Utah Alliance

When Utah's legislative session rolls around, anyone could need that refresher course in how to find, follow and discuss important issues as they unfold on the Hill. Whether it's who your legislator is or how to stream a Senate Floor discussion online, one important tool to stay on top of is the recent developments to the legislative website: http://le.utah.gov."It takes a lot of collaboration between legislators, the Senate staff, the House staff, and other legislative staff, specifically IT staff," said Shelley Day, the webmaster to the legislative website."I think one thing that is so nice about our website is that no matter what you're looking for, it's easy to find," she added. "You don't have to dig deep. Usually it's right there on the home page."Right at the top, the 2012 Legislative Session link will bring visitors to the session's main page and weekly schedules so that anyone can follow a bill as it passes from committee to the floor.Users can have committee agendas and bill statuses emailed to them directly, by signing up for the RSS Feed feature or by streamin committee meetings live.

The big "new feature" this year is a streaming feature, which shows the agenda and minutes along with streaming audio or video. The resolution has been significantly upgraded, Day said."The really nice feature about new streaming media is the high quality resolution," she said. "With the new streaming media, everything is right there on our home page. There are hyperlinks to agendas, so when you do click on meeting in progress, the agenda is right there with hyperlinks to bills. That's all an option available to use while you're listening."From archived histories, to attaching relevant information, to a more inclusive home page, Day said the legislative staff is constantly upgrading to make the experience on the website more user-friendly.With the changes, a few features have been lost, including the popular calendar feature that shows a calendar view of all upcoming events Legislative IT staff is working on ways to restore or replicate plans on restoring a calendar option, but has substituted it for the time being with links to weekly scheduled events and upcoming events listed on the home page."We now have a technical hotline for session users, so when people can't find something they can simply call or email us," Day said.The changes this year have caused the odd hiccup or two, a fact Day attributed to people needing to retrain their brain. But for the most part, the updated site has better features that are easier to find, with a goal of bringing in more features soon."For restoring or replicating features, the calendar was a feature many users relied on.," Day said. "So was bill tracking, which included links for upcoming agendas, and we've restored that already."Visit http://le.utah.gov  for more information.

Gina Barker, The Park RecordPosted:   01/31/2012 04:20:05 PM MST

The South Jordan Health Center, the University of Utah’s largest off-campus medical facility, officially opened its doors with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Jan. 18, 2012. The 208,000-square-foot facility is located in the heart of the Daybreak community in South Jordan, Utah and brings much-needed healthcare services to the southwest portion of the Salt Lake Valley. Layton Construction Co., Inc. was the contractor for the project, which was designed by Dixon and Associates.

The facility offers primary, emergency and specialty care services and features a stand-alone emergency department (one of two in the state of Utah, the other of which was also constructed by Layton), AirMed helicopter transport, a full-service pharmacy, in-house branches of the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Moran Eye Center, a café, espresso bar, and a large conference room with amenities suitable for banquets, seminars and educational trainings. It is one of the first health care facilities in the state of Utah to feature self-check-in kiosks to cut down on wait time and increase patient privacy. Once it reaches full capacity, the medical center will employ 400 physicians and staff. The health center sits on 10 acres, with an additional 50 acres set aside for future expansion of the medical campus.

The Living Planet Aquarium board of trustees selected Beecher Walker Architects and Layton Construction for the development, design and construction of the new Living Planet Aquarium, to be built in Draper City.

The Living Planet Aquarium solicited statements of interest and qualifications from top design teams and commercial contractors recognized for strong experience to develop a complete design and structure for the 130,000-square-foot building off Interstate 15 near 12300 South which will be the permanent home for the popular non-profit attraction. 
“The new Board, consisting of seasoned executives, is excited with the tremendous progress made by the aquarium in the last two years, including fund raising, state appropriations and land acquisition,” said Ragula Bhaskar, Ph.D., chairman of the Board. “The aquarium has raised nearly $7 million and has obtained the support of the City of Draper to bond $11.7 million to complete the Aquarium. It is expected to be one of the best aquariums in the Intermountain West.”

The Aquarium has continued to grow since opening in a small space in 2004 at The Gateway and, since 2006, in Sandy at 725 E. 10600 South. The current 43,000-square-foot aquarium in Sandy lands over 375,000 visitors each year, and provides science education to elementary schools statewide. With the tremendous growth, donor support and a strong leadership team, the aquarium has grown more than 50 percent during the recession, confirming its popularity with local visitors and out of state tourists.

