Latest news with #SouthernUtahUniversity
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
9 family-friendly activities to look out for this Memorial Day weekend
Memorial Day weekend is the perfect time to gather family and friends and engage with the community. People across the state are uniting in their communities to remember the sacrifices of the fallen military members and celebrate the unofficial start of summer. With numerous events taking place throughout the state, we've found some of the best activities to participate in. Families can enjoy artwork and memorialize servicemen at Brigham City's veteran and gold star families-themed Art on Main festival. The 10th annual festival will feature art from local creators, a chalk contest, live music and dance performances, an artisan vendor marketplace and more. When: Friday and Saturday, May 23 and 24, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Where: Historic Downtown, 6 N. Main, in Brigham City Cost: Most festival events are free to the public. The SCERA Center for the Arts is hosting a family-friendly craft night on Saturday. Tiny wheel pottery, mini Monet acrylic painting, stained glass night light and a free chalk project will all be offered to those interested. Projects take about an hour each. Tickets to the SCERA musicals and concerts will also be raffled. Bring the kiddos and do something creative to kick off the weekend. When: Saturday, May 24, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Where: SCERA Park, 600 S. State, in Orem Cost: Activity-dependent Start the weekend off Saturday in color in Ogden. Enjoy a chalk fight, live performances, interactive dances, yoga teachers and authentic cuisine. Three color throws will take place every hour starting at noon. Festival tickets are free for kids aged 12 and younger, while teens and adults can purchase tickets for a discount online or at full price at the gate. When: Saturday, May 24, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Where: Lorin Farr Park, 769 Canyon Road, in Ogden Cost: $8 online or $10 at the gate Gather in West Jordan or West Valley City to cheer on runners at the Annual Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run. The run is intended to raise money and awareness for the Special Olympics, promoting further inclusion for individuals in the community with intellectual disabilities. The statewide effort runs from May 1 through May 29, when the final leg will take place at the 2025 Special Olympics Utah Summer Games at Southern Utah University. When: Saturday, May 24 — West Jordan run at 10 a.m.; West Valley run at 11 a.m. Where: Veterans Memorial Park, 1985 W. 7800 South, in West Jordan; Lucky Grocery, 1585 W. 3500 South, in West Valley City Cost: Free to the public. The Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs invites all to honor fallen military members on the Capitol steps for the holiday. The program will include remarks from state leaders, a special musical performance, a 21-gun salute and a wreath and flag display. When: Monday, May 26, at 10 a.m. Where: Utah State Capitol, 350 S. State, in Salt Lake City Cost: Free Run in honor of fallen military members in American Fork. The race will begin with a military salute and the national anthem. The course will take runners around the city and promises to be a powerful reminder of the 'why' behind Memorial Day. Race options include a 10K, 5K, Memorial Mile and Kid's Fun Run. Each participant will receive a patriotic shirt and a finisher medal. Registration to participate in each race will remain open until 60 minutes prior to the start of the run or until it is sold out. The city will also host a fireman's breakfast and Memorial Day program on Monday morning that is open to the public. When: Monday, May 26 — Races start at 8 a.m. and breakfast is from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Where: Races at 100 E. Main in American Fork; breakfast at 96 N. Center Street in American Fork Cost: Races range from $29.95 to $59.95; breakfast ranges from free (for veterans) to $10. Larkin Mortuary will host its 26th annual Memorial Day service in remembrance of fallen soldiers and appreciation for veterans and active military members. Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson will attend the event as a guest speaker, and the Hill Air Force Base Honor Guard will conduct a flag ceremony. The program will also feature patriotic music, including armed service songs representing each military branch, and light refreshments. When: Monday, May 26, at 10 a.m. Where: Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery, 1950 E. 10600 South in Sandy Cost: Free, but you can register online to help Larkin get a head count of how many people to expect. Herriman's annual Memorial Day festivities include a community breakfast and ceremony to remember the purpose of the holiday. Breakfast includes pancakes, ham and hash browns, with juice and coffee to wash it all down. Breakfast will be served from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. for $10 while supplies last. American Legion Post 140, the Riverton-based chapter of a national veterans organization, will lead the ceremony, which begins at 9 a.m. Attendees can expect patriotic music, a speaker, the reading of veterans' names, a 21-gun salute and a performance of 'Taps.' When: Monday, May 26, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Where: Breakfast at Main Street Park, 5900 W. 13000 South; ceremony at the Herriman City Cemetery, 12465 S. Pioneer Street in Herriman Cost: Breakfast is $10 per plate; the ceremony is free to the public Enjoy a discounted skate day to celebrate the holiday. Patrons can receive $2 off skating for the entire day by using the code MDSK825 when purchasing tickets. When: Monday, May 26, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Where: Skate Loop at Millcreek Common, 1330 East Chambers Avenue in Millcreek Cost: All-day pass is $7
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What John Adams and his family can teach America today, according to this presidential historian
In late March, Kurt Graham gave the Howard R. Driggs Memorial Lecture at Southern Utah University, telling students about his own personal Mount Rushmore, which would feature presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Harry S. Truman and George W. Bush. 'I didn't pick these presidents because I think they're the best presidents we've ever had,' Graham said, adding, 'Although you can make a case for some of them, they're certainly not the worst presidents we ever had.' He picked them, Graham likes to joke, 'by sheer accident of my career.' He has, at one time or another, been the director of each man's presidential library, a vocation he did not envision when he was studying English as an undergrad at Brigham Young University. It has been an unexpected journey for the Wyoming native who's crisscrossed the country multiple times for work in service to history, and the Founding Fathers' ideals. After directing the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, and then the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, Graham spent nearly a decade in charge of Harry Truman's library in Kansas City, Missouri. He later went on to serve as the interim director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas, Texas, and then, last year, relocated to New England after becoming the founding president of the Adams Presidential Center in Quincy, Massachusetts. It's a landmark role, stewarding the memory of one America's most influential Founding Fathers, and also that of Adams' son, the sixth president of the United States. The timing could not be better, either, as the work coincides with preparations for the United States' 250th anniversary next year. 'There is nothing like the American founding. The revolution is unlike any other event in the history of the world, because it didn't just change the lines on a map, it changed the whole society. … All of a sudden, 'all men are created equal.' That's insane. That is absurd,' Graham told me. 'If that's not exceptional, what is it?' Boston traffic is notoriously bad, and Graham twice offered to meet outside of Quincy, the town where John Adams wrote the Massachusetts Constitution and where he lived with his wife, Abigail, in a house they named 'Peace field.' When I declined, he gave me advice on parking in the dense town center to make the process a little easier. We met for lunch at a Japanese restaurant a block away from the Hancock Adams Common, a promenade linking the town's historical sites and lined with statues of the Founding Fathers. He is 6 feet, 3 inches tall, and at 58, exudes the presence of an executive or statesman with a distinguished salt-and-pepper gray spreading around his temples. A youthful smile is quick to appear and is quite disarming. But it's his professorial characteristics and his passion for presidential history that are the lasting impressions. Graham grew up in Cowley, Wyoming, a town with fewer than 900 residents, close to the Montana border. His father was in the Navy, and so the family moved around, but they called Wyoming home. While neither of Graham's parents went to college, they were both smart and made sure their two boys would get a quality education. 