News Articles

My view: Why wait to improve our air quality?

March 11, 2014 (Deseret News) - A broad public mandate exists along the Wasatch Front to reduce air pollution. There also appears to be broad agreement on the need to address at least two of the largest causes of PM 2.5 pollution: vehicular emissions and wood burning emissions.

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Jay Evensen: Don’t mess with a great Utah property tax law

March 06, 2014 (Deseret News) - If Utah has gotten one aspect of taxing and public accountability right, it is with property taxes. Unfortunately, a bill wending its way through the state Legislature would mess with that success, raise your property taxes to fund the House speaker’s unproven notion that what Utah schools really need is a tablet in every backpack.

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Trib town hall focuses on options for better air quality

January 29, 2014 (Salt Lake Tribune) - The paths to cleaner air in Utah are as varied and numerous as the thousands of emission sources spewing pollution into the skies over one of nation’s most beautiful states. That was a central theme Wednesday evening at a town hall titled “Cleaning up Utah’s Air” in the Salt Lake City Main Library, where more than 100 concerned residents directed sometimes pointed questions to a panel of four experts.

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Transportation causes 57 percent of pollution in Utah, study says

January 23, 2014 (KSL News) - SALT LAKE CITY — A report released today by the Utah Foundation analyzes the trends and science behind our bad air. \”Everything we do almost is emitting particulates in the air or at least gases that turn into particulates and so it is all bad,\” said Utah Foundation representative, Shawn Teigen.

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Air quality to be a prominent discussion topic at upcoming legislative session

January 23, 2014 (ABC 4 Utah) - When the 2014 legislative session begins on Monday, several people want air quality to be high up on the agenda. Shawn Teigen is the principal research analyst for Utah Foundation. He spoke in front of the governor this Wednesday morning. Teigen was in studio to talk more about what may happen with air quality legislation in the upcoming weeks.

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Education groups want change to Utah’s political system

January 13, 2014 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Leaders of several public education groups, including the Utah Education Association and Utah PTA, said voters are not being represented through Utah’s current political process, and endorsed an election reform movement promoted by the Count My Vote group… \r\n \r\n On education issues in particular, polls conducted for the nonpartisan Utah Foundation in 2010 and 2012 found that Utah voters overwhelmingly said that public education was the most important issue for the state. But Republican … Continued

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USU launches online training program for elementary math teachers

January 13, 2014 (Deseret News) - GROUSE CREEK, Box Elder County — For Cathe Runyon, one of two teachers at the Grouse Creek School in Utah\’s northwest corner, attending teacher training classes can be difficult… In October, the Utah Foundation listed professional development among the best practices that contribute to student success in a report presented to lawmakers.

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Legislature seeks to improve air quality, avoid tax hikes

December 19, 2013 (Salt Lake Tribune) - After all-day caucus meetings on Wednesday, leaders of the Utah Legislature emerged to say they see little appetite for raising taxes in the upcoming general session — during an election year — but are anxious to do something to clean up Wasatch Front air.

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Utah a model for new federal transportation lobbying

November 19, 2013 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Transportation leaders from around the country launched an effort Tuesday to persuade Congress to raise an extra $30 billion a year for highways and mass transit — and said a partial model for their lobbying is how Utah leaders have been building support for transportation funding in the Beehive State.

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Utah Foundation Panel Works Through Solutions to Improving Quality of Life in Utah

November 19, 2013 (KUER) - Availability of jobs, public school education and air and water quality are the top three areas most in need of improvement for a better quality of life. That’s according to the latest Utah Foundation survey of Utahns. The Foundation’s Senior Research Analyst Shawn Teigen led a panel discussion today in downtown Salt Lake City on the results of the latest study of Utahn’s Quality of Life.

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In-depth report: Utah residents pay more in ‘fees’ to local, state government

November 11, 2013 (Fox 13) - Utah residents pay far more money to the state government than the numbers that show up on paystubs, mortgage statements or store receipts. 31 percent more. That’s the proportion of “own source” money that comes into the state government from what the U.S. census calls “charges” and everyone else calls fees. When state and local revenues are lumped together, Utahns pay 29 percent of government budgets in the form of fees.

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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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