On the Cover

BY Benjamin Bombard

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December 1, 2019

When I show up at her trailer, Nicole’s dogs are in attack mode, barking murderously and threatening to break their chains. They’re tied up to a tall metal pole in the dirt plot that passes for the front yard. One is an enormous pit bull with a head li …

BY Emily Spacek

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December 1, 2019

A team of USU researchers find curious correlations “The last few months of her life my dad would simply hug me and thank me for the visit. Words I exchanged with my mom soon were reduced to simple words I uttered: ‘It’s great to see you, mom,’ ‘You’re …

BY Nicole DeVaney

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December 1, 2019

Neglect not the obvious Noooo… I don’t want to go to sleep!” we may have wailed as children, preferring to run, play or even hide to avoid the confines of a bed. This approach to nighttime has been known to last a couple decades. As we age, however, an …


BY Amy Brunvand

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November 30, 2019

Dewatering GSL could cost billions Allowing the Great Salt Lake to dry up could not only suck billions of dollars out of Utah’s economy but actually reduce water supplies, according to a new report from the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council. Costs inclu …

BY Ashley Miller

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November 30, 2019

We have a pretty good understanding about air pollution in relation to respiratory illnesses like asthma and COPD, and know there’s a link to cardiovascular disease. But it turns out air quality also affects how well we sleep. In 2004, the EPA awarded …

BY Jodi Mardesich Smith

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November 30, 2019

From nature as a resource to a giver of gifts To describe Robin Wall Kimmerer as a scientist tells only part of the story. She has a Ph.D in botany, teaches courses in ethnobotany and the ecology of mosses at SUNY College of Environmental Science and F …

BY Josh Williams

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December 1, 2019

Sleep is sacred. Rest is our opportunity to process the adventures of the day—its twists and turns, ups and downs. It’s our time to rejuvenate, restore and reharmonize. Without proper sleep, the line between yesterday and today becomes blurry and we mi …

BY Brinley Froelich

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December 12, 2019

What Utah would look like without prisons. The U.S. incarcerates more people than any nation in the world, including China…. In 2016, the Brennan Center examined convictions and sentences for the 1.46 million people behind bars nationally and found tha …

BY Sophie Silverstone

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December 1, 2019

Ski map artist James Niehues visits Salt Lake City Hand-painted ski map illustration has a narrow lineage that still triumphs over its digital competition. The majority of ski maps in North America are attributable to one artist, James Niehues, despite …

BY James Loomis

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December 1, 2019

We often don’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone The history of Salt Lake City is one of self-reliance, community and agriculture. When the Mormon pioneers first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, they quickly went to work building their very own “Zion. …

BY Alice Toler

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December 1, 2019

Learning to trust the wisdom of the body death is the surname of sleep but the surname unknown to us sleep is the daily end of life a small exercise in death which is its sister but not every brother and sister are equally close Peter Murphy, “Shy,” fr …

BY Charlotte Bell

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December 1, 2019

Yogic help for deeper sleep Right now, much of the world is sleeping. Creatures such as bears, marmots, bats and bees hibernate. Reptiles fall into a state of sluggishness and inactivity called “brumation.” According to Peter Wholleben, author of the b …

BY Dennis Hinkamp

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December 1, 2019

Most days I do want to save most of the planet and most of the people residing on said orb, but there are so many choices. I’ve already made the biggest contribution to the planet’s health by simply not doing something: not procreating. It is going to …

BY Suzanne Wagner

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December 1, 2019

Osho Zen Tarot:  Schizophrenia, The Source, Sorrow Medicine Cards: Grouse, Ant, Hummingbird Mayan Oracle: Dissonance, Adventurer’s Quest, Complex Stability Ancient Egyptian Tarot: Ten of Swords, The Hierophant Aleister Crowley Deck: Abundance, Dominion …

BY Greta Belanger deJong

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December 1, 2019

DECEMBER 1  Average temps today: high 43º, low 28º. 20% chance of precipitation. Sunrise: 7:32am. Sunset: 5:00pm. DECEMBER 2  Red Butte Garden in the winter is especially fetching. Enjoy half-price admission throughout December, January and February. D …

BY Amy Brunvand

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December 3, 2019

Allowing the Great Salt Lake to dry up could not only suck billions of dollars out of Utah’s economy but actually reduce water supplies, according to a new report from the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council. Costs include impacts to mineral, brine shrimp …

BY Amy Brunvand

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December 3, 2019

Utah’s national parks, state parks and ski resorts experienced record visitation in 2018. A new report from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute says that visitors spent $1.2 billion in gateway communities near national parks and monument, and generated …

BY Amy Brunvand

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December 3, 2019

Thanks to public outcry the National Park Service quickly withdrew an order issued last September that would have allowed ATVs into Utah national parks. But that doesn’t mean the Trump administration is backing off from efforts to monetize and overdeve …

BY Amy Brunvand

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December 3, 2019

In October Utah Senator Mike Lee (R) invited a group of Republican senators and other politicians to Moab, Utah trying to persuade them to hand over federal public lands to the State of Utah. At the meeting, Lee said that “garden variety BLM Land” shou …

BY Amy Brunvand

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December 3, 2019

In October the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands held a hearing to address growing threats of violence against public land managers. A Government Accountability Office report says that from 2013 to 2017 the FBI investigated …

BY Amy Brunvand

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December 3, 2019

The Utah Bureau of Land Management has suspended 130 oil and gas leases in Utah in order to analyze impacts from greenhouse gas emissions. The improper leases were challenged by two similar lawsuits, WildEarth Guardians et. al. vs Zinke; and Living Riv …

BY Amy Brunvand

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December 3, 2019

For decades Utah’s oil and gas industry has gone largely unregulated due to a “culture of  noncompliance” in the Oil and Gas Program. The program, under the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, not only promotes exploration and development of oil and gas b …

BY Amy Brunvand

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December 3, 2019

The largest coal-fired power plant in the Four Corners region has been shuttered due to the low price of natural gas. The Navajo Generating Station burned 24,000 tons of coal per day and released more than 19 million tons of atmospheric CO2 per year. I …

BY Amy Brunvand

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December 3, 2019

A coalition of environmental groups has filed a Motion to Intervene in order to stop a private company from damming the Little Colorado River on Navajo lands in Arizona (The Navajo Nation has not approved the water project). The Little Colorado has spr …

BY Amy Brunvand

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December 3, 2019

Envision Utah has announced the 2019 Common Good Awards for people and organizations doing amazing things to make Utah a better place now and in the future. The winners are (drumroll, please) Utah Governor Gary Herbert for championing long-range strate …