A blanket federal ban on state oversight would protect tech companies while leaving communities exposed. Utah has the chance to lead with common-sense safeguards that reflect our values. Giving that authority away would be a mistake. 🔗 Utah News Dispatch:

You cannot plan for growth while blocking solutions. Solar is reliable, increasingly affordable, and well-suited to Utah’s landscape. Standing in the way serves entrenched interests, not future generations. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune:

Leadership means listening, especially when the stakes involve kids and working parents. Using power to suppress criticism corrodes trust and hurts the very families local government is supposed to serve. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune:

Health care should not hinge on partisan gridlock. Healthcare costs and premiums are not abstract budget line items for everyday Americans. They are the difference between seeing a doctor and skipping care, between stability and stress. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune: buff.ly/4KLGy1O

This story is not about paperwork errors or miscommunication. It is about power exercised without care. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune: buff.ly/zUBTyOc

Denying care is not neutrality. It is an active choice to cause harm. Utah leaders often speak about dignity, redemption, and personal responsibility. Those values mean very little if they stop at the prison gate. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune:

When voters are trusted to participate, the process becomes less about loyalty tests and more about legitimacy. 🔗 Utah News Dispatch: buff.ly/eZhD2fJ

If we believe education is a ladder to stability and prosperity, we should fund it like one. Utah’s public universities fuel the state’s future—and leaving them stalled by politics undermines the very communities lawmakers say they want to uplift. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune:

It is telling that local businesses feel compelled to put up signage to make clear what should already be true: no one should have to worry about being targeted in public spaces without cause. 🔗 Axios Salt Lake City: buff.ly/e2Jbb3F

When deals involve powerful elected officials, transparency is integral. A healthy democracy demands clear processes & safeguards that ensure public resources are stewarded for the public good—not for politically connected insiders.

This transition is one of the most significant shifts in Utah’s energy history. As the coal era winds down, the question isn’t whether change is happening—it’s whether Utah will ensure workers and rural communities aren’t left behind. 🔗 Utah News Dispatch: buff.ly/zBib8wV

Lawmakers have long had a bone to pick with Salt Lake County and the pieces of its criminal justice systems, including the Salt Lake City Police Department. 🔗 FOX 13: buff.ly/pU4T5BG

Allowing public workers to sit at the table and negotiate their working conditions isn’t controversial—it’s common sense. 🔗 Utah News Dispatch:

Outside observers are noticing what many Utahns have been feeling—a pattern of retaliating against oversight instead of embracing accountability. 🔗 Balls & Strikes: buff.ly/MAJddsH

When outside ideological groups show up, it’s usually because the system as-is benefits entrenched power. 🔗 Deseret News:

Instead of responding to the courts’ clear concern about fairness and constitutional protections, lawmakers chose to blame the courts, weaken oversight, and double down on maps the public overwhelmingly sees as partisan and unrepresentative. 🔗 KUER: buff.ly/wVbNCMu

Buses, tolling, and smarter parking management match the actual scale of the issue and preserve the canyon without locking Utah into permanent, high-cost infrastructure, something that should be further considered for Little Cottonwood Canyon too.

This tragedy reflects an alarming issue in Utah: the normalization of armed civilians at public events. Utahns deserve safe civic spaces where public gatherings aren’t policed by civilians carrying firearms. 🔗 KUER:

As state Sen. Kathleen Riebe said, any expanded retention policy needs to be paired with expanded resources for struggling students, including before- and after-school programs and summer remediation programs. 🔗 Deseret News: buff.ly/skn1lKF

Before the Legislature moves forward, Utah needs a public, transparent conversation about what this campus really is: a structural policy choice about whether we help people get back on their feet, or punish them for falling off. 🔗 KSL: buff.ly/NwdnVOT

When Washington narrows the tax base, states like ours that tie our income tax system to the federal system lose dollars that keep schools running, protect vulnerable families, and maintain basic infrastructure. 🔗 KUER: buff.ly/mnVCpVO

Any federal support should complement strong oversight, accurate accounting, and a commitment to making sure the benefits of the Games flow to everyday Utahns, not just developers and insiders. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune:

As policymakers consider AI rules, Utahns deserve a process grounded in transparency, community input, and an honest look at how emerging technologies could impact workers, families, and kids. Innovation shouldn’t come at the expense of safeguards.

Water is life in Utah. The longer these federal dollars are frozen, the harder it becomes for rural communities to keep up with real-world needs. This isn’t a partisan issue—it’s about protecting health, livelihoods, and local economies. 🔗 KUER:

There's a special session tomorrow with some important topics on the agenda related to redistricting (voting maps).

