Ret. US Army Ranger Jeff Struecker argues women shouldn’t serve in combat roles, citing a “social issue.” West Point graduate and Army vet Donna McAleer tackles that argument saying that our military should be led by the best and brightest regardless of gender. On August 21, two women will graduate from the Army’s storied Ranger…
Two women have crossed rivers, scaled walls, and jumped over a gender barrier to make it through the U.S. Army’s toughest training program. In this article, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon captures just what this achievement means and marks a moment in watching policy transform into reality for those involved with then Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s…
Utah’s landscape is among the most iconic in the country. We boast having three of the top 10 ski resorts in North America. Utah was awarded the best state for business and careers by Forbes three straight years in a row and is one of the few states maintaining a AAA rating. The Beehive State…
The stonewalling on immigration exemplifies the political dysfunction and grandstanding in Washington that is tying our government up in knots. In June 2013, the U.S. Senate passed SB 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, a comprehensive bill reforming the immigration system. The bill passed 68 to 32 with Sen. Orrin Hatch supporting it and Sen. Mike Lee opposed. While the bill has good and bad points (it’s a compromise!), it is a step in the right direction. But, while the Senate acted, the House dithered. I repeat: the House dithered.
The Utah Compact, signed in November 2010, established Utah as an immigration leader and should serve as a national model. Most undocumented workers are hard workers who contribute to our economy. They are here for the most noble of reasons: to seek a better quality of life for their families. Their path to residence and citizenship should be simple, straightforward and direct.
We Utahns are proud of our economic growth, and rightly so. Nationally we rank as the “Best State for Business and Careers” by Forbes Magazine, three years running; the Kauffman Foundation acknowledges Utah number one for “Economic Dynamism,” Pollina Corporate lists Utah as the top pro-business state, and the US Chamber of Enterprising States ranks Utah 3rd in STEM job growth and business birth rate and 1st in high tech business economy.
But, and here’s the embarrassing paradox, according to a recent 24/7 Wall Street article when it comes to equal pay in the state, women are paid an average of 70 percent of what men are paid. What’s most embarrassing is that Provo-Orem and Ogden-Clearfield rank #1 and #2 respectively as the worst-paying cities for women.
One would think that when the Joint Chiefs of Staff and members of their staffs took their seats in the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing on June 4, 2013, they would come armed with statements promising change and detailing actions being implemented. But, instead of being like Lieutenant General David Morrison, Chief of Staff,…
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) and Claire McCaskill (MO) have become the faces and voices of outrage and action over the crisis of sexual assault in the military. The reason why two civilian female senators who never wore a uniform have done so is because, as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, they had to….
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, upon the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s unanimous recommendation, last week signed the repeal of the combat exclusion policy of 1994, opening more than 200,000 military jobs to women. This was a military decision endorsed by politicians about military readiness, strategic decision-making, and national security. More than a year ago, the Army…