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TexasTowelie's JournalBill to waive fees for birth certificates for homeless clears House committee
SALT LAKE CITY — A plan to waive fees for homeless people seeking a copy of their birth certificate is a step closer to reality after a House committee gave it unanimous support Friday.
SB196 sponsor Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, told the House Political Subdivisions Committee his bill waives the fee for homeless people to get a copy of their birth certificate.
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Rep. Elizabeth Weight, D-West Valley City, thanked Christensen for running the bill.
"When people get into homelessness, it seems like they just face one obstacle after another... and then when they encounter people who think they should help themselves out, when they don't have something like an ID card, that's just another block in the way, and it ... contributes to their helplessness and their hopelessness," Weight said.
Read more: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900011903/bill-to-waive-fees-for-birth-certificates-for-homeless-clears-house-committee.html
Medicaid work requirement bill revived after failing in committee
SALT LAKE CITY — A bill instructing the Utah Department of Health to implement a work requirement for Medicaid will get another chance to be heard by lawmakers despite being halted last week by the House Health and Human Services Committee.
The committee on Thursday voted to send SB172 back to the House Rules Committee with a formal request that it be referred to the state Health Reform Task Force for further study before the next legislative session.
However, the House Rules Committee on Friday opted to re-assign the bill to be heard by the House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Monday.
The move angered Dr. William Cosgrove, who represents the Utah chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics at the Legislature and who strongly opposes the bill. He called it a "back-room deal."
Read more: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900011965/medicaid-work-requirement-bill-revived-after-failing-in-utah-house-committee.html
Former SLC Councilman Eric Jergensen sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison in New York fraud case
Former Salt Lake City Councilman Eric Jergensen was sentenced to 59 months in prison by a federal judge Friday for conspiring to defraud a New York company of $2.5 million.
His prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. Jergensen also must pay $2.5 million in restitution to victims, by order of U.S. District Judge Brenda K. Sannes.
He was taken into custody following the sentencing in Syracuse, New York.
Jergensen, 58, and co-defendant Debashis Ghosh, 53, of Chicago, were convicted in October 2017 of wire fraud conspiracy following a seven-day trial in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
“Jergensen stole $2.5 million from investors trying to bring an innovative business and jobs to Plattsburgh [New York], and then tried to cover up his theft with years of lies,” said U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith in a prepared statement Friday. “Today’s sentence holds Jergensen accountable for his greed and treachery.”
Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/03/02/former-salt-lake-city-councilman-eric-jergensen-sentenced-to-nearly-5-years-in-prison-in-new-york-fraud-case/
The victim investors included a retired United States Air Force colonel, a former New York City deputy mayor, a retired lawyer, and several retired executives from the financial and airline industries.
Concealed carry gun class may be the largest ever taught in Utah
Sandy • Preschool teacher Rebecca Gwaltney thinks about the prospect of a campus shooter at least a few times every month — and even more often right after mass killings like the recent attack at a Florida high school that left 17 dead.
“It’s always kind of in the back of your mind,” said Gwaltney, who teaches in the Granite School District. “What’s going to happen if someone comes in, and I have to, you know … “
Better to be prepared, she figures.
Gwaltney, who attends gun shows and shoots recreationally, arrived Saturday morning at a warehouse in Sandy for a free concealed carry gun class organized for teachers and college students.
About 1,000 people signed up, which organizers said likely made it the largest concealed carry course ever taught in the state. Concealed firearms may be carried with a permit inside all Utah public schools and universities.
Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/03/03/hundreds-of-utah-teachers-and-students-attend-a-saturday-concealed-carry-gun-class-organized-after-floridas-high-school-massacre/
Legislation proposes to solve ballot havoc caused by GOP by forcing party to act like it never ...
Legislation proposes to solve ballot havoc caused by GOP by forcing party to act like it never changed its rulesMainstream Republicans are proposing an unusual way to reverse action by GOP hard-liners that would disqualify candidates who gather signatures on the ballot: legislation that would essentially force the party to behave as though the previous move had never happened.
Rep. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, after consultation with legislative leaders and Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, introduced HB485 on Friday to essentially ignore the party’s recent bylaw change.
“What we are saying is you can’t change the rules once the election has already started,” McKell said, referring to last week’s vote by conservative members of the Republican State Central Committee to disqualify candidates in some races from collecting signatures to get on the ballot.
“We’re simply saying, ‘Party, you made an election in November and that’s what we’re going to recognize: those rules.’”
Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/03/03/legislation-proposes-to-solve-ballot-havoc-caused-by-gop-by-forcing-party-to-act-like-it-never-changed-its-rules/
Mormon church has taken 'baby steps' toward greater gender equity, but LDS feminists say it's time
Mormon church has taken ‘baby steps’ toward greater gender equity, but LDS feminists say it’s time to lengthen that strideAs Russell M. Nelson ascended to the top of the LDS Church and its all-male hierarchy, the question came: What about women?
