Thanksgiving is traditionally a time when extended family gathers together. This year many of us will be gathering in smaller groups, but many of our traditions will endure and hopefully the food will be just as delicious. Today we’ll ask you about your traditions and your plans in this unusual year and we’ll answer your cooking questions.

A coalition of organizations hosted a national virtual event in August on the 75th anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to commemorate the survivors of nuclear weapons and production. Still Here: 75 Years of Shared Nuclear Legacy included highlights from local events, stories from survivors, and a look toward a future free from nuclear threats.

Responding to a recent Access Utah episode on COVID-19 in Utah, Lisa O’Brien wrote us to say that she had founded a Utah COVID-19 Long Haulers group, and that many are still struggling with long term effects of COVID. She says that some have hit 8 months or longer and that studies are now showing that at least 10% are ending up with long term effects & that Post COVID Care centers are going up across the country for Long Haulers to help those dealing with Post Viral symptoms. Today we’ll talk with Lisa O’Brien, Stacie Linderman, and Christine Maughan.

Today on Access Utah, writer Bill Shapiro joins us to talk about what draws him to other people's photos. He says other people's photographs are "like time-travel and a shortcut to empathy." We talk about how photography can pull us outside of ourselves, connecting us to something greater.

Simon Wang is Professor of Climate Dynamics and Assistant Director of the Utah Climate Center at Utah State University. Dr. Wang studies climate variability, weather process, extreme events, and long-term prediction. He recently gave a presentation to news reporters for a virtual event organized by InsideClimate News, titled “Wildfire, Heatwaves, Snowpack and Floods: Climate Change in the Mountain West.”

In a recent article for Terrain.org titled “In Defense of Pinon Nut Nation,” writer and photographer Stephen Trimble says “Piñons and junipers are the size of humans. We don’t look down at them, casually, and we don’t gaze up in awe. We are equal in scale. ‘Tree’ usually means tall, vertical, but these trees often are round. They have the reserved warmth of a Native grandmother. When you live in piñon-juniper woodland, you live with the trees, not under them. You participate, you reside."

Julie Berry is the award-winning author of books for young adults and children. Her books include Lovely War, All the Truth That’s in Me, The Passion of Dolssa, The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, and Happy Right Now. She’s leading a virtual workshop on Writing Historical Fiction for the Provo City Library and The King’s English Bookshop this evening at 7:00.

Governor Herbert has issued a State of Emergency due to an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations and what he says are unsustainable case rates. The Utah Department of Health says that hospitalizations and ICUs are nearing capacity, and that healthcare providers will be unable to care for Utahns in the coming days if this surge continues.

From Delicate Arch to the Zion Narrows, Utah’s five national parks and eight national monuments are home to some of America’s most amazing scenic treasures. In his new book “Wonders of Sand and Stone,” Frederick Swanson presents little-known accounts of people who saw in these sculptured landscapes something worth protecting. introducing us to the early explorers, scientists, artists, and travelers as well as the local residents and tourism promoters who worked with the National Park Service to build the system of parks and monuments we know today.

“Leave it as it is,” Theodore Roosevelt announced while viewing the Grand Canyon for the first time. “The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.” Roosevelt’s rallying cry signaled the beginning of an environmental fight that still wages today.