Katharine Biele

Salt Lake City has seen a lot of restaurants come and go but none will be more missed than Sugar House’s Sizzler. It’s not for the steak and salad bar, but rather for the one-story structure that overlooked Sugar House Park in summer and winter, duck ponds and snow sleds. And now, because the city is anxious about the coming onslaught of people—and peripherally about housing affordability—it is fielding criticism over plans to build a seven-story hotel. The developer is seeking a zoning change that supporters believe will bring jobs and somehow “new recreational opportunities,” per KSL. There will be parking and traffic challenges, and one notable concern centers around the park’s birds potentially crashing into a 90-foot-tall building. But if history is an indicator, Sugar House—once a walkable, streetcar suburb turned suburban shopping area—will continue to grow up and out.

It’s no wonder the Legislature wanted to sideline Utah State Auditor Tina Cannon, who is not only holding the state accountable for poor oversight, but also doing it as a woman in charge. In patriarchal Utah, that’s got to hurt. Cannon’s recent audit report looked at how Medicaid funds were being spent to improve nursing facilities. The audit found that over a 10-year period, less than half of $922 million was actually spent on nursing care, while the rest was retained for a “combination of owner compensation, administrative costs and hospital operating expenses.” But better than the

Oh, those wacky Republicans! They’ve got it all—and still they want more. Let’s talk about how representative government is supposed to work. It starts and ends with people you’re supposed to represent. Last weekend’s state GOP convention lifted Karianne Lisonbee of Handmaid’s Tale

Hits & Misses

Hits & Misses

Hits & Misses

We thought Utah’s parents liked the idea of school choice. You know—the ability to choose how your kids get educated is somehow essential to the concept. Well, not exactly in Utah, which has now banned 34 books from classrooms around the state because a couple of school districts found them offensive or “pornographic,” a word that has long defied legal definition. The Salt Lake Tribune found that most of the bans originated from only two districts: Davis and Washington. But their sensibilities are affecting all 41 districts in the state. None of this is strange in a dystopian world horrified by diversity, equity and inclusion, or one that believes the country’s racism is a thing of a distant past. And there’s some irony in a new law that allows students to opt out of content they don’t like, but not into others. In a bit of karma, The King’s English Bookshop decided not to promote the governor’s book Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt after he’d signed the book-banning law.

Miss: Supplemental Income You might remember the late Sen. Orrin Hatch and his deep appreciation of the dietary supplement industry. Yes, at roughly $16 billion per year, it’s Utah’s third-biggest industry, largely thanks to those Utah County herbalists and natural healers, plus Hatch and his donor network. Hatch sponsored the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in 1994, allowing supplements to be sold without FDA clinical trials. Under this law, supplements are considered food, not drugs. But move over Hatch, Sen. John Curtis is pushing into the arena, sponsoring a bill to give “users” a little tax incentive. It’s all about MAHA, Curtis says. Maybe it will be as effective as removing fluoride from our drinking water. The government website still advises “supplements can’t take the place of the variety of foods that are important to a healthy eating routine.” But if you’re wondering, the website still takes you to the upside-down food pyramid.

Miss: Popular Vote Full disclosure—I am an unapologetic supporter of vote-by-mail. But yeah, the president and apparently Utah’s governor think voting should be more difficult to ensure that only the best of the best actually vote. Remember the good ol’ days when women, Blacks and poor people couldn’t vote? And, fun times, when you had to go to a polling place—before 8 p.m.—and stand in line to go into a booth where you first saw the ballot and were surprised about how little you knew? Hey, you can still do that with VBM—you just don’t have to. The American Postal Workers rolled out an ad supporting VBM, which is hitting the states that have used it. Utah’s voter turnout has increased 40% since VBM became a thing in 2013, and Utah voters, almost all of whom use it, like it. Despite the hysterical fear that non-citizens and—gasp—Democrats might vote, the evidence of fraud is lacking and Utah has remained a ruby-red state for decades. How refreshing would it be if public officials trusted their constituents and maybe even listened to them?

Miss: Holy War Americans seem to be shunning labels and while that says a lot about the nation’s independent spirit, it spells trouble for organized religion and political parties. Some 30% of Americans call themselves religiously unaffiliated. Religion was in the hearts and minds of Latter-day Saints this week when the Department of “War” cut the number of federally recognized Christian religions from 200 to 31. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not among them. It was the work of Pete Hegseth, who wouldn’t know a Christian if one was nailed to a cross. This did not sit well with Utah’s senators, and the church said Christ is, you know, central. Apparently they hit their mark and Mormons are back in the fold. But Paul Mero, formerly of the Sutherland Institute, disagrees: “Latter-day Saints are NOT Christians, thankfully, as defined by evangelical, Catholic and protestant faiths. We are true Christians of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Utah Senators Lee and Curtis should let it go.”