KVNU’s For The People

BloggingHeads

A great webcam debate from one of my favorite sites, bloggingheads.tv.  The topic is “A Divided America” and the role of religion in politics.  (Length 43:36)

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At Tuesday night’s Logan Municipal Council meeting, the council discussed “districting” the council, so that each member would be elected to represent a district.

KVNU’s Craig Hislop conducted an interview with Councilwoman Tami Pyfer and it will be heard on KVNU’s For the People tonight. The general consensus seems to be that of the five-member council, having three be elected by district and two at-large is the way to go for now.

I think districting is a good idea, but my opinion as far as having a hybrid at large/districted council is still being decided. What do you think?

-Tyler

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The new addition to the Logan Justice Building caught fire early Wednesday afternoon. Logan Fire Chief Mark Meaker says the fire started on the roof of the southeast side of the building, which is adjacent to Logan City Hall. The cause had not been determined as of about 2:30 p.m., but Meaker said welders were on the roof working at the time and it appeared that some foam insulation was involved. Meaker said there was a quick response and it took about 10 minutes to extinguish the fire. No evacuations from surrounding buildings were necessary.

The under-construction portion of the building is slated to house the Logan City Police Department when the building opens, and the existing portion of the Justice Building will be the new City Hall.

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August 18, 2008

For Immediate Release
Contact
Rob Miller
801-706-6203

Salt Lake City, Utah – Rob Miller, owner of the political blog The Utah Amicus, and Vice Chair of the Utah State Democratic Party, has assembled a team of Utah political bloggers and activists to travel to Denver for the Democratic National Convention next week.

In 2008, the Democratic National Committee is opening their Convention to more people than ever before. Democrats, independents, and Republicans from around the country have been invited to attend. Bloggers, especially members of the DNCC State Bloggers Corps, will have unprecedented access to Convention activities.

In an effort to make their Convention coverage more responsive and interactive, The Utah Amicus Team will be holding an open house / kick off party on Wednesday, to coordinate and plan covered activities and meet with Democratic Party activists and other community members.

What: The Utah Amicus DNC Bloggers Kick Off Party
When: August 20 at 7 p.m. (MDT).
Where: 7119 West 8050 South, West Jordan

The media and community are encouraged to attend.
Follow the Utah Bloggers daily Convention reports on http://utahamicus.blogspot.com/ .

# # #

Rob Miller – Utah State Democratic Party Vice-Chair, owner of the Utah Amicus.

Jeff Bell – Owner of JMBell.org; host of KSL’ s Left of the Dial.

Jason Williams - Co-Owner The Sidetrack

Craig Blanch – Co-Owner The Sidetrack

Aaron Thompson – Utah Amicus Writer

Bob Aagard – Owner the World, According To Me

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Obama video from Saddleback Debate via www.lincolnsblog.com

On August 15^th, during a unique Presidential debate at the Saddleback Church in California both Obama and McCain were asked, “at what point does a baby get human rights?” While McCain’s answer was short and simple, “at conception,” Obama found himself in the same position as the far majority of Democratic candidates, dancing around the issue. The reason for this is simple, while Republicans may be beholden to the religious right, Democrats don’t dare go against the powerful Pro-Choice segment of their party. Even though 70% of Americans believe that at the very least partial birth abortion should be abolished, candidates like Obama are forced by pro-choice advocates to hold the line on allowing abortion at any term if the health of the mother might be at risk.

It is easy to illustrate this by looking at contemporary political ads where Republicans will readily announce their pro-life stance compared to Democrats will almost never take such a stance unless they absolutely need to. Democratic candidates know that they must walk a fine line and therefore often find themselves engaging in illogical rhetoric that seems only designed to confuse the issue while somehow holding up their own position as being more compassionate than pro-life positions.

Read more »

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KVNU has learned that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will be speaking at Utah State University at noon on Sept. 15. The speech will be held in the Ballroom of the Taggart Student Center, according to John DeVilbiss, executive director of PR and marketing for the school. This is very exciting news and one of the best speakers in recent memory for the school. DeVilbiss said more information will be released soon.

-Tyler

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You know how on the show there are often “liners” where the man with the big radio voice says something? He’s in the intro: “Live from the 610 KVNU studios at the Radio Ranch it’s For the People, your daily dose of perspective on local, state, national and world issues…” and he says some other things as we come out of breaks throughout the show.

Well, we’re going to get some new things recorded from him, but I’m looking for some creative ideas for things he can say to promote the show, things like: “Clock out of work an hour early and clock into the For the People chat at KVNUForthepeople.com” or “Taking five days to finish a four day work week, KVNU’s For the People” or something.

Give me some ideas. I have a HOT prize for the best entry.

-Tyler

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Two very interesting articles from two different news sources on ongoing transportation planning issues.  One is an editorial from the Logan Herald Journal, in support of an increased tax burden on citizens for road development to ease main street congestion in Logan.  The second, from the Salt Lake Tribune, discusses the role the state will play, and a recent proposal to shift decision making to the Utah for what has been a traditional responsibility of federal agencies: interstate management.

Both are related, in that they are a means to address several issues:  air pollution, crowded roadways, and future projections of state and city transportaion needs.

And both point to one forgone conclusion: increased traffic, with an obvious increase in demand for tax dollars for our transportation needs.

So a question for readers, with these two articles in mind: What is the best direction for Utah?

- Jason

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The Latest Ringtone in India

Officials in India have released a new ringtone to the population promoting the use of condoms.  As silly as this sounds, apparantly this is their latest approach to encouraging safe sex in a country where condoms are taboo.

Sounds familiar. It seems at times in our valley, talking about safe sex and the use of condoms is too a taboo subject.  It shouldn’t be.  As much as we’d like to believe that youth and adults in this area are all waiting till marriage and/or being monogamous to have sexual relations, statistics and reality show that this is not neccessarily the case.

I am of the firm belief that education DOES NOT lead to experimentation.   We need to take responsibility in our own homes to teach our children about the risks of unprotected sex, and that includes educating them on the use of condoms to protect them from STD’s and pregnancy.  I know most agree with me when I say we would all love to see our children make safe and well thought out choices when it comes to sex.  But it’s time to admit that telling them simply “to not” is not enough education anymore.  And if a child is making the choice to be sexually active, anger and ignorance is not the best way to handle it anymore. If a child is adult enough to be sleeping with someone, they can handle a frank discussion about condoms and where they are available.  If they are going to be sexually active, I would much rather see them be sexually active with caution and protection, than just sexually active without any resources or knowledge of how to be protected.

This ringtone may have been a humorous thing–I laughed very hard–but the point is a serious one.  This topic can no longer be taboo.  There is too much at stake.

-Jessica

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College presidents want drinking age lowered to 18 — Newsday.com.

Apparently, about 100 college presidents are trying to get the legal drinking age lowered from 21 to 18, saying that kids are drinking anyway and it encourages binge drinking to have the age at 21.

I completely agree with that premise, but I seriously can’t believe that a bunch of college presidents at schools like Dartmouth, Syracuse and Duke are picking up this hot potato. It will be very interesting to see where, if anywhere, this goes.

I have a call in to USU to see if President Stan Albrecht supports this idea, but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that he doesn’t.

-Tyler

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