• Mini-Posts - Only in Utah...

    Union Rescue Crews Turned Away

    Deseret Morning News | Were union miners kicked out of the rescue effort? Murray said there had been 12 rescue teams on site, but seven were told their services wouldnt be needed because most of the work needing to be done can be done best by personnel who work at the mine. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has said the other rescue teams are still available to go underground.

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Hot Off The Presses - Only in Utah...

    Tragedy In Utah: Hard Questions

    Robert L. Borosage: The Utah Mine Disaster: Don’t Call It an Accident – Politics on The Huffington Post At Crandall Canyon, the miners were working at depths that test the limits of safety. Although Murray denies it, federal regulatory officials say that retreat mining was being practiced. Retreat mining is a perilous technique in which pillars of coal hold up portions of the roof, and when the area is mined, the pillars are pulled down, capturing the useful coal and collapsing the roof. Even hard-driving mine owners aren’t allowed to run amok. There are federal and state laws and regulations…

  • Only in Utah... - Politics, Schmolitics

    Romney Wins Iowa Straw Poll by a Sizable Margin – New York Times

    Romney Wins Iowa Straw Poll by a Sizable Margin – New York Times For all the hoopla and hype — there were news crews here from around the globe — the political significance of this event was questionable. Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, like Mr. McCain, said he would not compete in the poll, citing the early advantage that Mr. Romney had built. In addition, this was not exactly a textbook case of American democracy in action. It cost $35 to cast a vote, and most of the campaigns picked up the cost of the voting tickets. Mr. Romney…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Only in Utah...

    Deadly Percussion

    mullentown » Blog Archive » Hard as Coal Did you all see this guy this morning during his rant outside the Crandall Canyon coal mine disaster?The screaming bald guy would be Robert Murray, president and CEO of Murray Energy Corp., of Cleveland, Ohio. I didn’t get to see him on live TV today, but did listen on the car radio to 90 percent of his news conference in Huntington, Utah. My first thoughts were to cut the guy some slack because he is in shock, is sleep-deprived and deeply worried about the fates of the six coal miners trapped some…

  • Only in Utah...

    Salt Lake conference: “Are You Jews?”

    Salt Lake Tribune – Jewish conference faces tough questions PARK CITY – The overarching questions and concerns they’d be grappling with were not new, but when about 40 leading Jewish thinkers, writers, academics, rabbis and professionals arrived in Utah last weekend, they were definitely in for something different. For one, gawkers in the Salt Lake City International Airport reportedly approached a group of them and asked, wide-eyed, “Are you Jews?” And then there was that time on Monday when an outdoor-adventure company, under the guise of a “team-building” exercise, asked them to build teepees. Yes, teepees. News media weren’t allowed…

  • Only in Utah... - Politics, Schmolitics

    D’oh! S-M-R-T!

    The Democrats Contempt Play – TIME Conyers, in his own nod to civility, warned three often-outspoken members of his own caucus to respect the civil tone of the hearing before they made their remarks. Indeed, nary a member on either side raised their voice and the panel had occasional moments of laughter, as whenRepresentative Chris Cannon accidentally voted against his own amendment in a voice vote. Oh, they’ll love this in Utah. What a maroon.

  • Dear Mom - Hot Off The Presses - Only in Utah...

    Salt Lake Alternative Weekly Survives Bomb Scare In Bar

    Now this is journalistic excellence: staff members of the local alternative weekly paper in Salt Lake reports the big story, after decamping to the nearest bar to wait out the boring part of being evacuated because of a bomb scare at the bank building across the street. Not only is it insightful and edgy, but traditional and slightly boozy at the same time. Mom would have gotten the biggest laugh out of this, because in her younger days she knew a lot of boozy old journalists who would have covered the story from the nearest bar, too. CW Blog: Irregular…

  • Childfreedom - Only in Utah...

    Sometimes, The Blogfodder Begs To Be Posted

    Salt Lake Tribune – Tot from large family left behind in morning rush A 2-year-old girl from a family of about 15 children was misplaced Monday morning before a Salt Lake County deputy found her crying and alone in the family’s backyard. The mother of the little girl had apparently assumed her older children had put the toddler in the family van earlier that morning. The mother then dropped off her other children at her sister’s home on her way to work, Lt. Paul Jaroscak said. About 9 a.m. neighbors in an area near 8500 South and 1500 East heard…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Dear Mom - Only in Utah...

    Blue: Sunny Red: Stormy

    mullentown » Blog Archive » If You Were the Architect Yay! It’s coming back, and it’s nothing to do with politics: it’s the Walker Bank sign in Salt Lake City. As seen in the comments at mullentown, it sounds like the old Salk Lake weather icon may be making a comeback. In one of those weird Internets Tubes coincidences, my Uncle Charlie is mentioned on that Early Television site, as he was a long time radio enthusiast and tinkerer with new technologies in Salt Lake. In the 40’s and 50’s, he was involved with a lot of this stuff. I…