Utah Thrives (Podcast of Utah Foundation)
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Utah Thrives — The Future of Transportation

Written by: Dan Bammes

What if the public transit system worked more like Uber? What if we could keep the air cleaner in Utah’s national parks by driving electric cars? And how would our society change if our cars were better at driving than we are? Those are among the questions explored by a panel of experts at a recent Utah Foundation event on the Future of Transportation in Utah. We’ll hear from David Christensen, Executive Director of USU’s … Continued

Utah Thrives — Addressing Ozone Pollution

Written by: Dan Bammes

Changes in federal regulations are bringing new attention to the problem of ozone air pollution in Utah. It’s more of a summertime problem for Utah’s urban areas, but it’s also a significant problem in the Uintah Basin of eastern Utah, where most of the state’s oil and gas drilling takes place. In this edition of Utah Thrives, we’ll hear from Whitney Oswald with the Utah Division of Air Quality, environmental scientist Seth Lyman from Utah … Continued

Utah Thrives – Income Tax Changes

Written by: Dan Bammes

It was called the Jones-Mascaro bill, after Democratic State Representative Pat Jones and Republican Representative Steve Mascaro. The idea was to limit the income tax break that large families were getting under Utah law. Over a dozen years, the legislature rejected the idea time after time. But now, thanks to the tax reform enacted by Congress and the response of the Utah legislature to those changes, a policy similar to Jones-Mascaro is in place – … Continued

Utah Thrives – Making Landfills Last

Written by: Dan Bammes

Once a week, we haul that big trash bin out to the street, waiting for a trucks to come along and empty it. Where the stuff we don’t want or can’t use anymore goes doesn’t really concern us – out of sight, out of mind. But managing that never-ending stream of waste coming from our homes is a big concern for the jurisdictions we live in. And they’re getting more sophisticated as time goes by … Continued

Utah Thrives – Generic Drugs

Written by: Dan Bammes

Voters across the state of Utah identified healthcare – and healthcare costs – as their top concern in Utah Foundation’s 2016 Utah Priorities Project. Increasingly expensive drugs have helped to push the overall cost higher. Unscrupulous companies that have cornered the market for some important generic drugs and dramatically raised their prices has only made the situation more complicated. In January, the CEO of Intermountain Healthcare announced a joint effort by several non-profit hospital systems … Continued

Utah Thrives – Education Roadmap

Written by: Dan Bammes

For the past several years, the Governor’s Education Excellence Commission has been working on a long-term plan for education in Utah, starting with pre-school and continuing through college. With its publication at the end of November, Governor Gary Herbert outlined a series of goals to guide legislators, school board members and other decision makers in policy decisions over the next ten years. At a Utah Foundation event in December, Governor Herbert’s education deputy, Tami Pyfer, … Continued

Utah Thrives – Technical Education

Written by: Dan Bammes

As he announced his budget proposal for the coming year, Governor Gary Herbert proclaimed 2018 the Year of Technical Education in Utah. He set the goal of leading the nation in the number of students completing a high-quality technical education. His budget proposal includes more than nine million dollars in new funding for the institutions that provide it. In this edition of Utah Thrives, we hear from the head of Utah’s System of Technical Colleges, … Continued

Utah Thrives – Voter Participation

Written by: Dan Bammes

Utah once had one of the highest rates of voter participation in the country, but today it’s dropped to 39th among the states. Utah Foundation has been studying the issue of voter turnout for quite a while, and a new research brief shows the situation isn’t improving. In this edition of Utah Thrives, Utah Foundation President Peter Reichard and Vice-President Shawn Teigen offer their thoughts on the factors associated with low participation, including uncompetitive elections. … Continued

Utah Thrives — Microgrids

Written by: Dan Bammes

We often think of electric power systems as regional in scale — a huge grid of high-voltage power lines connecting dams, power plants and substations to industry and homes across a wide area. That’s how they have evolved over the past century or more. But the idea of smaller, independent power systems that become components of the larger grid while serving their own communities is also becoming current. In this edition of Utah Thrives, we … Continued

Utah Thrives – New Leadership at Utah Foundation

Written by: Dan Bammes

Here at Utah Foundation, we’re typically focused outwards on the issues we study and the research we publish. But this summer we’re in a leadership transition. Steve Kroes is leaving his position as president of Utah Foundation after 16 years, and Peter Reichard is coming in as our new president after 15 years as research director of the Bureau of Governmental Research in New Orleans.