News Articles

How Utah Picks Its Politicians

October 31, 2013 (Salt Lake City Weekly) - What you need to know about the Count My Vote reform that could revolutionize the process… A 2012 survey by the nonprofit Utah Foundation, for example, showed that in that year, only 25 percent of Republican delegates were women, though 53 percent of Republican voters were women…

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Investing in education

October 22, 2013 (Standard Examiner) - Public education in the state of Utah continues to make significant improvements in raising the level of student achievement [though] Utah Foundation noted that there has been a significant decline in the public education funding effort (defined as public education revenues per $1,000 of personal income) since 1995…

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Most big money backers of Count My Vote skipped caucuses

October 06, 2013 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Mike Leavitt didn’t attend his neighborhood caucus in 2012… [Rich] McKeown said the caucus system also favors older, longtime residents of the state over Utah transplants and women, who are under-represented among the delegates. In the Republican ranks, for example, women make up half the GOP voters in the state, but a quarter of the delegates, according to a 2012 survey conducted by the Utah Foundation.

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Sen. Jones bill deserves discussion (opinion)

August 29, 2013 (Deseret News) - On Aug. 25, the Deseret News announced in its local section that state Sen. Patricia Jones, D-Holladay, was drafting a bill for the upcoming 2014 legislative session which, among other issues, would “create jobs and allow schools to shrink class sizes by hiring new educators.”

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Busy Bees: Where taxes are low, jobs are plentiful and schools are starved

August 29, 2013 (The Economist) - FEW things excite Gary Herbert, the Republican governor of Utah, more than trashing his own line of work. “Every sector is growing here except for one,” he says triumphantly. “You know which? Government!”… “People here aren’t trying to be Donald Trump,” says Stephen Kroes, president of the Utah Foundation…

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In the West, an Egalitarian Star Dims

August 12, 2013 (Institute for Policy Studies (Too Much weekly newsletter)) - In The Spirit Level, the landmark 2009 book on the impact of inequality on our daily lives, the surprise societal star — at least for most American readers — ends up to be the state of Utah.

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Study: Economic Inequality on the Rise in Utah

August 05, 2013 (UtahPolicy.com) - A recent national study found that Utah was one of a half dozen states where it was easier for a hard-working person to move from one income strata to another. Good news. But then comes another look at Utah income mobility and equality. And it finds that within Utah itself it’s become harder to move upward financially. The new Utah Foundation study…

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Forces joining to push for transportation tax hike in Utah

July 02, 2013 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Utah legislators feared to utter the words \”tax hike\” during the recession and the fragile economy that followed. But now business leaders, state administrators and local governments are pushing lawmakers to increase taxes for roads and mass transit, warning that doing nothing will have dire consequences.

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Study: transportation tax hike would benefit more than it costs

June 24, 2013 (Salt Lake Tribune) - If Utah would raise taxes to invest an extra $11.3 billion on high-priority road and mass-transit projects during the next 30 years, its return would be worth many times that amount — including more than $20 billion in extra tax revenue from economic growth and creation of about 6,000 new jobs a year, a new study says.

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U.S. ranks 28th in the world for work-life balance

June 06, 2013 (KSL News) - A recent Pew Study shows there has been a dramatic increase in the number of moms who are the primary wage-earners for their families. The U.S. is one of the best countries in the world for family wealth and access to housing.

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