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Vicki Barker

Vicki Barker was UPR's Moab correspondent from 2011 - 2012.

A native of Moab, she started working in radio as a teenager and earned a degree at Utah State University-Logan in broadcast performance and management. She worked as a news reporter and feature writer for radio and publications throughout the intermountain area and also worked in the national parks, in outdoor environmental education, and as an editor.

Vicki passed away in April 2012 and has left a void on UPR where her voice used to be.

  • During a recent argument, British Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell allegedly called a police officer a "plebe," a pejorative term derived from "plebeian." The ensuing controversy has rekindled accusations that the governing Conservative Party is out of touch with ordinary Britons.
  • This month, the British government issued licenses allowing trained marksmen in southwest England to shoot badgers. Farmers — and many scientists — say the animals pose a health threat to cattle. But the decision has outraged British animal lovers.
  • Working closely with a former detective, James still goes out with Brighton police to gather material for his work about an English city with a rich criminal history.
  • Three weeks before the London Summer Olympics, we are going to see the seedier side of the city. Mystery writer Mark Billingham shows off some of the places that inspired his dark, twisted thrillers. (This piece initially aired August 10, 2009 on Morning Edition).
  • British ceramicist Edmund de Waal is exhibiting his work at Waddesdon Manor, the historic country retreat of his distant cousin Lord Jacob Rothschild. The manor's lavishly decorated rooms are an unlikely space for such minimalist works, but the collaboration tells a story of collection, belonging and loss.
  • Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron spent the Thursday being grilled over the nature of his relationship with media magnate Rupert Murdoch. He dismissed as "nonsense" the suggestion that they had made tacit deals to look after one another's interests.
  • Britons are halfway through a four-day holiday celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the throne. On Sunday, the queen led a flotilla of a thousand boats on the Thames — described as the largest such river pageant in more than 300 years.
  • This week Britain's Advertising Standards Authority turned 50. To celebrate, it released a list of the 50 most-complained-about commercials in U.K. history. The one that generated the most viewer complaints was not about sex, violence or politics: It was a KFC ad in which the actors spoke with their mouths full.
  • An estimated 125 million people are expected to tune in to Saturday night's final contest in Eurovision 2012. This year's song contest has provoked controversy over its host country, Azerbaijan, whose president is accused of human rights abuses. Vicki Barker has the story.
  • The flame for the London Olympics, which was ignited by the rays of the sun in the 2,800-year-old Temple of Hera in Greece, arrives in the UK Saturday. It was carried from Olympia in a lantern that flew aboard a gold-painted plane. Vicki Barker has more on the flame's relay race to London.
  • A controversial biography of TV and music impresario Simon Cowell came out on both sides of the Atlantic this week. Cowell showed up at the London launch of the unauthorized biography entitled, Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell.
  • Britain is a nation in shock, following Wednesday's announcement that its economy has slipped back into recession. It's the second time since the 2008 financial crisis, and it's raising new questions about the government's unpopular austerity measures.