Access Utah

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"The Verging Cities" On Monday's Access Utah Jul 07, 2015

Show notes

From undocumented men named Angel, to angels falling from the sky, Natalie Scenters-Zapico’s gripping debut collection, The Verging Cities, is filled with explorations of immigration and marriage, narco-violence and femicide, and angels in the domestic sphere. Deeply rooted along the US-México border in the sister cities of El Paso, Texas, and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, these poems give a brave new voice to the ways in which international politics affect the individual. Composed in a variety of forms, from sonnet and epithalamium to endnotes and field notes, each poem distills violent stories of narcos, undocumented immigrants, border patrol agents, and the people who fall in love with each other and their traumas.

"The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas" On Thursday's Access Utah Jul 02, 2015

Show notes

“The True American” tells the story of Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladesh Air Force officer who dreams of immigrating to America and working in technology. But days after 9/11, an avowed "American terrorist" named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walks into the Dallas minimart where Bhuiyan has found temporary work and shoots him, maiming and nearly killing him. Two other victims, at other gas stations, aren’t so lucky, dying at once.

Charleston, Racism & Black Lives On Wednesday's Access Utah Jul 01, 2015

Show notes

On Wednesday’s AU, we’ll be talking again about Race in America. We’ll be responding, of course, to the killing of nine people in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, as well as the killing of Walter Scott in North Charleston. These deaths are, tragically, just the latest in a series of recent killings of African Americans.

Cars Of The Future On Tuesday's Access Utah Jun 30, 2015

Show notes

Michael Nees, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Lafayette College, writing in theconversation.com, says that "self-driving cars are expected to revolutionize the automobile industry. Rapid advances have led to working prototypes faster than most people expected. The anticipated benefits of this emerging technology include safer, faster and more eco-friendly transportation. But, says Nees, we shouldn't ignore the human element of automated driving. Self-driving cars will still need people. He says "we can draw insights from aviation, as many elements of piloting planes already have been taken over by computers."

SCOTUS Same-Sex Marriage Ruling On Monday's Access Utah Jun 29, 2015

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The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in landmark case, Obergefell v. Hodges, that Same-Sex marriage is now legal in all 50 states. Today on the program we get your reaction, as well as the opinion of Utah's only openly gay politician, Senator James Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, and Gay rights activist Derek Kitchen, who was the namesake of the Kitchen v Herbert Case that led to the strike down of Utah's Amendment 3, allowing for same-sex marriage in Utah back in 2013. Later in the program we here from Lynn Wardle, Bruce C. Hafen Professor of Law at Brigham Young University and Clifford Rosky, Professor of Law at University of Utah.

Access Utah Special: SCOTUS Rules ACA Subsidies Legal Jun 26, 2015

Show notes

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, and President Obama says the ACA is "here to stay." What's next for health care in Utah? What does this mean for you? We'll open the phone lines, email and Twitter for your comment or question and we'll look at possible expansion of Medicaid in Utah and related issues on a special edition of Access Utah. Joining us from the Utah Health Policy Project are Medicaid Policy Analyst RyLee Curtis and Randall Serr, Director of Take Care Utah. Also Joining the program are state Senators Brian Shiozawa and Luz Escamilla, along with State Representative Ed Redd.

Revisiting "The Modern Mercenary" On Thursday's Access Utah Jun 25, 2015

Show notes

It was 2004, and Sean McFate had a mission in Burundi: to keep the president alive and prevent the country from spiraling into genocide, without anyone knowing that the United States was involved. The United States was, of course, involved, but only through McFate's employer, the military contractor DynCorp International. Throughout the world, similar scenarios are playing out daily. The United States can no longer go to war without contractors. Yet we don't know much about the industry's structure, its operations, or where it's heading. Even the U.S. government-the entity that actually pays them-knows relatively little.

Doing Good in our Communities on Wednesday's Access Utah Jun 24, 2015

Show notes

There are many needs in our communities, and there are dedicated individuals and nonprofits working to meet those needs. They sometimes don’t get the recognition they deserve, and you may want to help somehow but don’t know where and how. On Wednesday’s AU we’re opening the phone lines, email and Twitter and giving you the opportunity to spotlight a nonprofit or individual doing good in your community.

"Robotics, Assitive Technology, Education" on Tuesday's Access Utah Jun 23, 2015

Show notes

Ken Valyear, Lecturer in cognitive neuroscience at Bangor University, writes in the Conversation that “Erik Sorto, 34, has been paralysed from the neck down for the past 13 years. However, thanks to a ground-breaking clinical trial [conducted by scientists at Caltech and USC], he has been able to smoothly drink a bottle of beer using a robotic arm controlled with his mind. He is the first patient to have had a neural prosthetic device implanted in a region of the brain thought to control intentions.” On Tuesday’s AU Ken Valyear will join us from Wales to discuss the latest in robotics and neuroscience.

Jury Trials in Palau & Family History in Cambodia on Monday's Access Utah Jun 22, 2015

Show notes

Logan attorney Herm Olsen recently spent several weeks in the South Pacific island nation of Palau, helping the legal community there to make a transition to the jury trial system. Palau uses the American judicial system, but until recently they didn't allow for jury trials. Olsen reports to the Logan Herald Journal that "The Palauans were somewhat skeptical about a jury system, They said, 'Why do we need one? We have a judge.' One Palauan said 'I don't want to judge anybody. I don't want to make any decisions about guilt or innocence.'" An upcoming murder trial involving three defendants spurred the chief justice of the Palau Supreme Court to seek help. We'll also talk about the jury system in the U.S. and the ongoing meaning of the Magna Carta.

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