Access Utah

Joining us  from Seattle, The Interfaith Amigos consists of Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon and Imam Jamal Rahman. Known for their wisdom and humor while talking about religion, these men have worked together to try and make sense of the confusion that often accompanies  interfaith dialog. They are the authors of two books "Getting to the Heart of Interfaith" and "Religion Gone Astray: What We Found at the Heart of Interfaith." During the program, we'll be focusing on the second book. 

Helen Whitney is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, known for telling the stories of religion and people. Her films have aired on PBS, HBO, ABC and NBC. She has been filmmaking for 42 years. She will be giving a series of lectures on the campus of Utah State University during the week of Jan. 28 - Jan. 31. The lectures will be held at 7:30 p.m. each night in the Performance Hall. She will be discussing many of her films including The Mormons and Forgiveness; A Time to Love and a Time to Hate.

Broadcasting from the Utah State Capitol, it is the first day of the legislature open. Joining us on the first half of the program is Governor Gary Herbert. He discusses various topics that are on the agenda for this year’s legislature including budget priorities, healthcare reform, ethics reform, the Outdoor Recreation Plan, immigration and gun control. On the second half, state senators Ralph Okerlund and Gene Davis join us to continue the discussion of what to expect for this years legislature. 

He’s a multi-Grammy winning musician and composer and is the only person who has won the National Fiddle Championship, National Guitar Flatpicking Championship and the World Mandolin Championship. Mark O’Connor is a celebrated violinist and fiddler player, with styles ranging from classical to American folk. He joins us on Access Utah to talk about his talent, his history and his determination. He’ll be performing at the Caine College of the Arts Grand Gala at Utah State University Friday, Jan. 25. For more information, click here.

Coyotes are the most abundant predator in America. Today we talk about the controversial K9 and it’s perseverance in the West and question the force of human kind and nature. 

Our guest for the hour on Wednesday is Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings, who will be in Salt Lake City on January 30, for an appearance at The King’s English Bookshop. He’s out with a new book: "Because I Said So: The truth behind the myths, tales, and warnings every generation passes down to its kids." Many of these myths and warnings are culture-specific.

Tom Williams’ guest for the hour on Thursday is journalist Ioan Grillo, who has written about Mexican narcotraffickers for the past decade, even interviewing members of the cartels and their death squads. He says that “El Narco is not a gang; it is a movement and an industry drawing in hundreds of thousands from bullet-ridden barrios to marijuana-growing mountains.” Grillo believes these cartels “have transformed into a criminal insurgency that threatens the nation’s democracy and spirals into the United States.” 

In 2008, a group of armed Hindu extremists attacked and burned a village of Christians in Odisha state in India, seeking to forcefully reintegrate the villagers into the caste system left behind by their Christian beliefs. The survivors fled into the jungle to escape.  National Geographic photojournalist Lynn Johnson and human rights advocate Jen Saffron have organized the Koraput Survivors Project and will give a lecture entitled “Building Bridges: When Journalism and Advocacy Meet” as a part of the Morris Media and Society Lecture series on Wednesday at USU.

Our air quality problem is visible above the inversion line and is physically noticeable when passing below. Utah’s air at times has been rated the worst in the nation. Our questions are: What can be done? What should be done? What can regular citizens do? What should the government do? During the first half of the show, Bo Call, manager of the Air Monitoring Center for Utah Division of Air Quality and Gerry Carpenter, a representative for Utah Transit Authority will join us.