From the Utah Eagle Forum website:

#16

H.B. 118 Substitute Residency Requirements for In-state Tuition — Draxler, J.

See bill text here: http://le.utah.gov/~2007/bills/hbillamd/hb0118s01.htm

This bill makes it EASIER for illegals to get Resident Rates for College Tuition by reducing the required length of stay in Utah from 3 years to 1 year. It passed the House 68-1-6 and is in Senate Rules.

This bill came out of Rules and is on the Senate Board!

It will probably be voted on TOMORROW — IN THE MORNING

This would be funny if the Eagle Forum weren’t serious. Rep. Draxler’s bill does refer to “non-residents”. LOL. But he’s not referring to non-American citizens who come here illegally. It refers to non-Utahns. The bill, which we have discussed with Rep. Draxler on KVNU’s For the People, would extend in-state tuition to out of state Americans after 1 year instead of 3.

Years ago, the Legislature thought they would make tons of extra money by charging out of state tuition for three years, instead of one, to students from other states. Problem was that kept prospective out of state students out of Utah rather than paying the exhorbitant rates. As a result, fixed operating costs were born by a smaller number of students and tuition went up.

Rep. Draxler’s bill hasn’t a thing to do with illegal immigration. It’s a bill that will help Utah education and keep a college education affordable.

The Eagle Forum should read through all of the legislation it posts on it’s website before issuing calls to action!

Tonight on KVNU’s For the People…

Utah political consultant LaVarr Webb, publisher of Utah Policy Daily and the founder of the Exoro Group, joins us for a discussion on the Utah Legislature.

Logan City is moving to make the LTD a seperate entity.

The legislature has increased education funding in the state of Utah by the largest amount in history.

All of that, your phone calls and more, tonight on KVNU’s For the People…

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• 2/27 Herald Journal: Logan, Cache district part
• 2/23 Deseret News: Lawmakers set to approve record funding for eduction

One of the largest figures in the landscape of Aggie and Cache Valley heritage is Wayne Estes.  Perhaps no man in the history of this valley and USU has been as beloved as Estes.  More than 40 years after his death, Estes’ memory and legend continues to grow among Aggie faithful.   Recently, as the 100th year of Aggie basketball was celebrated, Estes was named All-Century MVP.

Wayne Estes tragically died the night of February 8, 1965 after scoring 48 points against the University of Denver and eclipsing 2,000 career points with his final basket.  After the game, Estes was on his way to downtown Logan with friends when they saw a car crash.   As Estes approached the crash to offer help, he ran into a low power line and was electrocuted.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Estes, please take some time to read the articles below or watch the video from NBC.  This was a great basketball player, but even more importantly a great man.

NBC Sports has come out with a tribute to Wayne Estes.  The video also has a nice article that accompanies it, and can be seen here.

Sometime in the late 1970′s or early 80′s Al Lewis did a full hour documentary on Estes that included several extended clips of the post game interview with Estes on the night he tragically died.   A few years ago, the guy’s on KVNU’s Full Court Press digitized the taped documentary, and I few months ago, I made them into an .mp3 and uploaded them.  That documentary can be listened to here.

ADDITIONAL WAYNE ESTES RESOURCES:

• Utah State Magazine: A Night to Remember
• Utah Statesman: 40 Years Later: Wayne Estes Remembered
  
• Wayne Estes Basketball tournament
• Salt Lake Tribune: UTAH STATE BASKETBALL: Late Aggie Great gets own internet feature

For all the books I have read on LDS Church History, it is still baffling to me that I was unaware of the long transition the Church took to abandon polygamy.   I was always under the impression that after 1890 only a few renegades participated in polygamy.   The actual truth is much different.   For many years after the 1890 manifesto those in the highest positions in the Church, including the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, promoted and participated in polygamy.

The double speak and secrecy came to a head during the Smoot Hearings, when President Joseph F. Smith testified before Congress.    Soon afterward, in 1904, a Second Manifesto was issued reaffirming the 1890 manifesto.   In 1905 Apostles John W. Taylor and Matthias Cowley left the Quorum of the Twelve over the issue of polygamy.    Even then, not every leader got on board.   Many local leaders still promoted and practiced polygamy as late as the 1910′s and 1920′s.  The full institutional transition out of polygamy wasn’t complete until the 1920′s.
As it turns out, some of Mitt Romney’s ancestors were among the many who practiced post-1890 manifesto polygamy:

Romney’s great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice.

While not at all relevent to Romney’s campaign, the story will not only be of interest to the general population, but also to many in the LDS community who are unaware of the long, difficult and painful institutional abandonment of polygamy.   It didn’t happen overnight.

One of KVNU’s greates attributes is that since it went on the air in 1938, it has been locally owned.    A long debate in broadcasting has been over whether local ownership better serves the community.   Broadcasting purists like myself argue in favor of localism, while conglomorates like Clear Channel, which owns KTVX Channel 4 in Salt Lake City, work to break down FCC regulations that limit the number of stations mega companies can own.

