Eric S. Peterson

In 2008, the winds of Barack Obama's campaign helped carry Utah's usually beaten and kicked-down Dems to a historic win. For the first time in decades, the Democrats' presidential candidate took Salt Lake County, staking a blue flag into the heart of one of the nation's reddest states. Obama won by a margin of just 296 votes, but the Democratic tide was sufficient to elect a Democratic majority on the county council-the first time in over a decade-and re-elect Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon.

But if the efficiency of the Obama machine won moderates and independents in Salt Lake County-as it did nationwide-by campaigning on "Change We Can Believe In," the 2012 election stands ready to throw that change back in the faces of Democrats in local races, since Mitt-mania will be a driving force in getting the Republican vote this fall... Read More 

By Eric S. Peterson

In early March, state leaders flipped a symbolic bird at the federal government when Gov. Gary Herbert signed into law bills demanding the federal government relinquish 30 million acres of public land to state control for energy development. Since then, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management has given a preliminary thumbs-up to a pair of massive projects that, combined, will open up nearly 5,000 new natural-gas wells in the Uintah Basin. While one of the projects has been hailed by environmental advocates as a compromise between development and conservation, the other project, by oil and gas company Gasco Energy, Inc., will thwart potential protections for one of the country's largest roadless wilderness areas...  Read More

By Scott Renshaw

 Two men in white shirts (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) have a conversation around a water cooler about mundane topics, like one of them dealing with a wife gone over-the-top with baby-proofing the house. A bit later, five college students prepare to pile into an RV and head out for a weekend of fun at a remote lake house. There's a genial jock named Curt (Chris Hemsworth), his sexy and recently bleached-blond girlfriend Jules (Anna Hutchison), Curt's pal Holden (Jesse Williams), quiet and bookish Dana (Kristen Connolly) and unapologetic stoner Marty (Fran Kranz). And since that's about all I can say, now we get to hang out together while I figure out how to kill 600 more words. Anyone have a favorite apple-strudel recipe? Want to chat about whether Princess Kate is sporting a baby bump? Seriously, folks, I'm wide open for suggestions here... Read More