Ashley is the Voice of Cache Valley and sometimes the voice of UPR. You'll hear her hosting your favorite weekend shows, reporting on breaking Utah news, and sometimes waking you up nice and early during Morning Edition.
Transportation officials have finished installing a barrier along a Logan Canyon curve where several vehicles have slid off the road and plunged into the river below. It's the first step in the Utah Department of Transportation's plan to reduce the number of accidents on this particular curve.
Two adult Utahns have died in the last month from Hantavirus infection, which leads to a deadly lung disease. That comes as a surprise to the Utah Department of Health.
Epidemiologist Jody Baker says Utah typically only sees about one Hantavirus case a year and the fatality rate is about 32%.
"To have 2 fatalities so early in the season is definitely unusual. That's why we wanted to get the message out to the public to be aware of what to look for when it comes to exposure, rodent droppings, how to clean appropriately, and what symptoms to look for."
May 5 - 12 is Archeology Week in Utah. Lori Hunsaker, Deputy State Preservation Officer, explains why archeology is something to celebrate here in Utah:
"In Utah we enjoy some of the best archeology in the world and it isn't all limited to Salt Lake. It's all over the state...We want people to embrace and appreciate the rich and diverse pre-history and history that we have in Utah."
Huntsaker says it's easy to find a personal connection to the ancient people of Utah.
Saturday afternoon marked the 125th graduation ceremony and a milestone for nearly 4,500 students at Utah State University. Among students receiving bachelor's degrees is 98-year-old American Studies student, Twila Boston.
Twila grew up on a farm in Fremont and Loa, Utah, and left for nursing school in 1932 on her 19th birthday. She worked for many years as a nurse. When she returned to higher education recently, she joked it seemed the right thing to do:
"What else is there to do at my age except eat and read and sleep?"
The Bill of Rights celebration is an annual fundraiser for the ACLU Utah. Anna Brower is the Development Director for the ACLU of Utah. She spoke with UPR's Ashley Tolman about the organization's Bill of Rights Celebration taking place this week in Salt Lake City.
Brower explains the choice of this year's theme, "Power of the People":
Family members went to look for Mitchell Shaw of Riverdale when he failed to return from work. He was found dead at 2:00 Tuesday morning, crushed by a front-loader while working at Promontory Point.
Chief Deputy Kevin Potter of the Box Elder County sheriffs' office says Shaw was working by himself and operating an older style front-end loader with hydraulic arms: "Apparently he had leaned out over to the side and those arms came down on him. whether the hydraulics failed or he accidentally bumped levers, he was crushed against the side of the cab and he was killed instantly."
Utah's Department of Natural Resources is updating the Great Salt Lake Comprehensive Management Plan and its mineral leasing plan and is taking public comment on the plan until April 26. In addition, Great Salt Lake Mineral applied for a permit for evaporation ponds on 91,000 acres of the lake. The Army Corp of Engineers is working on a draft environmental impact statement.
Shirley Erickson Gorospe is Director of Evaporating Shorelines, a nonprofit organization responsible for producing a documentary of the same name.
Governor Gary Herbert is being urged to veto a bill prohibiting filming on farms, ranches, and dairies. Matt Rice of Mercy for Animals says the bill is a "thinly veiled attempt" to keep cruel and corrupt practices hidden from public view. Ashley Tolman reports on both supporters and opponents of the bill.
