Local News Highlights: Daily Briefing Morning Must Reads for Thursday, September 29, 2016

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Thursday, September 29, 2016 - 10:00am

Utah Policy

Local News Highlights: Daily Briefing

Morning Must Reads for Thursday, September 29, 2016

Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 279th day of the year. There are 93 days left in 2016.

Legislature may resolve SB54 ‘plurality issue’ by allowing primary election runoff. Plurality of Utahns want Merrick Garland confirmed as Supreme Court justice. Congress defies Obama with first veto override. Government shutdown is averted.

The clock:

5 days to the 2nd Congressional District debate at the University of Utah (10/4/2016)
5 days to the vice presidential debate at Longwood University (10/4/2016)
10 days to the second presidential debate at Washington University (10/9/2016)
11 days to the 4th Congressional District debate at Salt Lake Community College (10/10/2016)
13 days to the U.S. Senate debate at Brigham Young University (10/12/2016)
18 days to the 1st Congressional District debate at Weber State University (10/17/2016)
20 days to the 3rd Congressional District debate at Utah Valley University (10/19/2016)
20 days to the third presidential debate at UNLV (10/19/2016)
40 days until the 2016 presidential election - (11/8/2016)
116 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature - (1/23/2017)
161 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature - (3/9/2017)

Talking points forWednesday:

1-GOP leaders may agree to a primary runoff election as a solution to SB54 plurality issues, but the primary election might need to be held earlier (Utah Policy).

2-Utahns support Merrick Garland confirmation to Supreme Court if Hillary Clinton wins presidency (Utah Policy).

3-A federal government shutdown is averted as Congress passes short-term spending bill (The Hill) (Washington Post).

4-Despite Pres. Obama’s objections, Congress overrides veto of bill allowing 9-11 families to file claims against Saudi Arabia (Washington Post).

5-Rep. Mia Love and Democratic opponent Doug Owens take tough shots at each other in advertising campaigns (Deseret News) (Tribune).

6-Experts urge unified response to heroin and opioid abuse in Utah (Tribune).

7-Washington Post recounts history of Bill Clinton’s marital infidelities and Hillary’s response to them as Trump threatens to make them a campaign issue (Washington Post).

8-Utah Transit Authority Board gets new leadership as Robert McKinley becomes chair and former Lt. Gov. Greg Bell is appointed to the board (Tribune) (Deseret News) (Utah Policy).

9-Clinton struggles to win support among young voters (New York Times). Trump fundraising haul not all it appears to be (Politico).

On this day in history:

522 B.C. – Darius I of Persia kills Magian usurper Gaumata, securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire.
1829 – British Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel establishes London’s Metropolitan Police – hence the nicknames “bobbies” and “peelers.”
1911 – Yanks steal 15 bases and get 13 walks, beating Browns 16-12, with a major league record of 6 stolen bases in one inning.
1916 – American oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller becomes the world’s first billionaire.
1950 – Telephone Answering Machine created by Bell Laboratories.
1958 – U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

Today At Utah Policy

GOP Leaders May Agree to Primary Run-Off Election as Solution to SB54 Plurality Issue
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
A compromise is in the works, UtahPolicy is told, that could settle the final sticking point over SB54 – what to do if no one wins a majority in a multi-candidate primary election....

Utahns Support Garland Confirmation to Supreme Court if Clinton Wins
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
A majority of Utahns say President Barack Obama’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, appellate Judge Merrick Garland, should be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, either now or if Hillary Clinton wins the November election, a new UtahPolicy poll shows.But Utah Republicans are agai...

Measure the Right Activities to Achieve Goals in Government and Elsewhere
By Randy Shumway, Zions Bank Economic Advisor
Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.--William Bruce CameronI recently sat in an organizational meeting perplexed by the degree to which our group’s ultimate objectives had been slowly commandeered by seemingly-inconse...

Quality Teachers Top Education Priority for Utah Voters
By Press Release
Many Voters Would Pay Higher Taxes to Increase Education FundingSome 40% of voters in the 2016 Utah Priorities Project survey named teacher quality as their top priority with regard to K-12 education. This beat out “college and career readiness,” “class siz...

Lee: Trump More Likely to Protect Religious Liberty than Clinton
By Golden Webb
National Review Online interviews Sen. Mike Lee about his proposed First Amendment Defense Act, which would protect from government discrimination those religious Americans who oppose gay marriage, and which Donald Trump has promised to sign if he wins the presidency....

Chaffetz: No Plans to Investigate Trump
By Golden Webb
Democrats want the House Oversight Committeeto begin devoting as much time to investigating Donald Trump's alleged improprieties as it has Hillary Clinton's, but Oversight Chair Jason Chaffetz says that's nonsense: because Trump has never held a government job or been electe...

Utahns Have Strong Confidence in Ballot Accuracy
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
Despite talk about election computer systems being hacked, eight out of 10 Utahns believe their ballot cast in November’s final election will be counted accurately, a new UtahPolicy poll finds.Considering that one of the major party candidates – Donald Trump &nda...

Utahns More Confident About Present and Future Economy
By Randy Shumway, Zions Bank Economic Advisor
The Zions Bank Utah Consumer Attitude Index (CAI) increased 1.8 points to 113.2 in September. The increase resulted from greater confidence in both the present economy and the future economic situation. The overall CAI currently sits 3.2 points higher than its level 12 month...

Policy News

Utah Public Employees' Assoc. Endorses Gov. Herbert
Citing a track record of listening to and working with public employees, the Utah Public Employees’ Association (UPEA) has announced its endorsement of Gov. Gary Herbert.“State employees have already benefited from Gov. Herbert and Lt. Gov. Cox’s approach t...

NRA Endorses Herbert and Reyes
Fairfax, Va.— The National Rifle Association's Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) recently announced its endorsement of Gary Herbert for re-election as Governor of Utah and Sean Reyes for re-election to the office of Utah Attorney General.“We are proud to endorse G...

Rep. Stewart Leads Bi-Partisan Effort Urging Full Funding of PILT
Washington, D.C. --Today, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) led a bi-partisan group of 95 Members of Congress urging House leadership to secure full funding for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Program.Nearly 1,900 counties across 49 states receive PILT funding to compensate f...

Herbert Appoints Greg Bell to UTA Board
Gov. Gary Herbert has accepted the resignation of H. David Burton as a member of the Utah Transit Authority Board, and has appointed former state senator and former lieutenant governor Greg Bell to replace him. Bell was sworn in on Wednesday during the UTA Board meeting. &nb...

Stewart Resolution Passes House Directing Investigation into Missing BYU Student
Washington, D.C.– Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah)’s congressional resolution directing the State Department and Intelligence Community to investigate the disappearance of BYU student David Sneddon passed the House today. The resolution specifically asks them to inves...