'A monarch can rule over a corrupt people, but a republic can't. You can't have a corrupt citizenry and have a virtuous republic.' Kurt Graham A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Graham went to Brigham Young University, where after his undergraduate degree, he stayed to do graduate work in American studies. Afterward, he earned a Ph.D. at Brown University, studying under one of the greatest scholars of American history, Gordon Wood. Wood's focus is on the founders and the Revolutionary War period. He also happens to be the historian referenced in the film 'Good Will Hunting' when the character Matt Damon plays belittles a smug Harvard student in a Cambridge bar, saying, 'You're gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talking about ... the pre-Revolutionary utopia.' One of the many things Wood is known for is illuminating James Madison's notion of the 'disinterested man.' In an essay in 'Toward a More Perfect Union: Six Essays on the Constitution,' Wood parsed out the debate between the Federalists, who wanted a larger federal government, and the Anti-Federalists, who were opposed. Madison, a Federalist, struggled with what he took to be petty priorities of the Virginia Legislature, believing that the people needed to elect 'disinterested' men to help govern toward the higher ideals of a democratic government. '(The founders) called it 'disinterestedness' ... not someone who was uninterested, it was someone who is impartial,' Graham said. 'A republican citizen, a leader, is someone who can rise above the fray and make a decision for the public good even if it's against your own self-interest … it's for the good of the whole society.' Graham said that the founders banked on that sense of civic decency and virtue in the way they designed the government. 'A monarch can rule over a corrupt people, but a republic can't,' he said. 'You can't have a corrupt citizenry and have a virtuous republic.' Which is part of the reason why he believes that the Adams Presidential Center is such a timely effort. 'No matter what your persuasion is, no matter what you're thinking, nor whatever candidate you wish you could vote for, the thoughtful, careful, informed approach that the founders took is what's missing,' he said. 'The more we can remind ourselves that we are and want to be like the Adams, the Washingtons, the Jeffersons and Madisons of the world, that is important.' The Adamses, Graham said, are the only family within the founding generation whose legacy was not tainted by slavery. John and Abigail Adams fully believed that 'all men are created equal,' and John Quincy was so dedicated to abolitionism that he died arguing against slavery on the floor of Congress. 'We're really trying to focus on those values and the motives that the Adams had, because their sense of patriotism, duty and morality led them to public service,' Graham said. It's a rare opportunity for Graham as the center is being built from the ground up and is the first honoring the Adams family and, as such, is something of a blank canvas. Graham is ushering in a new point of access for scholars and history buffs, and — perhaps most importantly — educators and students of all ages. 'Anyone who loves their country is a patriot. Believe it or not, people who think differently than you, who vote differently than you, who have completely different ideas about the way we should conduct our public policy — they're patriots." Kurt Graham The center will remind everyday folks of the Adams family's role in defining the thing that Graham thinks actually makes America exceptional: taking the radical idea of republicanism, which declared that men could govern themselves, and creating out of it an original and functional form of government. 'We've always been proud of the fact that in America we show that we are capable of governing ourselves,' Graham said. 'Will that always be true? I don't think we can take that for granted, and I think that Adams' warnings are incredibly timely.' 'Remember Democracy never lasts long,' wrote John Adams in 1814. 'It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself.' The primary focus of the center, which does not yet have a location, is to both develop and share educational programming — everything from teacher training and youth leadership seminars to school-bound curriculum materials and lecture series. Events have already begun, with some in Massachusetts and more currently being organized. The center will also be the home of the Educating for American Democracy initiative, a consortium dedicated to strengthening and funding civics education. 'We wanted to use (the Adams family's) example of leadership, sacrifice, public service, and citizenship to inspire the next generation,' said retired Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Graham's boss, as the chairman of the Adams Presidential Center board of directors. 'For young people, we really want to help them on their journey toward critical thinking, citizenship and finding a way to serve something greater than themselves, whether it's in public service or just community service.' Graham's recent lecture in Cedar City was a meditation on the ideals of character, patriotism and public service. He highlighted the character of each man on his personal Rushmore: Bush, ever the problem solver, whose legacy is wrapped up in 9/11 even though his other accomplishments include an international program combatting AIDS; Truman's decisiveness toward Israel, ending a war by any means necessary and desegregating the military; John Quincy Adams and his lifelong diplomacy toward equality and sovereignty (he was the primary author of the Monroe Doctrine); and John Adams' fight for freedom, and the first peaceful transition of power. Graham defines patriotism in sharp contrast to nationalism. 