You all remember the recent editorial Terry Wood did on Divine Strake.  In it, he claimed he was putting his long career in journalism “on the line”.    Well, now it looks like Terry might be paying the price for his controversial words.  From Paul Rolly’s column today in the Tribune:

Divine Strake fallout? Watch for KTVX, Channel 4 co-anchor Ruth Todd to disappear from the air within the next few days. Her contract expires this week and, reportedly, it won’t be renewed.
In a few weeks, according to rumblings among TV news types around town, the other Channel 4 anchor, Terry Wood, will be demoted to weekends.
Why?
The scuttlebutt around town is that KTVX’s owner, Texas-based ClearChannel, went into a tizzy over the station’s editorializing against Divine Strake, an idea that came out of the administration of George W. Bush, a particular darling of the redder-than-red owners of ClearChannel.
And does it matter that the administration finally caved to public pressure and canceled the megabomb test just outside Utah’s borders?
Apparently not. 

Trust me on this one folks, locally owned broadcasting will always be a better service to the community.   Locally owned broadcasting is more likely to promote local stories, provide a local forum, and promote local pluralism.   Local owners understand their market better and understand that broadcasting is much more than a business- it’s a public trust and service.

Stay with local broadcasters.

From today’s Herald Journal:

Four years ago Utah Department of Transportation crews rebuilt one of Cache Valley’s busiest intersections to have double left-turn lanes on 400 North, but until this week, motorists were only allowed to use one of the lanes on each side of Main Street.

On Thursday, however, crews posted new signage at the intersection and opened the second left-hand turn lane to motorists westbound on 400 North who were turning south onto Main. The traffic change is expected to relieve congestion that at busy times would involve left-turning vehicles backed up past 100 East on 400 North.

I usually drive down to the studios at KVNU at about 3:00 PM and that intersection is usually backed all the way up to 2nd East, so I take an out of the way inconvienient route to avoid 4th North & Main (which means I add to the inversion and global warming needlessly!).   I can’t imagine what the intersection has been like at 5 PM when we go on the air and rush hour is peaking.   It’s had to have been hell.   I have to confess, when I’ve been in a hurry I have illegally used the left hand turn lane.

Speaking of that, do you remember a couple of years ago when motorists collectively got upset and started using the closed lane illegally?    It was one of Cache Valley’s greatest moments of civil disobedience.    Then the city and UDOT cracked down, repainted the striped lines, wrote tickets and got the word out and effectively quelled the insurrection.

Your question is probably my question on this one: why the hell did it take so flippin’ long to get that turn lane open?  Answer: one size fits all bureaucratic guidelines.   You see, despite what you and I might have experienced, UDOT has not been convinced that a problem really existed:

Studies conducted in recent years revealed to UDOT officials that traffic numbers at the intersection weren’t high enough to warrant a double left-turn lane there — a fact that many motorists, including those who’d wait through several light rotations to make a left turn onto South Main Street, disagreed with.

Now that the numbers are there, Neff said, the intersection can serve the purpose that it was built to serve four years ago.

The numbers are there now? ROFLMAO!   Isn’t it funny that UDOT can’t just use some observational intuition to recognize a problem and has to have “numbers” tell them?  All they would have had to do was visit 4th North and Main for a couple of weeknights over the past 3 or 4 years and it would have immediately become clear to them that a problem existed.   So because the “numbers” didn’t spell it out for UDOT, thousands of you have been aggravated nearly daily for years.    Hooray for bureaucracy and arbitrary guidelines!

From today’s Tribune:

Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, amended the House-passed bill to make sodomy among consenting adults legal.
And while he faced no opposition Wednesday from a five-member Senate committee, the provision is sure to raise eyebrows when it hits the Senate floor.
McCoy, the state’s only openly gay senator, drafted his own bill that would have removed Utah’s anti-sodomy law, but conservative Republicans led by West Jordan GOP Sen. Chris Buttars have blocked it from a public hearing.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 2003 Texas case that every state’s anti-sodomy law is unconstitutional. But even if Utah’s law blocking anal or oral sex is not enforceable, some lawmakers don’t want to get rid of it for political reasons.
Buttars, for one, believes stripping the law would endorse sodomy.
No one spoke out against McCoy’s amendment and McCoy did not directly address what the amendment would do.
After the hearing McCoy would only say: “I figured I would give it a shot and see what happens.”
The sponsor of the sex offender bill, Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, told the committee that he didn’t have a problem with the amendment, though he worried it could derail his bill.
“I personally have a problem with sodomy and the court ruling, but they ruled and we have to abide by it,”

First, let me say that it’s just a little bit creepy to have public officials discussing whether or not they personally like specific sex acts. It’s really not my business, not your business, and certainly qualifies as too much information. I would hope that in the future legislators will have the good taste to keep their preferences of sexual activities private. I don’t want to hear them.
But now that we know that Rep. Wimmer doesn’t like sodomy, I have a wonderful suggestion for him as a solution to the problem- don’t engage in sodomy. Simple as that! Rep. Wimmer, you have been blessed to be born in the most free nation on earth and have the right to self determination including which sex acts you find to be appropriate. Just remember that one’s attitude toward any specific sex act a personal decision for you and for everyone else and it should remain that way. Some people will find some sex acts appealing, and others will choose to abstain from the same acts. What is wrong is for one group to legislate their personal preferences on everyone else.

