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KCYN LOCAL REGIONAL REPORT THURS NOV 20th 2008

>>Consumer Price Index Points To Tough Times Ahead (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  While prices continue to rise across many categories, the rapidly decreasing cost of gas caused the cost of living along the Wasatch Front to dip a tenth of a percent last month.  Wells Fargo Bank released their Consumer Price Index for October yesterday and it shows transportation costs have declined six-point-five-percent.  That's fueling the drop in the cost of living.  However, prices are rising for eating out, housing, clothing, medical and especially groceries.  Food costs are up one-point-seven-percent in October and nearly ten-percent in the past eight months.  Grocery costs are linked with gasoline costs, but even though gas prices are falling, grocery prices are not.  To make matters worse, Utah's inflation rate is much higher than the national average, up three-point-seven-percent over the past eight months.

(Salt Lake City Utah)-exnews- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent 18 semitrailers full of canned fruit to pantries across the country this week. The church experienced a bumper crop of peaches from its Utah orchards this year, according to a statement released Wednesday. The canned fruit was sent to storehouses in Georgia, Illinois, Colorado, Texas, Washington, Florida and Pennsylvania. In Illinois, six public agencies were waiting for the shipment to arrive. (exnews)

(Undated Utah)-exnews- A 4 percent budget cut looming over Utah's colleges and universities has administrators pinching pennies wherever they can in order to avoid cutting personnel. Smaller schools, however, "feel the pinch more than the bigger institutions," said Bill Sederburg, commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education. Snow College has recently notified the campus community of its plan to eliminate 21 positions at their Ephraim and Richfield campus locations. The plan heads off not only the original 4 percent budget cut edict, but additional expected cuts of up to 8 percent.

>> BLM Removes Moab Parcel From Oil And Gas Leases (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  Officials with the BLM have removed a land parcel near Moab from consideration in the oil and gas lease sale.  It was found that a portion underlies private homes and a golf course near Moab, so in consideration of the concerns of landowners the parcel was removed.  The public review period for the proposed parcels in the December 19th geothermal, oil and gas lease sale, ends December 4th.

(MOAB, Utah) Grand County officials searched for a missing New Castle Colorado woman by airplane Wednesday afternoon while her son and several of her friends helped out with efforts on the ground. The 1 1/2 hour aerial search around Moab and the surrounding area didn’t find any signs of the woman or her vehicle. 54 year old Rose Backhaus, 54, was last seen while checking out of the La Quinta Inn in Moab, around 8 a.m. Sunday morning. She had planned to go on a hiking trip with a friend but ended up going alone. She did not return home Sunday night and did not show up for work in Glenwood Springs Monday. A new development unfolded Wednesday morning when authorities obtained more information from Backhaus’ phone records that didn’t turn up in an initial inquiry, according to her son and law enforcement officials. She had made a cell phone call to check her voice mail around 10:20 a.m. Sunday. The signal bounced off a cell phone tower in New Mexico that serves the Taos area. Rose Backhaus was driving an off-red or burgundy 2004 Ford Explorer with a gray interior and a bike rack on the back. The license plate is Colorado 341-JVV. Backhaus is about 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 140 pounds and has blue eyes and curly brown hair. (exnews)

>>New Air Quality Standards For Utah Schools (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  It looks like students can breathe easier in Utah schools, quite literally during recesses, thanks to new air quality standards that have just been updated by the Utah Department of Health.  The new guidelines are particularly helpful during those heavy inversion days during the winter, and now states that when particulate levels reach a certain point, sensitive students should avoid outdoor activities.  All students should avoid outdoor activities above a certain level as well.  Dr. George Delavan, director of the State Division of Community and Family Health Services, says the need for air quality guidances came to the state's attention in 2004 when it was realized that there was no coordinated source of information regarding air pollution and outdoor school activities.  A guidance system was developed for students, parents, and schools, along with a website created where they could find information on current pollutant levels to help everyone decide on outside activities on a daily basis.  For more information, go to www.cleanair.utah.gov.

>>Results By Utah County Sheriff's Office, Threatened By Possible Cutbacks (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  The Utah County Sheriff's Office has seen a significant increase in its drug and alcohol arrests over the past three years.  Specialty enforcement teams, sobriety checkpoints, and saturation patrols have combined for the increase in arrests.  DUI arrests in 2008 are up more than 50-percent since 2006.  But these solid results could be threatened by cutbacks in Utah County deputies.  Like other areas, Utah County faces a slowing economy and shrinking revenues.  And while Sergeant Jeff Jones of the Utah County Sheriff's Office says he understands belt tightening, he notes that cutting law enforcement is not the way to go, because the crime rate goes up when the economy goes down.

>>Utah Legislative Committee Approves Amendment To Law Against Incest (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  After hearing testimony from Elend LeBaron, a legislative committee approved an amendment to a Utah law against incest.  LeBaron claims genetic testing confirmed his father and possibly an older brother fathered children with his sisters.  When confronted with this evidence, LaBaron said family members involved indicated there could be no prosecution because the pregnancies were the result of artificial insemination.  Under current Utah law, incest must involve a sex act.  The new amendment would make incest illegal, even without proof of sexual activity.

