Tonight:

Excited to spend our first hour with Lt. Governor Greg Bell, who will discuss the governor’s race, state of the state, and take your calls.

Hour two:

Two reports out hinting that all that is rosy in Utah might not, after all, be so rosy.

First, via SLTrib: 1 in 5 home sales in Utah were foreclosures. What does that say about the economy, and the challenges ahead?

Second, Utah schools may actually be under-performing the rest of the nation.  Yeah, I know!  I thought spending the least while having the highest number of children to employed tax payers would yield something different.  Or is there another reason for it all?  We need to hear from you.

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Tonight:

We’ll speak with the first candidate in our candidate series, Representative Curt Webb (R- District 5) about his race, and what he thinks the future holds for Utah.

UEG’s Kim Burmingham had some nice words for both gubernatorial candidates.  We’ll find out more (hint: Political spending caps!) in hour one.  Where do you sit on this one?

Several Utah legislators took a “fact-finding” trip to the Arizona border this week.  We’ll get their thoughts on the trip, and ask for your feedback on what Utah’s immigration bill should look like, now that this issue has settled down to “not-screaming at each other,” at least somewhat.  We’ll speak with Sen. President Michael Waddoups about what they learned.

Finally, advance plug for tomorrow’s show: 4-5pm Lt. Governor Greg Bell will be in studio with us taking your calls on the governors race and other issues.

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

We’re kicking off our election season this week with interviews will candidates from state legislative seats on up to the Governor race.  Feedback on what issues and candidates to hit first has been immense (thanks, loyal listeners!), and leads to us trying something new with the Cache County School Board races.

Over the next few days, we’ll be contacting school board candidates for written and recorded interviews we’ll discuss on air as they come in.  But first, we want to hear from you.

What issues are most important in the school board race?  What questions would you like to hear responses from the candidates on?

Submit your ideas in the comments, or email us directly.

Tonight:

A recent study seems to imply that texting bans, distracted driving bans, etc, are having little to no effect on crash numbers nationwide.  So what do we do to decrease distracted driving?

More census numbers are out. The verdict?  In many ways, Utah is becoming more and more “like the rest of the nation.”  What — if anything — does this mean for the future?

This week’s Mero Moment from Sutherland Institute President Paul Mero will tackle the Prop 8 “Amicus Brief” filed by Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, joining with 9 other states in opposition to the court ruling.

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Tonight:

Kicking the week off with Left, Right and Libertarian: all the headlines you weren’t meant to see, from three different perspectives.  What did we miss this weekend?

Independent gubernatorial candidate Farley Anderson’s campaign might not be anything new (small government, tea party flare), but his fundraising strategy is.  Anderson is asking supporters not to give to his campaign, and instead give to charity as part of an attack on both Herbert and Corroon for the money in the race.  We’ll speak with Anderson, and give you a chance to weigh in.

Obama, like Bush, wants access to your inbox.  Where’s the outrage?

A new Harvard Business School / Duke University research poll finds that most Americans respond to income inequality in the United States with one wish:  They want it to be more like Sweden.  We’ll discuss what Sweden is doing differently, and why Americans might be drawn to their model.  Is this a challenge to the conventional wisdom of American attitudes toward wages and jobs or just an misunderstanding of economic forces in the two countries?

And finally: Schools.  Education is a big topic in Utah’s 2010 races, from Herbert/Corroon to state legislative races north to south.  We’ll discuss recent news about Charter Schools (the saving grace that — it turns out — isn’t) and comments from the President himself (“Money won’t save our schools.”).

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Tonight:

Hour 1: Your topics, your hour.  What’s on your mind?

Hour 2: Andy Morgan of AndyattheMovies.com will take a break from current movie reviews, and delve into the MPAA movie rating system, it’s problems, and it’s future, hints at pay for play and corruption, and more.  Sure to be an interesting discussion. (For a primer, check out This Film is Not Yet Rated)

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Yesterday we spoke with USU computer scientist Chad Mano about his presentation (tonight!  free!): “Have We Created a Monster? The Internet’s Good, Bad and Ugly.” Chad emailed more details of the events tonight, which also include the Cache County Sheriff’s office on online child safety, and Logan High Computer Club with a “computer dissection.”  Some of the items planned:

• Play XBox games that were made by our CS students in the game development course.
• CS puzzle challenges: Tower of Hanoi racing, and Shortest Path (travelling salesman) competitions.
• Online CS Activities for students and teachers (great resource for teachers to learn about, and fun for students)
• Picture with a geek: exactly what it sounds like.  Get a picture with a geek.
• We’ll also have an Apple II up and running that you’ll be photographed with.
  
