Access Utah

Temple Grandin is noted for autism and for her groundbreaking work on many of the nation's slaughterhouses - making them more humane. She is Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University and has authored numerous books and papers on autism and agriculture. On Science Questions, she discusses the latest brain research on autism.

Last month President Obama issued executive orders on immigration that will impact nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Those who have been in the United States for at least the past five years, with no criminal history, and in many cases with familial relationships to American citizens, will no longer face deportation from the United States.

UPR Reporter Melissa Allison’s recent story is headlined “Brown Lawns Popular in Blanding.”

When his new step-daughter is kidnapped during a visit to the Grand Canyon, archeologist Chuck Bender faces up to his secret past and his unfamiliar family-man role as he confronts every parent's worst nightmare--a missing child. In Tony Hillerman fashion, “Canyon Sacrifice,” a new novel by Scott Graham, (Torrey House Press) explores the rugged western landscape, the mysterious past of the ancient Anasazi Indians, and the modern Southwest's ongoing cultural fissures. “Canyon Sacrifice” is the first book in a National Park Mystery Series.

Are corporations people? The U.S. Supreme Court says they are, at least for some purposes. Monday, in part two of our series, we’ll look at the impact of the U. S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling which allowed corporations and unions to spend freely in political campaigns. We’ll also examine the subsequent Move To Amend effort which seeks to overturn that ruling.

In 1961, Helen Andelin, housewife and mother of eight, languished in a lackluster, twenty-year-old marriage. A religious woman (Mormon) she fasted and prayed for help. As she studied a set of women's advice booklets from the 1920s, Andelin had an epiphany that not only changed her life but also affected the lives of millions of American women. She applied the principles from the booklets and found that her disinterested husband became loving and attentive. He bought her gifts and hurried home from work to be with her.

A new 800-page study released by the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office argues that Utah could afford the management costs that would come with acquiring the more than 30 million acres of public lands now controlled by the federal government. (Elaine Taylor UPR)

Benjamin Franklin conceived of it. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle endorsed it. Winston Churchill campaigned for it. Kaiser Wilhelm first employed it. Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt went to war with it, and the United States fought an energy crisis with it.

We know that UPR listeners are avid readers. We’ve had a lot of fun on past episodes of AU, putting together UPR Book Lists, and it’s time to do it again. What are you reading? You may have discovered a must-read book that we’d all enjoy. We’re looking for everything from fiction, non-fiction, and classic literature to young adult and children’s books. It might even be a textbook or manual that you recommend.

StoryCorps promotes the day after Thanksgiving as a National Day of Listening, saying that listening, sharing and recording stories of family members and friends is the least expensive but most meaningful gift you can give this holiday season. Access Utah has promoted this concept for a few years now, and Wednesday we’ll continue the tradition. We’ll invite you to share your story.

We’ve had some time now to see how the Affordable Care Act is working. On Tuesday’s AU we’ll ask you what your experience has been and what you think about the ACA going forward. The Utah Health Policy Project’s annual policy conference coming up on December 2nd is titled “Is It Working? Taking the Pulse on Health Reform in Utah.” The conference will tackle several questions: Which states are succeeding? What’s different about the 2015 marketplaces? What should Utah do to cover the Medicaid expansion coverage gap?

Are corporations people? The U.S. Supreme Court says they are, at least for some purposes. NPR’s Nina Totenberg reports that in the past four years, the high court has dramatically expanded corporate rights. It ruled that corporations have the right to spend money in candidate elections, and that some for-profit corporations may, on religious grounds, refuse to comply with a federal mandate to cover birth control in their employee health plans.

One in 30 children in U.S. are homeless according to new report by national center of family homelessness released this week. Today on the program author Walter Biondi joins host Sheri Quinn to discuss what its like being a homeless teen in America and how he was able to go from a street kid to a U.S. Interpol Chief and author.

Brooke and Terry Tempest Williams came across a copy of British nature writer Richard Jefferies’ autobiography “The Story of My Heart” in a small Maine bookstore. The beautiful volume intrigued them and inspired a journey: they traveled to England in order to learn more about the 19th-century nature essayist, to wander the countryside which so inspired and captivated him.

President Obama is demanding that the FCC reclassify the Internet as a public utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. He wants rules to ensure “that neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online."

After nine years of keeping his prostate cancer at bay, the drugs were no longer working. The doctors told him his time was nearly up. So Jeff Metcalf dove deep into writing, tasking himself with writing one essay each week for a year. His new book “Requiem for the Living” contains the best of the resulting fifty-two essays by an author who continues to defy his medical prognosis. The essays form a memoir of sorts, recounting good times and critical moments from Metcalf’s life.

NPR Science Correspondent Joe Palca set out to become a college professor and ended up on the radio. He’s in Logan for several events for UPR and USU and he’s Tom Williams’ guest for the hour on Friday’s AU. They’ll talk about the art of reporting on science and the fascinating stories he has covered, including a story from Utah about the dangers of household sponges.

The Greater Sage-Grouse is an iconic symbol of the American West. They thrive in healthy sagebrush ecosystems in prime grazing land. Their population numbers are declining in states across the west. Utah has a population of roughly 20,000 Greater Sage-Grouse and efforts are currently underway to work with private land owners to help protect the bird and preserve the environments they inhabit. An international forum about wildlife management of the Greater Sage-Grouse is taking place in Salt Lake City today and Friday.

Jim Steenburgh says that for many who come to our state, powder is more than snow. It is a way of life.

What happens when newcomers from the suburbs move into farm country? Or when small-scale backyard farmers in cities or suburbs want to continue or begin operations against neighborhood opposition? Sometimes conflicts ensue. How should these be handled?