PUBLIC - The Salt Lake Tribune

Obama’s drone rules leave unanswered questions

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:46:33 MDT

Obama’s drone rules leave unanswered questions

By JULIE PACE The Associated Press

Updated May 24, 2013 08:46PM MDT

Washington • President Barack Obama left plenty of ambiguity in new policy guidelines that he says will restrict how and when the U.S. can launch targeted drone strikes, leaving himself significant power over how and when the weapons can be deployed. National security experts say it’s imperative to leave some room in the guidelines, given the evolving fight against terrorism. But civil rights advocates argue too little has been revealed about the program to ensure its legality, even as the pres...

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Charter schools

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:01:03 MDT

Charter schools

Updated May 24, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Re “Utah charter schools under new performance scrutiny” (Tribune, May 17): Charter schools maintain a sacred trust. In exchange for receiving public dollars, they care for and educate children. The Utah State Charter School Board maintains a trust, too. It holds charter schools responsible for the quality of education they provide, for managing taxpayer dollars and for complying with laws that protect the public’s interests. I commend the board for implementing new performance standards to ens...

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Holly refinery cuts pollution in updated expansion plan

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:31:08 MDT

Holly refinery cuts pollution in updated expansion plan

By Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 23, 2013 12:31AM MDT

Utahns will be asked soon to weigh in on HollyFrontier Corp.’s latest plans to expand its Woods Cross refinery — plans that include more pollution controls. The Utah Division of Air Quality is revisiting Holly’s expansion application, which this time includes new electric-powered compressor motors instead of natural gas-powered ones. The change, which Dallas-based Holly says will cut key air pollutants by 172 tons a year, is expected to beput out for public review beginning next month. “We are...

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Website sues Salt Lake County for booking photos

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:31:08 MDT

Website sues Salt Lake County for booking photos

By Mike Gorrell The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 23, 2013 12:31AM MDT

The operator of a website that publishes jail-booking pictures sued Salt Lake County on Tuesday for refusing his request for photographs of people admitted to the Salt Lake County Jail during 17 days in January. Kyle Prall and his company, Information Freedom, LLC, are asking a 3rd District Court judge to overturn a County Council decision April 9 that upheld Sheriff Jim Winder’s rejection of an application — through the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) — for 1,388 “mug shot...

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Group says Utah’s public lands takeover will harm schoolkids

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:31:29 MDT

Group says Utah’s public lands takeover will harm schoolkids

By Brian Maffly The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 23, 2013 12:31AM MDT

Salt Lake City teen Ethan Lake grew up climbing and exploring Utah’s mountains and canyons. But now the West High senior is concerned that such experiences will not be available to his own kids if state political leaders achieve their quest to take control of Utah’s public lands. “We are truly blessed with a beautiful natural environment,” Lake said Wednesday at a gathering in Liberty Park. “The governor is out of step with young people in Utah like me who grew up hiking and camping with their ...

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Anthony Weiner launches bid to become New York City mayor

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:00:35 MDT

Anthony Weiner launches bid to become New York City mayor

By JENNIFER PELTZ The Associated Press

Updated May 22, 2013 10:00AM MDT

NEW YORK • Anthony Weiner’s run for redemption is officially on. The ex-congressman whose career imploded in a rash of raunchy tweets two years ago said in a YouTube video announcement late Tuesday that he’s in the New York City mayoral race. He’d said last month he was considering it. “I made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot of people down, but I also learned some tough lessons,” he said in the video. “I’m running for mayor because I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those strug...

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

West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder won’t seek re-election

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:24:04 MDT

West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder won’t seek re-election

By Pamela Manson | The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 22, 2013 11:24PM MDT

West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder announced Wednesday that he will not run for a second term, citing the need for a full-time job so he can support his family — not recent scandals — as driving his decision. “Public service is always a sacrifice for a family, and in our city’s council-manager form of government, it is especially difficult to serve as mayor,” Winder said. “Although the pay is part-time, the duties of the job of mayor have daily demands that make other employment very difficult....

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Sugar House Streetcar vote continues to echo in City Hall

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:13:08 MDT

Sugar House Streetcar vote continues to echo in City Hall

By CHRISTOPHER SMART The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 22, 2013 07:13AM MDT

Was the Sugar House Streetcar alignment along 1100 East a fait accompli or the result of research and discourse? The Salt Lake City Council’s split 4-3 vote in favor of routing Phase II of the streetcar north along 1100 East from 2100 South to 1700 South appears to be years away from becoming reality. But the May 7 decision continues to reverberate in Sugar House and City Hall. A postmortem reveals the depth of a struggle between the administration of Mayor Ralph Becker and Sugar House residents...

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Utah governor: Grand bargain and state taking fed lands ‘complementary’

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:07:50 MDT

Utah governor: Grand bargain and state taking fed lands ‘complementary’

By Thomas Burr The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 21, 2013 09:07PM MDT

Washington • Gov. Gary Herbert backed the idea of a congressional “grand bargain” to solve the decades-old contentious public lands debate in Utah but he still says the federal government should hand over public lands to the state. Herbert said the two viewpoints aren’t contradictory, but are “complementary,” and that the state would still want to preserve some land and open other parts up to oil and gas drilling. “The only difference is that we’re suggesting the title of that property should b...

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Water at risk

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Water at risk

Updated May 21, 2013 01:01AM MDT

With a proposed new set of rules, the federal Bureau of Land Management took a step toward better regulation of energy industries that use fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, to extract fossil fuels on public lands and Native American tribal lands. But the regulations are too lax to give much comfort to those who fear fracking is permanently poisoning land and water supplies, endangering wildlife and the public. Each well uses between 2 million and 5 million gallons of fresh water that is perma...