• Lego Mindstorm demos.
• Hands on with Google Earth flybys.
• Homemade submarine display (parts from the D.I.) made by two PhD students.  It’s controlled with an android app they wrote.

The presentation and activities kick off tonight at 7 p.m. in the Emert Auditorium, Room 130, of the Eccles Science Learning Center on campus. Admission is free and open to all ages.  For more information, call 435-797-3517, visit www.usu.edu/science/unwrapped or find ‘Science Unwrapped at USU’ on Facebook.

Tonight:

Will kick things off with USU computer scientist Chad Mano, who will be giving a presentation on campus about the Internet’s “Good, Bad, and Ugly,” part of the university’s Science Unwrapped series, tomorrow night at 7pm (Free!), details here.

USU also kicks off Business Week tomorrow (to October 1st). We’ll hear from organizers of the events, which include a concert, barbecue, relay race, dance marathon, golf tournament and a free lecture by Stephen R. Covey.

Today the GOP rolled out their “Pledge to America.” How does it differ from the 1990′s “Contract with America”? What was pledged? What wasn’t? What was the country’s reaction, and yours?

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Per listener request, everything you need to know about upcoming election/registration related deadlines, via Rock the Vote:

Cache Valley residents can download an absentee ballot application here.

Tonight:

I’ve got the day off, but Jonathan and Michael will be speaking with Rep. Ronda Menlove (R-Garland) about her bill proposing a community service program for Medicaid recipients.

Read more about the bill here.

The bill (and other similar proposals) has attracted both positive and negative feedback from the public and editorial comments.  The biggest questions: Would the cost of such a program be greater than the potential savings?  How would we determine who can/cannot do community service?  What about able bodied recipients with day care / babysitter needs?

This, and more… starting at 4.  (<—– rhymes!)

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Tonight:

I’ll be joined by Lt. General Robert G. Gard, Jr., U.S. Army-retired Chairman, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation on START, it’s ramifications.

ABC4 is reporting that UDOT did report the $13 million deal to the Governor’s office, though Gary Herbert stands by his statement that he knew nothing about it.  Did a $13 million payout get reported to the Governor’s office and somehow he missed it?  We’ll discuss.

Finally, today’s Mero Moment from Sutherland Institute President Paul Mero takes on the cars, the environment, and ‘World Car Free Day.”  This should be interesting…

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Tonight:

Michael Kuhns, Professor of urban forestry, USU Department of Wildland Resources, will start us out tonight, discussing urban-wildland interface and fire-wise landscaping in light of the Herriman fire.  Download more information about fire-wise landscaping from the USU Extension office. (See a photo slideshow of the fire here)

Why are Japanese workers faring better than US Workers?

We’ll present another installment of Left, Right, and Libertarian, our chance to shed some light on the headlines of the weekend you weren’t meant to see, offering all (most, maybe) points of view.

An economic panel says the recession has ended.  In June of 2009! What gives?  We’ll dig deeper into this one to get to the bottom of the recession that has ended, yet still seems to be hanging around.

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Great photo from the Trib website of Peter Corroon and Gary Herbert making nice.  They were seated at the same table at a children’s charity event in Salt Lake City.  Check out the faces of the onlookers as the two shake hands… (h/t Robert Gerhke).

4-5pm, Open Lines.  Your topics, your show.

5-6pm, Andy Morgan and Dan Vinton of AndyattheMovies.com return with the KVNU Movie Show.

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Tonight:

Utah is gaining national fame as the “Fraud Capitol” of the nation.  Just go back 12 hours in the local news cycle and you can see why.  Sen. Ben McAdams has sponsored a bill to fight the growing problem, frustrated with the lack of action by relevant agencies.  Will what he proposes work?  And where’s the AG?  Wasn’t his gimmicky over-sized paper shredder tour enough?

