During one of the most important days in our nation's history, I found myself sitting in a class8212;a class that didn't have a TV, a class that didn't discuss current events, a class that did not once mention the inauguration of Barack Obama.

The victims of an impaired driver are just as dead when the impaired driver was gabbing away on his or her Nokia as they would be if that driver were guzzling a bottle of Jack Daniels.

As you watch the inaugural address8212;hopefully you do8212;focus not on where you were at the time, but what you personally did to embrace the change occurring and how you will make an impact from this time forth.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Today is a new day. Today, we, as a nation, put aside the brutal and cruel past that has haunted our nation for hundreds of years and we press forward.

I'd like to make a suggestion: For the months of January and February, when the inversion problem in Salt Lake City is the worst, we impose an additional five cents per gallon tax on gasoline.

In order to become a more hospitable state for outside business and tourism, Utah needs to start retooling its alienating and confusing liquor laws, not adding to them.

May we remember King and honor his legacy by continuing to pursue his dream of equality, freedom and human rights.

How convenient of you to purposefully mislead people by leaving out the about 46,000 people who die from heart disease because of secondhand smoke. These are non-smokers, mind you.

Whether people think it's fact or fiction, scientific studies are indicating that Utah could be facing the consequences of global warming in this century.

There's something inherently wrong in killing programs that aid the needy in a time of need. We need to use the rainy-day fund to help those getting rained on the most.