'Patriotism, by its very definition, is diverse, it's inclusive, nobody has a lock on it. Anyone who loves their country is a patriot,' he said. 'Believe it or not, people who think differently than you, who vote differently than you, who have completely different ideas about the way we should conduct our public policy — they're patriots.' 'If there's a formula here, it's that patriotism plus character equals public service,' Graham said. That notion of public service and what it takes is important to Dunford, too. The general believes that the Adams Presidential Center can help Americans better understand their role as a citizen. 'Having finished 42 years of active duty in public service, my own view is that from time to time we become a bit complacent about our democracy, we take what we have for granted and we spend a lot of time focusing on the problems of the day,' Dunford said. 'Sometimes we don't look back and reflect on the journey that we're on. We are in pursuit of a more perfect union.' Graham published his Ph.D. thesis on the first federal judiciary as his first book, 'To Bring Law Home.' (He's currently writing another one, about the 'Jefferson Bible,' a version of the Bible in which Jefferson removed all of the miracles that had been recorded in scripture.) When he took his first museum-related job at the Buffalo Bill Center, leaving a teaching position at California State University, San Bernardino, it was a risk to leave academia and return to his home state, but he's never regretted the decision, and has had the support of his wife and five children, who range in age from 12 to 30. This current post feels something like a homecoming. 'Certainly, I identify readily and fully as a Westerner,' he said. But he also feels deeply connected to New England — especially Quincy, Massachusetts, which he refers to as the 'intellectual epicenter of the American Revolution.' (He pronounces Quincy properly, like a local — kwin-ZEE, not kwin-see.) Since the 2024 election, Graham has avoided broadcast news. Partisanship and polarization make him tense. It's not that he doesn't love his country or have a stake in national issues — he is passionate about local matters and local news. It's just that he thinks there are deeper subjects to consider than what is trending. 'I feel like my own health and my own attitude about the world is better when I think about how things were controversial and difficult before,' said Graham. 'But, I don't know, I find living in the 1790s kind of refreshing. 'They had knock-down, drag-outs, but they were substantive in how they sought to solve those problems,' Graham said. 'I'm not sure we are.' Adams and Jefferson, who debated and disagreed with one another, not only stayed friends, but came to their debates from a place of thoughtfulness, he noted. They were in conversation with each other, but also in conversation with the likes of 'Cicero, Rousseau, Aristotle, Locke and Hume.' Their perspectives, so dedicated to education, bred understanding, decency and a common concern that Graham thinks is supremely important for successful democracies. 'There was this big conversation, and big questions with big consequences being asked, and they wanted to engage in that.' As does Graham. The Adams Center is envisioned as an outlet that will help foster history and civics education, and rekindle these bigger conversations about virtue, liberty, knowledge and duty bringing them back to the forefront of American minds. A people lucky and hard-working enough to self-govern — again, what makes America exceptional. The American founding, Graham reiterates, is 'unique, it's sui generis, they created something out of nothing — if you will, something new under the sun. And yet, we just take that for granted.' He's hoping his new mission will change that. Graham did not set out to do this line of work — he says he's 'quit a lot of good jobs to get here' — but he does know one way he can participate in the centuries-old notion of civic duty. 'I've just come to the personal conclusion,' he said, 'that my contribution to my country is to build the Adams Presidential Center.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The nation's geothermal potential stalls in federal bureaucracy
