About Utah Politics -Monday, March 10, 2014

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Monday, March 10, 2014 - 8:15am

Local News Highlights: Daily Briefing

How to Sound Smart About Utah Politics - March 10, 2014

Lawmakers near a final budget deal. Final report on John Swallow investigation delayed. Likely no decision on Medicaid before the 2014 session ends.

Countdown:

3 days until the final day of the 2014 Legislature
4 days until the Utah candidate filing period opens
8 days until the Utah Democratic Party caucus meetings
10 days until the Utah candidate filing period closes
10 days until the Utah GOP caucus meetings
46 days until the Utah State Republican and Democratic conventions
106 days until Utah's 2014 primary elections
239 days to the 2014 midterm elections
602 days to the 2015 elections
667 days until the 2016 Iowa Caucuses
973 days to the 2016 presidential election

Today's Utah political news highlights:

Sources say House Speaker Becky Lockhart will get no money for her education technology initiative in a budget deal worked out by lawmakers [Utah Policy, Tribune].
The House committee investigating former Attorney General John Swallow is delaying their final report by a few days because they recovered 400 more emails from a supposed destroyed hard drive [Tribune, Deseret News].
It appears the 2014 session will end without a decision on Medicaid expansion [Tribune].
A Senate committee approves a bill to create a new panel tasked with finding a new location for Utah's prison [Tribune].
Sen. Mike Lee's camp almost scuttled the deal between lawmakers and "Count My Vote" backers [Tribune].
The House kills a bill that would make elections for the State School Board a partisan affair [Deseret News, Tribune].
Senators change a clean air bill allowing the state to adopt tougher standards than the feds before advancing it [Tribune].
The Senate approves a modification to Utah's abortion laws [Deseret News, Tribune].
A convention center hotel in downtown Salt Lake City moves one step closer to approval [Deseret News].
One ethics reform that won't happen this year - campaign donation limits [Tribune, Deseret News].
The Senate approves a bill to freeze boundaries of the unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County until 2015 [Tribune].
Utah's unemployment rate hits a five-year low [Deseret News, Tribune].

On this day in history:

1496 - Christopher Columbus concludes his second visit to the Western Hemisphere.
1629 - England's King Charles I dissolves Parliament and rules alone for 11 years.
1785 - Thomas Jefferson appointed minister to France.
1848 - The Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war with Mexico.
1864 - Ulysses S. Grant becomes commander of the Union armies during the Civil War.
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful voice transmission over his telephone when he said to his assistant, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you."
1969 - James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
1985 - Konstantin Chernenko, was the Soviet leader for just 13 months, died at the age of 73.
1997 - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" debuted on the WB network.
2008 - New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer apologized after allegations surfaced that he had paid thousands of dollars for a high-end call girl.

Today At Utah Policy

A Conversation with Rep. Brian King (Video)
2014 has been a relatively quiet session for Utah's Democrats, but Rep. Brian King (D-Salt Lake City) saysthere are some successes if you're willing to look....

Rep. Brian King vs. the Utah Policy 'Lightning Round' (Video)
Rep. Brian King (D-Salt Lake City) has 60 seconds to answer as many stupid questions as possible. Find out which member of the Utah media he would definitely beat in a fight. It's the Utah Policy "Lightning Round."...

Lawmakers Close to Final Budget Deal
Republican state House and Senate leaders, meeting for around four hours on Saturday, have reached what they hope is a final budget deal and will take it to their party caucuses Monday morning....

Bill Aims to Stop Unwanted Encroachment by Feds Into Utah's Public Ed (Video)
Rep. Steve Eliason (R-Sandy)has proposed legislation to keep a school district from taking money from the federal Department of Education without state approval....

What We Still Don't Know Heading Into the Final Week of the 2014 Legislature
The clock is rapidly winding down on the 2014 Utah Legislature, and there are still a couple of big issues still to be resolved before midnight Thursday....

Did Jim Matheson Tip His Hand About 2016?
Rep. Jim Matheson said something during his benedictory address to the Utah State Legislature that seemed a bit...foreshadowey....

Featured Items

Utah Policy/KSL Insider Survey: 'Count My Vote' Deal
The Utah Legislature agreed to a compromise with the backers of the "Count My Vote" citizen's initiative that preserves the caucus system while, at the same time, establishes an alternate path to the ballot for candidates. We asked our "Political Insiders" and readers what t...

A Quarter For Clean Air: More Transit Means Less Pollution
Open Letter to Gov. Gary Herbert and Utah Legislators:...

How Exactly Do Colleges Allocate Their Financial Aid? They Won't Say
At the center of the admissions and financial-aid process is a massive information imbalance: Schools make their decisions with detailed data about each applicant that goes well beyond test scores and transcripts....