An urbane Japanese businessman and former government official recently asked me, “I have long assumed the States are very powerful relative to the U. S. federal government, but I just read that this is not the case.  Why is that?”  Why is that, indeed? For years this issue has been one of the hottest topics [...]

Utah’s economy is doing very well, gaining 43,000 jobs in the last twelve months. Our unemployment rate is 4.7%, nearly 3% lower than the national rate of 7.5%. Utahns’ personal income is up 3.6% from last year, more than double the national increase. Utah companies are expanding and other firms are moving to Utah at [...]

You have probably not been to Navajo Mountain. Rep. Mike Noel, Sen. Dave Hinkins and I have. Just this last Thursday we met with the Navajo Mountain Chapter of the Navajo Nation. The other six Utah Chapters are spread over hundreds of miles in San Juan County. By legislation passed in 1933, Congress determined that [...]

Last Friday my “work” day included a bike ride along the newly-completed Murdock Trail, a brand spankin’ new 18-mile bike and pedestrian trail built on the newly enclosed canal. My friend Chad Mullins invited me to join this maiden ride with Jim Price of MAG, UDOT and private engineers who worked on the project, and [...]

Every year on a specific night in January the State of Utah conducts a census of homeless persons called The Point in Time Count. This past January 30th throughout the State, homeless service providers teamed up with volunteers to count the people sleeping in homeless shelters, on the streets, in cars or camped out. The [...]

Things come at a sixteen year old girl fast—friends, school, homework, dates, sports, family, church, work. Thus, many high school juniors don’t think much about their future education. However, it’s not too early to think about admission tests, scholarships, and college savings. Throughout their high school years, I talked to my daughters about what college [...]

Those of us with a bit of gray hair remember when it was hard to find a job in Utah. Many Utahns had to leave the state. Today, good jobs are much more available in our state. Utah has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country–dipping in the last report to 4.9% compared [...]

While housed in a concentration camp, Viktor Frankl discovered he could find hope surviving upon his devoted and unconditional love for his wife, though separated from her. Love of our fellow man is the best and surest foundation for service. Paradoxically, service endows us with love for our fellow man. There is, however, surely a [...]