Latest news with #JessAnderson
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Head of Utah Department of Public Safety announces retirement
After more than 25 years of service to the state, Jess Anderson on Thursday announced his retirement as head of the Department of Public Safety, a position he's held for seven years. 'Under his guidance, the department made significant strides in emergency response coordination, community safety initiatives, and legislative engagement. His tenure has been marked by incredible commitment to the mission of 'Keeping Utah Safe,'' the department stated in announcing Anderson's retirement. 'Serving as commissioner of the Department of Public Safety has been the honor of a lifetime,' Anderson said in a prepared statement. 'I'm incredibly proud of the work we've accomplished and the dedicated professionals I've had the privilege of leading. It's time for me to step into a new chapter with my family, and I leave knowing the department is in capable hands.' Anderson's last day will be July 16. Gov. Spencer Cox has appointed Beau Mason as the new commissioner of public asfety, effective July 17. Mason has been with the Department of Public Safety for 20 years and in 2023 was appointed as a deputy commissioner overseeing emergency medical services and the state's school safety program. Anderson's career began with the Utah Highway Patrol and spanned into multiple leadership roles within DPS. Utah Senate President Stuart Adams issued a statement on Thursday publicly congratulating Anderson. 'Commissioner Jess Anderson's quiet strength, unwavering integrity and deep commitment have shaped the safety and well-being of Utah in meaningful and lasting ways. More than a public servant, he has been a steady hand in uncertain times, a trusted adviser and someone who truly cares about the people of this state,' Adams said. 'On behalf of the Utah Senate, and with deep personal gratitude, we thank Commissioner Anderson for his tireless service, steady leadership and the positive difference he has made. We wish him and his family joy and well-deserved rest in this next chapter of their lives.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
In a ‘new era' of drug use, Utah is falling behind
Utah is in the middle of overhauling its approach to drugs and homelessness. At the root of this makeover is one deadly fact: The state has been flooded with a new generation of narcotics that an old set of policies are inadequate to confront. An unprecedentedly large and lethal influx of fentanyl pills and 'super meth' has forced state officials, not just in Utah, but around the country, to completely rethink their approach to preventing, treating and prosecuting the evolving overdose epidemic. 'It's changing almost everything we've ever thought about drugs,' author Sam Quinones told the Deseret News. 'What we need to understand is that this is a new era.' This is the message Quinones, the award-winning author of 'The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth,' plans to bring to Salt Lake City on May 7 during a Solutions Utah conference with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. 'Either we've got a demand issue going on here in Utah that we were not aware of ... or we've got more of ... a cartel issue ... than what we would like to admit.' Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Jess Anderson The visit could hardly come at a better time as Utah finds itself as an outlier in terms of drug overdose deaths with drug seizures of fentanyl and meth continuing to grow. In 2024, Utah was one of only five states that saw a jump in overdose deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the country as a whole had a 24% decrease in overdoses from 2023 to 2024, Utah had a 5% increase. This comes after Utah recorded its highest number of overdose deaths ever in 2023. That year there were 606 drug overdose deaths in Utah, with 290 of those involving fentanyl, according to reports from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. Along with this tragic record, Utah law enforcement are seeing significantly more fentanyl enter the state and stay here. In 2020, Utah task forces of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area seized over 49,000 dosage units of fentanyl. That increased sevenfold to 330,000 in 2021 before quadrupling to 1.5 million in 2022, doubling to 3.4 million in 2023 and hitting 4.7 million in 2024 — totaling 95 times the amount of interdicted fentanyl from four years earlier. The pace isn't slowing down. Utah Highway Patrol and the State Bureau of Investigation have already seized nearly as many dosage units of fentanyl in the first four months of 2025 as they did in the entire year of 2024. But potentially the most worrying statistic is that, unlike in past years, around half of those drugs were destined for Utah markets instead of just passing through the state, according to Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Jess Anderson. 'That causes me great alarm,' Anderson said. 