utah

OUT WEST ROUNDUP | Utah legalizes medical pot, expands Medicaid

Nov 14, 2018

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Associated Press

UTAH State legalizes medical pot, expands Medicaid SALT LAKE CITY – Voters in conservative Utah have decided to join the growing number of states legalizing medical marijuana and expanding Medicaid to cover tens of thousands more low-income residents, two issues that had long stalled out with conservative state lawmakers. Utah will be on the list…
OUT WEST ROUNDUP | Utah lawmaker tries pot ahead of medical marijuana vote

Nov 7, 2018

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Ernest Luning

Lawmaker tries pot ahead of medical marijuana vote SALT LAKE CITY – A Utah lawmaker drove to Las Vegas and tried marijuana for the first time ahead of the statewide vote on a proposition to legalize its use for Utah residents with qualifying medical conditions. Sen. Jim Dabakis wanted to try cannabis before the vote,…
OUT WEST ROUNDUP | Oklahoma prosecutors resist push for prison alternatives

Nov 1, 2018

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Associated Press

OKLAHOMA Prosecutors resist push for prison alternatives OKLAHOMA CITY – Since the days of frontier justice, lawmakers in conservative Oklahoma have viewed harsh prison sentences as the politically expedient solution to crime, including nonviolent offenses. That approach has imposed a high price, leaving the state with the nation’s highest incarceration rate, overcrowded prisons and skyrocketing…
OUT WEST ROUNDUP | Mormon church backs deal to allow medical marijuana in Utah

Oct 17, 2018

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Associated Press

Here’s a roundup of news from Colorado’s neighbor states. Mormon church backs deal to allow medical marijuana in Utah SALT LAKE CITY – The Mormon church has joined lawmakers, the governor and advocates to back a deal that would legalize medical marijuana in conservative Utah after months of fierce debate. The compromise comes as people…
OUT WEST ROUNDUP | Oklahoma GOPers targeted by colleague, dark money

Oct 11, 2018

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Associated Press

Republicans targeted by colleague, dark money OKLAHOMA CITY – When voters booted a dozen Oklahoma Republican legislators from office in the state primary, the common thinking was that educators angry about classroom funding were behind the ousters. But there were forces at work beyond just agitated teachers. A top GOP House leader actively participated in…
OUT WEST ROUNDUP | Mushrooms could help clean toxic groundwater in New Mexico

Oct 4, 2018

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Associated Press

Mushrooms could help clean toxic groundwater SANTA FE – Water conservationists and a Native American women’s advocacy group believe they’ve found a potential solution to a massive, decades-old underground plume of toxic chromium that likely has spread from property owned by Los Alamos National Laboratory to San Ildefonso Pueblo land. The key ingredient? Mushrooms. They…
OUT WEST ROUNDUP | Former Kansas Republican governor endorses Democrat

Sep 19, 2018

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Associated Press

Former Republican governor endorses Democrat over GOP nominee KANSAS CITY – Republicans in Kansas further splintered this week as the last moderate member of the party to hold the governor’s office endorsed a Democrat for governor over Kris Kobach, the GOP nominee. In a statement, former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves said he planned to support…
Feds propose selling former national monument lands

Aug 17, 2018

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The Washington Post

By Darryl Fears and Dino Grandoni | The Washington Post The Trump administration is proposing to dispose of federal land in Utah that was protected within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument until its boundary was redrawn by the Interior Department earlier this year – despite Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s assurance last year that he would…
OUT WEST ROUNDUP | Santa Fe fiesta to drop conquistador reenactment

Aug 10, 2018

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Associated Press

New Mexico Reenactment of conquistador reclaiming Santa Fe will end SANTA FE – An annual reenactment of a 17th-century Spanish conquistador reclaiming Santa Fe from Native Americans after an uprising will end amid protests that it whitewashed a dark period in New Mexico history. Organizers of the annual Fiesta de Santa Fe said they would…
OUT WEST ROUNDUP | Pruitt’s political future uncertain back home in Oklahoma

Jul 13, 2018

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Associated Press

Oklahoma Pruitt’s political future uncertain back home OKLAHOMA CITY – Scott Pruitt’s tenure as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency ended with his resignation, but political experts in his home state of Oklahoma say he could continue his career in public office. The path could lead him back to Washington. Pruitt, a former Oklahoma…