Utah News

Whether you ended up in the designated "sweet spot" with a solar telescope or just happened to see an eclipsed shadow on your front porch, we want to hear about your Utah eclipse experience. Post your photos or just your thoughts on UPR's Facebook page. Amateur solar gazers, writers, photographers are all welcome. It was a special night in Utah and we want to keep the feeling alive.

Utah is the place to be for this weekend's annular solar eclipse. While the moon casts its massive shadow over the U.S. for the first time in 18 years, Utah's dark skies and natural settings will be ideal for viewing the eclipse Sunday night, May 20, around sunset.

What began as an interest in poetry in her accelerated English class at Logan High School has evolved for Markaye Hassan into a love not only for poetry, but for the poets themselves.

Her passion is evident when she talks about the process of falling in love with poetry during the course of her class: "We spent a lot of time annotating poems where we would go through and really notice how every single word is so important and all of the different ways you could really apply it to yourself. It is so deep. Every word is so important."

A new museum collection at Zion National Park chronicles the contributions of the men of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Pictures, writings, and special objects in the collection provide opportunities for visitors to gain first-hand knowledge of the work and lives of the men of the CCC.

During their 9 years working in Zion, they built and improved many of the park's trails, created parking areas, fought fires, eradicated invasive plants, help build campgrounds, built park buildings, and reduced flooding on the Virgin River.

Natural gas development is about to increase significantly in Utah. On Tuesday, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved a major drilling project the Obama Administration says will create thousands of jobs while protecting the environment.

“The world today should simply stand back and say 'Wow, how did they do this?’"

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.

A Brigham Young University Professor is taking on a new role. Last week, Governor Gary Herbert appointed Lance Larsen to serve as Utah’s new Poet Laureate. Larsen will act as the leading public advocate for the literary arts in Utah.

Larsen didn’t develop a love for poetry and the arts until later in life when he took a creative writing class. It was then Lance Larsen began writing poetry, and is now awaiting the publication of his fourth collection of poems.

The U.S Army is looking to improve some of their materials and they’re asking scientists at the University of Utah to help. A little over a year ago, the United States Army put out a request for proposals. They have a “weight” problem and need some help in fixing it.

“A soldier carries say something like 30 pounds of batteries in the field ..that’s a lot. If we can reduce that, that would make a big difference to how the soldier can move around for example.”