'Either we've got a demand issue going on here in Utah that we were not aware of ... or we've got more of ... a cartel issue ... than what we would like to admit.' No one has been harder hit than those living on Utah's streets. In 2023, the No. 1 cause of death for people experiencing homelessness in Utah was drug overdose, accounting for 35% of the 216 homeless deaths recorded that year, compared to 5% of deaths in the general population. The fatality rate associated with fentanyl — which is 50 times stronger than heroin — has flipped the consensus approach to homelessness on its head, according to Quinones. No longer can localities justify permanent encampments or 'housing first' programs that offer low-barrier apartment units or shelter space with no requirements for sobriety or treatment, Quinones said, because doing so is a death sentence. 'The problem is now, if you leave people on the street to find readiness to hit rock bottom, meth will drive them mad, and fentanyl will kill them before any readiness for treatment ever takes place,' Quinones said. After spending more than 10 years reporting in the towns most impacted by drugs, Quinones has concluded that what places like Utah need to do is develop replacements for the approaches refined in a pre-fentanyl America. One solution Quinones has seen take hold in some counties is to use jail-time for arrested individuals as a forced detox period to encourage recovery and treatment upon release. Recalling one individual who was arrested with 94 warrants against him, Anderson agreed that law enforcement needs additional resources 'to break the cycle' by helping people get sober 'in a humane way,' potentially with a 30-day jail stay, to decrease the chances that arrested individuals exit and immediately look for ways to get more drugs. 'The No. 1 cause of homelessness is a catastrophic loss of family.' Rep. Tyler Clancy Utah Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, who has spearheaded recent efforts to transform the state's goals on homelessness, is also on board. Many fentanyl addicts use the drug 8-10 times every day, said Clancy, who is a detective with the Provo Police Department. 'We're fundamentally misunderstanding the depth of this addiction and misunderstanding the danger of fentanyl,' Clancy said. 'When someone's in the absolute thick of addiction, it's mandatory treatment or death or destroying their life or leaving citizens on the streets of our cities to be subject to disorder and crime.' During the last legislative session, Clancy sponsored HB199, which would allow first responders to connect overdose survivors to treatment resources while prohibiting syringe exchange programs in certain areas, and HB329, which would require shelters to maintain a zero-drug policy while enhancing criminal penalties for drug distribution in the surrounding areas. Both bills passed the Legislature unanimously and will take effect on May 7. They were accompanied by HB87, sponsored by Rep. Matthew Gwynn, R-Farr West, which would make the trafficking of 100 grams or more of fentanyl a first degree felony. The bill also became law with a unanimous vote in both chambers. 'If you're caught with fentanyl, 100 grams or more, we will treat you as if you are coming to our communities trying to kill our people,' Anderson said. 'That is what happens with overdoses and so therefore we will hold you accountable.' During the first two months of 2025 before HB87 was passed, Utah law enforcement encountered 47 individuals in the Salt Lake City area who would have qualified for the new felony designation, Anderson said. In response to Utah's growing number of overdoses, Cox tapped Anderson in October to head the new Utah Fentanyl Task Force, which has the goal of reducing drug overdoses by 25% before 2029. The initiative hopes to rebuild Utah's approach from the ground up with groups focused on improving the state's drug data, revamping long-term recovery programs, conducting public outreach about the dangers of fentanyl and increasing police presence. There are already signs that this renewed focus is bearing fruit, according to Anderson. With more officers to disrupt key drug distribution areas, the price of fentanyl has increased from $1 per pill to $10 per pill, Anderson said. Anderson's office believes this contributed to what they expect to be a 3% decrease in overdose deaths during the final quarter of 2024, which was not included in the CDC survey. But as fentanyl faces pressure from law enforcement 'it's actually being overtaken by meth,' Anderson said. 'Word about fentanyl is actually getting out.' To avoid playing whack-a-mole with new drug variants, the state needs to increase efforts to address the root of drug supply as well as drug demand, according to Anderson. A newly secured border under the Trump administration is expected to help cut off some trafficking, Anderson said, pointing out that 'half of those that we pick up dealing the drugs are illegal immigrants.' But local solutions must focus just as much on demand as they do on supply, Quinones found while researching his book in towns like Portsmouth, Ohio. 