
High School blogger Neah Bois sounds off on the Alliance for a Better Utah’s site about public education in Utah.
“But even if everyone who is eligible took AP classes, this still wouldn’t solve our public-education-funding problem. Without proper legislation funding our public-school systems, we are never going to get anywhere. We are not investing in our students like we need to be. If you cut off the money, you cut off the resources. And Utah already has a lack of resources. As a student who experienced the public-school system, I know firsthand how difficult that environment can be. But now, as a privileged private-school student, I still see the importance of a robust public education. It isn’t the teachers or the school, but the system that needs changing.”—Alliance for a Better Utah
The Long View
In 2009, businessman Darl McBride says he was chasing down a man named Mark Robbins, to whom he allegedly lost money, only to have a meeting with then-Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, where Shurtleff told him to back off his media campaign against Robbins.
“Shurtleff’s “whole objective of this two-hour breakfast meeting was to essentially say: ‘Back off Robbins—this [digital bounty hunting] is really hurting his business prospects,’ ” McBride says. “I just remember sitting there looking at him, like, ‘Mark, you are the top lawman, he has stolen my money and millions from other people, and you are sitting here protecting him?’ ”—Salt Lake City Weekly