KZMU News

This week on Regional Roundup, we explore efforts to rename sections of a Colorado highway in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We also hear from one Utah academic who draws parallels between the state's elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and historical resistance to racial integration at public swimming pools. Finally, we examine how communities across the Rocky Mountain West are collaborating to manage wildfire risks.

On Saturday, the Moab Abortion and Reproductive Rights Network hosted a local People's March in solidarity with the national movement. Participants gathered to protest the Trump administration's stance on reproductive rights as Utah's near-total ban on abortion still hangs in limbo in state court.

- Show Notes -

• Photo: About 75 people joined Moab's People's March on Saturday to advocate for greater reproductive rights. Photo by Andrew Christiansen / Moab Times-Independent

• MARRN

https://www.facebook.com/groups/marrn/

On the news reel today, we talk to Doug McMurdo of the Times Independent about the city’s plans to change parking, traffic lights and more on Main Street. Plus we cover the city’s discussions about what to do with the Walnut Lane Property where they promised to build affordable housing. We finish up with a story about the county’s new stance on the timed entry system at Arches National Park.

This week, we also speak to Kenny Fallon from the Green River Observer. We discuss Green River’s new subdivision process, which was changed recently to meet the requirements of a new state law. We also talk about a new ordinance in town that allows people to live in RVs and campers on their property while building houses. Plus, an update about pay changes for EMS workers in Green River and the latest on the lawsuit against the state engineer’s office for approving water rights for a lithium mine in town.

- Show Notes -

• Big changes are coming to Main Street

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/big-changes-are-coming-to-main-street/

• Moab Mayor: Walnut Lane gets decided this year

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/moab-mayor-walnut-lane-gets-decided-this-year/

• Grand County withdraws support of timed entry at Arches

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/grand-county-withdraws-support-of-timed-entry-at-arches

• Green River Observer

https://thegreenriverobserver.substack.com/

State lawmakers will discuss possible changes to Utah's vote by mail system during the 2025 legislative session, which begins on Jan. 21. Criticism of the mail-in ballot process has followed the release of a recent audit that found five potential cases of voter fraud in Utah in 2023. Supporters say the changes could increase election security, while opponents argue the new rules would diminish voter participation and disproportionately affect rural residents.

- Show Notes -

• Voter turnout was down in Indigenous communities in San Juan County this election

https://www.kzmu.org/voter-turnout-was-down-in-indigenous-communities-in-san-juan-county-this-election/

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out Utah's public lands lawsuit that would have challenged the federal government's control of over 18 million acres across the state. The lawsuit was just one effort Utah officials have made in recent months as part of a larger campaign to wrest control of public lands from the Bureau of Land Management. Public land advocates have called the state's attempted land grab misleading, saying that those federal lands wouldn't necessarily go to the state, but rather, to the highest bidder.

- Show Notes -

• Salt Lake Tribune: Here's how much Utah is spending on a public relations campaign for its lawsuit seeking control of public lands

https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2024/11/04/utah-sued-supreme-court-control/

• Photo: Public land advocates gathered at the Utah State Capitol this weekend to protest Utah's land grab lawsuit. Photo courtesy of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

This week on Regional Roundup, as Colorado prepares to reintroduce another pack of wolves, we hear from biologist Diane Boyd, who recounts four decades of wolf research in her new memoir "A Woman Among Wolves." We also hear a story on how immigrant rights groups are battling misinformation and bracing for a second Trump administration. And finally, we hear from Aspen author Auden Schlender, who asks us to be better climate citizens in his new book "Terrible Beauty: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering Our Soul."

On the News Reel today, we talk to Andrew Christiansen, reporter at the Times-Independent, about the Grand County Commission’s newly elected chair and vice chair. We also talk about the Moab Music Festival’s new director and give an update about the missing parrots in Moab. Plus, we highlight a quick story about a 26,000-year-old fox that was discovered in Utah recently.

- Show Notes -

• Winfield made Grand County Commission chair; McCandless elected vice chair

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/winfield-made-grand-county-commission-chair-mccandless-elected-vice-chair/

• Moab music festival names Tessa Lark as artistic director

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/moab-music-festival-names-tessa-lark-as-artistic-director/

• Long lost parrots missing near Porcupine Rim

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/long-lost-parrots-missing-near-porcupine-rim/

• Ice age fox skeleton discovered in Utah cave

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/ice-age-fox-skeleton-discovered-in-utah-cave/

Cases in the U.S. District Court of Utah can now be heard in Moab and Monticello. The change is intended to cut down travel times for law enforcement involved in hearings and citizens selected for federal jury duty. Plus, a new management plan for Bears Ears National Monument allows rock climbing, prohibits base jumping, and continues on with the status quo for grazing in the area.

In December, 28-year-old Moab resident Kara Bard bought the site of a former artist residency in Cisco, Utah, called Home of the Brave. The program was started by the previous owner Eileen Muza, who spent nearly a decade rebuilding old structures on the ghost town property. Today on the show, we talk to Muza about the history of Home of the Brave and the challenges they faced as a queer artist in rural Utah. And we talk to Bard about her plans to reopen the residency and more.

- Show Notes -

• KZMU’s previous reporting about Home of the Brave: https://www.kzmu.org/best-of-2019-creatively-preserving-and-re-forming-cisco-utah/

• Photo: Eileen Muza touches up their junkyard "movie theater," a projector screen on the ghost town property they used to own in Cisco, Utah. By Emily Arntsen / KZMU

This week on Regional Roundup, we hear from Utah author Elizabeth Smart, who has been a tireless advocate for abuse survivors since her kidnapping at age 14. We also explore how a smaller-sized piano at CU Boulder is helping musicians avoid injury, hear a fire spotter’s story, and learn one film critic’s top five movies of 2024.