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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Utah always best, or maybe just a little arrogant sometimes?
The Capitol in Salt Lake City is pictured on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Businessman and Utah Senate President Stuart Adams recently reminded America's other 49 states that 'Utah is the greatest state in the nation' due to its high ratings in 'management, the economy, and happiness.' Not only that, but the 'Rising Utah' project plans to grow Utah economically from being the current 'Crossroads of the West' (the title of which was already claimed by Indiana) to being the 'Crossroads of the World' just in time for the 2034 Winter Olympics games here. In his annual State of the State speech in 2024, Gov. Spencer Cox adopted a modernist Tower of Babel orientation. He said, 'Now is a time for building,' and 'We're not done doing big things. And we're not done building.' The key to Utah success is not education, apparently, but building: 'For 180 years and counting, Utahns have been building our way out of problems, even when things looked impossible.' In another nod to Utah's greatness, he said, 'Our home has become the envy of the earth.' However, Utah's young people, like elsewhere in the country, don't know much about how to work, having never seen or experienced a family farm in their lives. Nor do many high school graduates even want to work. Many are depressed and anxious and addicted to screen time. Wages are low; banks charge incredibly high interest rates on the working poor; corporations act like robotic authoritarian managers of worker lives; and many young people are afflicted with mental health issues keeping them from being productive workers. Too many lack college degrees and technology skills. The Salt Lake Chamber adds a lack of sophisticated workforce training, out of control housing prices, transportation shortfalls, and expensive energy to that list of challenges. How great is it to be a little bit better than one's neighbors at rowing a lifeboat if one is on the sinking American Titanic? Utah's state motto, 'Industry,' seems well tailored to its current boasting about being the best economy now and forevermore. On the other hand, we would be wise to learn from the state mottos of other jurisdictions across the country. Missouri has one particularly well suited for Utah to learn from: 'The welfare of the people is the highest law.' Utah has an aggravated problem of homelessness, poor historical commitment to civics education, and progress-blocking monopolies in its communications industries and political parties all harming the general welfare. North Carolina's motto could be put to good use in Utah: 'To be, rather than to seem.' In other words, let your actions do the talking, rather than constantly boasting of greatness. How about a little humility, Utah, rather than constantly publishing political administration mottos like 'Life Elevated,' and 'Keep Utah Great.' How about Oregon's motto, 'She flies with her own wings.' Wouldn't it be nice if Utah made it easier for women to get involved in leadership in corporate, government, and church affairs? Women have wings to fly if we just give them a runway to take off from. Instead, Utahns subscribe to the idea that 'childless cat ladies' are the bane of American life. They must be barefoot and chained to the refrigerator to be effective women. It might be a source of pride to point out as our local media does that Utah leads the nation in Halloween decorations, but is that the best way for women to be spending their time? Maryland's motto would be a good look for Utah if we could ever climb off our high horses: 'Strong deeds, gentle words.' A lot less bragging, more humility, and a lot more results would go a long way toward getting things done. Wouldn't it be nice to see not nearly so many Republican party advertisements of election candidates pointing rifles, firing them off into the blue, and reloading. 'Gentle words' people, not fireworks displays and visions of Second Amendment grandiosity. My grandmother has some advice for Utah's political leaders today. As a young woman at the turn of the 20th century over a hundred years ago, she sang in the Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City. She married an Idaho college graduate and moved back east where the couple got involved in worldly national corporate economic affairs on Wall Street in New York City. She often would say, 'If I could buy him for what he's worth, and sell him for what he thinks he's worth . . .' There are plenty of social issues to bring Utah down to earth, if it ever realizes its current value is not as great as it thinks: teen suicide; high divorce rates; a focus on luxury housing rather than affordable housing; what to do about gun control; a civically underinformed higher education system; plunging Medicaid availability; a dearth of union collective bargaining; how to humanely handle people in the country without documentation who commit crimes; whether to be banning books or tolerating them; how to deal with the current philosophy of making vaccines voluntary rather than mandatory; and how to build back trust in all three branches of government. Folks, 'The welfare of the people is the highest law.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Utah man accused of buying child porn used cryptocurrency. Authorities say it's the first known case
