Wednesday evening, November 27, 2019
Note: KUER will not publish News Briefs on Thursday, November 28 because of Thanksgiving Day. We wish you a safe and happy holiday.
STATE
New Compromise On Conversion Therapy Ban
LGBTQ+ activists and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have come together on a proposal to ban conversion therapy for minors. Gov. Gary Herbert announced Tuesday night that the two groups have agreed on a proposed rule to outlaw the widely-discredited practice of attempting to change the gender identity or sexual orientation of young people. Read the full story — Sonja Hutson
Utah’s Fertility Rate Declines
A report from the National Center for Health Statistics shows Utah’s fertility rates have fallen for the 11th consecutive year. With a birth rate of 2.026 births per woman, Utah has dropped below the theoretical “replacement level” of 2.1 births. Utah has also fallen behind states like South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska when it comes to fertility rates. — Caroline Ballard
REGIONAL/NATIONAL
Don’t Wash That Turkey
If you’re preparing turkey for Thanksgiving, stop before you put it under a faucet. A report from Kaiser Health News is reminding people not to wash their turkeys ahead of the holiday. Despite common misconceptions, washing raw meat and poultry can actually spread germs and bacteria to countertops, nearby utensils, hands and clothes. Cooking meat to a safe temperature is the only way to ensure germs are killed. For turkey and other poultry, that means 165 degrees. The USDA also urges people to store raw meat separately from other foods. Read the full story— Caroline Ballard
National Task Force On Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women
On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order establishing a task force on missing and murdered Indigenous people. The task force will develop new protocols for gathering data on the number of native americans who either disappear or become victims of homicide. This comes as the Senate moves to vote on a landmark bill addressing the issue. Indigenous women face some of the highest rates of violence and sexual assault in the nation. — Nate Hegyi, Mountain West News Bureau
Finding Solutions On The Navajo Nation
A newly-created US task force to study Missing and murdered indigenous women is a start, but it’s not enough. That’s according to Navajo Nation lawmaker Amber Crotty. She started her own group earlier this year to collect information about missing Tribal members, including children and men. To address the issue, they are compiling resources for families with missing loved ones and creating a database of all missing and murdered Navajo people. Preliminary numbers show almost double the number of men go missing than women and girls. — Kate Groetzinger, Gallup, N.M.