>>Judge Hilder Rejected By Utah Senators For Court Of Appeals (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. named Third District Judge Robert Hilder to the Utah Court of Appeals.  However, on Wednesday, the Senate overturned the appointment in a 16-12 vote.  Hilder was criticized for his temper and gun rights advocates have said Hilder is hostile in regard to individual rights to bear arms.

>>Man Detained After Airport Security Breach (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  Salt Lake City Airport Police arrested a man who climbed over a fence and entered a restricted area of the air field on Wednesday afternoon.  After jumping the fence, he walked onto one of the runways.  The runway was closed briefly, but no flights were delayed.  After questioning the man, security personnel report that terrorism was not a motive for his actions.  It is not known what charges, if any, will be filed.

Utah Ranks High For Uninsured Children (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  More than 107-thousand children in Utah don't have health insurance and according to a new report that puts Utah tenth worst in the nation for uninsured children.  The report, released by Families USA and based on Census Bureau data from 2005 to 2007, shows that the majority of these children come from families where at least one parent works.  However, many of these parents work for small companies that don't offer health insurance coverage or they simply can't afford it.  The Children's Health Insurance Program was put into place eleven years ago to help the working poor obtain health insurance for their children.  It is expected the state legislature will look at increasing the tobacco tax next year with the revenue from that funding an expansion of the CHIP program in Utah.  More than 55 percent of Utah's uninsured children are currently eligible for CHIP or Medicaid.

>>Governor Huntsman Will Draft Bill On Private Clubs (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  Private club membership in Utah could be a thing of the past sooner rather than later.  Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. is having his staff draft a bill for the 2009 legislature rather than wait for the state liquor commission to come up with a proposal.  The governor's spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, says it's a priority for the governor and not unreasonable for his office to do this.  Members of the state liquor commission voted to begin work on just such a bill back in July, but in August voted to "slow the process" after one member raised concerns about the changes.  The bill, if enacted, would eliminate the requirement for applications and membership fees at private clubs.  For his part, Huntsman announced back in May he would push to get rid of private clubs.

>>Feast With Beasts At The Hogle Zoo (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  The Hogle Zoo's Thanksgiving Feast with Beasts has become a tradition where families can watch the monkeys swing at turkey shaped pinatas and see the elephants smash pumpkins over 800 pounds.  The Hogle Zoo's Feast with Beasts is November 27th from 9 a.m. until noon and is free with admission to the zoo.  For more information, log onto the zoo's website at www.hoglezoo.org.

>>Small Fire At LDS Institute At Weber State Campus (Ogden, UT)  --  A fire inside an LDS Institute building on the Weber State University campus is being investigated by Ogden police and fire officials.  Police believe Sunday night someone spread an accelerant over a plastic flower arrangement and set it on fire.  The small blaze caused about 300 to 500-dollars damage to the floor.  There are no suspects and police say they have no information that would tie this incident to passage of California's Proposition 8 and the LDS church support for that proposition.  There have been a number of other incidents where LDS church buildings have been targeted in the past week.  The fire was discovered by a custodian on Monday morning.

>>Manager of Convenience Store Assaulted And Robbed (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  The manager of a Maverick store in Salt Lake City was assaulted and robbed Tuesday while he was on his way to make a bank deposit.  Police say the manager was walking to his vehicle with a deposit bag when he was tackled and robbed.  The suspect fled on foot with the deposit bag.  Police are looking for a second man who was also seen running from the scene.  The first suspect is described as a male, black juvenile, about five-foot-seven.  The second suspect is also described as a male, black juvenile, about 12-to-14-years old.  The victim was not seriously hurt and was treated at the scene by paramedics.

>>Lawsuit Filed By Feds Against Port O'Call (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  The Port O'Call social club is the target of a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.  The government wants to condemn the property it sits on to make way for a new federal courthouse.  The feds believe the fair payment for the land is around five-and-a-half-million-dollars.  Building owner, Kent Knowley, believes otherwise and his attorney, Paxton Guymon, says the offer falls far short of what he believes it's worth.  The club is located in the Shubrick Building, just west of the existing Frank E. Moss District Courthouse.  The government wants Port O'Call out by early 2009, but Knowley says he needs more time to find a suitable new location

. >>First Of Common Ground Legislation Goes Before Committee (Salt Lake City, UT)  --  There's been no reply from the LDS Church to Equality Utah's invitation to back gay-rights legislation, but the first part of the so-called "common ground initiative" went before the Senate Judiciary Interim Committee Wednesday.  The legislation, if enacted, would allow someone to name an unmarried partner as a designee in the case of a wrongful death.  It's the first in a series of six bills proposed by Democratic lawmakers and supported by gay-rights organizations.  A spokeswoman for the church says they don't plan to comment on the initiative for the time being. >