It is absolutely ridiculous to argue that because government allows an activity, it endorses that activity. The very idea that the government even thinks it has relevence in offering moral guidance in endorsing behavior is repulsive and a little bit too 1984 for me. The government exists to maintain freedom and self-determination, not to revoke that right and determine or “endorse” what is best. Within the realm of freedom are legal behaviors such as smoking, drinking, eating an unhealthy diet, poor financial management, wasting time and all manner of activities that are harmful to the individual. Does the government “endorse” those activities because it “allows” them? (How gracious of the government to allow our God given freedom!). Part of freedom is the ability to choose harmful behavior and face the natural consequences.

http://mormonsagainstromney.org/

It’s a little eery- John Dehlin and I were at lunch a few weeks ago and speculated how long it would take for a site like this to be created.  Well, here it is!

We’re headed down the stretch toward March Madness. The Ags are exceeding expectations and giving all of us fans a great season. For the 8th straight year the Ags have had 20+ wins and continue to be the premiere college basketball program in the State of Utah.

There is just one station that gives comprehensive coverage of the Aggies- 610 KVNU. If you want to drool over the schools to the south, there are plenty of other stations for you- those stations whose coverage of the Ags is nothing more than the score.

But if you love the spot where the sagebrush grows (and I know you do!), then keep it locked on 610 AM for the best and most comprehensive Aggie coverage in the entire free world!

Tonight on KVNU’s For the People…

Toby Weed of the Utah Avalanche Center joins us to discuss avalanche forecasting and danger in the Bear River and Wellsville Mountain backcountry

Utah County car dealer Brent Brown offered an interesting promotion following the Trolley Square massacre.  He’s offering to pay $500 to the families of the victims or give a $500 gift certificate to Trolley Square businesses  for every car sold over President’s Day weekend.   Brent Brown joins us in a phone interview.   Do you think the promotion was benevolent or self serving?

Later in the show Emma calls in and initiates a discussion on patriotism, pluralism and war policy in American Democracy.

And caller Lloyd asks a question about one of the universe’s great eternal mysteries- why doesn’t Logan have a bypass route?

All of that, your phone calls and more, tonight on KVNU’s For the People!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Utah Avalanche Center
• 2/20 Salt Lake Tribune: Massachusetts school mourns death of student in Utah avalanche
• 2/21 Richfield Reaper: Avalanche claims life of Richfield man
• 2/21 Boston Globe: Teen may have set off fatal avalanche

From the AP via 610kvnu.com:

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Salt Lake City block may soon be renamed.

The Salt Lake City Council will likely rename 100 South between 200 and 300 West as Japantown Street.

Last night, the City Council heard a briefing on the honorary name change. All the council members who spoke regarding the renaming are in support of it. One council member said he remembers childhood visits to the historic Japantown area — which has since been replaced by the expansion of the Salt Palace.

Japantown once thrived with Japanese-owned shops and businesses. Today, it’s the site of only two Japanese religious centers.

Honorary street names are merely symbolic — NOT official.

I’m not really against honorary street names, they are just fine.   Karl Malone, John Stockton and Martin Luther King, Jr. all have them in Salt Lake.    I guess what bothers me is that the man who has had the greatest influence in creating and defining Salt Lake City has no street named for him, while Dr. King, who I believe never even visited Salt Lake, has a main thouroghfare named for him.

The un-streeted man I speak of is Brigham Young.   If Caesar Chavez, John Stockton, Karl Malone and now the local Japanese community get a street named after them, it’s high time one is named in honor of Brigham Young.    Love or hate Brigham, his leadership has had a more profound and lasting impact on Salt Lake and Utah than any other single individual in history.

It’s time for Brigham Young Avenue.

From the AP via 610kvnu.com:

LONDON (AP) — Britain will withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq in the “coming months,” aiming to cut its force to below 5,000 by late summer if Iraqi forces can secure the southern part of the country, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday.

British troops will stay in Iraq until at least 2008 and work to secure the Iran-Iraq border and maintain supply routes to U.S. and coalition troops in central Iraq, Blair told the House of Commons.

