Situational awareness - August 19, 2019

Situational awareness - August 19, 2019

Good Monday 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:

• Most Utahns say President Trump's tweets may be offensive, but they don't consider them racist.
• Rep. Ken Ivory announces he's resigning from the legislature.
• President Trump on edge over fears of a looming recession.

Tick Tock

Days to the 2019 Utah municipal elections: 78 (11/5/2019)

Days to the first day of the 2020 Utah Legislature: 161 (1/27/2020)

Days to the Utah presidential primaries: 197 (3/3/2020)

Days to the 2020 Utah primary elections: 309 (6/23/2020)

Days to the 2020 election: 442 (11/3/2020)

Trivia!

It's been 34 years since Utah Republicans did not have control of both houses of the legislature and the governor's mansion. Gov. Scott Matheson left office in January of 1985, and Republicans have had trifecta control ever since.

Congratulations to the first three readers who submitted correct answers:

Don Savage

Matt Howell

Zachary Zundel

Submit your Friday trivia stumper to me via email at bschott@utahpolicy.com. If I use your question, I'll send you one of our limited-edition UtahPolicy.com laptop stickers.

Today At Utah Policy

Utahns think Trump's tweets are offensive, but they're not racist
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
Given examples of six recent tweets by GOP President Donald Trump, a UtahPolicy.com poll finds that most Utahns find those tweets offense.But the respondents don't believe the Trump tweets were racist they concerned two African-American leaders.

Utah's unemployment rate remains below the national average
By Press release
Utah's nonfarm payroll employment for July 2019 grew by an estimated 3.6 percent, adding 54,400 jobs to the economy since July 2018. Utah's current employment level registers 1,558,100. June's year-over job growth rate is unrevised at 2.9 percent.

You are not good at Twitter - Bernick and Schott on politics
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Luz Escamilla leapfrogs Jim Dabakis to apparently secure a spot in November's SLC mayoral election against Erin Mendenhall. We break down why Dabakis may be kicking himself for a long time after this surprising loss.

Rep. Ken Ivory announces he's resigning
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
Rep. Ken IvoryThe Utah House is losing one of its archconservative constitutional scholars Ken Ivory is resigning next week.

OTHER UTAH HEADLINES

Deseret News

• Pignanelli and Webb: Lessons learned from Mendenhall's surprise win in Salt Lake primary
• Editorial: Salt Lake City mayoral race could be a standard-bearer to the nation
• Utah's jobless rate holds at 2.8%
• Invasion of the drones: No longer a 'Jetsons'-esque fantasy, Utah is on the leading edge
• Public lands management critic resigns from Utah Legislature
• Councilman accused of poor taste for using bulletproof vest during meeting
• Women vying for Salt Lake City mayor set stage for friendly campaigns

Salt Lake Tribune

• Phil Lyman: San Juan County didn't invent discrimination against Native Americans
• Millions of opioid pills poured into southeast Utah's sparsely populated coal country
• Homeless transition leaders working on overflow contingency plan
• West Jordan approves a $1.6M incentive deal for a secret corporate newcomer, code-named 'Lonestar'
• Utah leads nation in job growth over past 12 months
• Utah Rep. Ken Ivory resigns his public post to accept new job

Other

• What exactly is in the new Utah County government optional plan? (Daily Herald)

NATIONAL HEADLINES

Trump lashes out as recession fears grow. President Donald Trump is blaming a conspiracy to sink his re-election prospects is behind increasing worries about an economic recession [NYT].

• Jerome Powell, Trump's hand-picked chair of the Federal Reserve, is trying to navigate tough economic waters while the President is blaming him for a slowing economy [WSJ].
• Top White House officials are downplaying the risk of a recession [WaPo].
• About a third of economists expect a recession to hit by the end of 2021 [AP].
• American consumers are propping up the global economy, but economists wonder how long that can hold out [WaPo].
• Here's how a recession could happen [NYT].

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow confirmed Sunday that President Donald Trump is 100% serious about attempting to purchase Greenland from Denmark [AP].

• Danish authorities say there is absolutely no way they would sell Greenland to the U.S. [LA Times].
• Residents of Greenland are baffled by Trump's interest in purchasing the territory [WSJ].

Authorities say they foiled three potential mass shootings. Police in three states say they stopped men who planned to carry out mass shootings [CNN].

Gun control. Criminologists and gun reform advocates say policy-makers should focus on banning high-capacity magazines as a way to prevent mass shootings [WaPo].

Business news. A group of top CEOs says business should no longer focus solely on maximizing shareholder profits [WaPo].

Climate change. A heatwave in Alaska this summer is killing salmon in large numbers [CNN].

BUSINESS HEADLINES

• West Jordan approves a $1.6M incentive deal for a secret corporate newcomer, code-named 'Lonestar' (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah leads nation in job growth over past 12 months (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah's jobless rate holds at 2.8% (Deseret News)
• Invasion of the drones: No longer a 'Jetsons'-esque fantasy, Utah is on the leading edge (Deseret News)

Policy News

CYBER24 podcast: Who's in your wallet? What business leaders, policy makers can learn from the Capital One breach
Sometimes the numbers are so big you can't ignore them. And when two business giants are involved it gets even harder to miss. The latest headline-grabbing cyber breach involves Capital One, a former employee of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and a breach impacting 106 million people.

More National Headlines

• Two mass murders a world apart share a common theme: 'ecofascism' (Washington Post)
• Planned Parenthood May Reject Federal Funds Over Trump Administration Rule (Daily Beast)
• First-ever mandatory water cutbacks will kick in next year along the Colorado River (Arizona Republic)
• Fighter pilot vs. astronaut match-up in Arizona could determine control of Senate (The Hill)
• Marianne Williamson's presidential candidacy shines light on 'A Course in Miracles' (Columbus Dispatch)
• A Boom Time for the Bunker Business and Doomsday Capitalists (New York Times)
• Beats replace bombs: young Iraqis revel at summer festival (AFP)
• Joe Biden has bigger problems than just gaffes (New York Post)
• Joe Biden's boom and bust online campaign (Politico)
• Chris Wallace becomes Trump era's 'equal opportunity inquisitor' (The Hill)
• California's Biggest Cities Confront a 'Defecation Crisis' (Wall Street Journal)

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1934 - A plebiscite in Germany approved the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler as Fuhrer.

1960 - U-2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers was convicted in a Moscow court and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released 18 months later in exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

1991 - a coup orchestrated by hard-line Communists and led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev removed Mikhail Gorbachev as president of the Soviet Union. The coup would endure for three days before being put down.

2004 - Internet search engine Google went public.

Wise Words

Prosperity

"No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger." Heraclitus
 

Lighter Side

Trump Derangement Syndrome

"Trump and the Republicans have laid out a clear solution to end gun violence: first, cure the mental illness they invented. Then, get rid of video games, the internet, transgender people, same-sex marriage, drag queens, marijuana, kneeling athletes and Barack Obama, and while we're at it, all embrace Jesus Christ as our savior."Samantha Bee