Mtn. Crest students are fundraising to send their marching band to DC for the Independence Day parade.  We’ll find out how and when you can get involved.

We’ll speak with Logan City’s Emily Malik about Logan’s “Green Power Project.” How does it work?  Has it been successful?  What does the future hold?  These questions and yours, sure to be answered.

Finally, Census numbers are trickling out, and some of them are ugly.  Nearly 1 in 7 Americans lived in poverty in 2009:

The statistics contained within the report are striking. The proportion of Americans living in “deep poverty,” with incomes less than half of the poverty line, hit a record high of 6.3 percent — meaning nearly 20 million Americans live on less than $11,000 a year for a family of four. One third of black children live in poverty, and more than 20 percent of all children live in poverty. The number of people without health insurance increased for the first time ever, to 50.7 million, up more than 4 million since 2008.

Scary, huh?  Is this just a speed bump in America’s history of opportunity and prosperity, or is this a larger, lingering problem with our economy?

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Tonight:

A topic we had to bump from the docket last week: Violent crime is down, but know one, anywhere, has the slightest clue as to why.  What gives?

Ty Mortensen, newly appointed USU event promoter for the Caine College of the Arts (who are now on Facebook), will join us in studio to discuss upcoming events on campus.

And we’ll dedicate our entire 5 o’clock hour to the topic of online education.  Tyler Riggs — who you might remember from such radio shows as… this one — of the Sutherland Institute will join us by phone to discuss Sutherland’s policy brief (download) on the issue of online education, and what the future of this type of thing might be here in Utah.

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Tonight:

Rep. Rhonda Menlove (R- Garland) has proposed a bill that would require some medicaid recipients to preform community service in exchange for their assistance.  A great way to recoup government costs, or an unfair attack on those in need of assistance?  We ramble, you decide. [POSTPONED: To fit Representative Menlove's schedule, we've bumped this to Thursday.  Tune in then.]

Later this year, the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to a California law placing restrictions on video game sales.  We’ll discuss an open letter from comic book legend Stan Lee urging the Supreme Court to strike down the law.  What happens when “won’t someone think of the children” runs face first into the First Amendment?  (h/t JMBell)

A listener requested topic: Update, state of affairs on the County Wide Library System.

This week’s Mero Moment from Sutherland Institute President Paul Mero addresses “corrupting influences” in politics.

And speaking of corruption, allegations abound in Utah this week : Herbert trading campaign donations for state contracts? Rep. Gibson, Ogden Mayor fundraising with city assets? Are these challenges from challengers just politics in a campaign year, or does Utah have an ethics problem?

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

Tonight:

Kick off the week with Left, Right, and Libertarian, our attempt to highlight the stories of the weekend they didn’t want you to see.  What did we miss?

Salt Lake Tribune reports that violent crime is down — the opposite of what you could expect in a recession — but the catch?  Know one knows why.  We’ll see if we can get to the bottom of it.

We’ll hear from representatives of Lewiston School, which was just awarded a blue ribbon award by the Department of Education.  What are they doing right, and could it be repeated at other schools?

Finally, we’ll discuss a person experience Jonathan had over the weekend that involved a dining room table, a new addition to the family, and an involuntary midwife.  This of course lead Jon to question: Could people be saving oodles of money by practicing home-childbirth?

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

No movie show today with Andy and Dan out trying to kill themselves with that LOTOJA bid-ness.  Check out AndyattheMovies.com, still, for the latest reviews from the KVNU Movie Show crew.

Today it’s  all you with two hours of Open Line Friday.  What’s on your mind?

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Tonight:

Burning Korans, Mosque conrtoversies, and much ado about… Nothing?  Something?  We discuss, you decide.

Much promo’d yesterday, but bumped, we’ll hear from organizers behind this weekend’s “Buddy Walk” to raise awareness of down syndrome.

Pulling from and interesting article in the Tribune’s opinion pages titled “Preserving Farmlands,” we’ll tackle the troublesome issue of balancing development needs with agricultural demands.  How do we balance the two?

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.