POLICY - The Salt Lake Tribune

Hilman headed to new health insurance cooperative

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:36:56 MDT

Hilman headed to new health insurance cooperative

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 17, 2013 10:36PM MDT

Longtime health care policy advocate Judi Hilman will leave her post as director of the Utah Health Policy Project in July to join a new nonprofit health insurance cooperative. Hilman helped found UHPP nearly eight years ago. Her departure was announced Friday. She is planning to move to Arches Health Plan to serve as vice president of consumer engagement and strategic partnerships. Arches is Utah’s first health insurance cooperative formed under the federal Affordable Care Act. Hilman will ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Judge lets Arizona policy on immigrant driver licenses stand

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:06:18 MDT

Judge lets Arizona policy on immigrant driver licenses stand

By JACQUES BILLEAUD The Associated Press

Updated May 16, 2013 07:06PM MDT

Phoenix • A judge on Thursday refused to halt Gov. Jan Brewer’s order that denies driver’s licenses for young immigrants in Arizona who have gotten work permits and avoided deportation under an Obama administration policy. The decision by U.S. District Judge David Campbell rejects the argument by immigrant rights advocates who said Brewer’s policy was unconstitutional because it’s trumped by federal law. Arizona’s refusal to view those in President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Ar...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Tooele County approves changes to retirement benefits

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:38:23 MDT

Tooele County approves changes to retirement benefits

By Cathy McKitrick The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 14, 2013 11:38PM MDT

Tooele • With cash flow evaporating in this sprawling county’s budget, Tooele County commissioners voted Tuesday to change the structure of retiree medical benefits. Speaking to a packed house, Commissioner Shawn Milne said they heard constituent concerns expressed two weeks ago and adjusted accordingly. “What we were proposing at that time was that all retirees be obligated to pay for 25 percent of their medical coverage, [and] ceasing coverage on dental and life insurance,” Milne said, “and ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

University of Utah reconsidering proposed skateboard ban

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:39:39 MDT

University of Utah reconsidering proposed skateboard ban

By Lindsay Whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 10, 2013 09:39AM MDT

The University of Utah will take another look at a proposed campus skateboard ban, officials said Thursday. The proposal to ban all recreational nonmotorized riding devices on campus — including bikes — won’t come before the university’s Board of Trustees later this month, said U. spokesman Keith Sterling. Instead, an executive committee for the school’s Academic Senate will review it again on June 17. That meeting is closed to the public. “I think the drafters of the policy wanted to respect...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

University of Utah weighing skateboard ban

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:20:12 MDT

University of Utah weighing skateboard ban

By Lindsay Whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 9, 2013 01:20PM MDT

University of Utah police are proposing new rules to curb dangerous skateboarding with a policy change that could disallow all recreational riding on campus, including bikes. “There are plenty of places to skateboard. Streets, sidewalks and parking structures on campus are not the place to do it,” said U. police Chief Scott Folsom. Increasingly, young boarders are coming up to campus to speed down the hill to the city, creating potential hazards and at least one collision where a professor was ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Washington Post: Tax reform on the table

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:26:04 MDT

Washington Post: Tax reform on the table

By The Washington Post

Updated May 8, 2013 04:26PM MDT

The following editorial appeared in Wednesday’s Washington Post: Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, announced last month that he wants to spend the rest of his final term in office reforming the tax code, and there are signs that Republicans want an overhaul this year, too. Good. The tax code is an unruly, inefficient monstrosity that only tax attorneys could like. Congress has used it as a vehicle for interest-group giveaways and other forms of wasteful, underhanded...

Analysis: Obama’s vow on chemical arms puts him in tough spot

Sat, 04 May 2013 20:11:40 MDT

Analysis: Obama’s vow on chemical arms puts him in tough spot

By PETER BAKER, MARK LANDLER, DAVID E. SANGER and ANNE BARNARD

Updated May 4, 2013 08:11PM MDT

Washington • Confronted with evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, President Barack Obama now finds himself in a geopolitical box, his credibility at stake with frustratingly few good options. The origins of this dilemma can be traced in large part to a weekend in August, when alarming intelligence reports suggested the besieged Syrian government might be preparing to use chemical weapons. After months of keeping a distance from the conflict, Obama felt he had to become more di...

Collins’ courage

Sat, 04 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

Collins’ courage

Updated May 4, 2013 01:01AM MDT

A profile in courage: NBA center Jason Collins publicly acknowledging that he is gay. He is now a positive example for gay youth and may save some precious lives in the process. A profile in cowardice: the Boy Scouts of America and any church or group that supports their policy of excluding adult gay leaders. Under this policy, Collins could not lead a Boy Scout troop. Think about it. Gail Turpin Cottonwood Heights