Utah News

In 1990, the U.S. Congress established the first full week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week to recognize the efforts of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)  to raise mental illness awareness. Since then, mental health advocates across the country have joined together during the first full week of October in sponsoring many kinds of activities.

In the first of a three-part series, UPR's Storee Powell discusses the continuing stigma of mental illness with NAMI Utah's executive director, Rebecca Glathar.

All this week at Utah State University, the religious studies program has invited two Buddhist monks to demonstrate the sacred art of sand mandalas.

Passersby may notice what looks a lot like a section of the student "Hub" roped off around two robed men. What those men will be envisioning is their own small piece of heaven—a suitable space to create a sand mandala. The sand mandala is an ancient Tibetan art form made by arranging colored sand in geometrical patterns. Dr. Hun Lye, professor of East Asian Religion at Davidson College, says the process is very symbolic. 

KPCW's Larry Warren moderates a debate between 1st District Republican Congressman Rob Bishop and his Democratic challenger Donna McAleer, who are both running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The debate originally aired during KPCW's Community Voices and UPR's Access Utah.

Utah students may no longer be the only ones getting a lesson in sex education. Lawmakers are considering new human sexuality and health education courses for parents to help them teach the often-uncomfortable sex ed lesson to their children at home. While lawmakers agree there is room for improvement to sex ed in schools, they question the cost and effectiveness of this plan.

As a youth, he moved in and out of foster care homes or he lived on the streets of London. To cope with abandonment by his parents, Alex Boye turned to music and a belief in Jesus Christ. It wasn't until he served a religious mission for the LDS Church that Boye performed for the first time in public. He eventually spent four years as the lead singer of a popular boy band. While touring in Europe, he decided to leave the group and move to Salt Lake City, where he could be with fellow members of the Mormon faith.