News

The Navajo Nation now has the authority to access the assessment data of Navajo students throughout Utah.  Navajo representatives joined state education officials this morning to sign a memorandum of understanding that will help the two entities cooperate in sharing the data. 

For years federal privacy laws barred Navajo Nation education officials from accessing student-specific achievement data because it wasn’t considered a state agency. But recent changes to the law have made tribal education agencies eligible.  

  The University of Utah College of Law is hosting the annual Stegner Symposium this week, focusing on Religion, Faith and the Environment. Increasingly, people of faith are citing their beliefs as a major motivation for protecting the environment and caring for those at the margins of society.

Utah’s Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee voted no today on a motion to proceed with legislation in the U-S Senate that could alter regulations for buying and owning guns. 

Utah’s first Microsoft store opened its doors Thursday at City Creek Center. Customers were greeted with high fives and cheers at the door. Some came for the giveaways and free concert tickets, but Kelly McClean of Salt Lake City says she came out of curiosity. 

“I’d never heard of a Microsoft store before, so I thought I’d come and check it out,” McClean says. 

More Salt Lake City residents are recycling glass since curbside pickup started last fall. Today city officials celebrated the grand opening of a new facility that will increase the city’s capacity to process the glass and yield a more sustainable end product. 

UTA debuts its new TRAX line to the airport, Chevron begins cleanup in Willard Bay, and a U of U researcher is getting an up close and never before seen view snowflakes.

The new TRAX line that transports riders to and from Salt Lake International Airport is scheduled to open this Sunday. Reporters were invited to ride the train this morning. 

Imagine flying into Salt Lake City for the first time, exiting the terminal, boarding a train and taking in a view of the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountains at 60 miles per hour.  Steve Meyer, Chief Capital Development Officer for Utah Transit Authority says that’s a great way to enter the community.

A University of Utah researcher is taking pictures of snowflakes in a way that’s never been done before and the results could help forecasters better predict the weather.

If you’ve ever seen a picture of a snowflake it probably looked a lot like the paper cut-outs made every winter by thousands of first and second graders across the country: unique, but perfectly symmetrical and flat. But according to Tim Garrett, an atmospheric science professor at the U who helped develop a new way to photograph snowflakes, that image is a lie.

The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce calls out Utah’s Senators for their inaction on immigration reform, Utah’s Attorney General sends a letter to Congress encouraging immigration reform, and the Ogden-Hinckley Airport control tower will stay open, for now.

The Ogden-Hinckley Airport Control Tower will stay in operation at least until June 15th following a last minute decision by the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday. Federal budget cuts due to sequestration are threatening 149 similar operations across the country because contractors run the towers. Royal Eccles is the airport manager in Ogden. He says his issue isn’t so much with Congress as it is with the FAA.

Utah Attorney General John Swallow is encouraging Congress to enact immigration reform.  Swallow is part of a bipartisan group of 35 Attorney Generals who sent a letter to federal leaders calling for reform that improves the immigration system, keeps communities safe and protects borders. 

Swallow says drug crime, identity theft issues, and gangs tied to illegal immigration are threatening Utah’s safety and economy.

Business leaders in Utah say they’re disappointed in the state’s two U.S. Senator’s for trying to delay comprehensive immigration reform while the economy suffers. But Republican Senator’s Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee say they’re not ready to back a catch-all bill, especially if it contains a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Congress returned from Spring break this week with immigration reform at the top of the agenda. Salt Lake Chamber President and CEO Lane Beattie says for members of Utah’s delegation to say they need more time is ridiculous.

Salt Lake City launches a new bike sharing program, outdoor businesses call on the president to protect land around Utah’s national parks, and a wind storm brings gusts up to 50 miles an hour to the Wasatch front.

Outdoor businesses and conservation groups are calling on the federal government to protect the land in and around Utah’s parks. 29 organizations sent a letter Monday to President Barack Obama calling for lasting protections for state and national parks from overdevelopment. 

Salt Lake City officially launched its much-anticipated  bike share program today. It’s called GREENbike and it offers unlimited short-term trips between stations scattered across the city. 

GREENbike is not quite a rental system. With memberships ranging from $5 a day to $75 a year, users pick up a bike at one of the solar-powered kiosks. But instead of chaining it to a corral or storing it at an office, the user returns it to the nearest kiosk for someone else to use. 

Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz called for a piecemeal approach to immigration reform while speaking at the Hinckley Institute of Politics today. He says if you want to solve the overall problem you have to start by fixing legal immigration.

“You never ever solve this problem unless you fix legal immigration," he says. "I don’t care how big, far, wide your fence is, if you don’t fix legal immigration you never solve the problem.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds its annual general conference, a group of LDS women seek the priesthood, and the Utah State Office of Education questions what type of student data should be public.

The Utah State Office of Education is seeking the Attorney General’s opinion on what type of student data should be published. The board is asking the Attorney General to reconcile two state statutes they say cause the confusion. But not everyone believes a conflict exists.

Some argue classroom-level testing data allows the public to see how teachers perform. While others say the numbers could be read out of context. 

  Environmentalists who’ve been trying to stop a water pipeline from the Great Basin to Las Vegas are applauding a decision by Utah’s governor to reject an agreement between Utah and Nevada.

  KUER's Dan Nailen and Dan Bammes talk about Pioneer Theatre Company's production of The Odd Couple by Neil Simon as well as other entertainment options for the weekend.

Dan Nailen's entertainment weblog slcene.com

A Utah County woman with five young children may be deported to Mexico next week. But her family and community advocates are trying to stop that from happening. They met with representatives from Utah's congressional delegation Wednesday, pleading for help and for immigration reform. 

Brenda Guzman-Sandoval was arrested by Utah County Police on March 20th at her home in Orem.  Her 17-year-old brother Moices Guzman was there.

Democrats in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have launched a national organization to promote their political values. Leaders of LDS Democrats of America announced the development during a virtual press conference this morning . 

On the heels of the 2012 Presidential election and the so-called “Mormon moment,” LDS Democrats are looking to extend their reach. Robert Taber directed the national Mormons for Obama Campaign in 2012. He’s now chair of the newly-minted LDS Democrats of America, an outgrowth of the LDS Democrats caucus in Utah.

Dear KUER Listener,

Intermountain Health Care is fined more than $25 million dollars, Governor Herbert won’t be signing a water agreement with Nevada, and the USDA targets poverty in Southeast Utah.