Access Utah

In 1991, riots began in New York City after a white Hasidic Jew struck two black children while driving in Crown Heights, killing one of them. A rumor started that emergency responders rushed to help the Jewish men in the car, but not the children. When the news spread, anti-Semitic violence left one Jewish man dead — despite the fact that the he wasn’t involved in the crash. Jacob Dorman, Assistant Professor of History and American Studies at the University of Kansas, says that these events upset the narrative about the two communities as allies in the civil rights movement.

For millions of fans, the 1985 Chicago Bears were more than a football team. They were the greatest football team ever—a gang of colorful nuts dancing and pounding their way to victory. This was the first NFL team to really cross over, to become pop stars. Their ascent marks the beginning of the modern game.

Today on Access Utah, Jack Schmidt, professor in Utah State University’s Department of Watershed Sciences and head of the U.S. Geological Survey's Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, has long studied the Colorado River. He's among the team of scientists that designed a series of controlled releases of water from Glen Canyon Dam, starting in 1996, in an effort to restore habitats altered by the use of dams.

Amazon.com says about Lisa Morton’s “Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween:” “Every year, children and adults alike take to the streets dressed as witches, demons, animals, celebrities, and more. They carve pumpkins and play pranks, and the braver ones watch scary movies and go on ghost tours. There are parades, fireworks displays, cornfield mazes, and haunted houses—and, most important, copious amounts of bite-sized candy.

Less than three years after he retired, legendary quarterback Brett Favre has become one of the most high profile players to acknowledge he has experienced health problems stemming from repeated concussions in the NFL. KUED and the Brain Injury Alliance of Utah are hosting a screening and panel discussion of the Frontline documentary “League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis.” The screening will take place at the Salt Lake City Library, 210 East 400 South, Wednesday, October 30 at 7:00 pm.

In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay college student in Wyoming was brutally beaten by two men and died from his injuries. His story became synonymous with anti-gay hate crimes. Stephen Jimenez went to Laramie to research the story of Matthew Shepard’s murder in 2000, after the two men convicted of killing him had gone to prison, and after the national media had moved on.

Ricardo Salvador is the senior scientist and director of the Food & Environment Program at Union of Concerned Scientists. Salvador works with citizens, scientists, economists, and politicians to transition our current food system into one that grows healthy foods while employing sustainable practices. His work is driven by the belief that the current food production system disproportionately benefits some large agribusiness firms and contributes to rises in preventable diseases like hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Salvador recently visited Utah State University to present his lecture titled “Democracy Interrupted: Constructing a food utopia on top of crumbling foundations.” He talks with Tom Williams about the responsibilities and the reality of America's food industry, declining cardiovascular health and how his family's history is significant of his health today.

Science Questions profiles India's largest public toilet system that has saved the "Untouchables" from a lifetime of cleaning up human waste. Later, we hear about the amazing ability of what are called Cemetery Trees.

On today's Access Utah Sheri Quinn discusses population growth and climate change eco-cities are on the rise across the world. Cities that are committed to producing renewable energy-renewable resources and removing carbon waste. Cache Valley resident and long-time sustainability living activist Jim Goodwin joins us to talk about the challenges Cache Valley faces as the valley grows and seeks cleaner energy alternatives.

The USU Religious Studies Program & USU History Department are sponsoring a symposium: Black Religious Experience in American History at USU on Oct 24-25. Speakers include Albert Raboteau, Emeritus Professor of Religion at Princeton, the foremost expert on the religion of the American slaves prior to Lincoln's emancipation.