Deseret News
- The fight against suicide starts in the classroom – The question everyone in our state should be asking is “What can I do now to help parents and struggling kids and to prevent other families from experiencing this same tragedy?”
- Matt Sandgren: Utah leads on innovative solutions to mental health crisis – New 988 emergency number connects people with mental health services.
- Would child tax credit help more if paid monthly? Disagreement rages – Policymakers don’t want children to be poor. But how to help is a complicated question. Biden favors the tax credit delivered as a monthly payment. Republicans in Congress are expected to oppose the measure, although the article noted that “similar plans have garnered pockets of Republican support, however, with Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, among the GOP lawmakers who have pushed for dramatically increasing the Child Tax Credit.”
- Pandemic’s ‘learning loss’: It’s gonna take ‘astronomical’ investment in Utah students to make up for the toll – State School Board seeks $260M to help students make up for what they didn’t learn during pandemic’s disrupted school schedule.
- Why Dixie State students support a name change – “The word Dixie has a national meaning that ties it to the South and the confederacy, which we recognize is vastly different from the local understanding of the term. We understand and value the history of DSU and St. George, and will continue to fight to preserve it. Our heritage is important to us, but the future of the students should not be jeopardized by the university’s name.”
- Pandemic changes the way officials count Utah’s homeless population – The Point-in-Time Count happens every year. But like most things, pandemic precautions forced officials to find new, safer ways to count those living without housing. Instead of three days and extensive interviews, the count was held on a single day and volunteers didn’t make direct contact with anyone.
- Mitt Romney among 10 senators offering alternative relief package in letter to Biden – “In the spirit of bipartisanship and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 relief framework that builds on prior COVID assistance laws, all of which passed with bipartisan support,” the senators wrote in a Sunday letter to President Joe Biden.
- Need a mental health day? It would be an excused school absence if this bill passes – The House Education Committee voted unanimously to send HB81 to the House of Representatives for further consideration. Other states that have made this allowance have experienced a reduction in youth suicide, according to HB81’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Winder, R-West Valley City.
- High-risk, low-income and almost out of options, a Utah couple is evicted in pandemic – Doug Henderson knows his odds of surviving the coronavirus are slim. He and his wife Pam believe they are being evicted as ‘punishment’ for reporting pests and other problems.
- PPP lending going a lot smoother this time around, Utah banks and grateful businesses say – This week, small businesses will begin receiving much-anticipated forgivable loans through the latest round of Paycheck Protection Program approved by Congress. Money that could be the difference between metaphorical “life and death” for some struggling to keep their doors open.
- What happened to America’s ‘loyal opposition’? – Our extreme partisanship has turned fellow Americans into enemies.
Salt Lake Tribune
- Salt Lake City activist allows new homeless encampment on his front lawn – Community organizer Darin Mann says “The Village Camp” is an effort to “destigmatize” people experiencing homelessness.
- How Qualtrics’ record stock sale further boosts Utah as an emerging tech titan – The $1.55 billion IPO made the Provo company lots more money and gave Silicon Slopes more bragging points.
- Thousands of Utah kids have changed schools during COVID-19, while ‘school choice’ left others out – Will kids who transferred return to neighborhood schools next fall, and what happens if they don’t?
- Coronavirus in Utah: Daily case trend continues to decline as 2 more Utahns die – The trend of positive tests stands at 1,464 per day, which is slightly lower than just a week ago. The week before that, it was 2,548.
- A new study asked Utahns not yet vaccinated if they’d get the shot. Here’s what they said. – About 1 in 5 Utahns who haven’t received the COVID-19 vaccine say they might not get one.
- Utah lawmakers want to remove requirement for students to get a doctor’s note when they’re sick — or just need a mental health day – HB116 would only require a parent to call in to their kid’s school to validate the missed day was for an illness. And that could include mental health, with a second bill running alongside it.
- Here’s what the Utah Legislature has been up to in recent days – Week 2 on Capitol Hill saw lawmakers tackling big budget matters, along with guns and police reforms.
- A Utah DACA recipient has dreamed all his life of being a police officer — but state law forbids it – A new diversity bill moving through the Utah Legislature would allow noncitizens to serve in the police force.
Other
- The millionth day of COVID-19 as a parent (St. George News) – Kat Dayton writes “I know, I know, you’re thinking how does that math work when we’ve only been in a pandemic with (some) schools shutdown since March of 2020? Well, that’s easy. You have to count remote learning in dog years.”
- New Intermountain Healthcare medical campus announced for Saratoga Springs (FOX 13) – Intermountain announced the plans for the 40-acre site on Friday. It will be located on the corner of Pioneer Crossing and Crossroads Blvd. — near an existing Intermountain clinic and InstaCare.
- Over 500 vehicles ‘March for Life’ in Pro-Life Utah’s car parade (KUTV) – “Today we raised awareness of the 3000 lives ended by abortion in Utah annually. It is our goal that, one day, abortion will be abolished in Utah,” said Deanna Holland, Executive Director of Pro-Life Utah in a prepared statement.
COVID Corner
- Teen who beat rare cancer three times passes away from COVID-19 (ABC4) – Kansas City teen Aspen Deke went through four years of chemo and a bone marrow transplant, but her parents said COVID-19 was much worse than cancer.
- Single Covid case in Western Australia leads to 5-day lockdown for 2 million (CNN) – The drastic measures come after a man in his twenties who worked as a security guard at the Sheraton Four Points, a hotel quarantine facility, tested positive for the coronavirus.
- Why Some Who Are Vaccinated Still Get Coronavirus (The New York Times) – Vaccines don’t work instantly. They don’t work retroactively. And, the vaccines prevent illness, but maybe not infection.
- L.A. County reports decline in new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, but warns public to be vigilant (Los Angeles Times) – “Although some restrictions were just lifted in our County, we are still in a very dangerous period in terms of cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” Barbara Ferrer, the county’s director of public health, said in a statement. There were 5,925 new cases of the coronavirus and 124 related deaths on Sunday.
- Resist the urge to share a picture of your vaccine card (FOX 4 KC) – There is self-identifying information on the card. If you aren’t careful, it could make it easier for people to steal your identity, or help scammers create fake versions of the vaccine card.
- This couple got COVID-19 in November. They’re still sick (My Fox 8) – They’re COVID long-haulers. Eventually, the major symptoms cleared up for the Doughertys. But two months after first catching the virus, they still feel sick sometimes.
- Essential workers get lost in the vaccine scrum as states prioritize the elderly (Washington Post) – Many states are trying to speed up a delayed and often chaotic rollout of coronavirus vaccines by adding people 65 and older to near the front of the line. But that approach is pushing others back in the queue, especially because retired residents are more likely to have the time and resources to pursue hard-to-get appointments. As a result, workers who often face the highest risk of exposure to the virus will be waiting longer to get protected, according to experts, union officials and workers.
- Anxiety Grows as Long-Term Care Awaits COVID-19 Vaccines (Newsmax) – Frustration is building over the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations at long-term care sites, where some homes still await first shots while fending off a virus that can devastate their residents.
- ‘That hurricane is coming’: expert warns US to brace for virulent Covid strain (The Guardian) – A leading infectious disease expert predicted on Sunday that the deadlier British variant of Covid-19 will become the dominant strain of the virus in the US and could hit the country like a hurricane.
- I tried watching a documentary on COVID-19. It made me sick to my stomach (Deseret News) – It got too real, too quick. To put it simply, it’s too early for a documentary like this.
