Access Utah

On today's Access Utah we celebrate the holidays with music and poetry. Utah State University music professor Mike Christiansen, plays the guitar live in our studio. University of Utah theater professor Tim Slover, author of the book and radio series, "The Christmas Chronicles: The Legend of Santa Claus," reads excerpts of poetry.

Writer Ceiridwen Terrill writes about how, at a particularly sad and frightening time in her life, a wolf dog was the kind of companion she was searching for. In her book, "Part Wild: Caught Between the Worlds of Wolves and Dogs," she talks about an animal who's heart is divided between the woman she loves, and the desire to roam free. In the end, Terrill realized she must confront the reality of taming a half-wild animal.

Proponents of reparative or conversion therapy say it can help people transition away from unwanted homosexuality, while opponents believe the therapy is not only harmful, but flawed in its premise.

The immigration debate has raised some of the most difficult questions our nation has ever faced. How can we preserve the integrity of sovereign borders while also respecting the dignity of human begins? How should a border be humanely and effectively maintained? To understand the experience of those directly impacted by the immigration crisis, Ananda Rose traveled to the Sonoran Desert -- a border region where the remains of 2,000 migrants have been recovered over the past 10 years. There she interviewed minute men, border patrol agents, catholic nuns, humanitarian aid workers, ranchers and many others. The result is a new book Showdown in the Sonoran Desert: Religion, Law, and the Immigration Controversy. Ananda Rose is Tom Williams' guest for the whole hour on Access Utah Monday.

Major scientific studies conducted by a team of international scientists, warn there will be no virtually no fish or seafood from the ocean by the middle of the century. Only 50 years left for sea fish. Mark Kurlansky, prominent author of numerous non fiction books and articles, well-known for his bestseller COD: the fish that changed the world, has a new book out now for children and adults, called "A World Without Fish."

How much weight does international treaty have on our lives? Today we specifically talk about the U.N. convention and the rights for persons with disabilities. That was defeated in the senate recently; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says this is an expression of American leadership throughout the world, and will help disabled veterans. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) expressed the views of some, saying those who homeschool their children, and send their children to private or religious schools would be harmed by this law.

"I didn't know about sex trafficking until I was in the middle of it. I found out that they actually had chosen me."

Brigham Young was a rough-hewn craftsman from New York who's impoverished and obscure life was electrified by the Mormon faith. he trudged around the US and England to gain converts for Mormonism, spoke in spiritual tongues, married more than 50 women, and eventually transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God.

Bullying is receiving a lot of attention right now, which seems an opportune time to discuss it on Access Utah. According to The Bully Project's website, 13 million kids will be bullied this year, and 3 million will be absent from school, because of it. Some kids may take their lives.

Today on Access Utah, Sheri Quinn talks with writer Patrick Radden Keefe. With the drug-related violence in Mexico thriving, understanding how the drug industry operates is crucial to combatting it. Keith investigated the business side of the blooming illegal drug trade and in June 2012 his report, Cocaine Inc. was published in the New York Times Magazine.

We've been hearing about the death of Twinkies. The closure of the company Hostess has the public fearing the treats such as Twinkies and Ho-Hos, and has shined a spotlight on unions.

Utah's laws underwent extensive reform a few years ago, and now Sen. John Valentine is creating a bill that would create a "master license" for hotels, which would free up licenses currently required for the restaurants, catering services and bars inside the hotels.

One mother talks about the gap between when her son is seen as "normal", and when he's seen as "not normal." She's talking about his invisible disability - a disability which at first glance isn't readily apparent, and includes intellectual impairments such as autism and other disorders.

We're talking immigration on Access Utah, specifically illegal immigration. There are an estimated 110,000 illegal immigrants in Utah according to the Pew Center, and more may arrive. The Republican Party's stance on immigration seems to be softening after the election, although not in Utah. Some legislators are suggest pushing back the controversial guest worker act.

Today on the program Sheri Quinn talks to paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Carpenter about recent advances in the study of dinosaurs and why Utah is one of the best places on earth to study them.

With the expansion of mobile computing, we are all more or less living in the "cloud."

We meet photojournalist Scott Wallace, who wrote "The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes." It's the story of a journey into the deepest recesses of the amazon to track one of the planet's last uncontacted tribes in the world.

Utah is the only state in the U.S. to enact a law that requires someone who is engaged in bioprospecting to notify the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands before removing certain microorganisms, plants, or fungi from state lands. Bioprospecting is the search for and collection of biological material, usually microbes, that could prove either economically useful or in environmental protection efforts. For example if extreme algae in the Great Salt Lake can make a biofuel without impacting the ecosystem it can be harnessed in the laboratory. Since research may turn those algae into a profitable fuel, the law leaves the groundwork for Utah to benefit from profits made off the research.

We turn the focus now to you, listeners and voters. Maybe you want to share who you voted for and why? What issue were you focused on this election season? Maybe you ran for office or worked for a candidate? Did your experience last night make you more or less hopeful about the democratic process?

The environmental impact of energy development across the west was the theme at the Restoring the West conference at Utah State University this week. Today on the program, Sheri Quinn talks to a conservation ecologist about the effects of the largest gas field in the U.S. on the endemic pronghorn population that winters on these gas fields in western Wyoming.