Access Utah

Legendary lyricist Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me, Fiorello!) is in Logan for events with the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theater. He is Tom Williams' guest for the hour on Access Utah. Monday 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.

Ceiridwen Terrill writes about how, at a particularly sad and frightening time in her life, a wolf dog was the kind of companion she was searching for. In her book, "Part Wild: Caught Between the Worlds of Wolves and Dogs," she talks about an animal whose heart is divided between the woman she loves, and the desire to roam free. In the end, Terrill realizes she must confront the reality of taming a half-wild animal. We revisit a conversation from December 2012.

Brigham Young was a rough-hewn craftsman from New York whose impoverished and obscure life was electrified by the Mormon faith. He trudged around the U.S. and England to gain converts for Mormonism, spoke in spiritual tongues, married more than 50 women, and eventually transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God.

Animal welfare activists filed a lawsuit Monday, challenging Utah’s “Ag Gag” law. We'll revisit a debate from May when, in the first test in the nation of an “Ag Gag” law, a Utah woman was charged for using her cell phone to film a slaughterhouse. Charges against Amy Meyer were subsequently dropped. Under Utah’s law (H.B. 187) passed in 2012, it is illegal to film an agricultural operation while trespassing or entering the premises on false pretenses. What do you think? Do surreptitious whistle blowers at farms and slaughterhouses provide a needed service or are they public nuisances? Do you think Utah’s “Ag Gag” law is a necessary protection or an infringement on citizens’ rights?

What’s on your Utah bucket list? What adventure have you always wanted to do? What activities have you crossed off your Utah Bucket List and can suggest to us? We’d love to share your list with others. We’d also love to share your photos. You can share your list & photos on our Utah Public Radio Facebook page and call 1-800-826-1495 Monday 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. A film, “The Utah Bucket List,” premieres August 1 on KUED and is hosted by Salt Lake Tribune outdoor writer Brett Prettyman and produced by KUED’s Nancy Green. Prettyman has featured several of the adventures on the list in a series of articles in the Tribune.

According to a BBC report from July 16, “a new interim Egyptian government has been sworn in, with army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the ousting of Mohammed Morsi, becoming deputy PM as well as defence minister. ... The swearing in followed another night of violence between security forces and Morsi supporters that left seven dead. A spokesman for Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood called the interim government ‘illegitimate’. Mr Morsi was ousted on 3 July in what many have said was a military coup.The army said it was fulfilling the demands of the people after mass anti-Morsi protests.”

Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman was recently acquitted of all charges in the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. More than 150 people marched in protest of the verdict in Salt Lake City. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, some of the protesters said that the trial’s outcome will increase racial profiling and open the door for “trigger-happy” vigilantes. We’re going to open up Wednesday’s Access Utah to you to talk about this case.

Paul Bogard, author of the new book, “The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light,” spent his childhood summers in a cabin on a lake in northern Minnesota, where shooting stars cut across swaths of countless stars, the Milky Way reflected off the lake, and the woods were so dark he couldn’t see his hands in front of his face. In our modern world of nights as bright as day, most of us no longer experience true darkness. Eight out of ten Americans born today won’t ever live where they can see the Milky Way.

Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon and Imam Jamal Rahman -- known as the Interfaith Amigos --are co-authors of “Getting to the Heart of Interfaith:The Eye-Opening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Pastor, a Rabbi & a Sheikh.” Known for their unique blend of spiritual wisdom and humor, they openly address the usual taboos of interfaith dialogue — the “awkward” parts of each tradition — in order to create a more authentic conversation -- a conversation about the real issues that make interfaith dialogue and cooperation difficult.

We continue a series of conversations with authors whose books are featured on our UPR Book List. Today: Kevin Fedarko talks about his new book, “The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon.” Here’s how the publisher, Simon & Schuster, describes the book: “In the spring of 1983, a massive snowmelt sent runoff racing down the Colorado River toward the Glen Canyon Dam. Worried federal officials desperately scrambled to avoid a worst-case scenario: one of the most dramatic dam failures in history. In the midst of this crisis, a trio of river guides secretly launched a small, hand-built wooden boat, a dory named the Emerald Mile, into the Colorado just below the dam’s base and rocketed toward the dark chasm downstream, where the torrents of water released by the dam engineers had created a rock-walled maelstrom so powerful it shifted giant boulders and created bizarre hydraulic features never previously seen.