When the signature-gathering system is built on high-pressure tactics and financial incentives that reward speed over accuracy, it warps a process that should belong to the public. 🔗 Elevate PAC: buff.ly/CRq0XbI

When a single out-of-state PAC can pour $4 million into dismantling a voter-approved reform, it reveals a deep imbalance in who gets heard and who gets drowned out. 🔗 ABC 4:

Bipartisan interest is promising—so long as “cutting red tape” doesn’t become an excuse to cut communities out of the process. 🔗 Deseret News:

Wildfires are a real risk, but so is the steady drumbeat of higher bills for Utah families who have no choice about their power provider. A safer future requires accountability, planning, and a recognition that families bear the cost of every delay.

Ten young Utahns filed a new lawsuit against the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, arguing the state is violating their constitutional rights by enabling fossil-fuel pollution that harms their health and future. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune: buff.ly/lGSCqTp

Utah Department of Health and Human Services’ statewide holiday giving drive coordinates donations for Utahns who often have no one else to rely on: patients at the Utah State Hospital, adults living under state guardianship, and youth in the juvenile justice system.

Measles is a dangerous, highly contagious disease. It is entirely preventable, and every child deserves the protection vaccines provide. Public health shouldn’t be politicized. 🔗 Utah News Dispatch: buff.ly/qr2g5Vn

Utahns deserve real solutions, not talking points. Addressing costs means confronting powerful interests and acknowledging that when families thrive, the whole state thrives. 🔗 Deseret News:

Utah families rely on the Colorado River more than most people realize, and the basin simply doesn’t have the water it once did. Responsible stewardship means planning for scarcity, not assuming that old agreements will hold in a hotter, drier future. buff.ly/gdkXveC

The Legislature should avoid using opioid funds as a backdoor way to justify a project that still lacks community support and clear evidence it will actually help people stabilize and recover. 🔗 KUER: buff.ly/Sqhpz4w

Rep. Hollins’ decade of service changed the Legislature for the better. She brought compassion, lived experience, and a steady insistence that every child and every family deserves dignity. 🔗 Deseret News: buff.ly/0SsNFVg

Utahns deserve open hearings, nonpartisan analysis, and a commitment that any change protects judicial independence—which is essential to fairness and equal justice for every community in our state. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune:

Take Action: Contact your state representative and state senator before the December 9 special session and tell them to oppose any constitutional amendment that weakens Utahns’ initiative power.

Salt Lake City has been the backbone of both the bid and the Games’ infrastructure, and Utahns understand that recognition matters—especially when major events rely on local taxpayers, local workers, and local neighborhoods. 🔗 Axios:

Efforts to restrict safe, FDA-approved medication ignore medical evidence and undermine the ability of women and families to make their own health decisions. 🔗 Deseret News:

Utah has long prided itself on resisting political cults of personality, valuing institutions over individuals. But the partisan gap in this poll shows that national polarization is reshaping attitudes here too. 🔗 Deseret News: buff.ly/LCAr1pD

This is a normal transition, but it’s a reminder of how much power political insiders have in filling mid-term legislative seats. Appointments happen quickly, with very little public input. 🔗 KSL:

This isn’t just about one politician’s decision to bankroll harmful messaging. It’s about a political system that treats attacks on trans Utahns as acceptable collateral. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune: buff.ly/9xPg7z8

For the first time in a generation, voters have a district that wasn’t engineered to dilute their voice. A competitive Democratic field is exactly what a functioning democracy should look like! 🔗 Utah News Dispatch:

The commission was designed precisely to offer voters a nonpartisan alternative to maps drawn for political advantage. When those maps reveal how extreme the Legislature’s gerrymanders truly are, suddenly the commission and courts are doing “too much.”

The push to repeal it isn’t about “restoring legislative authority,” it’s about keeping voters from having a fair shot. Utahns across the political spectrum supported Prop 4 because they wanted fair maps—not the agenda of anonymous donors.

This special session isn’t about “clarity.” It’s about power. After the courts ruled that Utahns have a constitutional right to reform their government, the supermajority is now trying to rewrite the constitution to take that right away. 🔗 ABC 4: buff.ly/34doPy8

Lawmakers are considering a bill that would require data centers in Utah to publicly report their water use.The bill would create a statewide reporting standard so policymakers and the public can better understand the pressures on local water systems.

This is welcome news for Utah’s information ecosystem. A healthy democracy relies on informed citizens, and removing the paywall means more Utahns will have access to rigorous reporting about their government and communities. 🔗 The Salt Lake Tribune:

Better mental health care in prisons is not only a moral obligation. It is a public safety necessity. Utah has seen too many instances where untreated conditions lead to self-harm, violence, or long-term instability after release. 🔗 Utah News Dispatch: buff.ly/cJQ9h1C