The office of the Utah Attorney General at the Capitol in Salt Lake City is pictured on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) A Utah man has been arrested in what the attorney general's office says is the state's first known case where cryptocurrency was used to purchase child sex abuse material. Christopher Merritt, 39, was charged in Salt Lake County's 3rd District Court last week with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, all felonies. The case was investigated by the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, stemming from a tip from the electronic trading platform Robinhood. According to Robinhood, cryptocurrency — specifically Bitcoin and Ethereum — had been transferred to a wallet linked to child sexual abuse material, commonly known as child pornography. A wallet is how cryptocurrency investors store their keys, which are essentially passwords giving the owner access to their investments, and allowing them to send and receive cryptocurrency. The attorney general's office said the transaction took place on the dark web, a corner of the internet that is not indexed by search engines, like Chrome or Safari, and can be accessed through specialized software. Though not illegal, the dark web is often associated with criminal activities, since it's easier to remain anonymous. An agent with the task force traced Merritt's cryptocurrency transactions and found that his cryptocurrency wallet had sent funds to another wallet that the Internet Watch Foundation had associated with child pornography, according to court documents. According to a probable cause statement, Merritt sent $321 to sites associated with child pornography. When officers served a warrant on Merritt's home, they searched his phone and found 'hundreds of videos and images of children' being sexually assaulted, according to court documents. Officers also found a Tor browser on his phone and computer, which is used to access the dark web. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Cox seeks to unite state agencies, organizations to strategize on Utah growth
New homes are under construction in Spanish Fork on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed an executive order on Wednesday bringing a handful of state agencies together to try and better manage the state's growth. The order creates the BUILD (Blueprint for Utah's Infrastructure, Land, and Development) Coordinating Council, tasked with streamlining efforts and long-term planning related to housing, transportation, water, energy, open space, recreation, air quality and quality of life. Utah routinely ranks among the country's fastest growing states, and the executive order is the latest example of elected officials trying to wrangle the population boom. 'As Utah evolves, everything from water use to transportation is affected,' Cox said in a statement on Wednesday. 'This council will help us combine efforts and make better decisions to maintain the quality of life that makes Utah exceptional.' According to the executive order, the council has five main responsibilities — creating a shared vision for Utah's future; making sure state agencies are aligned in their long-term plans; identifying ways to 'leverage state investments for greater impact'; and collaborating across state agencies to address growth. The council is also required to produce an annual report to the governor, lieutenant governor and Legislature. The order builds on a resolution passed by the Legislature earlier this year. Sponsored by Rep. Bridger Bolinder, R-Grantsville, HCR11 encourages state and local governments, as well as the private sector, to consider 'cross-issue growth impacts in decision-making processes.' 'A growing population means an increased demand for housing, transportation, water, energy, and open space and recreation,' Bolinder said earlier this year. 'Growth issues are interrelated and decisions on one issue often affect other growth-related issues.' The council will be made up of the following: The senior adviser for long-range planning, who also serves as the Utah planning coordinator and will act as the chair of the committee The senior adviser for housing strategy and innovation The Utah energy adviser The state homeless coordinator The executive director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget The executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity The executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources The executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation The executive director of the Utah Department of Public Safety The executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality The executive director the Utah Department of Heath and Human Services The commissioner of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food The commission will also include a number of representatives from higher education and local governments, like: The University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute Utah State University's Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air Southern Utah University's Utah Center for Rural Life Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Salt Lake City 2034 The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce The Utah League of Cities and Towns The Utah Association of Counties Envision Utah A rural region Association of Governments An urban region Association of Governments SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Utah creeps deeper into drought as long-term forecasts point to a hot summer
Trees line the banks where the Provo River Delta flows into Utah Lake on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Drought is starting to creep back into Utah on the heels of an average winter, with long-term forecasts pointing to an abnormally hot summer. According to the three month seasonal outlook from the National Weather Service, the Beehive State is expected to have above average temperatures through August. Meanwhile, the service says it's unclear whether there will be above or below average precipitation this summer — according to its models, there's an equal chance of both. 'Hotter doesn't always mean drier. We are right now showing for most of the state at about equal chances of average precipitation,' said Joel Williams, deputy director of the Utah Division of Water Resources, speaking to lawmakers earlier this week. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Those three month outlooks are not an exact science — but they do come amid increasingly bleak water conditions for much of the state. Despite an average snow year for northern Utah, the southern regions had a 'dismal' winter, Williams said. The snowpack for some basins in the southwest veered into unprecedented territory this winter and according to the Natural Resource Conservation Service, much of southern Utah remained below 45% of normal moisture. And across the state, drought is starting to rear its head again after two good years. This time last year, about 25% of the state was considered abnormally dry, while just 0.2% was in moderate drought — now, 39% of Utah is in severe drought, with 3% in extreme drought, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Just the high elevation areas of Utah, Salt Lake, Wasatch, Summit and Morgan counties, and a sliver of Box Elder County, are in the clear. The rest of the state is facing at least abnormally dry conditions. Most of Washington County is in extreme drought, extending into parts of Iron County. And Tooele, Juab, Millard, Beaver, Iron, Kane, Garfield, San Juan, Grand and Uintah counties all have areas in severe drought. 