Utah Stories Show

Daniel Benites joins the show to discuss how he built his hobby of making salsas for friends and family into a winning business - now distributed all over Utah grocery stores.

Some blowback to our April issue of the magazine called "Utah's Identity Crisis" - we will read the words of a reader who is pissed off at Utah Stories' current issue.

Hammer Spring is a distillery located in Salt Lake City, who have been distilling for over 5 years. Learn about the ups and downs of the liquor business in navigating Utah's wacky liquor laws.

Two major allegations have surfaced regarding campaign finance as well as undisclosed development approval by the Salt Lake City Council for the Mayor's husband.

Dalibor arrived in Utah from Serbia with one suitcase and no money. Learn how he built a very successful business from scratch with almost nothing.

The LDS church is fined $5 million by SEC. It's not mentioned in last Sunday's conference. LDS church developers continue to plan projects that will decimate Utah's environment and enrich their already deep pockets. Who will call out their corruption and prevent them from creating a bigger divide between the rich and the poor?

Dr Mark Cannon and Nathan Jones will be on the program to talk about a new study published by the CDC that the children in Utah are not receiving their recommended nutrition. Over 66% drink sugary beverages daily and 52% are not receiving a daily dose of fruit and vegetables. Hear all the details on what must be done to prevent Utah kids from being at high risk for diabetes, heart disease, etc.

Paul Webster is the new Executive Direction of Solutions Utah, formerly known as the Pioneer Park Coalition.

The main question Paul addresses in this interview is: Why is it that our public housing initiatives under the "Housing First" Banner, are proving to be such dismal failures? Places like the Magnolia Apartments in Salt Lake City, along with Palmer Court as well as all of the new homeless resources centers---which taxpayers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in building and maintaining --are reportedly dismal failures in terms of creating productive residents who can get back into the job market.

When homeless leaders such as Kseniya Kniazeva of Nomad Alliance talk about what the unsheltered homeless need more than anything they say one thing: a sanctioned campground. This way the personal property of the individuals can remain safe. When we ask the homeless what they need more than anything Jonnie (who has been homeless for 30 years tells Utah Stories) –provided the most typical answer: “We don’t need more food, we are all very well fed. We don’t need more blankets…We need property. We can manage the property on our own, just a place where we can be where the police will not harass us.”

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson says that homeless atrocities, abatements, and the confiscation of personal property through police raids, need to end. He does not believe they will end while Erin Mendenhall is the Mayor of Salt Lake City. We had a very interesting conversation about what should be done to reverse the alarming trends in Salt Lake City concerning homelessness including rampant crime: drug trafficking, assault, shoot outs, murder, and freezing deaths.