After all the rhetoric we’ve heard about early withdrawal demoralizing the troops, one would think that President Bush would be very concerned about the message Blair’s announcement will send.   One would think Bush would see such a move by the Brits as abandoning the cause prematurely and one that “emboldens” our “enemies”.

Not so.

From Bush administration official Gordon Johndroe:

“While the United Kingdom is maintaining a robust force in southern Iraq, we’re pleased that conditions in Basra have improved sufficiently that they are able to transition more control to the Iraqis,” Johndroe said.

So if the Brits have been so successful in their transition and are able to leave and claim success, why can’t the U.S.?

My sources indicate that there are several big names in Logan City that are seriously considering running for the three open Logan City Council seats in the fall.      There could be some very interesting and competitive races this year.

KVNU’s For the People is proud to declare our hour of radio free of the meaningless, mind numbing infotainment that is so pervasive in today’s media.    When you listen to For the People you won’t hear a word about which celebrity has checked into rehab.    You won’t hear anything about Anna Nicole Smith.    You won’t hear us talk about Paris Hilton, Britney Spears or the goings on of any flimsy celebrities.

KVNU’s For the People is about you and the issues that have a REAL effect on your day to day life.    We are above the shameless infotainment tabloid feeding frenzy that has even seeped its way into otherwise legitimate news outlets like CNN.

Real issues.   Reponsible discourse.  The day’s biggest newsmakers.  Your voice.  Local and live – every night at 5 PM.

Tonight on KVNU’s For the People…

Paul T. Mero of the Sutherland Institute joins us to discuss the implications of the Utah Supreme Court ruling last week in Barlow v. Jones.

A discussion on when truth, lies, personal indiscretions and policy shifts should be allowed by the public of our elected officials.

We analyze Tony Snow’s presentation of Bush’s war policy, specifically the troop surge and escalation, on this past Sunday’s Meet the Press.

All of that, your phone calls and more, tonight on KVNU’s For the People.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• 2/18 NBC Meet the Press: with guest Tony Snow
• 2/16 Salt Lake Tribune: Former partner cut out of visitation
• 2/16 Sutherland Institue: Sutherland Institute hails Barlow decision

Tonight on KVNU’s For the People…

There’s a controversy about a petition and development in Providence.

Mitt Romney faces an anti-Mormon heckler on the campaign trail who claims that Romney doesn’t know the real and true Lord Jesus Christ.

All of that, your phone calls and more, tonight on KVNU’s For the People!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• 2/19 Tribune: Judge’s injunction halts development progress
• Video of anti-Mormon heckling Mitt Romney in Florida
• LDS Article of Faith 10 on Second Coming and the America’s
• 2/18 ABC This Week: Interview with Mitt and Ann Romney

We are certainly blessed to live in such a beautiful valley- that beauty was amplified by this morning’s snowstorm.   Below are some pictures I took at my apartment at about 8:30 AM this morning.

A family member I had lunch with today said they saw a commercial last night for a Utah County car dealership that is offering to give $500 to the families of the Trolley Square victims for every car sold.    Did anyone else see this?   Do you know which dealership it is?

From the Daily Herald:

YouTube is one of the newest sites to be blocked from BYU’s on-campus computers. It’s self-explanatory that the school blocks sites like Frederick’s of Hollywood and the Wonderful World of Lesbianism — but why restrict access to every 20-something’s favorite pastime?

“We use the filtering process for two reasons,” said BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins. “First to protect students from inappropriate material. The other is because of our limited bandwidth. That bandwidth is used for academic purposes.”

BYU’s filtering software, Secure Computing, filters three main things — pornography, adult content and violence, Jenkins said. BYU’s information technology department decided to block YouTube, despite the site’s own pornography filters, early fall semester 2006.

Google video is allowed, Jenkins said, because searches are conducted through keywords. Secure Computing can easily filter out keywords like sex, porn and violence on Google video better than it can on YouTube. YouTube uses tags for its videos. In the BYU vs. Utah videos, tags such as “BYU,” “football,” “answered,” and “prayer” are used to find Beck’s heroic play.

“Inappropriate material can’t be filtered on YouTube,” Jenkins said.

Ms. Jenkins, I have a novel idea- let the individual make the decision for themselves.   If these values that BYU professes are truly the individual conviction of it’s students, there is no need for Big Brother.    These are adults that attend BYU.   Their agency/liberty should be respected enough to allow for independent decisions.    What happens when they leave the filtered confines of BYU, never really have excercised their agency, and go into the real world?   Wasn’t it Joseph Smith who uttered the governing philosophy to teach correct principles and leave the individual to make their own choices?

In the immortal words of Pink Floyd:

We don’t need no education

We dont need no thought controlNo dark sarcasm in the classroomTeachers leave them kids aloneHey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!All in all it’s just another brick in the wall.All in all you’re just another brick in the wall.

For shame, BYU!  For shame!