Kerry Bringhurst

What began as an interest in poetry in her accelerated English class at Logan High School has evolved for Markaye Hassan into a love not only for poetry, but for the poets themselves.

Her passion is evident when she talks about the process of falling in love with poetry during the course of her class: "We spent a lot of time annotating poems where we would go through and really notice how every single word is so important and all of the different ways you could really apply it to yourself. It is so deep. Every word is so important."

Utah's U.S. Senator Mike Lee held town meetings throughout Northern Utah this week. UPR's Kerry Bringhurst was at Wednesday night's meeting in Logan and spoke first hand with some of Lee's constituents, who are concerned about the growing federal deficit, federal control of public lands, and the future of Northern Utah's Hill Air Force Base.

Former Political Science professor at Utah State University and Nibley resident, James Waite remembers when the Richard Gebaur Military Base closed while he was living in Kansas City, Missouri:

"The bottom line is we want a sound defense, we want to use the investment that's been made here in Utah. It makes sense to keep it and I want to make sure we keep it. "

Utah Senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee joined a minority of senators last week in voting against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. The Alliance for a Better Utah believes that a vote against reauthorizing the Act represents a callous insult not just to the women of Utah but to the entire population of Utah and the United States.

Alliance for a Better Utah Executive Director, Maryann Martindale told UPR's Kerry Bringhurst that:

Organizations in Utah who serve residents receiving Medicaid and State Child Health Insurance are calling for Utah lawmakers to hold a special session to allocate money that would be used to help those whose personal information was stolen when a state computer system was hacked.

Judi Hilman is with the Utah Health Policy Project. She says the state is not doing enough to help the more than 800,000 victims:

"First of all, 10,000 - 15,000 of the 280,000 who got the letter to sign up for the credit monitoring have actually signed up so far. So that's an indicator of how many people are actually able to manage this. They should have signed up immediately."

They call him the renewable energy guru. Andy Swapp is the technology teacher at Milford High School. He was recently recognized for his dedication to renewable energy by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch with a congressional tribute. Senator Hatch closed the tribute with the words, "Mr. President, I was really impressed with what I experienced in meeting Andy. I wanted to highlight the important, innovative work of a successful educator engaged in leading our nation into the future."

Andy Swapp talked to UPR's Kerry Bringhurst about the Milford Renewable Energy Fair, which he started in 2009 as a way to help his students "better understand what kinds of energy options are out there."

In May the Extension program at Utah State University will hold a workshop to help assist owners and operators of family farms and ranches with transitioning their business to their successors. This is a unique opportunity for small agribusiness owners to visualize the future of the family farm with or without them.

Kynda Curtis is an agribusiness specialist and the organizer of the workshop: "I work with farmers and ranchers in Utah and the greater Great Basin to look at marketing and financial issues related to agriculture. Before I did my PhD, I did estate planning in the private sector, so that's why I'm involved in holding workshops to help people transition their businesses when they decide to retire."

It was the largest earthquake drill in state history and one that students and the staff at the Edith Bowen Laboratory School have been preparing for.

As 10:15 rolls around, Tyler Rasmussen of River Heights and his classmates at the Logan elementary school wait for the announcement from counselor Clint Farmer that the drill has begun. He and other students in Mrs. Moeller's class take cover as she tells them:

"The best things to hold onto are going to be the legs of the desks because that's the sturdiest part of your desk."

Kerry Bringhurst talks to the Standard-Examiner's Dave Greiling about this week's headlines.

Weber State Guard Headed for the NBA
Damian Lillard had made mention before that he was seriously considering it, but Dave Greiling reports that yesterday Lillard will "be leaving school a year early and declaring for the draft  later this spring." NBA scouts spent a lot of time at Weber State watching Lillard and he's considered a very good prospect. He's the first Weber State Wildcat to be drafted since 1985.

More than 3,000 counties and the District of Columbia were evaluated by the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The county health rankings measure how healthy their residents are and how long they are expected to live.

In Utah, Cache County received the #2 ranking when it comes to health behavior, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment.

Lloyd Berentzen is the health officer for the Bear River Health Department, which will use the data as one tool for creating programs needed to help maintain or improve the health of Cache County residents.

The overall theme for National Public Health Week this year is "A Healthier America Begins Today". It's a time when public health agencies from all across the United States come together... to encourage families, friends and neighbors to make small changes. Because when they make small changes in their lives, they protect their health and they prevent disease.

Jill Parker of the Bear River Health Department gives UPR listeners a run-down of the week's events in Northern Utah.

Monday - Active Living, Eating Healthy
Tuesday - Living Tobacco and Drug Free
Wednesday - Preventing Communicable Diseases
Thursday - Be Wise Reproductive Health Program
Friday - Emotional and Mental Well-Being