Utah NOW Audiocast on KUED Channel 7

November 20th, 2009: Last summer federal agents raided the homes of sixteen residents in Blanding, Utah. They were arrested for plundering ancient Indian artifacts. This week on Utah NOW we're exploring the story and the complicated role pot hunting has played in the culture of the region.

November 13th, 2009: This week on Utah NOW, a conversation with Peter Danzig, the organizer of an effort to get the LDS Church to reconsider its relationship with the gay community. Danzig's story is a personal journey of conscience. He'll talk about it and about the effect of Mormon policies on gay people in and out of the church.

November 6th, 2009: This week on Utah NOW, Sen. Bob Bennett will be joining us. Bennett is one of the only Republicans who has actually produced a plan to reform the country's healthcare system. We'll talk about the particulars and the politics and explain why his plan didn't make the cut.

October 23rd, 2009: This week Governor Gary Herbert speaks in depth about his department's four day work week, addresses the budget for 2010, and global warming. Gov. Herbert also answers questions about , the current ethics initiative, nuclear waste transport and storage, and the recent accelerated SITLA executives' bonuses.

October 2nd, 2009: The Ken Burns' series on National Parks has gotten us thinking about the different facets in that relationship between Americans and Land. This week on Utah NOW we're exploring that relationship, from history and art to politics and spirituality... we'll talk about how land moves people and spurs them to action.

September 25th, 2009: Governor Gary Herbert talks extensively about the 2010 budget and transparency in political fundraising. Governor Herbert also discusses ethics reform in the legislature, uranium waste in the West Desert, and concealed weapon permits for citizens who live outside of Utah.

September 4th, 2009: This week on Utah NOW, we're profiling a new documentary that traces the complicated history of Black people in Mormonism. We'll talk about how Black Mormons reconcile their racial and cultural identity with their faith and ask why the myths and misperceptions persist. Watch the doucmentary "Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons" Oct. 7th at 9 PM on KUED 7.1

August 28th, 2009: Governor Herbert speaks on a number of issues during the show, including his views on raising taxes for next years budget and how far discrimination ordinances should go. The Governor talks about both sex education and evolution in the public schools, the Snake Valley water resources, and unemployment.

August 21st, 2009: This week on Utah NOW, we're exploring the fate of the Snake Valley groundwater and the proposal to pipe it to Las Vegas. Recently, Utah and Nevada announced an agreement to share the remaining aquifer water. But in this arid desert landscape, some see it as a water grab, not a water share. Join us for a closer look at the future of water in the west.

August 14th, 2009: This week on Utah NOW we're profiling Utah's Lt. Governor designee Greg Bell. Senator Bell is considered a moderate politically...too moderate for conservatives who openly opposed him for the job. We'll talk to the Senator about his ideas and his decision to accept one of the least coveted positions in government.

July 17th, 2009: The uproar over a gay couple detained for allegedly refusing to leave after kissing near the Main Street Plaza last week revealed a lingering resentment about the involvement of the LDS Church in the fight over Proposition 8 in California. This week on Utah NOW: the fallout of Prop 8... how are the faithful dealing with and talking about gay rights?

July 10th, 2009: This week on Utah NOW the writer Carol Lynch Williams will join us to talk about her popular new book for young adults. It's the story of a thirteen-year-old girl coming of age in a polygamist community that has presented her with an impossible choice.

July 3rd, 2009: This week on Utah NOW...reflections of America, on July 4th. It's a program of stories and images and art that express the experience of a wide range of people who call themselves "Americans."

June 26th, 2009: This week on Utah NOW - The writer Paula Huntley joins us. Huntley has written a chronicle of her journey to Kosovo, where she taught english to a group of Albanian students. We talk to Huntley about her students' fears and hopes for their homeland...and their book club that brought them together.

June 12th, 2009: This week on Utah NOW we offer an inside look at The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brent Jeffs, nephew of jailed FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, will be joining us. He has written a memoir of his experience growing up in the polygamous sect. The story is about power and sex and the dark consequences of religious extremism.