Kerry Bringhurst

Listen the response from Utah Senator Mike Lee, recorded shortly after President Obama delivered his State of the Union Address.

Laws that regulate hookahs, electronic cigarettes and nicotine lozenges and gum could all be tightened under proposals being considered by Utah legislators.  Kerry Bringhurst tells us a few of the ways that legislators are seeking to regulate smoking and tobacco products in the state during the current legislative session.

Utah Democrats are paying a $5,000 fee to obtain legislative records related to the state's redistricting process. Party Chairman Jim Dabakis says the records are needed to determine whether the party can file a lawsuit seeking to overturn the election maps approved in October.

Dabakis says the state shouldn't be charging fees for public records.

Utah lawmakers will be focusing heavily on budget issues and education funding as they begin their 2012 General Session. Republican Senate President Michael Waddoups says the session will have an optimistic tone because Utah's economy is growing. Waddoups says a $200 million surplus means state agencies will not be facing cuts and employees could even get small raises.

During the first weeks of the session, legislators could approve agency budgets at last year's funding levels and even provide additional money for student growth in public education.

Democratic lawmakers from the House and Senate have introduced an initiative they say will improved public education in Utah. Representative Rebecca Chavez-Houck talks to Kerry Bringhurst about the "Best Schools" initiative.

The U.S. Army has destroyed about 90 percent of its aging chemical weapons, from the desert chemical depot.

Wednesday just after 2 p.m. the last of the hard weapons were burned in a 1,500 degree furnace. A tray of 23 projectiles came out of the furnace at 2:11 p.m.

At its peak, the desert chemical depot held some 13,600 tons of chemical agents, making it the world's largest.

The entire project will be complete by the weekend when the depot will incinerate bulk supplies of Lewisite, a powerful skin, eye and lung irritant.

USDA is closing 43 offices throughout US that helps rural Americans get affordable mortgages. 

This is a great concern in Utah, although no offices in Utah will be closed.  The program in Utah that deals with self help housing is called Neighborhood Nonprofit Housing Association. 

"We don't have many offices in Utah, and the ones we do have cover a wide area," said Kim Datwyler, executive director

Utah offices for NNHA cover from Provo and Vernal north, she said.

Even though northern Utah is forecasted to face avalanche danger this week, the lack of snow this winter has forced Ogden to cancel its Winterfest. Kerry talks to Dave Greiling about these and other developing stories.

Read the full stories at the Standard-Examiner's website.

Court papers show Teresa Freeman was charged with one count of custodial sexual relations for having sexual relations  with a parolee she supervised at a Salt Lake City halfway house. The 37-year-old faces a prison term of up to five years if convicted. 

Utah wildlife officials have confirmed that a known poison killed hundreds of European starlings last month. Officials still don't know who used the poison called Starlicide.

Government agencies routinely kill starlings when flocks become a nuisance, but officials say they aren't responsible for the starlings that have been turning up dead around northern Utah.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources say that tests showed that Starlicide was used to kill about 400 starlings found dead at a Clearfield park.