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

Streetcar apathy

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Streetcar apathy

Updated May 21, 2013 01:01AM MDT

In “The public and SLC projects” (Opinion, May 14), Salt Lake City Councilman Charlie Luke says the city government’s failure to engage the public caused the outcry about the streetcar proposal. That is incorrect. For almost two years, Salt Lake City and its consultants diligently sought public comment on the streetcar route. But, paraphrasing Yogi Berra, if the people don’t want to participate, nobody’s gonna stop ’em. Limited participation was not government’s fault; it was the public’s choice...

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Millard School District, taxpayers group, to provide more evidence in open-meetings case

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:41:06 MDT

Millard School District, taxpayers group, to provide more evidence in open-meetings case

By Donald W. Meyers The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 20, 2013 08:41PM MDT

Fillmore • Two high school gymnasiums have been spared from demolition, at least until a judge decides whether Millard County school officials broke open-meetings law. Fourth District Judge James Brady continued an emergency restraining order Monday barring the Millard County School District from demolishing the gyms at Delta and Millard high schools. He also gave the district and Millard County Taxpayers for Responsible Government time to provide evidence before he rules on issuing a temporary...

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

Half of U.S. public pools contaminated by feces

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:37:38 MDT

Half of U.S. public pools contaminated by feces

By Anna Edney Bloomberg News

Updated May 20, 2013 10:37AM MDT

WASHINGTON • Human feces taints more than half of public swimming pools, a finding U.S. health officials are using to urge better personal hygiene as the summer months approach. E. coli, which indicates the presence of fecal matter, was detected in 58 percent of samples taken from pool filters by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to data released Thursday by the Atlanta-based agency. Pools frequented mostly by children were more likely to test positive for E. coli, w...

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

Hatch has plan to attack public-lands pot farms

Sun, 19 May 2013 16:24:45 MDT

Hatch has plan to attack public-lands pot farms

By Matt Canham The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 19, 2013 04:24PM MDT

Washington • Somewhere in the remote wilderness of southern Utah on land controlled by the federal government, members of a Mexican cartel are putting new marijuana plants in the earth in hopes of reaping a multimillion dollar harvest this fall. And it eats at the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Sue Thomas. “They have taken over our public lands. They have no stake in Utah,” she said. “They are here to use and abuse our public lands for their own profit,” she said. These illegal flash farms a...

Short takes on the news

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:32:41 MDT

Short takes on the news

Updated May 18, 2013 10:32AM MDT

The real world • The latest boogeyman striking fear and loathing in the hearts of Utah conservative Republicans is the Common Core educational standards. According to news reports, they were planning to consider a resolution at today’s party convention to oppose using the standards in Utah public schools. This is ridiculous. Utah’s education officials, along with those in most other states, adopted the standards in 2010 in a reasonable and good-faith effort to better prepare students for college...

Interim Southern Utah U. president named, public meetings set

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:39:28 MDT

Interim Southern Utah U. president named, public meetings set

By Lindsay Whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 19, 2013 05:39PM MDT

A former state higher education boss will serve as interim president at Southern Utah University during the search to replace Michael Benson, who is leaving to become president of Eastern Kentucky University. Richard Kendell, who takes over July 8, served as Utah’s commissioner of higher education for five years before retiring in 2007. Prior to that, he was deputy of public education under Gov. Michael Leavitt and superintendent of the Davis County school district. Kendell holds a bachelor’s d...

Comment sought on green waste recycling plan

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:57:52 MDT

Comment sought on green waste recycling plan

By Mike Gorrell The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 20, 2013 12:57PM MDT

Curbside green-waste recycling is scheduled to begin next year on a subscription basis in Salt Lake Valley communities served by the Wasatch Front Waste and Recycling District. But before the plan is finalized, the district’s board wants to hear what customers have to say about that idea and three other proposals, including one that lets people rent bulk waste disposal trailers again, albeit for a higher fee. A public hearing on those matters will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at district offices in ...

Public input invited on Utah tar sands mining proposal

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:44:47 MDT

Public input invited on Utah tar sands mining proposal

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 16, 2013 05:44PM MDT

The Bureau of Land Management is inviting public comment on an environmental assessment released this week concerning a proposal to lease about 2,100 acres in Uintah County for a tar sands mining operation. MCW Energy Group has said it expects to produce 250 barrels a day at the Asphalt Ridge site, a few miles south of Vernal, under an agreement with Temple Mountain Energy Inc., which will supply the ore. Of the total lease acreage, the BLM report anticipates that 540 acres on the east side of A...

Malnourished horses to be sold at public auction in Utah County

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:22:38 MDT

Malnourished horses to be sold at public auction in Utah County

By Jessica Miller The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 15, 2013 11:22PM MDT

A number of horses found sick and malnourished on a Spanish Fork ranch in February will be sold at a public auction next week. Fourth District Judge Fred Howard has ruled that the Utah County Sheriff’s Office can auction off the 70-80 horses seized from Trudy Childs, 59, and her son Rory Childs, 31. The two have each been charged with 20 counts of cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor, after Utah County Sheriff’s deputies found more than 100 horses on four different pastures that were mal...

Boomers need immigrants

Wed, 15 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Boomers need immigrants

By XXXXXX The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 15, 2013 01:01AM MDT

The Senate Judiciary Committee took up comprehensive immigration reform late last week. And, as expected, opponents are already rushing to derail it, arguing that any bill that legalizes the vast majority of undocumented immigrants in the United States will cost billions of dollars and place an unfair burden on taxpayers. Such arguments are merely scare tactics. There’s no doubt that granting citizenship to millions of immigrants 13 years from now, as the Senate bill would, will carry a cost, b...