Access Utah

Today on the program we explore the connection between fire, prehistory, and biodiversity with researchers in Nevada who reviewed anecdotal and anthropological data on the historical uses of fire in the Great Basin. Their literature review revealed how lessons learned from the uses of fire hundreds and thousands of years ago can improve modern land management practices.

Should Utah take federal money and expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act? Governor Herbert is pushing for expansion using $258 million in federal dollars.

Wednesday on AU we remember Ed Abbey, author of “The Monkey Wrench Gang” and “Desert Solitaire,” and consider his legacy. What is Abbey's relevance today? What is the status of the environmental movement today?

A while back, UPR listener Derek Butcher emailed us saying that he’s pleased that “UPR has devoted a fair amount of airtime to discussions of Utah's air quality...which is great because it's an important issue that affects all of us."

On Monday’s Access Utah we’ll not only talk about key writers of the Beat Generation--such as Allen Ginsburg, Philip Whalen, and Kenneth Rexroth, but we’ll hear their voices as well. John Suiter, author of “Poets on the Peaks,” a book about Beat poets and their experiences as fire lookouts in the Northwest during the 1950s, discovered some historic photographs and audio tapes during his research.

NASA and a team of four aerospace companies are ready for two missions that will propel humans into outer space. The space shuttle launch and Orion rocket are ready for launch towards deep space starting in early fall this year.

Living in the second-driest state in the U.S. most of us are closely attuned to water issues, especially as we face changes to our climate. Three experts at USU recently chose water as the topic of their TEDxUSU talks.

What’s the best way to involve people in the political process? Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney is in favor of the Count My Vote initiative, which would mandate a change to direct primaries to determine party nominees. He says that the current caucus and convention system excludes many people and rarely reflects how rank-and-file party members feel.

It’s a tradition that every year about this time “Evening in Brazil” presents a concert or two in northern Utah. And each year, we gather group members in UPR’s studio C to enjoy some great Bossa Nova and Samba on Access Utah. Linda Ferreira Linford, Christopher Neale, Eric Nelson and Mike Christiansen will join us with their music on Tuesday. We hope you will too, beginning at 9:00 a.m.

We’re putting more and more of our lives in the cloud. More and more our transactions are electronic. Which is convenient and fast. But is it safe? How secure is all that stuff in the cloud or moving around electronically, like your credit card information or your bank records?

Today on the program author Teresa Small from the Shoshone-Bannock tribe in Southeastern Idaho joins us to talk about her book "How To Love An Addict." It is a detailed personal account of her experience coping with a meth addicted son. Rather than write another tragic story, she says she chose to instead write her story as a "how to manual" for anyone wanting to change the situation they are in with an addict.

After two years of marriage, a gnawing feeling leads Belinda "Pecan" Morrow to suspect that getting married before the conclusion of her senior year in high school and after her father's sudden death--was a huge mistake. She packs up her few belongings and her baby girl and attempts to leave her husband, Ricky Morrow, an up-and-coming boxing sensation from Mississippi.

Moab is debating whether city tap water should be used for oil and gas drilling. Jon Kovash recently reported on this issue for UPR: “Moab has seen a drilling boom in the last two years, and many more wells are planned.

Author Ed Kociela has a knack for taking his readers behind closed doors and now walks you backstage to hang out with some of the biggest stars in rock 'n' roll history in "It Rocked! (Recollections of a reclusive rock critic).

Monday on Access Utah we feature an encore presentation of a program first aired in July 2013:

One of the most talked about species in Utah these days is the Greater Sage Grouse. This native, chicken-like bird, is at the forefront of controversy due to its unique mating ritual and its dwindling numbers in the west. As a result of its disappearance, the federal government is considering listing it is an endangered species, the state of Utah would like to avoid this and protect the bird on its own terms. Today on the program Sheri Quinn talks to USU Sage Grouse expert Dr. Terry Mesmer about the plight of this controversial bird.

Scott Hammond and his golden retriever, Dusty, are volunteer search and rescue workers with Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs. In his new book, “Lessons of the Lost: Finding Hope and Resilience in Work, Life, and the Wilderness,” Hammond says that wilderness can be unforgiving and dangerous, yet fill our souls with awe and wonder and that the wilderness is a classroom where we learn to survive, thrive and sometimes die.

Tamar Haspel, writing for the Washington Post, vividly describes the debate over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs,) “It’s not just genetic modification. We’re arguing about organics, honeybees, factory livestock, fishery depletion, aquaculture, yields, antibiotics, monocrops and chemicals. Some of these can be as polarizing as the most difficult social issues; there’s as deep a schism in the food community as there is in Congress.

The Utah Health Policy Project has been presenting “Health Care 101” events to show how the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is being implementing in Utah. Utah residents have until March 31st to enroll in new private insurance on healthcare.gov.

Gary Paul Nabhan is a nature writer, food and farming activist, and proponent of conserving the links between biodiversity and cultural diversity. He has been honored as a pioneer in the local food movement and seed saving community by Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, New York Times, Bioneers and Time magazine. As the W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems at the University of Arizona Southwest Center, he works with students, faculty and non-profits to build a more just, nutritious, sustainable and climate-resilient foodshed spanning the U.S./Mexico border.