Access Utah

Tom Williams’ guest for the hour on Thursday is journalist Ioan Grillo, who has written about Mexican narcotraffickers for the past decade, even interviewing members of the cartels and their death squads. He says that “El Narco is not a gang; it is a movement and an industry drawing in hundreds of thousands from bullet-ridden barrios to marijuana-growing mountains.” Grillo believes these cartels “have transformed into a criminal insurgency that threatens the nation’s democracy and spirals into the United States.”

In 2008, a group of armed Hindu extremists attacked and burned a village of Christians in Odisha state in India, seeking to forcefully reintegrate the villagers into the caste system left behind by their Christian beliefs. The survivors fled into the jungle to escape. National Geographic photojournalist Lynn Johnson and human rights advocate Jen Saffron have organized the Koraput Survivors Project and will give a lecture entitled “Building Bridges: When Journalism and Advocacy Meet” as a part of the Morris Media and Society Lecture series on Wednesday at USU.

Our air quality problem is visible above the inversion line and is physically noticeable when passing below. Utah’s air at times has been rated the worst in the nation. Our questions are: What can be done? What should be done? What can regular citizens do? What should the government do? During the first half of the show, Bo Call, manager of the Air Monitoring Center for Utah Division of Air Quality and Gerry Carpenter, a representative for Utah Transit Authority will join us. During the second half we discuss possible solutions with Stephanie Tomlin, program director for Aggie Blue Bikes and the USU Student Sustainability Office; Cherise Udell, founder of Utah Moms for Clean Air; and Jean Lown, Utah State University Professor of Family Consumer Human Development.

In the first half of the program we discuss the controversy over the name Dixie State College. Some say the name Dixie holds negative connotations of slavery and the Confederacy. Others say that the southern Utah area has always been known as Dixie, and that the name hearkens back to the settling of the area by Mormon Pioneers. We talk with former president of Dixie State College, Doug Alder and UPR Southern Utah correspondent Chris Holmes.

Steven Rinella, author of "Meat Eater—Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter," says that hunting is intimately connected with our humanity and that assuming responsibility for the meat that we eat, rather than entrusting it to proxy executioners, processors, packagers, and distributors is one of the most respectful and exhilarating things a meat eater can do. In his book, Rinella examines such themes as the vanishing frontier, the ethics of killing, and the loss of Americans’ connection with the way their food makes its way to their tables. We’ll talk about these topics with Stephen Rinella and hear some of his hunting stories as well some of the history of hunting in America on Tuesday’s AU.

You got that great new gadget for the holidays, perhaps it's already broken or you need a lot of advice on how to work it. We're going to give you some help on the first half of the program. Jonathan Choate with SD7 Technologies, our computer expert is in with some advice. Whatever technology problem you have. We'll also be talking cool new gadgets with Jonathan, including a new wearable video camera, and how best to store your media, including photos, in the cloud or out of it.

On today's Access Utah we celebrate the holidays with music and poetry. Utah State University music professor Mike Christiansen, plays the guitar live in our studio. University of Utah theater professor Tim Slover, author of the book and radio series, "The Christmas Chronicles: The Legend of Santa Claus," reads excerpts of poetry.

Writer 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 who's heart is divided between the woman she loves, and the desire to roam free. In the end, Terrill realized she must confront the reality of taming a half-wild animal.

Proponents of reparative or conversion therapy say it can help people transition away from unwanted homosexuality, while opponents believe the therapy is not only harmful, but flawed in its premise.

The immigration debate has raised some of the most difficult questions our nation has ever faced. How can we preserve the integrity of sovereign borders while also respecting the dignity of human begins? How should a border be humanely and effectively maintained? To understand the experience of those directly impacted by the immigration crisis, Ananda Rose traveled to the Sonoran Desert -- a border region where the remains of 2,000 migrants have been recovered over the past 10 years. There she interviewed minute men, border patrol agents, catholic nuns, humanitarian aid workers, ranchers and many others. The result is a new book Showdown in the Sonoran Desert: Religion, Law, and the Immigration Controversy. Ananda Rose is Tom Williams' guest for the whole hour on Access Utah Monday.