(WASHINGTON D.C.) – Sen. Bob Bennett is slamming the DISCLOSE Act that would impose new regulations on those wishing to exercise their rights to engage in political speech. DISCLOSE is an acronym for Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections. Bennett is opposed to the Act because it doesn’t disclose its true purpose and is filled with prohibitions and violations of the First Amendment. He said the bill goes against corporations and their right of free speech and includes restrictions that don’t apply to unions. Bennett commented that the act aims to prohibit expenditures by certain people and certain groups. The bill passed the House last month but failed from going forward in the Senate.

(STOCKTON)-URS Corp. safety department officials at the U.S. Army’s Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility estimate the site contractor work force reached and surpassed an unprecedented safety milestone for the project, 10 million consecutive man hours worked without a lost workday accident or injury. The current consecutive safe hours string began on October 26, 2005. Gary McCloskey, the vice president and general manager of systems contractor for URS, called the achievement an “honor” for every employee who has worked at the chemical weapons disposal plant during the streak. McCloskey said the next goal should be completing the depot’s munitions disposal without any lost time due to injury or accident. The facility employs 1,000 contract workers, with between 600 and 700 working on site at a given time. On each day of safe work without a lost workday injury, approximately 6,500 man hours are accumulated.

(RICHFIELD) – The 300 North road improvement project in Richfield is underway. City Manager Mike Langston discussed the project and several other projects with the city council at Tuesday night’s council meeting. Langston said funding was secured last year to improve 300 North from Main Street to 300 West, similar to the 500 North project four years ago. He said funds in the amount of $800,000 came from the Small Urban Committee and is federally funded through UDOT. The city’s match is $60,000. Langston also said two other projects involving the eradication of woody vegetation in the Cottonwood and Dairy Canyon Debris Basins will start this fall. He also said the new building for the Central Utah Food Sharing Program is under construction and will take about four to five months to complete.

(FILLMORE) – The Millard County Sheriff’s Office is alerting local businesses to be aware of counterfeit money floating around. A sheriff’s report said over the July 24th weekend, four phony $50 bills passed in the East Millard County area. Detectives said the bills were actually $5.00 bills that had been “washed” and made to look like $50 bills. The bills look authentic but a security strip within the bill indicates it’s a $5.00 bill. The sheriff’s office is warning business owners to be cautious when accepting larger bills. If you are aware of any of the fake bills, call the sheriff’s office. Millard County Deputies are also on the lookout for suspects stealing copper wire at construction sites in the area.

(PHOENIX)-KPHO-TV Channel 5 in Phoenix reports that Judge Susan Bolton has made a ruling on Senate Bill 1070, Arizona’s immigration law that is expected to be enacted Thursday. Law enforcement agencies throughout Arizona have been conducting last-minute training to learn how to avoid racial profiling. In addition to his bold comments on Good Morning America earlier Wednesday morning, Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio said he will conduct another one of his office’s crime sweeps Thursday, implying he can make room for more inmates, if need be. Nevertheless, SB1070 opponents still plan to protest throughout the day Thursday. Phoenix City crews have begun the process of building barricades at the Maricopa County Courthouse overnight in anticipation of large numbers of protesters.

(PAGE, Ariz.)-The Page (Ariz.) City Council has approved an 18-month license for land use for a music festival that’s expected to give a natural amphitheater its first large-scale usage this fall. The PowellaPalooza 2010 is expected to be staged September 23-26, partially at the amphitheater near Coppermine Road. Mayor Lyle Dimbatt promised the festival would be unique and unusual for Page while it will also add a new tourist dimension for the community. The program, which will feature 50 to 60 bands on eight stages, also including houseboat/beach band performances and the use of surrounding marinas and bars, is being produced by the same group that has staged the Desert Rocks Concerts in Moab since 2005. The license would become valid only on signatures of both parties and would expire in 18 months. Attendance projections have been raised recently to as many as 4,000 people, according to publicist Jaime Taylor.

(DENVER)-The National Park Service has named a new director for its Intermountain Region. NPS director, Jonathan Jarvis, announced the appointment of John Wessels earlier this week. Wessels will be responsible for the service’s 92 national parks and 5,000 employees at national parks in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. Wessels has served as the regional associate director for administration, business and technology since 2004. He first joined the NPS in 2000 as the regional comptroller and has also had leadership positions at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the service’s Washington D.C.-based headquarters and at Grand Teton National Park. Wessels will assume his new post in Denver in August.

