Healthcare | Alliance for a Better Utah

Ask Congress to Reauthorize The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

Better Utah Staff, Blog, Environment, Healthcare / Chase Thomas

Last week, Alliance for a Better Utah joined 32 other Utah and national organizations to call on Utah’s Congressional delegation to expand RECA and continue providing compensation to downwinders impacted by our country’s historical nuclear weapons testing. RECA expired earlier this year in June and although the U.S. Senate passed an expanded RECA bill in […]

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Covid-19 audit shows troubling lack of leadership

Accountability/Transparency, Healthcare, Issues, News, Press Releases / Better Utah

PRESS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 30, 2020 Salt Lake City, UT – In response to today’s release of the COVID-19 purchase and emergency response audit by Utah State Auditor John Dugall, Chase Thomas, Executive Director of Alliance for a Better Utah, issued the following statement: “Although politicians like to brag that Utah is the best

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Katie Matheson: Parents should not face pandemic alone

Accountability/Transparency, Better Utah in the News, Education, Healthcare, Issues, News, Op-Eds / Better Utah

This article originally appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune. Read it in its entirety here. I’m a parent. And like many parents, I often struggle to know what is best for my kids. That comes with the territory of parenting regardless of global events, but is especially true during a pandemic. My latest challenge — knowing whether or not to send my kid to in-person school

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Prioritizing people during a pandemic

Better Utah Interns, Blog, Healthcare, Issues / Better Utah

Chiara Kim is a policy intern with Alliance for a Better Utah. My non-verbal, autistic brother moved into a group home when he was 14. In the six years since, my family has been grateful for the services that state funding has helped provide. The residential staff, behavioral therapist, day program, and disability services all

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The free market can’t solve all our problems

1 Comment / Better Utah Staff, Blog, Healthcare, Issues / Lauren Simpson

Over the past several weeks, the United States has been having a long-overdue conversation about policing, including calls for police divestment. As one Dallas police chief expressed back in 2016: “We’re asking cops to do too much in this country. We are. We’re just asking us to do too much. Every societal failure, we put

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Kaysville City Council issues censure letter for Mayor Katie Witt over her push for public concert amid pandemic

Accountability/Transparency, Better Utah in the News, Healthcare, Issues, News / Better Utah

This article originally appeared in the Deseret News. Read it in its entirety here. KAYSVILLE — The Kaysville City Council released a letter of censure Wednesday aimed at Mayor Katie Witt expressing deep concerns for her support of a public concert despite health directives and asking her to resign. The letter is on the agenda for Thursday’s City Council meeting, when the censure will be put

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How should we rebuild?

Better Utah Board, Blog, Environment, Guest Blog, Healthcare, Issues / Better Utah

Jonathan Ruga is the vice-chair of the Better Utah Board. Brian Jones is director of government relations at Sentry Financial. COVID-19 has impacted our world in extraordinarily negative ways. Millions have been infected, hundreds of thousands have died, many of our healthcare systems have been exposed as grossly inadequate, and broad swaths of local and

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Utah’s no-bid COVID-19 buys spur some lawmakers to seek checks on spending power

Accountability/Transparency, Better Utah in the News, Healthcare, Issues, News, Taxes / Better Utah

This article originally appeared in the Deseret News. Read it in its entirety here. SALT LAKE CITY — Frustrated by certain multimillion-dollar, no-bid purchases and contracts that state officials have executed as part of their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a pair of lawmakers are drafting legislation to bring more transparency and checks to the state’s emergency procurement powers. Rep. Andrew Stoddard, D-Sandy, and Rep. Suzanne

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Why is it so controversial to wear a mask?

1 Comment / Better Utah Staff, Blog, Healthcare, Issues / Katie Matheson

As the person whose job it is to moderate Alliance for a Better Utah’s social media accounts, I spend an uncomfortable amount of time reading through social media posts and comments. And when it comes to comments about the pandemic and how we as a society survive and heal, it’s become clear that, while most

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Kaysville City Council passes resolution denouncing a planned protest concert and mayor’s actions to support it

Accountability/Transparency, Better Utah in the News, Healthcare, Issues, News / Better Utah

This article originally appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune. Read it in its entirety here. The Kaysville City Council — in a revolt against Mayor Katie Witt — was considering turning on sprinklers and cutting power to a city park to stop a protest concert she backed there that openly aimed to defy state COVID-19 restrictions. Word about these possible city actions was enough Thursday to chase

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