Living Large
Let's talk about what's missing from Salt Lake City's housing incentives plan. There's a lot. Of course, the city will give developers pretty much everything they want—speedy permitting, tweaks to zoning rules and lower land costs. Oh, and there's no need for parking because as everyone knows, Salt Lake is a walkable city with plenty of mass transit. The city is trying to encourage more affordable housing, even if it lasts only 30 years. Still, it targets existing neighborhoods and does nothing for water use or other clean energy options. A Salt Lake Tribune story talked about the opposition, but without quoting any of the naysayers. What's missing is simply a sustainable plan for affordable housing, energy efficiency and respect for existing neighborhoods, east and west.
Women's Intuition
While Utah Republicans celebrate another conservative woman in office, the reality is a bit starker. "For the first time in the state's history, there are now more Republican women serving than Democrat women in both the House and Senate," a press release from Republican Women Lead said. Indeed, there are now a whopping 14 GOP women on Capitol Hill—but even with that, women account for only about one-seventh of Utah's 104 representatives on the Hill. The Utah Women in Leadership Project finds that less than 40% of seats on state boards and commissions are held by women. "Gender discrimination, poor treatment of female candidates who do run, biases in party politics and poor treatment by the media have held back women from holding office," the Project says.
Tick-Tock, TikTok
There's no dearth of information about how TikTok is hurting kids, and still there's no clear vision on how to move forward. Gov. Spencer Cox and sidekick Attorney General Sean Reyes have announced a lawsuit against the social media app. Britain even fined TikTok a lot of money, although it's unclear whether they got any of it. TikTok is the boogeyman politicians are seeking in their very unsuccessful attempts to keep kids safe, particularly with their mental health. While Republicans generally want child welfare left to parents, that's not the case with TikTok. And KUTV 2 viewers weighed in on a poll in which half said the state would lose its case, and the other half said there would be no effect. Still, it's not all bad news. A star middle-school teacher at a K-12 laboratory school in Florida got more than 4 million likes on TikTok and more than 100,000 followers for her unique way of teaching. And it was all without harming kids.