(BLANDING)-San Juan County residents who don’t want Senator Bob Bennett’s land bill to die have formed a grassroots organization, Friends of Cedar Mesa, to keep citizens informed as wilderness designation discussions hang in limbo. Retired river ranger for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Mark Meloy, says the Friends of Cedar Mesa attempts to let citizens’ voices be part of any wilderness or conservation protections for this region of southeastern Utah. At the request of the San Juan County Commission last March, Bennett sent letters to groups that may be interested in offering suggestions for a comparable land bill similar to the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2009, which the GOP Senator and 2nd District Democratic Representative, Jim Matheson, co-sponsored. Bennett’s staffers assisted the San Juan County Commission organize spring meetings for various interest groups. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and several conservation organizations made presentations. However, at the May 8 state Republican convention, Bennett lost his bid for re-election. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch’s spokeswoman, Heather Barney, said Hatch would pick up the fight if need be. Hatch has already worked with other rural Utah counties, Emery and Piute, on similar bills. Meloy, who organized a Celebrate Cedar Mesa event in Bluff last month, hoped the day of panel discussions would bring residents up to speed on the land bill efforts, which so far have focused on what government and various conservation and outdoor groups might want in the proposal. Blanding, Bluff and Monticello residents, as well as representatives of the Navajo Nation, have shown broad support for some kind of regional protection, Meloy said. Meloy stated that people who support the group, along with elected officials, seem to agree the mesa is a natural for wilderness designation. The mesa comprises about 475,000 acres of high plateau land.

(MOAB)-The National Weather Service has accurately predicted heavy rainfall throughout southern Utah thus far this week and implied it may continue through Wednesday. Meteorologists expect flash flood warnings to be prevalent throughout the day as heavy rainfall remains in Grand County and surrounding areas. Tuesday, S.R. 128, near Moab, was closed for a portion of the afternoon which saw approximately four to five inches of debris spill onto the highway. The road was cleaned and opened about an hour after the report was initially called in, stated Utah Highway Patrol trooper Cameron Roden.

(SALT LAKE CITY)-After seven months as the interim director of the Capitol Preservation Board, Allyson Gamble has been named as the board’s executive director. She is now charged with overseeing the long-range planning of the seven buildings and grounds on the Utah Capitol Complex: the Capitol building, the Senate and House buildings, the Utah State Office building, the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers building, the White Memorial Chapel and the Travel Council Building. The board’s first director, David Hart, oversaw the four-year renovation of the Capitol. In late 2009, he resigned to join a Boston-based project management company that opened an office in Salt Lake City. Gamble, who had been director of communications and visitor services for the board, was appointed as acting interim director in January. In her role as executive director, Gamble will also oversee the Capitol’s visitor services program, event and space scheduling, food services and the Capitol gift store.

(SALT LAKE CITY)-A Utah Supreme Court ruling in favor of polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs Tuesday stunned attorneys on both sides although the woman involved with the charges against Jeffs, Elissa Wall, says she’s not done fighting the matter. Wall, who was 14 at the time when Jeffs performed a spiritual marriage between her and her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed, is now an adult and said she vows to fight back. The Supreme Court ruled, among other things, that the jury should have been told that Jeffs had to have the intent Wall would be raped when she was coerced into marriage. Wall remained insistent that she was instructed to have sex during her marriage to her cousin and that the jury knew that. However, Jeffs’ attorney said faulty instructions sprang from “improper, insupportable changes” and that prosecutors “mixed and matched” legal theories in hopes of convicting a polarizing religious figure. Additionally, the Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial in the case, although prosecutors have not said whether or not Jeffs will be retried in Utah. Should the state decide to investigate, Wall said she’s completely behind it. Jeffs’ next challenge awaits in Texas, where he’s accused of marrying himself to a 12-year-old and fathering a child with an underage girl. Anti-polygamy activist, Rowena Erickson, says this overturned conviction is a blessing in disguise because Texas authorities are well-known for their aggressiveness in such matters. This ruling comes as Washington County authorities are investigating allegations that Wall may have lied about her medical records that were used in the trial. County Attorney, Brock Belnap, launched an investigation in February after being told by a third party that Wall’s medical records had all been created in one day to make it look like she’d seen a caretaker on several occasions. The status of this investigation was unclear Tuesday. Additionally, KUTV-Channel 2 in Salt Lake City, has reported that in the interim, Jeffs will go to court in Washington County and go through a similar process before going to Texas.