KZMU News

Facing cross-country opposition, the controversial Uinta Basin Railway project has been derailed once again by a recent federal decision. Plus: Moab Regional Hospital mourns employee Annie Relph, who was killed in a head-on collision on Tuesday night. And: protestors criticize Utah Governor Spencer Cox, and private property in Zion National Park will be protected from development.

// Show Notes:

https://www.kzmu.org/uinta-basin-railway-derailed-again/

“It would probably take all day to say everything [the legislators] are doing. There are more than 20 bill files now that have to do with voting access or changing elections in one way or another.”

--- TJ Ellerbeck, executive director of the Rural Utah Project.

A look back at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival is featured on the latest Regional Roundup with reviews, interviews and more.

Today we hear from Sophia Fisher of the Times-Independent. We cover new city construction projects, speculative mining activity at the Yellow Cat Mine, a new documentary about a local base jumper who took his first jump after a severe injury, and an op-ed about what really happened with the re-zoning process for the property now under construction down Kane Creek Boulevard.

//Dispersed parking, Kane Creek Boulevard projects ready to go

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/dispersed-parking-kane-creek-boulevard-projects-ready-to-go/

//Could Yellow Cat mining district spring back to life?

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/could-the-yellow-cat-mining-district-spring-back-to-life/

//Ian Mitcharch takes flight after severe paragliding accident

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/ian-mitchard-takes-flight-after-severe-paragliding-accident/

//Kane Creek was supposed to be a 10-acre campground

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/former-commissioner-kane-creek-was-supposed-to-be-a-10-acre-campground/

Utah lawmakers passed a bill that would ban transgender people from using bathrooms in schools and government buildings that correspond with their gender identities, reports our partners at UPR. This is the third year in a row that lawmakers in Utah have passed legislation that limits the rights of the state’s trans community. We also hear a report on climbers pushing back on new hardware regulations in wilderness areas. And a remembrance of Diné activist Klee Benally.

// Show Notes:

https://www.kzmu.org/hundreds-protest-trans-bathroom-bill-at-utah-capitol/

On the latest Regional Roundup, an interview with drag queen and environmentalist Pattie Gonia as part of a live broadcast from Aspen Ski Week. And we hear about the first-black owned bank in the Rocky Mountain Region opening in Salt Lake City, as well as a feature on the Denver Stock Show.

Today we hear from Sophia Fisher and Gwen Dillworth of the Times-Independent. They cover the public's response to the Kane Creek development, a new overnight glamping accommodation, and how the Moab Regional Hospital can keep its obstetric unit open when so many rural facilities have folded in recent years.

//Rural obstetric units are closing. Why not in Moab?

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/rural-obstetric-units-are-closing-why-not-in-moab/

//County approves glamping eco-resort

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/county-approves-glamping-eco-resort/

//Uproar over Kane Creek development dominates commission meeting

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/uproar-over-kane-creek-development-dominates-commission-meeting/

Molly Marcello speaks with three organizers from Kane Creek Development Watch, a grassroots organization dedicated to fighting a new, 180-acre residential and commercial site along the Colorado River.

Kane Creek Development Watch

//https://kanecreekwatch.org/

“We need journalism. And we need really good journalism like [High Country News] produces. And we want to keep producing it. And we need to be able to do that under stable, sustainable conditions.”

— B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster

Learn more about unionizing efforts from three HCN staffers on today’s newscast.

Moab resident Jerry Shue was a prisoner in the famously controversial Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971. He was recently asked to participate in a National Geographic documentary about the study. Over 50 years later, Shue reflects on the experience and what it was like to see his fellow participants again.

Photo: Jerry Shue, prisoner 5486, is accompanied to the bathroom by a guard during the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971. Photo by Duke Downey for the San Francisco Chronicle.