As the nation seeks to unleash energy production, geothermal has been a high-profile source of attention for multiple presidential administrations because it is clean and renewable, but the average American doesn't seem to know about it. Geothermal energy is a renewable resource that comes from heated rocks and liquids stored deep in the Earth. When that energy is released naturally to the earth's surface, hot springs, geysers and volcanoes form — typically near tectonic plates. Geothermal power plants generate electricity by drilling deep into the earth to access the hot solid or liquid below. If happens when solid, cold water is poured down to create steam, which rotates a turbine that then powers a generator, producing electricity. 'In the coming years, the United States will face unprecedented growth and energy demand as we race to win the AI war against China and bring gigawatts of new data center capacity online, and an all-of-the-above approach for energy development is the only option we have to move forward,' Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., said Monday during a field hearing for the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources hosted by Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy and Southern Utah University. Geothermal power, he said, will help meet those needs. The U.S. Department of Energy predicts that human-made geothermal energy, or enhanced geothermal systems, could ultimately power over 65 million homes and businesses in the states, and will be 'the next frontier for renewable energy deployment.' It is arguably the least polarizing renewable energy option across political party lines as it is viewed as one of the most practical solutions to the United States' energy demand, and Utah is considered a hotbed of geothermal opportunity. Utah is third in the nation for its production of utility-scale electricity derived from geothermal energy, behind California at No. 1 and Nevada, which takes second place. The only issue: The best places to build power plants are on federally owned land. 'Even when the geology is ideal, it can take years to get a green light to drill. In states like Utah, where so much promising geothermal potential lies beneath federally managed lands, the permitting backlog is especially problematic,' Maloy said Monday. She and two of her Republican colleagues, Stauber and Rep. Nicholas Begich, R-Alaska, held the field hearing, 'Letting Off Steam: Unleashing Geothermal Energy Development on Federal Land,' discussing with energy developers and experts the barriers to developing geothermal energy on federally owned land. Getting land permits for energy purposes from the Bureau of Land Management is not a new process. In fact, geothermal energy was the first type of renewable energy that the BLM approved for production on public lands in 1978. The issue is timing. 'We need smart federal policy,' Tim Latimer, CEO of Fervo Energy and witness during Monday's hearing, said. 'Today, 90% of geothermal resources lie on federally managed land, but permitting can take up to a decade, much longer than equivalent wind, solar, oil and gas projects. That needs to change.' Federal permits can take upward of 10 years to be granted, and that doesn't include litigation, Stauber warned. That's why bipartisan bills like Sen. Mike Lee's co-led Geothermal Energy Optimization (GEO) Act and Utah Sen. John Curtis' Geothermal Energy Opportunity (GEO) Act (same name different legislation) or Maloy's Full Responsibility and Expedited Enforcement (FREE) Act have been pushed at the federal level to 'streamline the federal permitting process' and 'establish a permit-by-rule system.' Efforts are continually being facilitated. An April auction from the Bureau of Land Management in Utah brought in $5.6 million for 14 parcels of land for leases and potential development. Paul Thomsen, vice president Of business development at Ormat Technologies, Inc., and longtime geothermal energy advocate, emphasized that despite all the efforts made — not to discredit them — the interagency conflicts add to the issue of long-delayed permits. For the last four years, he said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has put the Department of Interior under threat of lawsuit for granting geothermal permits at the expense of certain fish species. 'We shouldn't have regulatory capture due to the threat of litigation,' he said, 'So we urge the committee to address the interagency conflicts that hinder geothermal energy exploration.' Maloy inquired whether expedited geothermal energy permitting could still be carried out in an environmentally safe manner if it were approved. Thomsen was 'very confident' it could be. 'One of the amazing things about geothermal is it has a footprint disturbance 22 times smaller than solar with integrated storage,' he added. 'We can move the geothermal power plants. We can move the wells and so forth to make them as benign as possible for the surrounding environment. Couple that with no emissions and base load power, the environmental footprint of these facilities is astonishing.' Contributing: Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
New York helicopter crash pilot was former Navy Seal
