Access Utah

We participate in an ongoing national discussion on bullying today. A young man in Iowa, Kenneth Weishuhn, recently committed suicide after he was bullied when he came out as gay. The Sioux City Journal responded by devoting its front page to an editorial headlined “We must stop bullying. It starts here. And it starts now.”  The editorial board said: “We are all to blame. We have not done enough. Not nearly enough.”

Some of the best tastes of late spring are developing right now, including strawberries . You can grow them as big as your fist or as small as the tip of your pinky finger, and everyone knows they are infinitely better plucked from the garden than anything you can buy in the store. Mark Anderson from Anderson Seed & Garden in Logan is our guest on the gardening segment of Access Utah today and happy to take your questions.

Saturday is World Astronomy Day and we're celebrating by spending the whole hour hanging out with astronomers.

First up is Tyler Nordgren, astronomer and Assistant Professor of Physics at University of the Redlands in California. He visited 12 national parks in one year, photographing the stars in order to create the book Skies Above, Earth Below: A Guide to Astronomy in the National Parks.

Access Utah is broadcasting live Thursday from the Milford Renewable Energy Fair, sponsored by the Southwest Utah Renewable Energy Center (SUTREC).

As the home of First Wind's Milford Wind Project, the Blundell Geothermal Plant, the Cyrq Energy Geothermal plant and Utah's first hydroelectric power plant, Beaver County and the City of Milford is at the center of Utah's renewable energy industry.

What do the billion Muslims across the world really think? Our guest on Access Utah Tuesday has distilled the most in-depth study of its kind -- Gallup's Survey of the Muslim World -- into an answer.

Ahmed Younis is a Senior Analyst with the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. He joins us for a conversation in anticipation of a lecture he will give Tuesday evening, April 24, at 6:00 p.m. at Utah State University: "Who Really Speaks for the Muslim World?"

Today on Access Utah's gardening segment: bees, bees, bees. Backyard beekeepers, Bryan and Nancy Williams of Providence, will be in the studio to take your questions. If you have your own bees one of the advantages is an increase in the size and quantity of your fruits and vegetables. They're not as hard to take care of as you think but they do require consistent care.

The Massacre at Mountain Meadow is an event in American history that continues to fascinate Mormons and non-Mormons alike in Utah and throughout the country. Utah State University will feature several works of art about and inspired by the massacre this week in Logan, including a play, a documentary film, and a panel discussion.

Forestry Specialist Mike Kuhns, from Utah State University Extension, is talking about trees today- pruning, and keeping them healthy on Access Utah.  

On today's Access Utah, Tom Williams’ guest in the first half-hour is Utah State University President Stan Allbrecht.  They’ll talk about how higher education fared at the recent 2012 legislature and the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act, which established the nation’s land-grant colleges, among other topics.

Then, with the deadline to file taxes approaching, we’ll help you avoid tax scams and give you advice in selecting a tax preparer.  Our guests in the second half are IRS Spokesman Bill Brunson and IRS Criminal Division Special Agent Ron Marker.    

Wednesday we'll be re-broadcasting an interview done in 2010 with Celebrity Speaker Luma Mufleh, a soccer coach of an international team, called the Fugees, short for refugees. In the summer of 2004 she organized a team of refugee teens who play for the sheer enjoyment of the game. Individuals in the group suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress, language barriers, and cultural differences.

For more information on Luma Mufleh's effect on the community in Clarkston, Georgia, visit Fugees Family.

Tuesday on Access Utah I met with Susan Harris, the Words Without Borders magazine editor. Words without Borders publishes international literature, and Harris is visiting USU. 

It's planting and growing season, and today on Access Utah Diane Alston joins us as an extension  entomologist for Utah State University  to talk about crawling things in the garden. We discuss the decline of the honeybee, how to deal with the pests in your vegetable gardens and answer your bug questions.
You can find more information about garden pests in Utah here.

The clown, the hero, the fool, the sacred one...the coyote plays a number of roles including the most abundant predator in North America. Tracking the coyote takes us on a thorny trail filled with political, ethical and environmental strife that forces us to confront the human struggle for power over nature. Science Questions presents this controversial canine and its perseverance in the West.

On Wednesday’s Access Utah, it’s time for our annual March tradition: an hour of great Bossa Nova music, live from Studio C with the ensemble “Evening in Brazil.”  We’ll hear songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim and other composers.

Carter Niemeyer used to trap wolves and now does everything he can to protect them. Tom Williams talks to Niemeyer, retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  wolf recovery coordinator for Idaho and author of Wolfer: a Memoir on Access Utah Tuesday.

The garden is warming up! Apricot blossoms have popped and asparagus is breaking through the ground. Dan Drost, Vegetable Specialist with USU's extension program, is in the studio to answer any gardening questions you might have.

I work on problems of water rights and water policy at the intersection of law, geography, and political economy.

 

Dr. Carl Bauer, Professor of Geography at the University of Arizona, is our guest on Access Utah Thursday in anticipation of a talk he'll give as Distinguished Geographer Lecturer at Utah State University in the evening. Bauer is an expert on water rights and water policy and specializes in the similar coasts of Chile and California and the roles of water and law in the policies of those regions.