SALT LAKE CITY One Utah lawmaker wants to provide first responder agencies throughout the state with $1 million to develop or enhance their mental health resources. We have seen an increase in mental health needs . but especially for our first responders, we have not seen the expansion in the kinds of programs that are specific to them, bill sponsor Rep. Karen Kwan, D-Murray, told members of the House Health and Human Services Committee on Monday.
HB248 would require the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health to administer a grant program to provide mental health resources for first responders. The bill would include a one-time appropriation of $1 million from the general fund.
Commentary: One Utah Roadmap offers a balanced approach to supporting rural communities and energy goals
Utah is not ready to convert to renewable energy sources.
(Brian Maffly | Tribune file photo)
Pump jacks pull up hydrocarbons in the Three Rivers oil field southwest of Vernal, near Pelican Lake and the Green River, pictured on June 14, 2019.
By Stephen Lisonbee, Brian Steed, Thom Carter and Redge Johnson | Special to the Tribune
| Jan. 29, 2021, 3:30 p.m. | Updated: 4:05 p.m.
We’ve heard it said before that you never learn anything while talking; you learn by listening.
Yet when it comes to energy development and what’s best for the state of Utah, all too often we find ourselves failing to listen to those most impacted by policy decisions.
Tribune Editorial: Spencer Coxâs Roadmap would put rural Utah in the ditch
Too much of the governorâs plan is stuck in the extractive economy.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at a news conference in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021.
By The Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board
  | Jan. 22, 2021, 10:00 p.m.
But, where a roadmap is supposed to show the path forward, part of the new Utah governorâs document is fixated on the rear-view mirror. And looking backward instead of forward is a good way to wind up in the ditch.
Climate change is the greatest threat to our civilization. Markets are well along in their realization that fossil fuels are a thing of the past and thus a poor investment. It isnât going to happen overnight. But it is going to happen. Utahâs economic future depends on sustainable and low-impact forms of development, much of it centered on tourism and care for the public lands that are our crown j
| Updated: 2:13 p.m.
Starting this summer, Utahns will be able to pick a new license plate honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Sen. Luz Escamilla (D-Salt Lake City), who co-sponsored a bill for the plate in the state’s 2020 legislative session, said it is the perfect time for the plate to be released because King’s message of equality and justice is needed in the United States.
“We lack tolerance,” she said. “His message needs . to come back.”
The new plate, which features different hands joining together around a drawing of the state, was designed by 18-year-old Eleanor Smith, a senior at Timpview High School.