The Davis Beat

Bountiful Food Pantry Executive Director Rebekah Anderson and Director of Services Jordan Gingrich speak to Tom Haraldsen about the growing needs of the Pantry, the generous support of the community and the upcoming (hard to believe it's already here) Sub-for-Santa program. In Fiscal Year 2020, the Pantry provided over 110,000 Food Packs to needy children in over 60 Davis County schools. The Pantry, with contribution of 25,190 hours from the community, distributed roughly 1,700,000 meals. The Sub-for Santa program in FY 2020 cheered the Christmas of 693 children.

Chris Vanocur talks about his new book, Sander's Study and shares stories about his Dad's experiences as a Washington TV reporter in the 50's, 60's and 70's. He also discusses the document he received that broke-open the scandal with the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Founded over 40 years ago in a closet, the Bountiful Community Food Pantry last year distributed over 2 million lbs of food to Davis County and North Salt Lake residents and over 111,000 Pantry Packs to Davis School District students. Rebekah Anderson talks about food insecurity and ways to be aware of the needs in our community. 

Utah Representative Chris Stewart talks about his new book, "The Final Fight for Freedom" and his concerns about the future of the United States.

Tom speaks with Jodi about her work for students-at-risk in the Davis School District and how they are one adult away from a success story.

Brad Christensen, Director of Student and Family Resources and Casey Layton, Director of Responsive Services talk about how their department offers support not just to students in Davis County Schools, but to families as well. The services include mental health support, enrollment, foreign exchange and boundary permits and includes a Safe School clinical team. They discuss their work that covers the "Whole Child" and everything that helps them be successful.

Beth Holbrook, UTA Broad of Trustees member, former Bountiful City Council member and past President of Utah League of Cities and Towns speaks with Tom Haraldsen about the importance of mass transit in the communities along the Wasatch Front. A recent investment of $300 million by the state of Utah for Double-tracking Front Runner, Utah's fastest growing status in the nation and Micro-transit are a few of topics discussed.

Chris Williams helps kick-off a new series with the Davis Beat called Best of Class. He gives an update on the DOJ investigation and talks about the fantastic students and teachers in Utah's second largest school district. Tom also gives a shout-out to exceptional student-athletes in the district.

Marcie talks about the importance of technical education and its need in the local Utah economy and how Davis Technical College is expanding the only fire academy in Davis and Weber counties by building an Emergency Services Training Center for students and local communities. She also discusses expanding the school's student support by remodeling space for a Student Resource Center.

Tom speaks with Peri Kinder about meshing together her roles as a humor columnist, Life Coach, Yoga instructor and writing as therapy and how she develops ideas for her columns.

Jessica Merrill's job is to promote a county with 10 Golf courses, 6 Amusement parks, 22 hotels, 500 miles of trails, Antelope Island, Bison and No-See-Um's. Tom speaks with the county's Tourism Director and finds out how Davis County got rebranded as the Amusement Capital of Utah. 

A simple encouragement from a professor at Weber State College to consider "Broadcasting" started J. Spencer Kinard on a life-long journey in journalism, The Spoken Word, Utah State Tourism and the 2002 Olympics. He shares his experiences and the time he met Walter Cronkite.

Tom Haraldsen, Davis Journal Editor, speaks with four-time Speed Skating Olympian Catherine Raney Norman about her Olympic career and the future of the Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Sheriff Sparks talks about his path to becoming the County's Sheriff in 2019, the challenges the department faces today and the importance of working in cooperation with the city governments, local law enforcement agencies and with citizens.

Tristina Bown was sick for years and no one would believe her. After a six-month investigation by doctors, she was told she had a new virus called Epstein-Barr. Tom interviews Tristina about her experience and her new book. 

As newspapers disappear, Bryan Scott, Publisher of The City Journals in south Salt Lake county, decided to fill the gap the Davis Clipper once held - the local news of Davis County in Utah. In this episode he talks about his path to creating a new paper as others decline and why it he believes it is an important and necessary part of creating a community.