Ever had a traffic ticket? Divorce? Issue with your kids? If so, the next step that you likely faced was to appear before a judge. The decisions judges make affect individuals, families and our communities. But many of us don’t realize we have a voice in who judges us.
We’ve passed the autumn equinox, an event for astronomers that marks the end of summer’s box-office blockbuster season. As such, I’m reminded of a very important piece of advice: Never take a scientist to a movie. Chances are we’ll ruin it for you.
The power of the press rests in the ability of journalists to hold government accountable, to mobilize public opinion on matters that are important to individuals, communities or the nation, and to provide necessary information of value.
As the campaign manager for Evan McMullin in 2016 I got to see up-close how incredible the people of Utah are. Even though we did not win Utah, we got a quarter of a million votes — 21 percent of the electorate — which was the highest share of any state’s vote for a non-major party candidate…
Goats are trending in Utah. Petting zoos are gaining in popularity, and herds of people gather together for “Goga,” a combination of outdoor yoga while goats roam among – and on top of — participants. And now residents are butting heads with city officials over their right to keep goats as pets.
This month is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in America, and this provides an important opportunity to reflect on how we can influence change and help prevent tragedies of self-harm.
In 2011 an attempt was made in the Utah senate to increase the gasoline tax, but it was voted down. Ballotpedia reports that in 2018 state tax on gasoline is 29.41 cents and federal tax is 18.4 cents, for a total tax of 47.81 cents per gallon. Since this tax started in 1923, it has grown at …
At the Ogden City Council Meeting on Aug.28, 2018, Salt Lake Chamber representative Brynn Mortenson presented the Chamber’s Housing GAP Coalition Initiative, which aims to address Utah’s housing shortage “before it becomes a crisis.” She reported that the housing shortage, though already acu…
As a farewell salute to Senator John McCain, I would like to write about two things he stood for among many - our democracy and public education.
There are several items from Tuesday’s Weber County Commission meeting regarding the “Retirement Incentive Policy” discussions that anyone should find troubling. Most retirement incentive programs are temporary and are used as a tool for adjusting employee headcount and avoiding forced layof…
Recently, I chatted with a man who trims my trees. As we talked about nature, I discovered he once believed the earth was flat. True, you can’t easily see the curvature in the earth from atop a tree. While in a tiny minority, he is not the only one to hold that belief.
By Michael Patrick O’Brien
In January 2018, it was discovered that a civilian member of the Sheriff’s Office had violated the trust that you, the public, have given and expect. This particular employee had been a member of this office for 16 years and was assigned to a critical position within the office as the eviden…
If you’re like me, August offered another fantastic opportunity to miss the Perseid meteor shower. With the rash of forest fires, I knew the spectacular event was going to be hard to see through smoke-obscured skies. Coupled with a late sunset and my early farm chores, this astronomer chose …
I just returned from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and, boy, do I have some exciting news: The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has a new launch date.
The great Utah teacher, writer and humanitarian, Lowell L. Bennion, once wrote a book with the simple title, “How Can I Help?”
Each year, Weber State University’s College of Engineering, Applied Science & Technology helps sponsor FyreCon, a convention dedicated to the creative side of fantasy and science fiction.
As a local business owner and resident, I would like to express my appreciation to Weber County for implementing some of the best practices that make the private sector thrive. One of these practices is the use of external contractors. Sound crazy? Hear me out.
Could the golden rule be the common denominator among those who believe the United States was founded as a Christian nation and those who believe in strict separation of church and state?
Scientists ask questions. It’s what we do. It’s a hallmark of the scientific method.
In a recent guest commentary, the author details his opinion on the difference between “transactional” and “devotional” politicians. Like many of the recent articles published in the Standard Examiner, it included a lot of criticism from one elected officials camp to the next. It had accusat…
I noticed the woman sitting next to me wipe her eyes a couple of times. I finally turned and asked, “Why does this make us cry?” She laughed through her tears. “I don’t know. I just can’t listen to this without crying.”
Weber County has a wonderful opportunity to advance prosperity and the common good by re-electing Commissioner James Ebert. Nothing against his primary challenger, Gage Froerer, but there is one singular and remarkable contrast between these candidates – one perhaps you have only felt but ne…
Consider any of the following circumstances and ask yourself what you would do.
