Deseret News
- Romney’s child benefit proposal gaining diverse fans – The New York Times, the Institute for Family Studies and the Institute of Policy Research are among them.
- Cox vs. Zuckerberg: Do Utahns think state government is more trustworthy than Facebook? – 73% of Utahns polled distrust Facebook, 53% distrust the federal government and 41% distrust state government.
- Ban on transgender athletes in girls sports stalls in Utah Senate committee – Even though no vote was taken, the bill will not be moving on.
- Salt Lake teachers, students rally against ‘bullying’ from Utah Legislature – “Unfortunately our state Legislature has been attacking teachers” by advancing legislation targeting Salt Lake City School District rather than letting district officials make their own decisions, said James Tobler.
- Inspired by Paris Hilton, woman says Utah ranch punished her for reporting assaults – She calls for Utah lawmakers to pass law bringing more oversight to troubled teen industry.
Salt Lake Tribune
- ‘Murder Among the Mormons’ brings the story of infamous Salt Lake City bombings to Netflix – The story of Mark Hofmann and the LDS Church is a true-crime drama centered on religion.
- Utah Senate committee tables bill barring transgender girls from female K-12 sports – One lawmaker on the committee, Sen. Jake Anderegg, told Birkeland repeatedly that he “hated” the proposal.
- Sounding a bit like Reagan, Mike Lee tells leaders to tear down that wall — around the U.S. Capitol – Utah senator says the armed fence sends the wrong message to the American people.
- Woman says she was punished at Turn-About Ranch after reporting a sexual assault – The Colorado woman is suing the Utah ranch for “troubled teens,” and is being represented by Gloria Allred.
- UTA adopts first-ever 5-year service plan – Envisions creating a ‘core network’ where service is so frequent that schedules are not needed.
- Photos: Salt Lake City teachers rally against lawmakers for pressuring the district to reopen in person – Decisions to return, they say, should be made at the local level.
- A bill to make online impersonation illegal in Utah wins Senate OK – Two Utahns who have been victims of online impersonation spoke in support for the measure earlier this month, advocating for ‘stricter laws’ to hold people accountable.
Other:
- ‘This is the future’: Can telework help rural Utahns make more money and afford better homes? (KSL) – Rural Utah battles a talent drain that comes when its brightest students move away for school and take big-city jobs afterward. Working remotely means rural Utahns don’t have to be limited by the wages or economic climate in their immediate surroundings.
- Utah bill would expand Medicaid coverage to include fertility preservation for cancer patients (KSL) – Cancer patients sometimes find themselves in the worst position imaginable: having to choose between life-saving treatments and the ability to have children.
- As medical cannabis moves forward, Wyoming activists, lawmakers look to Utah (FOX 13) – Wyoming activists and politicians are preparing to push for medical cannabis to be implemented in that state and are looking at Utah’s newly-created medical cannabis program for ideas on what to do — and what not to do.
- More people skipping dentist appointments during pandemic (FOX 13) – According to the American Dental Association, most dental offices are back open but seeing fewer patients than normal.
COVID Corner
- Musician Trisha Yearwood diagnosed with COVID-19, husband Garth Brooks confirms (Fox13) – Yearwood is experiencing symptoms, but is “doing okay.”
- Moderna to begin trial of new COVID vaccine to address virus variant first found in South Africa (USA Today) Other leaders in the COVID-19 vaccine effort – Pfizer-BioNTech, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca-Oxford University – also have said they are working on new versions of their vaccines or boosters to increase their protection.
- New research shows California coronavirus variant is more transmissible (Washington Post) – A coronavirus variant detected in California this winter rapidly became dominant in the state over five months and now makes up more than half of the infections in 44 counties.
- ‘If not us, then who?’ (Washington Post) – These doctors and nurses battle covid all day. Then they go online and fight misinformation.
- California, With 50,000 Lost, Has More Deaths Than Any Other State (The New York Times) – Most of those deaths were recorded recently, during a frightening winter surge that followed a period of relatively low case counts.
- CDC Launches Web Tool To Help Americans Find COVID-19 Vaccines (NPR) – “The idea is to show where COVID-19 vaccine providers [are] that are open to the public — how to contact them, how to book an appointment, and try to show the daily inventory status so people are clear where there’s vaccine and where there isn’t,”
- Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine works well in big ‘real world’ test (Associated Press) – The vaccine was 92% effective at preventing severe disease after two shots and 62% after one. Its estimated effectiveness for preventing death was 72% two to three weeks after the first shot, a rate that may improve as immunity builds over time.
- Utah ‘back on track’ after vaccine shipments delayed, anticipating big boost in doses (Deseret News) – Next week’s order is for around 32,000 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine, 27,000 first doses of the Moderna vaccine and 33,000 doses of the new J&J vaccine.
- Why you get symptoms from the 2nd COVID-19 vaccine dose (Deseret News) – “The second vaccine (dose) — think of it as having that hit to your immune system, and your immune system now recognizes the vaccine, so it does its job.”
