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Situational awareness - June 17, 2019

Monday, June 17, 2019 - 11:45am
Utah Policy

Situational awareness - June 17, 2019

Good Monday morning from Salt Lake City

Welcome to Utah's must-read daily political news rundown. Please encourage your friends and colleagues to sign up for our emails.

Here are the stories we're following today:

  • Utah GOP chairman Derek Brown wants to raise $1 million for next year's elections
  • Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld predicts he'll beat Trump in Utah in 2020
  • The Supreme Court is set to issue rulings on partisan gerrymandering and the 2020 Census

Trivia time

On Friday we asked how many people have been inaugurated POTUS at least once?

The answer is a bit complicated. As Clark Larsen writes:

"So often we hear that Donald Trump is our 45th president, but he is the 44th person to hold the office. For some unfathomable reason, historians choose to give Grover Cleveland two numbers, #22 and #24. because his terms were nonconsecutive."

Just two readers were savvy enough to send in the right answer:

  • Zachary Zundel
  • David Schneider

If you'd like to be our guest quizmaster, send your questions to me at bschott@utahpolicy.com.

My inbox is open to you!

Got a confidential news tip? Is there a story we should be following? Drop me a line at bschott@utahpolicy.com.

The UtahPolicy.com daily newsletter gets you up to speed on the top local and national news about politics and public policy. Our news is curated by Managing Editor Bryan Schott, along with help from Golden Webb. ((Click here to subscribe))

 

TICK TOCK

Today is the 168th day of the year. There are 197 days remaining in 2019.

5 days to the Utah State Democratic Party Organizing Convention (6/22/2019)

9 days to the first Democratic presidential primary debates in Miami (6/26/2019)

43 days to the second Democratic presidential primary debates in Detroit (7/30/2019)

57 days to the 2019 Utah primary elections (8/13/2019)

87 days to the third Democratic presidential primary debate (9/12/2019)

141 days to the 2019 municipal elections (11/5/2019)

224 days to the first day of the 2020 Utah Legislature (1/27/2020)

232 days to the 2020 Iowa Caucuses (2/3/2020)

260 days to the 2020 Utah presidential primary (3/3/2020)

501 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today At Utah Policy

Brown aiming to raise $1 million for Utah GOP in 2020
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
Derek Brown, the newly-elected chair of the Utah Republican Party, tells UtahPolicy.com that he wants $1 million in party coffers as the 2020 election year rolls around more than double what the party spent in last year's elections.

Weld predicts he'll beat Trump in Utah
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld is predicting he'll beat President Donald Trump in the Utah Republican presidential primary on Super Tuesday next year.

A commanding lead? - Bernick and Schott on politics
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
We have our first poll in the Salt Lake City mayor's race. Jim Dabakis has a lead, but a look into the numbers shows it's not as commanding as some would want you to think.

Watch: Stewart on campaigns accepting information from foreign governments: 'It depends' on who is offering the information
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Rep. Chris Stewart weighed in on whether a political campaign accepting information about political rivals from foreign governments Friday, saying it would be okay if the information came from an ally.

New report compares teacher retirement in Utah and neighboring states
By Utah Foundation
Utah Foundation's recent report, Apples to Apples: How Teacher Pay in Utah Stacks Up to the Competition, called for policymakers to examine pay in the broader context of compensation.

OTHER UTAH HEADLINES

Deseret News

Salt Lake Tribune

Other

 

NATIONAL HEADLINES

Supreme Court. The high court has two weeks left to issue rulings in 24 cases, including high-profile decisions about partisan gerrymandering and whether the 2020 census will have a citizenship question - http://bit.ly/2WKKeiK

Iran

  • Iran announced Monday they would begin to enrich more uranium, going beyond what they were permitted to produce under the 2015 nuclear deal that the U.S. withdrew from last year - https://nyti.ms/2MSTuwV
  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday the U.S. is "considering a range of options," including military options, to address rising tensions with Iran - https://cnn.it/2MSj5ps

Critical negotiations. The Trump administration and leaders in Congress plan to meet this week to try and find a deal on spending to avoid another government shutdown, a potential default on the national debt and to head off billions of dollars in automatic spending cuts - https://politi.co/2MQdznm

Here we go again. President Trump wants to counter the Democratic advantage on healthcare during next year's election. He is pushing to revive his promise to replace Obamacare with "something teriffic" that costs less and covers more people - https://nyti.ms/2WOtwPI

2020

  • President Donald Trump will officially kick off his re-election bid on Tuesday at a rally in Florida - https://cnn.it/2MToddd
  • Democrat Pete Buttigieg raised an eye-popping $7 million in April - https://politi.co/2MOAsrg
  • Democrats plan to spend hundreds of millions on campaign ads attacking President Trump while they are still searching for a nominee - https://politi.co/2MS7C9G

Russia. The U.S. is stepping up cyber attacks against Russia's power grid. Officials say they believe President Trump has not been briefed about the operations against Russia because they are worried he may order a stop or discuss the efforts with foreign officials - https://nyti.ms/2MTaSRV

Polls! Polls! Polls!

  • The Trump campaign fired multiple pollsters after unflattering internal numbers leaked showing Trump trailing several 2020 Democratic hopefuls in key states. Before the leak, Trump claimed the numbers were fake - https://cnn.it/2WPtUx4
  • A new Fox News poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden leads Trump by to points nationally - https://fxn.ws/2WPNrh6
  • 50% of registered voters in Texas say they plan to vote for President Trump next year, but 50% say they don't - http://bit.ly/2WOlUfN

The investigations

  • Some House Democrats want to impeach President Trump so badly they don't care if it torpedoes their party's chances in 2020 - http://bit.ly/2MUreKh
  • The final decision on whether to move forward with an impeachment inquiry against President Trump will likely be up to centrist Democrats in swing districts - https://nyti.ms/2MS6QJO
  • House Democrats are considering calling former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as well as former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to testify - https://politi.co/2WUevvP
  • There are at least 15 outside investigations into President Trump. He plans to use those probes as a political weapon to rally his base next year - https://politi.co/2WMbMEA

Prescription drugs. Americans are heading to Canada to buy drugs as prescription prices soar in the U.S. - https://wapo.st/2WOuonh

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1579 - Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.

1775 - Revolutionary War: Colonists inflict heavy casualties on British forces while losing the Battle of Bunker Hill.

1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.

1930 - President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law.

1963 - The Supreme Court rules 8-1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.

1972 - Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt to illegally wiretap the opposition.

1994 - Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O.J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

 

Policy News

State of Utah awards 5-year electronic recycling contract
Advanced Technology Recycling is pleased to announce the award of a 5-year contract to provide Electronic Recycling and Secure Data Destruction services to the State of Utah departments, agencies, institutions and political subdivisions.

More National Headlines

Wise Words

Capitalism

 

"Doing well is the result of doing good. That's what capitalism is all about." Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

Lighter Side

Foreign Dirt

 

[Imitating Trump]"Sure, I mean a campaign accepting help from a foreign country is against the law, but since when is breaking the law a crime? I mean, do both. Why not do the wrong thing and the right thing? Let's just kill two birds with one crime."- STEPHEN COLBERT