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🌅 Good morning!

The last few weeks have felt tumultuous when it comes to air travel. The Toronto flight that landed upside down makes me feel a little queasy. Luckily everyone survived the crash and were offered $30,000 from Delta.

The question is, is it still safe to fly?

My colleague Jay Evensen wrote about how flying is still far safer than driving.

"Looking at the videos, we tend to exaggerate the dangers. We imagine ourselves dangling upside down, held in by a tight seatbelt and wondering how to safely exit," he wrote. "Looking at logic and statistics, however, the answer isn’t close. Stay airborne."

Here are two other stories that explain why it's still generally safe to fly:

Another plane crashed on Monday: Is it safe to fly?
Data shows air travel is safe — and getting safer

Utah law would hide direct payments to college athletes from public view

Under a proposed law, universities could be allowed to not disclose to the public when direct payments are made to college athletes. Public university finances are generally public record.

HB449 student athlete bill

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, and would allow Utah universities to directly pay college athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness, Dennis Romboy reported. A new version of the bill excludes the requirement to make those payments public records, subject to the state’s Government Records Access and Management Act or GRAMA.

Transparency vs. secrecy

Longtime Salt Lake City media attorney Jeff Hunt told Romboy that GRAMA should apply to direct compensation.

“Payments made by public universities to student-athletes should be treated like any other disbursements made by the institution, including being subject to open records laws. That requirement was in the original version of this bill, and got it right,” he said.

He added, “Without transparency, the public will have no idea how this money is being spent or whether universities are providing female student-athletes equitable participation opportunities as required under Title IX.”

Utah takes first step to ban candy and soda purchases on food stamps

A new law is being considered that would prohibit people from using SNAP benefits or food stamps to purchase candy or soft drinks. It passed in committee 7-2.

The original purpose of the food stamp program was to give individuals struggling to make ends meet “greater spending power to purchase healthy, nutritious necessities, not to contribute to obesity, anxiety, depression and chronic illness,” said Utah Rep. Kristen Chevrier, R-Highland, who is sponsoring the bill.

As soda is the most commonly purchased item with SNAP dollars, Chevrier is joining a wave of legislators in a dozen other states who are looking at health reform through food stamp restrictions, Eva Terry reported.

“There is zero nutritional value in soft drinks or most candy,” Chevrier explained. “We should also not use tax dollars to subsidize unhealthy food products that will lead to obesity and other physical and mental health outcomes for which the state will likely end up footing the bill.”

The bill would require Utah to submit waivers to the USDA to modify the federal SNAP program.

🗓️ Events Calendar

We put together a calendar list of events and activities going on around the state of Utah during the next month. Check it out and let us know if we are missing anything!

Here are some highlights for events in Utah today:

Layton Crystal Festival | Davis Conference Center
Winter Market by Farmers Market Ogden
Dog Man: The Musical | Eccles Theater
“Million Dollar Quartet” | Festival Hall and Heritage Theater, Cedar City
Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets | 7:30 p.m.
BYU women’s tennis vs. Fresno State | 11 a.m.
BYU women’s basketball vs. Arizona State | 4 p.m.
BYU men’s volleyball vs. Barry University | 7 p.m.
USU men’s basketball vs. San Diego State | 6 p.m.
Weber State men’s basketball vs. Portland State | 2 p.m.
UVU men’s basketball vs. Seattle | 2 p.m.
Utah Tech baseball vs. UC Riverside | 12:05 / 3:05 p.m.
Utah Tech women’s basketball vs. Abilene Christian | 2 p.m.

Please reach out to me at sgambles@deseretnews.com if you have any thoughts, feedback or ideas you would like to share!

✨ Cheers ✨

— Gambles

HB449 student athlete bill

Transparency vs. secrecy

Utah takes first step to ban candy and soda purchases on food stamps

As soda is the most commonly purchased item with SNAP dollars, Chevrier is joining a wave of legislators in a dozen other states who are looking at health reform through food stamp restrictions, Eva Terry reported.

More in Politics

🗓️ Events Calendar