News Highlights

SL County Mayor Peter Corroon has ordered an investigation into the tuition assistance program (Deseret Morning News and Salt Lake Tribune).

Orrin Hatch likes on-site waste storage, but still supports Yucca Mountain (Tribune).

Environmental justice organizations go to Washington to oppose nuclear waste storage on Goshute reservation (Morning News).

Senate Pres. John Valentine wants seven bills on the special legislative session agenda, but so far Gov. Huntsman has only listed one (Daily Herald).

Cracking down on poker nights is a bad bet, says Tribune editorial.

Quote of the Day
“Still, it should make for an interesting, if not comical, outing. ‘You've got these two guys that don't drink sitting there with Rocky,’ (Deeda) Seed said.”

--Morning News story about a ‘bar-hopping’ venture Rocky Anderson is going to make with Sen. Mike Waddoups and Rep. Paul Ray to promote smoke-free bars.

Utah’s public education system got hammered today by the high and mighty New York Times. In an editorial the Times says Utah’s poor performance shows the state needs to be prodded by federal No Child Left Behind provisions. The editorial shows the nation will be watching carefully when Utah’s Legislature meets in special session on April 19 to consider No Child Left Behind. Here’s an excerpt from the Times editorial:

“That is the kind of challenge looming from the State of Utah, which is leading a rebellion against the basic principles of No Child Left Behind. Utah wants to dump the law's accountability system in favor of the state's own system, which is one of the weakest in the country. The Utah system as a whole does not collect student data based on race and ethnicity, something that is required by federal law and is crucial for determining whether state schools are closing the achievement gap. This is especially troubling because Utah's Hispanic fourth graders rank near the bottom among such students nationwide. The white-Hispanic gap in Utah is among the widest in the nation - a grim disparity, given that the state's white fourth graders also lag behind the national average in reading. If any state needs federal prodding to achieve better results, Utah does.

“Americans who have watched underachieving school systems struggle with failure are familiar with the depressing pattern of educational reform: a dramatic new plan to set benchmarks and hold everyone accountable is announced with great fanfare, then quietly dropped a few years later when achievement turns out to be harder than anticipated. With No Child Left Behind, the federal government has set exactly the right goals. It cannot backtrack because the early progress has been rocky. If Washington wavers and begins to cut deals with recalcitrant states like Utah, the effort to remake the country's public schools will fail.”

Blog Watch
A cool thing about blogs is that candidates for any office can instantly create a Web site for themselves and get their views out. Blogs cost nothing, so even a candidate on a very limited budget can have a Web site. Check out the Web site of Robert D. Miller, a candidate for vice chair of the Utah Democratic Party. Miller’s blog is lively with some rather long posts about his campaign activities. As might be expected, he takes some pretty good shots at Republicans. Typically, a candidate for an office like party vice chair wouldn’t have a Web site, but blogging technology makes it so easy to create a site that any candidate for any position can have one.

Here’s another Utah blog, published by five guys of various political persuasions who argue about politics. Lots of philosophical discussions, and the conservatives like to beat up on Rocky Anderson.

National Politics
In Disunity There is Strength
Very interesting column by David Brooks (one of my favorite columnists) in today’s New York Times about why conservatives are winning and liberals are losing: “Conservatives have not triumphed because they have built a disciplined and efficient message machine. Conservatives have thrived because they are split into feuding factions that squabble incessantly. As these factions have multiplied, more people have come to call themselves conservatives because they've found one faction to agree with.”

Makeup of the Global Village
I don’t know how accurate this item is that has been floating around the Internet, but it’s interesting:

If we shrank the earth’s population to a “global village” of only 100 people and kept all existing human ratios, there would be:

61 from Asia
21 from China
17 from India
13 from Africa
12 from Europe
5 from the U.S.
1 from Australia and New Zealand
22 who speak a Chinese dialect
9 who speak English
8 who speak Hindi
50 females
50 males
32 Christians
68 non-Christians, 15 of are non-religious
19 Muslims
6 Buddhists
1 Jew
30 who have enough to eat
88 old enough to read,
17 of whom cannot read at all
1 teacher

Boston Globe

- Romney finds middle ground on stem

Boston Herald

- John Kerry: Stem-cell research is pro-life

Deseret Morning News

- Doctor says CDC ignored effects of fallout in Idaho

- 2 conservatives to bar-hop

- The interim Parks chief now official

- Foes of Goshute nuclear waste plan take case to D.C.

- Probe of county perk sought

- Highland studies election process

- Op-ed: The Utah Psychological Association applauds Gov

Standard-Examiner

- Utah tourism promotion gains $18 million over two years

- WSU gets extra funding

- Editorial: An independent watchdog

St. George Spectrum

- Editorial: Let Lake Powell fill

KSL Editorial Board

- Don't take Utah for granted

Daily Herald

- Senator: More bills needed in session

- Suit over porn law possible

- Editorial: Blocking nuke waste with wilderness

Salt Lake Tribune

- Hatch: Don't move N-waste

- Message begins long trip to Turin

- Colorado River states at odds over Powell releases

- S.L. County launches tuition probe

- Huntsman aides will meet with ex-nanny

Elected Officials Birthday List

Utah Policy Daily is a service
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Publisher: LaVarr Webb
Editor: Paul Hollingshead
News: Golden Webb
Calendar and Subscriptions: Luci Webb