In 2021, 90% of Utah experienced extreme drought. These drought conditions extended from 22 years of drought across much of the western United States. Scientists referred to this as a “megadrought,” in part brought on and exacerbated by climate change.

This legislative session, some state leaders worked to create legislation to address drought in our state. Many water conservation bills passed both legislative houses, while others failed. While I appreciate many legislators taking steps to address water conservation in our state, Utah still has a long way to go to address a problem that is not going away.

After years of drought conditions in Utah and an especially dry 2021, many Utah legislators took action this session. For instance, the legislature passed House Bill 242, which expanded requirements for metering secondary water (unfiltered water often for outdoor use) to apply to the entire state by 2030. The hope is that metering outdoor water use will give residents and businesses a better idea of how much watering they need to cut back on.

Senate Bill 110 created new requirements for water efficiency in municipality planning. Before this legislation, counties or cities were not required to consider water supply in long-term planning. This puts our communities in danger of a lack of water resiliency as we move towards what is likely a much drier, more populous future in Utah. S.B. 110 was critical in ensuring a water-safe future.

The legislature also passed H.B. 121, a “first of its kind” law that provides a $5 million incentive pool to encourage people to switch from grass lawns to lawns that utilize drought-tolerant vegetation and need less water. The passage of these three bills is a promising start to addressing water use in Utah from city planning to lawn watering.

However, one significant piece of water conservation legislation failed this session: H.B. 95. In neglecting to pass that bill, the legislature failed to address the issue of lawn watering in any meaningful way. About 30% of the average American family’s daily 320 gallons of water use is dedicated to outdoor watering. Utah’s desert conditions increases this water usage, with an estimated 60% of residential water supply going to turf growing in our state.

H.B. 95 aimed to give homeowners more flexibility in their outdoor water needs by removing strict HOA and government entity requirements for well-maintained grass lawns. The legislation asked that other landscaping options, such as those that utilize drought-resistant-vegetation, be allowed as a secondary option.

In failing to pass this bill, our state leaders failed to remove institutional barriers to water conservation for citizens. We shouldn’t require grass lawns in a dry state. Furthermore, given the passage of H.B. 121, which encourages replacing grass with drought-resistant vegetation, it seems like a severe oversight to not simultaneously remove the institutional barriers that stop people from replacing grass lawns in the first place.

This session saw both wins and losses in water conservation, but looking at the big picture of water in our state shows that we can’t afford any losses right now. This session did not go far enough in drought prevention efforts, beyond just the failure of H.B. 95. We hear the word drought, but don’t often notice the direct effects of it.

Dry conditions lead to reduced numbers of fish, deer and other animals, endangering Utah’s ecosystems. Additionally, some Utah farmers could only plant on 10% of their land due to dry conditions last year. This deeply hurts Utah’s economy and everyone, even if we don’t notice the direct effects of drought day to day.

One large consequence of drought is the shrinking of one of Utah’s greatest landmarks, the Great Salt Lake. According to Deseret News, most of 2021’s spring runoff was “guzzled up by a thirsty ground instead of in the Great Salt Lake’s three major tributaries” due to prolonged drought conditions in Utah.

This megadrought could last until 2030, but even now, we’re feeling the effects. By 2030, the effects on our environment and economy will have only compounded. Additionally, climate change will likely make droughts more frequent and severe. As a naturally dry state, water shortage won’t end with this drought. It will continue to be a problem long into Utah’s future.

Our session lasts one month once a year, which means that we won’t see more water conservation legislation for at least another year, barring any water emergencies. We can’t afford not to take water conservation seriously during the limited time we have each year to create statewide drought legislation.

The Deseret News explained that the Great Salt Lake’s “water levels are a game of two steps forward and three steps back.” Unless we address drought seriously and strictly now, we’ll play the same game with our wildlife, farm production and economy. Our legislators need to take proactive action now rather than reactive action when the consequences of drought become more severe.

k.cushman@dailyutahchronicle.com

@cushman_kcellen

The post Cushman: Stricter Drought Regulations Aren’t Optional Anymore appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

On Tuesday, March 1, ODU’s Women and Gender Equity Center (W&GEC) kicked off their Women’s History Month schedule with a keynote event called “Making Her-Story”, which featured Maia Chaka. Chaka is the first Black woman to be hired by the NFL to officiate on-field, as well as the first to officiate an NFL game. 