“We love ’em,” Nelson quipped at the Jan. 16 news conference announcing his presidency of the nearly 16 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The 93-year-old leader (as well as his two counselors in the faith’s governing First Presidency) praised the mothers and daughters in their lives who had produced missionary sons and bishops and had served as “influencers” to the men.
The trio made no mention of single women in the global faith, presidents of the all-female LDS Relief Society, or the armies of women who work at every level of Mormon congregational life no matter their marital status. Nor did the three speak of recent strides by the church toward gender equity or even hint at the word “feminist.”
Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/02/22/where-mormon-church-is-on-women-tk/
Mennonite investigator remains jailed after court ruling
DENVER — A Colorado criminal defense investigator who refused to testify for the prosecution in a death penalty case because she says it’s against her Mennonite faith will remain jailed after an appeals court on Friday ruled against her request to testify under alternative conditions.
Greta Lindecrantz, who opposes capital punishment, requested to be called as a witness by the court instead of in response to the prosecutors’ subpoena.
District Court Judge Michelle Amico ruled against her Friday, and the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the decision.
The appellate court ruled that any burden to Lindecrantz’s rights “must give way to the state’s paramount interests in ascertaining the truth and rendering justice.”
Read more: https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/local/colorado/2018/03/02/mennonite-investigator-remains-jailed-after-court-ruling/391530002/
Legal pot: Problem or panacea? Is Colorado, The Centennial State, becoming The Stoner State?
Legal pot is either a problem or a panacea, depending on your perspective.
The Marijuana Accountability Coalition and Smart Approaches to Marijuana hate it and want it gone. They say they're trying to prevent another marijuana version of Big Tobacco.
The Coalition hosted an event on the Colorado Christian University campus to warn Colorado about continuing down the cannabis causeway, including claims that marijuana among youth is rising.
"We should not live in a state where marijuana companies have a financial interest in hooking as many people as they possibly can," Marijuana Accountability Coalition speakers said in opening their event.
Read more: https://www.vaildaily.com/news/marijuana/legal-pot-problem-or-panacea-is-colorado-the-centennial-state-becoming-the-stoner-state/
The University of Northern Colorado could have a new medical school by 2020
If all goes according to plan, the University of Northern Colorado will have a college of osteopathic medicine on campus within the next three years.
UNC's Board of Trustees heard a presentation during its meeting Friday morning about the proposed Colorado College of Osteopathic Medicine that would open in fall 2020 and be located in Bishop-Lehr Hall, which is used for storage.
The college would be operated by the Colorado-based healthcare provider Salud LLC. Salud would foot the estimated $30 million bill to gut and renovate Bishop-Lehr to make it a suitable medical training facility, Salud CEO David Mohr said. Salud also would collect the tuition revenue and hire the faculty, though Mohr said he "fully expects" some UNC faculty to work for the proposed college. And Salud would pay UNC rent for the use of Bishop-Lehr.
The college would be a four-year program. Students would have two years of classes and two years of clinical training. Mohr said the college's optimal size would be 150 students per class, and 600 total.
Read more: https://www.greeleytribune.com/news/local/the-university-of-northern-colorado-could-have-a-new-medical-school-by-2020/
Colorado man sentenced to more than 300 years in prison for sexually assaulting children freed on
Colorado man sentenced to more than 300 years in prison for sexually assaulting children freed on technicalityGRAND JUNCTION — A Colorado man who was sentenced to more than 300 years in prison for sexually assaulting six children was released after an appeals court determined that his right to a speedy trial had been violated.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports 46-year-old Michael McFadden was released from prison Tuesday after the Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
McFadden was convicted in 2015, but his trial was delayed after his attorneys sought to include provisions in the juror questionnaire and the judge granted a continuance. Colorado’s appellate court ruled that the delay couldn’t be attributed to McFadden, who won’t have to register as a sex offender because his convictions were vacated.
District Attorney Dan Rubinstein says he’s appalled by the decision, but “we are without remedy.”
Read more: https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/01/michael-mcfadden-grand-junction-child-sexual-assault/
Now the good news:
Molester jailed for not registering
The Grand Junction man released from prison this week after an appellate court voided his 324-year sentence on child sex assault charges was jailed Friday in Colorado Springs.
Michael McFadden, 46, was taken into custody by the Colorado Springs Police Department on a warrant that was issued when a Grand Junction police detective determined that McFadden was required to register as a sex offender.
McFadden was freed on Tuesday after the Colorado Supreme Court refused to review a lower-court decision that McFadden's right to a speedy trial under Colorado law was violated.
Initially, it was reported that not only would McFadden be freed from prison, but he would not even be required to register as a sex offender.
Read more: https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/molester-jailed-for-not-registering/article_1569ff90-1eb1-11e8-8019-10604b9f7e7c.html
Time to lose the keys.
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