Sonja Hutson
ReporterSonja Hutson is a politics and government reporter at KUER. She’s been reporting on politics ever since the 10th grade, when she went to so many school board meetings the district set up a press table for her. Before coming to Utah, Sonja spent four years at KQED in San Francisco where she covered everything from wildfires to the tech industry. When she’s not working, you can find her skiing, camping, or deeply invested in a 1000 piece puzzle.
-
The governor's monthly press conference, held on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022, touched on the Great Salt Lake, education and the pending transgender sports bill.
-
The latest version, passed along party lines by a House committee Monday, creates a commission to evaluate the issue on an athlete-by-athlete basis.
-
Utah lawmakers tackled election security, media rules and more this week.
-
The legislation would also require paper ballots in most cases and require video monitoring of ballot counting.
-
The resolution prevents credentialed journalists from accessing the Senate floor and hallways without permission from a ‘media designee’ or senator.
-
Low-income people would get a nonrefundable tax credit equal to 15% of the credit they get under the federal EITC.
-
Even though the top two House Republicans oppose a bill repealing the death penalty, they said it will still get a public hearing.
-
The bill also allows people to sue local governments for violating it.
-
The program to provide contraceptive medication was originally created for one year. It turned out to cost about half of what was expected.
-
The Utah Legislature spent its second week debating bills on education curriculum, tax cuts and no-knock warrants.
-
The legislation bans no-knock warrants to investigate misdemeanor charges. It also requires law enforcement officers to wear clothing that easily identifies them as police.
-
The legislation lays out four different levels of action depending on the 10-year average water level of the Great Salt Lake.