'Frequently towns need municipal recovery as much or more than they need drug addiction recovery,' Quinones said. This kind of recovery comes in unlikely forms. One of Quinones' favorite solutions is community swimming pools, which he said are a perfect example of the kind of public space that bring people together and encourage healthy habits. In addition to investing in public recreation, Quinones said counties have experimented successfully with setting aside areas of jails as rehab pods, where inmates can successfully detox to reduce recidivism. But jails and prisons are far from the best place to treat the problem of drug use, according to Amanda Alkema, the behavioral health director at the Utah Division of Correctional Health Services, which oversees the medical care of the state's roughly 6,500 prison inmates. 'When there is illicit drug use going on in the prison, it's not always also the right place to try to detox somebody,' Alkema said. 'A prison's never going to really provide a therapeutic environment.' More funding could help move the state toward Quinones' vision of designated detox areas, Alkema said. About two-thirds of prison inmates have substance use disorders, including around 1,500 who have opiate use disorder, according to Alkema. To be effective, these funds would need to help provide comprehensive care, Alkema said. Currently there is only one mental health medication prescriber for every 170 patients with serious mental illness in Utah prisons. However, more funding and forced detox can only accomplish so much, according to Clancy. Ultimately, America and Utah's drug and homelessness problem finds its source much closer to home. 'The No. 1 cause of homelessness is a catastrophic loss of family,' Clancy said, quoting Alan Graham, founder of the Community First! homeless village in Austin. 'That is a huge thing we're seeing, not just with our neighbors who are homeless, but across the country, we're becoming more and more disconnected from one another.' After all, Clancy said, the opposite of addiction — which seeks isolation and shuns accountability — is community, and if there's anything Utahns can rally behind it's that.
BBC News
04-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
No draws, timeouts & more points on offer - NSL introduces new rules
The Netball Super League has introduced three further rule changes for the 2025 season as part of the revamped in previous seasons, games will not be allowed to end in a draw, with matches going to extra time if the scores are level after 60 timeouts have also been introduced, while there will be a new system for distributing points, with one point on offer for losing teams who finish within five points or less of their league, the sport's elite domestic competition in the UK, is being reformed from 2025 as part of plans to make the division the latest series of rule changes, there will be 10 minutes of extra time, with a one-minute half-time break, if the score between teams is level after 60 the score is still level at end of extra time, play will continue until one team reaches a two-goal each team will be allowed to call a 90-second tactical timeout per game. These must be called by a player on court and can only be called after a goal has been NSL said tactical timeouts "will provide players and coaches with the invaluable opportunity to make critical adjustments providing the ability to change the outcome of a game and keeping fans guessing until the final whistle".Another new addition will see losing teams that finish within five goals or less of their opponent's score claim one point - a change that "aims to incentivise teams in a losing position to continue to fight until the last second of each game".In December, it was announced the NSL would follow suit with Australia's Super Netball league and introduce a two-point super rule, which will be in play throughout the new periods of extra time, allows shooters to score two points from a dedicated area on the edge of the shooting circle during the last five minutes of each of the four quarters of every Nelson, the NSL's managing director, said the latest rule changes were tailored to "creating a fast-paced, exciting format".She added: "Not allowing games to be played to a draw, along with tactical timeouts and the introduction of the super shot are just some of the changes that will create unmissable experiences as we take new and existing fans on a journey through the season that has jeopardy and excitement at its core."The new NSL season begins on 14 March and one match per week will be shown live on the BBC. Pivotal moment for Super League - Analysis Jess Anderson, BBC Sport The announcement of these new rules comes just over a week before what organisers are calling 'Netball Super League 2.0' is a pivotal moment for the sport as it hopes to gain more fans by playing in bigger arenas and puts the wheels in motion to allow athletes to turn fully four new rules is a bold move but one which, it is hoped, will increase competition in a previously fairly predictable league. CEO Nelson has made it clear Super League will use this opportunity to be innovative when it comes to increasing the entertainment has been drawn from the Australian Super Netball league - considered the best league in the world and where the super shot has been in place since 2020 - but also rugby and basketball, with a leaf taken out of the American sports book when it comes to rules will undoubtedly divide opinion among the netball purists but the excitement, increased fandom and, crucially, financial benefits it is hoped they will bring could mean these are changes not even the most diehard fan can argue with.