'The last two years of above average snowpack helped us but now we're starting to see the drought creep back in. And as we say in Utah, we're either in drought or preparing for the next one,' Williams said. Those conditions led Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to issue a drought-related emergency declaration, giving farmers in the state access to low-interest loans to help weather the dry conditions. Eligible farmers can apply for seven-year loans of up to $100,000 each, with two years of no interest and 2.75% interest thereafter, according to the department. Applications for the loans will be accepted until Oct. 23. The good news, Williams said, is Utah's reservoirs are in healthy shape. Across the state, reservoir levels are about 20% higher than normal, with nearly every reservoir in northern Utah above 80% capacity. Utah Lake, Strawberry, Jordanelle, Deer Creek, Rockport, Smith and Morehouse, Pineview and Starvation reservoirs are all around 95% or higher. 'Those full reservoirs that we have, those could really help us if we're heading into another drought,' said Williams.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Teacher misconduct reports are rising, but shortage of investigators causes backlog
A hallway at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in South Salt Lake is pictured on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Misconduct complaints against educators in Utah public schools have been on the rise during the first months of 2025, representatives of the Utah State Board of Education told legislators on Wednesday. But, requests for funding to hire more attorneys to review the cases have failed since 2023. The Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission (UPPAC), a panel that reviews and investigates complaints on educators to determine whether they get to keep their licenses, usually takes about 11 months until making a final decision. There are various reasons why a case may take a long time, Ben Rasmussen, executive secretary of UPPAC told the Education Interim Committee — it may be the time it takes to investigate it or reach an agreement with the educator's attorneys. The commission's staff capacity can also delay the process, and sometimes, whenever there are criminal charges involved, the panel waits for courts' decisions before taking disciplinary action. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Since Rasmussen started his role in 2015, the number of cases his office investigates has almost tripled, going from 63 to 173 in 2024. This year alone, the panel has already received 93 complaints. 'Leading up to the last couple of years, it was typical that UPPAC would review maybe 10 to 15 cases on a monthly basis,' Rasmussen said. 'Given changes in board rules that have increased requirements for (schools') reports and given increases in hotline complaints, you can see that it's not uncommon for us to be reviewing closer to 50 cases a month now.' During the discussion of the delays, committee chair Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, said she was already planning to submit a funding request to help clear out the backlog. Since 2015, the most frequent cases centered around 'boundary violations,' accounting for 222 allegations. That's followed by 'violence and discipline' with 150 cases, and 'miscellaneous ethical violations' with 118. 'The trend that I've seen increasing the most is getting cases in the 'violence and discipline category,' which is teachers that are generally getting hands on, to some extent, in their discipline of students or losing temper with students,' Rasmussen said. There were also 75 alleged sexual misconduct cases, 48 pornography allegations and 29 investigations of sexual harassment since 2015. Those were the ones that prompted lawmakers to study how schools address issues of child abuse and misconduct during this year's interim. According to the description in the committee's study list, legislators intend to review local and state discipline procedures, the process for background checks, and seek solutions to the cases backlog accumulated at UPPAC. Additionally, now that HB497, a bill the Legislature passed this year, is effective, the state requires the commission to create a system to address complaints 'in a timely and expedient manner.' That includes changing the way the commission prioritizes cases to ensure the safety of students. However, for the most serious violations, schools usually terminate educators before the case is referred to UPPAC. 'Most cases where it's like a sexual misconduct case or a serious student danger issue, these are cases where the (school) has removed the teacher from the classroom, and so that's usually not a priority,' Rasmussen said. 'But if that kind of case were still in the classroom, we would certainly prioritize that.' At the same time, while acknowledging the importance of kids' safety, lawmakers who are also educators questioned whether the process did enough to protect teachers who are later found innocent. 'Something that somebody has brought up to me more than one time is that they felt like it was very lopsided and that they didn't really have a voice in the process, and they felt that all of the questioning was very one-sided,' Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, said. Riebe also described the action of flagging licenses for potential misconduct in the state's credential database while an investigation is underway as 'really punitive.' 'It's kind of shocking that you'd be guilty the minute somebody brought you up on an accusation,' she said. Pierucci pushed back on that, arguing that whenever there's a serious allegation, especially of sexual abuse, the teacher should not be in the classroom anymore. 'I want to be really careful saying this isn't everyone, but there are some people who are dealing and interacting with their children that should not be there,' she said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