Every year ODU’s W&GEC has a theme for Women’s History Month, and this year the theme is promoting healing and hope. 

“This theme is both a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers and frontline workers during this ongoing pandemic, and also in recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history,” said Ericka Harrison-Bey, the assistant director of the Women & Gender Equity Center. One way with women to embody this theme is to highlight women in sports and leadership, who are exemplifying what it means to provide healing and promote hope through making history.”

Chaka was introduced by ODU womens’ basketball coach DeLisha Milton-Jones, who is a retired WNBA player and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. 

“I want to thank our community for honoring women, not only in sports and leadership, but of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences, and for your support of recognizing and amplifying their achievements, contributions, and representation for women’s history month,” said Milton-Jones. “In [Chaka’s] personal journey, accomplishments, and giving back to her community, her story is one which has inspired hope to many girls and women, illuminating paths to healing.” 

Chaka started officiating high school football games in 2007, before moving up to officiate the VHSL championship game in 2009. In 2011, she served as an alternate official with Conference USA and was a referee for Division I football. Chaka jumped from officiating high school to Division I because of help from Gerald Austin, who refereed three Super Bowl games. 

“He said ‘there were so many people in that room that didn’t want you there, there were so many people who were waiting for you to fail along the way, I wanted to make sure that you were going to be okay,’” said Chaka. “He surrounded me by a bunch of veteran officials to let me be able to learn. He did that for about three years. And I finally became good.”

Chaka placed emphasis on the help she received from Gerald Austin and Tony Brothers, because they helped to open doors for her that were otherwise closed. She remembers attending an event and being asked whose wife she was, rather than being treated as an attendee. 

“It is so important that we have the support of males when we start talking about gender equity,” she said. “To have the support of somebody like that, as a woman, as a minority woman, [to] know that there’s somebody at the top of the game that’s trying to reach back, try to help out the others on the grassroots level, that means so much.” 

Chaka joined the Officiating Development Program of the NFL in 2014, and began working regular season for the Pac-12 Conference in 2018. She branched out in 2019, and began officiating NCAA Division I women’s basketball. Chaka was promoted to the NFL as an on-field official in March of 2021, and became the first Black woman to officiate an NFL game when she worked as a line judge for the New York Jets vs Carolina Panthers game on September 12, 2021. Chaka is also the third female referee in professional football history.

“So this moment here, this moment for me, is bigger than the personal accomplishment. It absolutely is,” Chaka said “It’s not about me. I’m just the one that has been given this platform. So I continue to create more avenues, more platforms for accomplished women.”

Chaka is choosing to give back through a nonprofit called Make Meaningful Change (MMC). She also works as a physical education teacher in the Virginia Beach Public School System. 

Chaka asked current students from the high school she attended, Edison Technology, to design her logo for MMC. 

“I wanted to be able to give them real life work experiences, regardless of gender, regardless of color, regardless of what you look like or what you choose to wear,” she said.

Ultimately, Chaka believes in ‘lowering the ladder’.

“I don’t want to be by myself,” she said. “If we constantly challenge each other, as women, and when we get those leadership positions we create other opportunities for women – not to say that these men aren’t great, but you guys have been in charge for a very long time. We have to create more female leaders. We have to. We need the support from males to lower the ladder.” 

She ended the keynote event on a challenge. “Today, tomorrow, next week, if it takes you five years from now, I don’t care. Just as long as you’re able to bring somebody up with you. Bring somebody up along the way.” 

Other events by ODU’s W&GEC  for Women’s History Month can be found here.

With the No. 2/3 Gophers preparing for Saturday’s 2021-2022 Big Ten Championship title game against No. 4 Michigan, Minnesota will go into the finale after making splashes in the Big Ten postseason honors that the conference announced Tuesday.

The Gophers took home three of the five “of the year” awards as the conference announced head coach Bob Motzko as the Big Ten Coach of the Year, junior co-captain Ben Meyers as the Big Ten Player of the Year and sophomore Brock Faber as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

“Our guys have just rolled with any punch that got thrown at them, they just roll with it and keep going,” Motzko said to the Big Ten Network. “It’s just been an excellent group of young men to be around. You just count your blessings when you have seasons like this with leadership like this and the group of kids we have.”