Sean Johnson, who piloted the helicopter which plunged into the Hudson River in New York, was a 36-year-old former Navy Seal. According to a picture on his Facebook page, posted only weeks ago, he had moved to the city to advance his aviation career. Mr Johnson was one of six people to die in the accident. The other five, including three children, were a Spanish family on the sightseeing tour. His Facebook page showed footage of him at the controls of a Bell 206 helicopter - the same model which plummeted into the river. 'When it all comes together,' he wrote on the page. Friends added on the page that he was 'living the dream'. Originally from Chicago, Mr Johnson had also lived in Salem, Massachusetts, and Virginia and Montana where he had worked on two different helicopters. Prior to that he had a varied career, including working as a bodyguard as well as a spell in the TV industry. He had studied commercial piloting at Southern Utah University and according to his Facebook profile, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a Daytona Beach, Florida institution specialising in aerospace. Mr Johnson began flying helicopter tours after obtaining his commercial licence in 2023. His first employer was in Chicago. Before that, he operated larger helicopters, flying rescue missions in California and also working on agricultural projects. Friends paid tribute to his cheerful personality with a penchant for cracking jokes. But when it came to flying helicopters, Mr Johnson's colleagues said he was meticulous. 'He was the type to cross his T's and dot his I's,' a friend, Bobbie Rose-Smith, told the New York Times. She added that he used his qualifications as a helicopter pilot to travel around the US, joining New York Helicopters ferrying tourists above the city's world-famous breathtaking skyline. 'He never took his job lightly,' she said. 'No matter where he was or what he was flying, he was going to know that helicopter inside and out.' Credit: Bruce Wall The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but family and friends dismissed any suggestions that pilot error could have been involved. 'He's the person you want in that pilot seat,' Louis Johnson, the pilot's father said. 'He was committed, and he knew what he was doing. He was not new to this at all.' The sentiment was echoed by Laith Mugrabi, one of Sean Johnson's brothers-in-law in the New York Times. 'He knew what he was doing,' Mr Mugrabi added. 'I went up flying with him in a heartbeat because I trusted him.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
12-04-2025
- General
- Telegraph
New York helicopter crash pilot was former Navy Seal
Sean Johnson, who piloted the helicopter which plunged into the Hudson River in New York, was a 36-year-old former Navy Seal. According to a picture on his Facebook page, posted only weeks ago, he had moved to the city to advance his aviation career. Mr Johnson was one of six people to die in the accident. The other five, including three children, were a Spanish family on the sightseeing tour. His Facebook page showed footage of him at the controls of a Bell 206 helicopter - the same model which plummeted into the river. 'When it all comes together,' he wrote on the page. Friends added on the page that he was 'living the dream'. Originally from Chicago, Mr Johnson had also lived in Salem, Massachusetts, and Virginia and Montana where he had worked on two different helicopters. Prior to that he had a varied career, including working as a bodyguard as well as a spell in the TV industry. He had studied commercial piloting at Southern Utah University and according to his Facebook profile, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a Daytona Beach, Florida institution specialising in aerospace. Mr Johnson began flying helicopter tours after obtaining his commercial licence in 2023. His first employer was in Chicago. Before that, he operated larger helicopters, flying rescue missions in California and also working on agricultural projects. Friends paid tribute to his cheerful personality with a penchant for cracking jokes. But when it came to flying helicopters, Mr Johnson's colleagues said he was meticulous. 'He was the type to cross his T's and dot his I's,' a friend, Bobbie Rose-Smith, told the New York Times. She added that he used his qualifications as a helicopter pilot to travel around the US, joining New York Helicopters ferrying tourists above the city's world-famous breathtaking skyline. 'He never took his job lightly,' she said. 'No matter where he was or what he was flying, he was going to know that helicopter inside and out.' The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but family and friends dismissed any suggestions that pilot error could have been involved. 'He's the person you want in that pilot seat,' Louis Johnson, the pilot's father said. 'He was committed, and he knew what he was doing. He was not new to this at all.' The sentiment was echoed by Laith Mugrabi, one of Sean Johnson's brothers-in-law in the New York Times. 'He knew what he was doing,' Mr Mugrabi added. 'I went up flying with him in a heartbeat because I trusted him.'
