Situational awareness - August 27, 2019

Situational awareness - August 27, 2019

Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City

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

Here are the stories you need to pay attention to this morning:

• Romney gives us a peek at his plan for replacing Obamacare.
• Utahns say lawmakers should not make changes to Prop. 4.
• Iran says they won't begin talks with the U.S. until economic sanctions are lifted.

TICK TOCK

Days to the 2019 Utah municipal elections: 70 (11/5/2019)

Days to the first day of the 2020 Utah Legislature: 153 (1/27/2020)

Days to the Utah presidential primaries: 189 (3/3/2020)

Days to the 2020 Utah primary elections: 302 (6/23/2020)

Days to the 2020 election: 434 (11/3/2020)

Today At Utah Policy

Romney's Obamacare replacement would give more flexibility to states
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Sen. Mitt Romney Sen. Mitt Romney is working behind the scenes on a replacement to the Affordable Care Act, but few details have been forthcoming. Romney tells UtahPolicy.com his plan will help provide healthcare to those Americans who are still without insurance under the ACA.

Overwhelming number of Utahns want lawmakers to leave Prop. 4 alone
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
Utah GOP legislators and Gov. Gary Herbert repeal or drastically change Prop 4 the independent redistricting law at their political peril, a new UtahPolicy.com poll finds.

Podcast: Mitt Romney discusses the economy, healthcare and Greenland
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Sen. Mitt Romney Sen. Mitt Romney speaks with Managing Editor Bryan Schott about how extreme partisanship in Congress is preventing bills from passing. He also talks about the exploding federal deficit, whether he is worried about the economy tipping into a recession, his work on an alternative to Obamacare and whether he would try to buy Greenland.

Guest opinion: Local governments should rethink criminal ordinances
By Molly Davis
Molly Davis When a problem arises in a particular neighborhood, many think the local governing body has a duty to write a law prohibiting the underlying activity.

OTHER UTAH HEADLINES

Deseret News

• Op-ed: Getting clear on Utah education outcomes and goals
• Nations are stronger when they support families, religious pluralism, President Nelson tells world leaders on tour
• U.N. cancels 'pro-life' workshop claiming 'too much controversy' around the subject
• BYU grad's resignation leaves FEC shorthanded
• Repeat arrests haven't stopped Utah stalker, frustrating police and victims

Salt Lake Tribune

• Homes are a big part of Salt Lake City's air pollution problem. They also are the solution.
• United Nations conference cancels 'pro-life,' 'pro-family' workshop it says wasn't 'inclusive'
• Utah's Matt Petersen resigns FEC seat, leaving the regulatory agency toothless

Other

• Kaysville mayor announces U.S. House bid, cites 'rise in radicals' in Congress (Standard-Examiner)
• Weber County leaders mull $10.5 million more in upgrades to West 12th Street corridor (Standard-Examiner)

NATIONAL HEADLINES

Iran. President Trump says he wants to meet with Iranian officials "under the right circumstances" to restart talks over their nuclear program. Iranian officials said Tuesday they would not talk to the U.S. until all economic sanctions are lifted [Reuters].

Opioid case. A judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for its role in causing Oklahoma's opioid crisis [CNN].

Uh oh. President Trump's approval rating falls in every 2020 battleground state, according to a new nationwide poll [Axios].

2020. A new national survey shows a three-way tie between Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic presidential nomination [NYT].

• Republicans increasingly see winning back control of the House in 2020 as a tough climb and are increasingly focused on retaining their Senate majority [The Hill].
• Warren is telling Democratic Party insiders she wants to rebuild the DNC, not stage a hostile takeover from the left [NYT].
• Joe Walsh, who is mounting a primary challenge to Donald Trump, is confronted with some racist social media posts from his past during a wild televised interview on Monday [Mediaite].

This could be a problem. U.S. government officials are fearful of a ransomware attack on voter registration databases ahead of the 2020 election [Reuters].

• Election experts are warning Russian hackers are likely to target Florida again during the 2020 election [Guardian].

Trouble in the heartland. American farmers are getting fed up with President Trump's trade war with China [NYT].

The investigations. House Democrats subpoena former White House aide Rob Porter as part of their impeachment inquiry into President Trump [NYT].

Hmmm. President Trump says his own Doral resort in Miami will probably host next year's G7 summit [Miami Herald].

Immigration. California is leading a multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration's plan to allow the indefinite detention of young migrants [Politico].

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. President Trump claimed during a press conference on Monday his wife Melania had "gotten to know" North Korean leader Kim Jong Un very well. The White House later clarified that the two have never met [Politico].

Culture wars. Pop star Taylor Swift called out the White House during the MTV Video Music Awards for ignoring a petition pushing for LGBTQ rights [CNN].

BUSINESS HEADLINES

• Ogden River Brewing becomes latest Ogden craft brewery to break ground on new facility (Standard-Examiner)
• Is Salt Lake City the next big tech hub? Here's how it compares to other major cities (Deseret News)
• Downtown Salt Lake City is increasingly a hub for young, tech-savvy workers who live and play among the skyscrapers (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah company Packsize demos 'right-size' packaging to DOE, sustainability leaders (Deseret News)

Policy News

CYBER24 podcast: Cyber hacks on schools lead to a state of emergency
Across the country, parents are busy with back-to-school shopping while kids are squeezing every minute of rest and relaxation they can out of the final weeks of summer vacation. As schools prepare to welcome students back, many are becoming targets of hackers.

More National Headlines

• Why Journalists' Old Tweets Are Fair Game for Trump (Politico)
• Journalists Are Having A Meltdown Over Journalism Being Done To Them (Federalist)
• Uh-oh: Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system (Fast Company)
• Religious Freedom Win for Christians Who Refuse to Create Same-Sex Wedding Videos (PJ Media)
• Prosecutors Near Decision on Whether to Seek an Andrew McCabe Indictment (New York Times)
• CNN's Jim Acosta Heckles Trump As He Walks Off Stage During G7 Summit In France (Daily Caller)
• The promise and peril of Joe Biden's front-runner campaign (Los Angeles Times)
• Joe Biden: 'I want to be clear, I'm not going nuts' (The Week)
• The Revolving Door Between Government and Cable News (Reason)
• 3-Way Lead as Dem 2020 Picture Shifts (Monmouth)
• Sanders Vows to Seek Moratorium on Mergers of Media Giants (Bloomberg)

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1963 - The Moscow-Washington hotline between the leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union goes into operation.

1967 - Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court.

1992 - The 11-day Ruby Ridge standoff ends with Randy Weaver surrendering to federal authorities.

Wise Words

Choices

"Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." Robert Frost

Lighter Side

Tools

"Even more concerning is that Trump's allies are worried that he is running out of tools to fix the economy. Running out of tools. When Trump heard that, he was like, 'Not true, I have Eric and Don Jr. - I have more than enough tools.'" - JIMMY FALLON