“We are thrilled to be moving to the next phase in the creation of a 130,000-square-foot world class aquarium for the residents of Utah,” said Brent Andersen, founder & CEO. “We have a remarkable board of trustees who have led the way in making the new, larger aquarium possible, and a dedicated team of staff, volunteers and donors working to build what is sure to become a renowned educational, family friendly attraction.” 

The $18 million project will support 317 construction jobs in Utah and generate $1.7 million in tax revenues for the State.

Jacobsen Construction Company  has made significant changes in its corporate structure to respond more effectively to industry dynamics—and, most importantly, to better serve its clients.
 
Douglas C. Welling, president and chief operating officer since 2006, has been appointed as Jacobsen’s chief executive officer. Doug received the mantle from Lonnie M. Bullard, who served as CEO for 15 years as well as Jacobsen’s chairman of the board. Bullard will retain his post as board chairman and continue his involvement in strategic planning, business development and community affairs. He will continue as a member of key public and private boards, and as Jacobsen’s chief public spokesman.

SALT LAKE CITY — Mayor Ralph Becker announced Tuesday plans to demolish and completely rebuild the Salt Lake City International Airport to address seismic risks and accommodate its emergence as a regional hub.

"The Salt Lake City International Airport was not built to be a hub," Becker said during his State of the City address at the Salt Lake City-County Building. "Today, as the number of passengers has increased annually to (more than) 21 million, it is by all measures a large hub airport, and it must be redeveloped to meet the needs of our region."

An economic think tank has ranked Logan first among small cities in the U.S. for being a good business community.

The Milken Institute, founded in 1991 and based in California, has released a new list of best performing cities for the year. Salt Lake City, Provo and Ogden ranked in the Top 25 among large metro cities, while Logan ranked No. 1 among small cities.

Logan skyrocketed from its No. 19 ranking in last year's list.

Utah has a diverse technology sector, featuring operations such as IM Flash Technologies in Lehi, a quality lifestyle and low relative costs, said Kevin Klowden, an economist and director of the Milken Center in California. When it comes to measuring how well cities nationally and in the region are functioning in today’s challenging economy, Utah metro areas are among the tops, two new reports show.

The Ogden-to-Provo metropolitan corridor placed three cities in the Top 15 in economic activity among a list of the nation’s “Best Performing” metro areas, and Logan was the No. 1 small city.

Salt Lake City was No. 6, Provo-Orem No. 9 and Ogden-Clearfield No. 15 on the Milken Institute’s 2011 index released Thursday.

 Did you know Utah has 36 Office/Tech/R&D parks of 100 acres or more within 10 miles of the Salt Lake International Airport, or that there are 10 heavy industrial sites of 100,000 square feet or more that are located within 10 miles of the interstate highway? Such information is just a smattering of the data now only a few mouse clicks away via EDCUtah's new, improved Utah SURE Sites online database.

The Utah SURE (Select Utah Real Estate) Sites program -- a powerful site analysis tool featuring industrial and office buildings and land sites designed to meet the needs of relocating and expanding businesses -- just received a facelift. It's now more user-friendly, more intuitive, and returns search data faster, says Sherrie Martell, EDCUtah program manager.

SALT LAKE CITY – For the second consecutive year, Forbes has awarded Utah the top spot on its annual “Best States for Business and Careers” list.  
 
“Being again recognized by Forbes as the country’s best state for business and careers is certainly an outstanding honor,” said Governor Gary R. Herbert. “But it is no accident; it is the result of deliberate efforts to make Utah the most business-friendly state.  While accolades are gratifying, the ultimate fruits of our labors are accelerated economic growth for our state and more jobs for Utah’s citizens.”
 
A leading publication for business leaders across America and the world, Forbes chose Utah in part because of its economic consistency. According to the magazine, Utah was the only state that ranked among the top 15 states in each of the list’s six criteria: Business Costs, Labor Supply, Regulatory Environment, Economic Climate, Growth Prospects and Quality of Life.
 
“Because Utah is able to consistently hit the lofty goals that are the hallmark of a high-performing economy, we have continued to grow over the past year,” said Spencer Eccles, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED). “We have consistently added jobs to the Utah economy, while simultaneously training current and next-generation workers to fill new and in-demand positions. Our focus on jobs is a large part of why Utah is still the best state in the nation for business.”