Capitol Hill – The business owner-led DABC Review Committee has completed their final report of recommendations for changes in the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and delivered their report this morning to House & Senate Democratic Leaders. Read the report below.

The DABC controls a $300 million dollar business in Utah, but recent audits have uncovered waste and possible criminal fraud. Because the funds the State receive from the DABC are so critical to funding programs like school lunches and roads, Representative Litvack and Senator Romero called for an independent committee, made up of local business owners to review the DABC processes and create a report of recommendations which would be delivered to the Utah Legislature.

The committee, led by co-chairs Peter S Cooke, Stephen Schubach and Jeff Hatch completed their task after countless meetings and public hearings, and delivered the following report this morning for consideration.

Dems Focus on Education in State of the State Response

01.25.2012 by Eric Ray

(KCPW News) In their response to Governor Herbert’s State of the State Address tonight, Utah’s Democratic leaders stressed their priority this legislative session is to improve public education through a series of bills called the “Best Schools Initiative.”

“Utah Democrats believe that every Utah child deserves four things: an excellent teacher, individualized attention, world class curriculum, and neighborhood and family support,” said Senate Minority Leader Ross Romero.

Romero said reducing class sizes in kindergarten through third grade and giving teachers extra classroom help will “work wonders” in helping students succeed.

Romero added the Democrats plan for improving education won’t take any more money from taxpayers. “Let me be very clear. We do not believe it is fiscally wise to raise taxes on Utah’s working families,” said Romero. “That’s why I’m pleased to announce that the House and Senate Democrats Best School’s Initiative includes a funding plan that reprioritizes our resources and does not raise taxes.”

Other priorities introduced by the Democrats included improving access to higher education for veterans, protecting consumer rights, and improving air quality.

Original Source: http://kcpw.org/blog/local-news/2012-01-25/dems-focus-on-education-in-state-of-the-state-response/

The Utah House has proposed a substitute congressional boundaries map.  The map is based on a submission from Utah County resident David Garber.   The revised version of Mr. Garber’s map is shown below.  The red lines indicate the original boundaries as proposed by Mr. Garber.

This map is clearly not a modification.  It is a new map presented to the public for the first time, less than an hour ago.  In fact, the new map moves 60% of the population to a different district than was in Mr. Garber’s original proposal.

Even Mr. Garber says “Newbold’s proposal is clearly not a variant of my concept,” as stated on Twitter.

Today’s decision to hold off a vote on the override of HB 328 – State Government Work Week – was unprecedented and not in the best interests of the citizens of Utah.  Governor Herbert vetoed this bill because switching back to a five-day workweek for state government will cost taxpayers nearly one million dollars per year.

The members of the Utah Senate Democratic Caucus applaud the United States armed forces, the intelligence community and President Barack Obama on the successful operation that ended with the death of Osama bin Laden.  The fact that this was carried out without any civilian or American casualties is a testament to the outstanding training and abilities of our armed forces.