The declining health of the Great Salt Lake is not only a calling card for advocates, scientists and Utah lawmakers — it is on the radar of Utah’s military installations.

These include Hill Air Force Base, Camp Williams, Dugway Proving Ground and the Tooele Army Depot, as well as the Utah Test and Training Range, the largest block of contiguous special-use airspace in the continental United States.

Why does it matter?

For Utah military installations, keeping the lake thriving is a paramount goal, especially as it relates to wind-whipped dust for 800 square miles of exposed lake bed at the Great Salt Lake due to relentless drought and upstream diversions.

Read more about how the military is working to preserve the Great Salt Lake and surrounding landscapes.

Would direct payments to college athletes be public records?

College athletes could be receiving direct payments from their schools as early as 2025. And the NCAA likely will continue to do everything in its power to prevent them from being deemed university employees, whose salaries are typically a matter of public record.

But whether players are considered employed by a university or not, will the direct payments schools make to them be public information?

“That is a great question,” said Dave Cuillier, director of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida.

“Certainly, in most states, payments by government agencies to anyone are subject to public records laws, whether faculty, staff or student workers. That wouldn’t include private universities, but payments from public universities to student athletes should be available for anyone to see. That is, of course, if the legislatures don’t pass an exemption keeping it secret,” he told the Deseret News in an email.

Read more about the NCAA’s proposed pay-for-play model and the other questions it raises.

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