Possibly dozens of criminal prosecutions have been compromised or ruined by the tampering and destruction of evidence, according to an internal investigation report into the January firing of the Weber County Sheriff’s Office evidence custodian.
Big changes are coming for Utah’s Boy Scouts.
Depression doesn’t care.
As we contemplate our personal thinking, many of us realize that our minds are often filled with chatter. We are constantly having conversations with ourselves. We often wish we could clear our minds and throw out the unwanted noise in our brains. But creating a vacuum in our heads cannot be…
Power. We want it. We rebel against it. We revel in exercising it, so when we gain a little bit, it is tempting to exercise some unrighteous dominion over those without it. Our laws and governmental institutions are designed to control power in its many unwieldy forms. No one wants tyranny, …
Next Tuesday, Utah parents can breathe a little easier when they let their children, ages 5 through 12, play at the park unsupervised, walk outside alone or wait alone in a car. May 8 is the day Senate Bill 65 goes into effect. It’s dubbed the “free-range parenting” law, though some have hap…
Last week I wrote about how money, whether we like it or not, is tied up with our justice system. The realities and expenses of justice require that we, through our elected representatives, invest our money wisely so that the system operates in a fair and just manner.
On the third Monday of April, Ogden native and former Weber State University track star Sarah Callister Sellers shocked the world by placing second in the Boston Marathon. Reporters asked, “Who is this previously unknown runner?” Newspapers and television stations around the world scrambled …
Friday of last week, the local Sears in the Newgate Mall closed. When I visited I could still see the outline of the five letters of “SEARS” as gray smudges on the side of the mall. I could see the empty interior through the milked-out glass doors. To the rear, a small cadre of employees — t…
The cliché “time is money” happens to be true. Justice requires time to be done right and in order to accomplish justice, a lot of money gets spent. Even the infrastructure of justice is expensive. Judges, clerks, courthouses, computers, security, jails, prisons, enforcement, and prosecutors…
Growing older is scary.
I vaguely remember President Richard Nixon resigning on our grainy black-and-white television when I was 11. I’ve seen so many replays of the news coverage over the years that my memory has incorporated things I couldn’t possibly have understood at that young age. I knew there were tapes, bu…
NORTH OGDEN — There appears to be some polarized thinking locally about recycling.
OGDEN — Don’t mess with people’s sugary drink options.
Breaking bad habits, recovering from addiction, reassessing our daily activities — all can be rewarding exercises. Though the prospect of making changes in the way we live can seem overwhelming, there are proven tools that can help us along the way.
Utah is a place where people strive to document memory through genealogy, scrapbooking and storytelling. Some of us live lives and archive them to provide a history of ourselves, our world and what we leave behind. Others of us leave a trace of things we have done —graduations, marriages, di…
For the second year in a row, Weber State University will hike its tuition rates.
The right of an individual to bear arms is just 10 years old. It originated in a 2008 Supreme Court ruling, District of Columbia v. Heller.
Recently, the Weber State University English department invited people in disciplines across campus to craft 2,000 words about the importance of writing. I agreed to take part, but explained, “If I can't say why writing is important to engineers in 500-750 words, then no engineer will believ…
Novelty generates interest and excitement. Repetition creates boredom and indifference. We want things new and fresh, so we flock to "the new" in our consumerist hunger: books, movies, music, television, the newest hair and clothing-style crazes. We're addicted to novelty. When we go to Cost…
Starting in May, Utah restaurants will no longer be required to post signage stating they’re “a restaurant, not a bar.”
How can lawmakers best prevent mass shootings like the one in Parkland, Florida, that took the lives of 17 high-schoolers?
Teenagers recently protested gun violence at schools through organized walkouts and have received both support and opposition for their efforts.
No country’s firms are better at analyzing a competitive environment, strategizing to create a competitive advantage or innovating to take advantage of opportunities than America’s. American ingenuity is no myth; it is the foundation of our economic strength.
I’m tired. A Utah legislative session passed, and I didn’t even write about the yearly 45- day festival that bestows upon us 500 or so new bills and resolutions. That’s right. Over 400 new laws will hit the books after Gov. Gary Herbert puts his pen to paper.
Discussions of the recent school shooting have calmed down to a manageable roar, hopefully enough for a civil conversation. The question of what to do beyond hand-wringing and rhetoric still hangs heavily over us. As I hear the debate, I can’t help but recall what happened in the aftermath o…
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