The Big Ten Coach of the Year honors comes in as Motzko’s second in his four seasons with the Gophers. It also marks his sixth career conference coach of the year honor as he won the award twice in the WCHA and two more in the NCHC.

Through a rollercoaster of a 2021-2022 season, Motzko guided the Gophers to a 23-11 (18-6 Big Ten) regular-season record to win the conference’s regular-season title.

Despite battling injuries in the first half of the season and missing games in the second half due to the Olympics, Meyers continued to show persistence en route to the conference naming him the Big Ten Player of the Year. He is the third Minnesota men’s hockey player to achieve this feat alongside Adam Wilcox and Tyler Sheehy.

Also earning a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team, Meyers ranks No. 1 in goals (16) and points (36) for the Gophers, both coming in as career-highs. He has 11 multi-point performances this season, as 10 of his 36 points have come in his most recent four games since returning from Beijing.

Leading a defense that currently ranks in the top-10 nationally in goals against per game, the conference announced Faber as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The Los Angeles Kings prospect is the third Gophers men’s hockey defender to earn this accolade behind Mike Reilly and Jake Bischoff.

Faber, alongside Meyers, earned a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team. He has career-highs in goals (2) and points (13) in 28 games this season.
Outside of these honors, the conference named junior Jackson LaCombe and freshman Matthew Knies to the All-Big Ten Second Team, while Knies also unanimously earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.

Knies and LaCombe rank tied for No. 3 in points on the team with 27 alongside senior co-captain Sammy Walker, who received an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention.

Senior Blake McLaughlin and junior goaltender Justen Close joined Walker as All-Big Ten Honorable Mentions to close out the day full of commendation for the Gophers.

BATON ROUGE, LA — Today The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines, marks its 125th anniversary of honoring excellence and serving others. The Society was established in 1897 at the University of Maine by a small group of seniors led by Marcus […]

BATON ROUGE, LA — Today The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines, marks its 125th anniversary of honoring excellence and serving others.

The Society was established in 1897 at the University of Maine by a small group of seniors led by Marcus L. Urann.  Urann proposed that a society be formed to elect the ten highest-ranking seniors to an honor group. Following discussion with A.W. Harris, president of the University, and several interested professors, the Society of Lambda Sigma Eta was created. In 1899, the name of the group was changed to the Morrill Society, in honor of the senator who sponsored the act that created land-grant colleges. In 1900, the Society expanded to other campuses and adopted its present name, Phi Kappa Phi.

“The Society has a long tradition of celebrating academic excellence and service. This year we are particularly thankful as we reflect on our storied past, celebrate our members and look forward to a bright future. We are thankful for our many supporters over the past 125 years and look forward to building on their legacy as we work to deepen the impact of our numerous recognition, award, and grant programs,” said Society Executive Director and CEO Bradley Newcomer.  “Here’s to the next 125 years of recognizing academic excellence and supporting the community of scholars as they continue to serve their communities.”

Currently, the Society has chapters on more than 325 select colleges and universities in the United States, its territories and the Philippines and initiates approximately 25,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni each year. Membership is by invitation only to the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students and 7.5 percent of juniors.

To celebrate, the national office will hold a celebratory luncheon for its staff. In addition, the Society will celebrate the milestone at its Biennial Convention this year in Orlando, Florida, Aug. 4 – 6.

To learn more about Phi Kappa Phi, including member benefits and eligibility requirements, visit www.PhiKappaPhi.org.

About Phi Kappa Phi
Founded in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Phi Kappa Phi inducts approximately 25,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni annually. The Society has chapters on more than 325 select colleges and universities in the United States, its territories and the Philippines. Membership is by invitation only to the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students and 7.5 percent of juniors. Faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also qualify. The Society’s mission is “To recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and engage the community of scholars in service to others.” For more information, visit www.PhiKappaPhi.org.

Media Contact
Alyssa Papa
Communications Director
apapa@phikappaphi.org
(225) 923-7777

Flipping through the first pages of “Not a Lot of Reasons to Sing, But Enough” opens the door to a futuristic civilization of humans and robots living side-by-side, their days spent existing on the moon after being exiled from the blue and green planet circulating around them — their memories erased and their future uncertain.

Kyle Tran Myhre’s newest book of sci-fi flavored poetry experiments with the importance of art and resistance in an authoritarian society. The book, released March 1 by Minneapolis-based Button Poetry, follows Gyre and Nar’ryzar “Nary” Crumbeaux, one robot and one human, as they travel through the new civilizations and systematic troubles developing across their new home.

