KZMU News

The crew at our local public works carry a different mental map of Moab City. They don’t just look at a street and see a road. They look at a street and see curb cuts, concrete, storm drains, gutters, patches, trip hazards, potholes, retention and detention. They take in all the things we can observe…and all the stuff beneath the surface. Today on the news, we ride along with public works, touring their mental map of the city. And later, an art teacher at HMK elementary is being charged with felony sexual battery. Plus, an update on legal challenges over Wyoming’s near total abortion bans.

// Show Notes:

// Photo: Streets Lead Lane Gilson (left) and Public Works Director Levi Jones at the yard in Moab City.

// Moab Sun News: Preparing for monsoon season

https://moabsunnews.com/2023/08/03/preparing-for-monsoon-season/

// The Times-Independent: HMK art teacher arrested after alleged encounter with student

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/hmk-art-teacher-arrested-after-alleged-encounter-with-student/

With a new school year just around the corner for Grand County students, we revisit an audio portrait of one place that screams summer: the pool! Get ready for backflips, pencil dives and cannonballs.

// Original Broadcast:

https://www.kzmu.org/thursday-june-15-2023/

Using flowers to decorate the gravesites of our loved ones is a long held tradition in many cultures, including right here in Moab. But after a good wind at the cemetery in Spanish Valley, silk and plastic flowers can end up everywhere but the gravesites. Now Grand’s sexton is introducing a project that will help folks recycle and reuse wayward memorials. Plus, a popular stretch of the Snake River near the Tetons could become the first Wyoming river to charge boaters. And later, a Colorado advocacy group created a map with detailed recreation information in both English and Spanish.

// Plus, the Weekly News Reel! Doug McMurdo of The Times-Independent discusses the issue of understaffing at the Grand County School District, potential loopholes in the new alternative dwelling ordinance that is supposed to bolster workforce housing, and a preview of an upcoming performance by pianist Timo Andres during the Moab Music Festival. Alison Harford of the Moab Sun News also talks to us about how to prepare for monsoon season, the new artists-in-residence at the Moab Arts Reuse Residency program, and an exhibit at the library curated by a recent Grand County High School graduate.

Find show notes here:

https://www.kzmu.org/flowers-are-take-some-leave-some-at-grands-spanish-valley-cemetery/

Today we hear from Aspen Public Radio about Gloria Vasquez, a 72-year-old runner who plans to finish 100 marathons before her 100th birthday. We also hear from KSUT about a free Ute language class that aims to preserve the spoken word. Finally, we hear from KHOL about kids from New York City who traveled to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks to preserve historical buildings.

//Photo: Gloria Vasquez ran her 91st marathon in Aspen recently. Photo courtesy of Ashleigh N. DeLuca / Aspen Public Radio.

The Times-Independent is used to recording history. But this summer, they made a little of their own. Moab’s longest running newspaper is now a nonprofit under the umbrella of The Salt Lake Tribune. The TI’s longtime publisher sees this move as an opportunity, one that will help sustain local journalism. Today on the news, we head to the presses and hear from staff about this transition. It's one that many news organizations across the country are considering as a way to survive in a changing media landscape.

// Photo: Zane Taylor, longtime publisher and press operator of The Times-Independent, checks the print quality on one of the newspaper’s latest editions. The local presses will go idle on Center Street after the full transition to Tribune ownership, but the local paper will live on. KZMU / Molly Marcello

Show Notes:

// The Salt Lake Tribune Nonprofit Playbook

https://playbook.sltrib.com/introduction

// The Times-Independent: It has been my family’s honor to serve Moabites

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/it-has-been-my-familys-honor-to-serve-moabites/

Today we speak to Mary Hudetz, a reporter at ProPublica, about her recent article on stolen Native American remains that are still being used for research today. She outlines the slow process of repatriation of these ancestral remains, and explains where things stand decades after a federal law was passed to reunite stolen ancestors with their tribes. We also hear from our partners at KUNC about conserving water on farms in one of the West’s thirstiest regions, Imperial Valley, California.

//Photo: An archaeologist excavates a Native American dwelling in Alaska in 1964. Historical photo courtesy of John Atherton via Flickr.

//Show Notes:

//Delayed repatriation allows destructive research on Native American remains by Mary Hudetz

https://www.propublica.org/article/delayed-repatriation-allows-destructive-research-native-american-remains

It’s Regional Roundup Monday! Today we feature the biweekly production of the Rocky Mountain Community Radio Coalition, of which KZMU is a proud member. On today’s show we hear stories of regional food from Indigenous farming on the Navajo Nation to food rescue in Denver and the history of Colorado sugar beet workers.

Utah is home to the world’s largest organism. It’s a massive aspen grove called Pando, and it takes up 106 acres of Fishlake National Forest in central Utah. Some scientists believe it has survived for over 13,000 years. But now, its health is failing, and researchers at the Division of Wildlife Resources are pointing their fingers at mule deer.

//Show Notes:

//Photo: A fence surrounds part of Pando to prevent deer from grazing on young aspen trees.

//Friends of Pando

https://www.friendsofpando.org/

//Plus, the Weekly News Reel! Sophia Fisher of The Times-Independent discusses the county’s decision not to sell a 16 acre parcel of land on Murphy Lane. She also talks about the Moab Police Department’s new electric motorcycles, the abrupt departure of the county’s economic development director, and shoring up a struggling school nutrition program.

//Weekly News Reel Mentions:

// County declines to sell parcel in split vote

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/county-declines-to-sell-parcel-in-split-vote/

// MPD’s new electric motorcycle squad

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/mpds-new-electric-motorcycle-squad/

// Granath departure signals further pivot in redefined department

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/granath-departure-signals-further-pivot-in-redefined-department/

// New school nutrition head hopes to shore up struggling program

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/new-school-nutrition-head-hopes-to-shore-up-struggling-program/

Lithium, considered critical for a greener economy, is used in products like rechargeable batteries, computers and electronic vehicles. Companies around the world are staking claims in potentially lithium-rich areas, including lands near Canyonlands National Park. After additional environmental analysis, the BLM has reopened such a proposal for public comment. Plus, to test their designs, competitive robotics students recently traveled to a ‘Mars analogue’ – also known as southern Utah. And later, the Colorado Pika Project is studying how climate change impacts these small, hamster-like animals.

// Show Notes:

// Photo: A view from a potential lithium mining site near Canyonlands National Park. From the BLM’s Visual Assessment document.

// BLM NEPA Public Register

https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014014/570

// Mars is the goal, but first, these students must conquer Utah’s red desert

https://www.kuer.org/health-science-environment/2023-06-15/byu-mars-university-rover-challenge-utah-desert

// Colorado Pika Project

https://pikapartners.org/

Today we discuss the local amateur radio community with two of Moab’s “ham” radio operators, KJ7LVZ and KJ7PMR. They welcome us into the Sinbad Desert Amateur Radio Club's weekly on-air chit-chat. We nerd out about the weather, "old guy stuff," and radio physics.

//Show Notes:

//Photo: Joshua Griffin operates his radio setup during the Sinbad Desert Amateur Radio Club's weekly meeting. Photo by Emily Arntsen

//Sinbad Desert Amateur Radio Club

https://sdarc.us/