Newsroom: News Articles

TAYLORSVILLE — Assuming he wins re-election in November, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is planning to take part in a rewrite of the nation's telecommunications law — something that hasn't happened since 1996.

"The U.S., for whatever reason, is way behind most industrial countries on broadband development," Matheson said during a town hall meeting Tuesday. In 1996, people didn't even know what broadband is, he told a group of deaf and partially deaf residents at the Sanderson Community Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

The nation's lack of leadership in broadband development is unfortunate, he said.

Attendees chimed in that more broadband development would allow deaf and partially deaf citizens from rural areas to communicate better and have access to more information.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Alfalfa grows on both sides of the new $260 million Pioneer Crossing, a 45 mph east-west connector to I-15 that opened to traffic Monday.

Most of the acreage is for livestock grazing, Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love said.

But not for long.

The City Council here is going to change zoning for the area to a "public community zone."

"It's a new zone," Love said. "It's similar to what Daybreak has."

The city is entertaining concepts from three developers for what to do with the fields around Pioneer Crossing. Love didn't want to reveal much, but promised interested residents that if they stayed tuned to the City Council, plans would soon be unveiled.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (kuer) - The so-called Washington County process for negotiating wilderness and other public lands issues in Utah looked like it was in trouble after the defeat of Senator Bob Bennett earlier this year. But there may be some life in it yet - in Piute County, where Commissioner Rick Blackwell thinks the time is right to take their bill to Congress. "We think it's a good opportunity, with all those stakeholders involved and with all the meetings we've held and the people that's been involved, we think it's a good thing to get this presented and get it done now, at this time."

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is one of the stakeholders that's been working on the proposal in meetings and site visits. Director Scott Groene says the Piute County proposal is unique. "The bulk of lands involved are actually Forest Service lands rather than Bureau of Land Management lands. In other counties, the Bureau of Land Management lands are those at issue. In Piute, the lands that are most important are probably the Tushar Mountains and Monroe Mountain, which are high elevation, beautiful places."

SALT LAKE CITY -- A war over foreign nuclear waste came to a peaceful end Wednesday. EnergySolutions Inc. announced it will not dispose of nuclear waste from Italy in Utah's west desert.

"We've adopted a new strategy that does not include bringing any international nuclear waste to the state of Utah," said EnergySolutions CEO Val Christensen.

The company's critics were quick to claim victory after waging a long and sometimes bitter legal and political battle.

It is said that there's no substitute for experience. That's especially true in Congress. Before you reject a ranking politician with key committee assignments, and forfeit the many benefits of his or her incumbency, you should have a really good reason.

In the case of Jim Matheson, D-Utah, who faces political newcomer Claudia Wright in the Democratic primary Tuesday, there is no compelling reason for change. Second District voters should allow Utah's only Democrat in Washington to compete in November for a sixth term.

Environment » Congressman sends letter to Transportation secretary, EPA boss.

What caused the Red Butte Creek oil spill and how Chevron plans to deal with it are some of the questions U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson raised Wednesday in a pair of letters to key federal agencies.

The 2nd District Democrat sent one letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood urging a thorough and speedy probe into how a pipeline carrying crude oil was able to break and leak, undetected, for hours over the weekend. He also prodded LaHood to disclose the findings to the public and determine what can be done to prevent another spill.

In a second letter, to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, he focused on the cleanup ahead.

"The spill and subsequent environmental consequences is of grave concern to me and my constituents," Matheson wrote. "My top goal is ensuring that this spill is fully cleaned up and all traces of oil removed.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Tea Party as party crasher?

That’s the question hanging over the Democratic primary next Tuesday between Utah’s lone Democrat in Congress, Rep. Jim Matheson, and his challenger, a retired schoolteacher named Claudia Wright.

Neither candidate is the sort to make a conservative’s heart sing, especially Ms. Wright, who favors gun control, health care reform and abortion rights. She is also openly lesbian in a state where same-sex orientation is not exactly plain vanilla.

Politics » Matheson says there's no such thing as corporate contributions.

A brewing dispute over the role of "corporate money" in their impending primary election spilled over into a public radio debate Tuesday between Democratic congressional challenger Claudia Wright and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.

Wright has repeatedly pointed to Matheson's acceptance of campaign cash from the health care, pharmaceutical and oil industries as evidence of undue corporate influence in politics. Matheson, in response, has pointed out that federal law bars corporations from donating to federal campaigns.

"I think my opponent is confused" about the law, Matheson said when Wright again made the point Tuesday on KUER's "Radio West" show during a debate moderated by program host Doug Fabrizio. When people talk of corporate money in federal campaigns, he said, "That ain't the law. That can't happen."

SALT LAKE CITY — The job evaluation: You go in, meet with your boss, you come out.

What happens in that meeting generally stays in that meeting.

Not so when you're a U.S. congressman and your boss is the residents of your district.

You can count on at least one job evaluation every two years, and the evaluation and its results are public — very public.

"I'm asking if I can continue to serve," Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said Friday. "I'm as energized as I've ever been."

Looking back over his 10 years in Congress, the 50-year-old Matheson says there have been some necessary adjustments.

Like figuring out how to stay healthy in the midst of what can be many erratically scheduled weeks.

Like commuting to Washington, D.C., for the week and returning to Utah to see his wife, sons and family on the weekends.

Like dealing with the two-hour time change.

"We're coping with it pretty well," he said.

Matheson still lives on the same Sunnyside-area street where he grew up. It's where he began his formative civics lessons that included an admonition to make the world a better place. Politics is just one of the avenues toward community service, he was taught.

"I grew up in a political family," Matheson said, "(but) I didn't plan my life around running for office."

WASHINGTON — While clean drinking water became a priority this week for Oakley and Lindon residents as they boiled water contaminated by floods, it's always on the mind of Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.

Matheson, along with Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and a U.S. Forest Service official, addressed the House Natural Resources Committee on Thursday. The trio spoke on legislation expanding watershed protection in the Wasatch Front canyons, saying it is a shared priority.

"From the time of the Mormon pioneer settlement, Utah's growth in arid northern Utah relied on this life-giving source of pristine water flowing down these canyon streams," Matheson told the committee.

Matheson's bill, HR5009, the Wasatch Wilderness and Watershed Protection Act, was introduced in April.