Organized in a combination of poems, scripts, lyrics and illustrations by Casper Pham, the book creates a maze of images and moments that make the text feel as if memories are being glued to a page rather than following along a narrow plotline. Each surrealistically sketched illustration is paired with a line from the corresponding text, quotes that mirror the messages passing through each story and poem. “Always breaking, never broken.” “If we are to survive, I think it’ll be through this continuing process of remembering things that don’t exist yet.” Like finding a journal on the side of the road, “Not a Lot of Reasons to Sing, But Enough” shadows themes that question community safety, social justice and public health in an overtly personal and real context.

Myhre, also known as Guante, is a poet, educator, social activist and musician with roots in Minneapolis. He studied his spoken word, critical pedagogy and social injustice education-focused master’s degree at the University of Minnesota and grew into a creative known worldwide. He has performed at the United Nations, has given a Tedx Talk on art and activism and has been a part of two National Poetry Slam championship teams. The themes developed throughout his newest work mirror the communal hardships and injustices that cloud the Twin Cities community, and with his prolific storytelling and ambiguous character choices, Myhre’s connection to Minneapolis shines through his writing.

As Gyre and Nary continue along their journey, there are few conclusive facts about the companions other than that they both professionally write and care about poetry. In several instances, Nary is welcomed to panel discussions about the importance of poetry; panels that Gyre was originally invited to but did not want to attend. He chats with students about the importance of poetry in classroom settings and attends open mics that focus on spoken word. Gyre includes entries that explain his understanding of poetry, human life and war, but never formally names himself. The book’s scenes drift between themes of art, war and change, all equally as ambiguous — sometimes described by an unnamed narrator and sometimes coming from one of the two vaguely protagonistic characters.

There is no explanation of why Nary and Gyre are traveling together, how they know each other or why they are traveling in the first place — but those unknowns create the power behind the words in this piece. There is no storyline, no sense of time and very few characters; yet the reader finishes the piece with a new understanding of some of the most prominent troubles circulating life outside of the book’s pages.

Themes of the books pages wander from stigmas around masculinity and emotion in “Loud, Wrong Answers to a Question Nobody Asked,” to dealing with public health and disease concerns in “Ten Responses to the Proposal to Overcome the Current Plague by Challenging to a Duel,” police enforcement and the role it plays in society in “Hen March Outlaws Cops,” and the idea of “good” and “bad” apples in professional settings in “Good Apples.”

“Not a Lot of Reasons to Sing, But Enough” rearticulates pieces of our society that are accepted and when they should be questioned. This book leaves the reader with new ideas not only able to influence change for the wellbeing of our future society, but that can fill the gaps existing today.

This week the BHB talk about the loss against Connecticut in the Hockey East Tournament and give a recap for both the men’s and women’s teams. Click here to stream this episode of “Terrier Hockey Talk” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your streaming platform of your choice. This episode was edited by Nellie Maloney. Music: RetroFuture Clean Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

University of Utah baseball (11-3-1) started the week off against Fresno State in their second matchup of the season. Fresno State got off to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. But Utah was determined to sweep the Bulldogs this season.

Landon Frei was the highlight of the second inning for the Utes, hitting a grand slam to highlight a five-run inning. It was Frei’s first career grand slam and was enough to lift the Utes over the Bulldogs.

Fresno State got runs in both the fourth and fifth as Utah was unable to score. Blake Whiting entered the game in the eighth, with Fresno State in a scoring position with no outs. He got a flyout on the first batter and then back-to-back strikeouts. He closed the game as the Utes won 5-4.

Utah then headed home to face Washington for a three-game stretch that would include a doubleheader on the first day.

Matthew Sox got off to a hot start pitching for the Utes, retiring 15 in a row and totaling nine strikeouts in his seven-inning start. Utah led 2-1 after the first inning, and 3-2 after the fifth. Washington got one in the seventh that would tie the game 3-3.

The game would go into the tenth inning, where Utah was unable to keep up with Washington. The Huskies got three runs in the top of the tenth, and Utah was unable to score as they lost 3-6.

Utah came back later that day determined to grab their first conference win of the season. But Washington was also determined to win again, and they got off to a hot start. Washington scored five runs in the first inning, putting Utah in a very difficult spot.

