Andrea Smardon
Andrea Smardon is new at KUER, but she has worked in public broadcasting for more than a decade. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and news announcer for WGBH radio. While in Boston, she produced stories for Morning Edition, Marketplace Money, and The World. Her print work was published in The Boston Globe and Boston.com. Prior to that, she worked at Seattleââ
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The founders of the new center, in Provo, Utah, hope its presence can help bridge a divide between the church and the LGBT community.
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Among Mormons, there is a group of women known as Mama Dragons, fierce protectors of their LGBT children. They were put to the test after the church hardened its stance against same-sex marriages.
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In Utah, a doctor performing an abortion will soon have to administer anesthesia after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The new law is the first of its kind in the nation, and it's based on the controversial notion that a fetus at that stage in development may feel pain during the procedure. Abortion providers are adapting to this change in the law.
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The Mormon church recently made a policy preventing children of same-sex couples from getting baptized. The move has exposed a rift among Mormons — and made for some difficult decisions.
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Republican governors across the country have taken a stand against Obamacare by refusing to expand Medicaid. Utah, one of the reddest states in the nation, remains undecided.
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For years, Mormons in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community say they've felt shunned from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A newly formed LGBT choir believes it's making strides in the right direction, despite troubles securing rehearsal spaces in LDS churches.
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It wasn't until she applied for Medicaid that Jennifer Andrushko discovered someone had been using her young son's Social Security number. Because kids don't have much use for credit, the crime often goes undiscovered for years. Now, Utah is piloting a program that would help protect children against fraud.