Here Come the Lawsuits
Despite the tone-deaf response to the comically inept Supreme Court decision, there's good news on the abortion front. There's more of us than them, we can vote even in gerrymandered districts, lawsuits abound and the Utah Constitution may hold the key. First the tone-deaf response: Sen. Mike Lee called the ruling "an end to the national nightmare." Of course, it is the beginning, but let's not gnash teeth. Then, there was the Deseret News' editorial: "We hope it will ultimately do what Roe v. Wade never did: calm the debate over one ofAmerica's most divisive issues." The debate has been calm for nearly 50 years during which time women did indeed fend for themselves. Oh, and abortion rates have been going down. So no, Deseret News, this wasn't the right decision legally or morally. Not if you care about women or the children they bear. The hope now rests with Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, both suing the Legislature, citing, according to The New York Times, "the right to determine family composition and the right to equality between the sexes."
Notorious Water Use
As if living in Utah weren't embarrassing enough, John Oliver got on the bandwagon this week. And he enlisted "God" to emphasize the point. "Utah's residents use the most water of any Western state and nowhere is it more true than St. George," with per-person water consumption among the highest. Of course, it's because of lawns and golf courses, and well, development. Fox13 News tried to help us understand part of the problem with a BYU study that showed we're watering lawns too much. Of course, the best Utah will do is "encourage" people to do better. Meanwhile, NPR pointed to groups applying for water rights underground, which will sadly deplete the resource. Turnout water has an equity problem, too. Salt Lake's attempt to plant 1,000 trees on the neglected west side of the city is proving less than successful, partly because of water. But as "God" said to Gov. Spencer Cox, "No, I will not be answering your prayer for rain."
Regrettable Analogy
Speaking of our esteemed and naïve governor, let's talk about the demise of the State Office Building. Bryan Schott of The Salt Lake Tribune tweeted about Cox's comment on the architecture, which Axios reported this way: "The building served the public well, but over the years, the building's effectiveness declined, and eventually we no longer provided state agencies what they needed to serve the public effectively," said Gov. Spencer Cox, likening the current building to "something out of" North Korea. Well, oops. If anything, it was something out of an Ogden native's immensely creative mind, one whose ancestry was Chinese—not North Korean. William Wing Louie, who died at 98 last year, designed many famous structures in Utah including St. Ann's Catholic Church and the State Office Building. "Will's commitment to service and leadership included the architectural, Catholic and underrepresented communities," his obituary says. But Cox is just happy to tear him down with his building.