But the Utes remained unfazed, and soon evened the score at 5-5 with five of their own in the fourth inning. Washington had one in the fifth, but the Utes quickly responded. Utah scored two in the fifth that would end the scoring 7-6 for the Utes.

Chase Anderson doubled down the left-field line to start the fifth. Both TJ Clarkson and Alex Baeza were walked to load the bases for the Utes. Matt Richardson was hit by a pitch that would even the scoring.

The bases were still loaded, and Davis Cop hit a sacrifice fly that would score Clarkson and give Utah the 7-6 win.

But Utah wasn’t finished with their week yet. They had one more game against Washington, and were determined to start conference play with a positive record.

Cop started the game by singling to left field, scoring both Clarkson and Anderson in the first. Booth then flied out to center field and scored Richardson in the fourth. Washington got one back in the fifth but the Utes were able to hold them off for the 3-1 victory.

Utah is 2-1 in Pac-12 play, with their next conference games at Oregon from March 18-20. Utah’s next game will be another home game against BYU. Utah took their last matchup 11-5, and they look for another win on March 15.

s.overton@dailyutahchronicle.com

@SeanOverton3

The post Utah Baseball Goes 2-1 in Conference Play vs Washington appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

After a 14-16 regular season campaign, the Gophers were knocked out of the Big Ten Tournament in the second round against Northwestern. Now their season has been extended after accepting an invite to the postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament
(WNIT).

The Postseason WNIT is a 64-team tournament field comprised of the best teams in college basketball that were not invited to the NCAA National Tournament field. Minnesota was one of 34 teams to accept an at-large bid.

The Gophers will face (19-7) Green Bay in their first-round matchup on Thursday, March 17 at 7:00 p.m, hosted by the Phoenix, in Wisconsin, Green Bay.

If the Gophers advance, they will face the winner of a matchup between South Dakota State and Ohio in the second round.

The entire first round will take place March 16-18, followed by the second round on March 19-22, and the third round on March 23-26. The tournament will continue with the quarter-finals on March 26-28, semifinals on March 30-31 and finally the championship game on Saturday, April 2.

UH baseball fell to 10-6 on the year after dropping its series against Louisiana over the weekend. | James Schillinger/The Cougar

UH baseball dropped two out of three games to Lousiana over the weekend, falling to 10-6 on the young season.

Here is a breakdown of each game from the weekend:

Game one

The Cougars came out of the gate hot as junior left fielder Brandon Uhse blasted a leadoff home run to left-center on the game’s first pitch.

Louisiana answered with three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead.

UH retook the lead 5-3 with four runs in the third. Sophomore third baseman Zach Arnold tied the game with a two-run home run followed by an RBI single from sophomore catcher Anthony Tulimero and capped off by another run being brought home on a wild pitch.

The Ragin’ Cajuns scored a run in the fourth and sixth innings to even the game once again.

Louisiana took the lead for the first time of the night in the eighth, scoring a run on a passed ball. The Ragin’ Cajuns plated three more runs in the inning and shut the door in the ninth to hand UH a 9-5 loss in the series opener.

6-foot junior right-handed pitcherLogan Clayton got the start for the Cougars and threw seven innings, allowing five runs on seven hits while striking out six. 

Game two

The Cougars evened up the series on Saturday behind a red hot offense, defeating the Ragin’ Cajuns 8-4.

Tulimero got things rolling for UH, scoring on an error. 

UH did not look back as it had timely hits, plating four runs in the fifth on three RBI singles and a bases loaded walk.

Junior right-hand pitcher Nathan Medrano got the start for UH throwing 5 and 2/3 innings, allowing only four runs while striking out four to earn the win.

Junior right-handed pitcher Ben Sears came in relief for Medrano and went the rest of the way, tossing 3 and 1/3 scoreless innings while only allowing two hits. Sears earned his third save of the season.

Game three

The Ragin’ Cajuns won the series finale in a blowout performance, defeating the Cougars 10-1. 

For the Cougars the game started off in their favor as senior first baseman Ryan Hernandez singled, scoring the game’s first run. 

Louisiana tied the game in the third and then proceeded to blow the game open with nine runs in the next five innings.

Junior right-handed pitcher Jaycob Deese took the loss for UH.

sports@thedailycougar.com

—
“UH baseball drops two of three against Louisiana” was originally posted on The Cougar