Construction Underway, Scheduled Operation: 2025

The Intermountain Power Project's transformational “IPP Renewed” project is under construction and on track for mid-2025 start-up. The project includes new natural gas-fueled electricity generating units that will also utilize "green" hydrogen for long-term, dispatchable storage of renewable energy. There are currently 600 workers on site in Millard County, with 1200 expected during peak construction. Click here to watch construction unfold. For more information, visit www.ipprenewed.com

Utah Headlines

Legislative session

• A huge chunk of Utah’s state budget for next year just passed. What you need to know about base budgets (Deseret News)
• Potty training, stipend for student teachers and more at the 2024 Legislature (UPR)

Business and Labor

• Whiplash: Senate passes transgender bathroom restrictions with more last-minute changes (KSL)
• Utah lawmaker proposes bill for new entertainment district, eyes slapshot for NHL (KUTV)

Education

• $10 million ‘teacher empowerment’ bill headed to the Utah Senate (Deseret News)
• DEI bill passes Utah Senate, heading to governor after House concurrence (Deseret News)
• Lawmakers recommend continued funding of Utah’s dual language immersion program (KSL Newsradio)

Criminal Justice

• One lawmaker wants to streamline the reparations process for crime victims (Deseret News)

Other Utah News

Politics

• Utah works to fight misinformation ahead of 2024 election (Fox13)
• Scott Cuthbertson, CEO of EDCUtah, on politics, on KSL at Night
• Israel-Palestine, the New Hampshire primary and the Utah Legislature (UPR's Both Sides of the Aisle)
• ‘Including razor wire fences’: Gov. Cox supports Texas effort ignoring Supreme Court over border crisis (Salt Lake Tribune)

Utah news

• Utah Food Bank opens distribution center in Springville to serve central Utah (KSL)
• Major Brent Taylor Foundation wants to send all of Utah’s Gold Star families to 9/11 memorial (KSL TV)

Business/Tech

• 3 Utah Cold Stone Creamery stores fined $42K for violating child labor laws (KSL) 
• Two bars and 2 Mexican restaurants among businesses awarded liquor licenses (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Salesforce laying off 700 workers in latest tech-industry downsizing (Wall Street Journal)

Courts

• Utah’s lawsuit against TikTok contains startling allegations (Deseret News)
• ‘This is a mistake’: Utah woman shocked to learn perpetrator granted parole just months after sentencing (KSL TV)

Culture

•  CES to host ‘low-pressure’ events to help ‘reset the culture of dating’ (Church News)
• Uncovering the little-known history of southwest Utah’s only Chinatown (KUER)

Education

• University of Utah introducing Viewpoint Representation and Expression Task Force (KSL Newsradio)
• Parents demand 're-do' of Salt Lake school closure vote because of conflict-of-interest (KUTV)

Environment

• World’s smallest rabbit, which lives in Utah and the West, may get help (Deseret News)

Family

• Lisa Halverson: The important role families play in shaping a child’s political behavior (Deseret News)
• What’s happening to parent-child bonds as kids become adults? (Deseret News)
• Well into adulthood and still getting money from their parents. Nearly 60% of parents provide financial help to their adult kids, a new study finds (Wall Street Journal)

Health

• Can menopause be delayed indefinitely? This University of Utah professor’s mathematical model predicts it’s possible (Deseret News)
• Robitussin cough syrups recalled over possible contamination (Deseret News)
• Utah's first LGBTQ+ health clinic opens in Salt Lake City (Fox13)
• To help these school kids deal with trauma, mindfulness lessons over the loudspeaker (NPR)

Housing

• Study says treating social isolation helps with obesity, health issues (Deseret News)
• Helping the homeless will require many more social workers (Deseret News)

National Headlines

General

• Alabama executes man by nitrogen gas for the first time in the U.S. (NPR)
• ‘Preposterous’: Federal judge decries efforts to downplay Jan. 6 violence, label perpetrators ‘hostages’ (Politico)

Political news

• Sen. John Barrasso announces wife’s death (The Hill)
• Sen. Mike Lee says border deal won’t solve crisis, says it’s to give President Biden a ‘fig leaf’ (Deseret News)
• Romney: ‘Appalling’ Trump wants to kill border bill so he can ‘blame Biden’ (The Hill)
• Senate deal on border and Ukraine at risk of collapse as Trump calls it ‘meaningless’ (AP)
• GOP looks for Plan B on Ukraine with border bill looking DOA (The Hill)
• Biden: ‘More pressing than ever’ to remember ‘scourge of antisemitism’ on Holocaust Remembrance Day (The Hill)

Election news

• Republican National Committee pulls resolution declaring Trump as the ‘presumptive 2024 nominee’ (AP)
• Lauren Boebert mounts defense to criticisms of ‘carpetbagging’ in packed first Republican debate (AP)
• Trump reportedly ditched a staffer in Iowa after he lost a single county by a measly vote (Business Insider)
• Inside Trump's cutthroat conquest of Iowa and New Hampshire (New York Times)
• Haley raises money off Trump donor threat (The Hill)

Ukraine 🇺🇦

•  Ukraine alleges Russian disinformation in downing of military plane (Washington Post)

Israel 🇮🇱

• Qatar, a key mediator in sensitive Israel-Hamas talks, lashes out at Netanyahu over critical remarks (AP)
• War in Gaza opens scars for Palestinians in Lebanon, firming up support for Hamas (NPR)
• Israel's war with Hamas has no end in sight (Wall Street Journal)

World news

• World Court orders Israel to prevent acts of genocide, fails to order ceasefire (Reuters)
• Mass graves are still being found, almost 30 years after Rwanda’s genocide, official says (AP)
• Russian court extends detention of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich (Wall Street Journal)

Number of the Day 

News Releases

Legislature considers stipends for future educators

Today, the House Education Committee will consider H.B. 221 Stipends for Future Educators, sponsored by Rep. Karen Peterson and Sen. Chris Wilson. Utah has long valued the work of classroom teachers, but with 42% of new teachers leaving the profession within the first 5 years, efforts need to be made in both recruitment and retention of Utah teachers. 

H.B. 221 focuses on supporting new educators as they fulfill their full-time student teaching requirement. The bill proposes a stipend of $6,000 for an educator to apply for during their semester of full-time student teaching. Student teachers learn how to manage a classroom, create lesson plans, coordinate with parents, and differentiate learning for students’ varied abilities. Currently, student teachers are not paid, often forcing them to work additional jobs or take on additional debt to complete this requirement. (Read More)

Aerospace and defense leaders unveil cutting-edge technologies on Capitol Hill

Yesterday, 47G hosted their annual Utah Aerospace & Defense Day on Capitol Hill to showcase next-generation technologies from leaders in Utah’s aerospace and defense industry. The premier annual event is the only one of its kind in Utah. This unique opportunity afforded legislators and the public to see and experience Utah-based innovation, including artificial intelligence breakthroughs, composite materials used in space missions, 3-D printing applications, virtual reality devices, military-grade weapons, drone demonstrations and much more. (Read More)

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

• Jan. 31 — Utah County Safe Child Community Training, Cascade Elementary School, 7:00 pm, Register here
• Feb. 5 — Women in Leadership Executive Speaker Series: Healthcare, 11:30 am-12:30 pm, Register here
• Feb. 6 — Cache County Safe Child Parent and Community Training, Riverwoods Conference Center, 7:00 pm, Register here
• Feb. 7 — Women in Leadership Executive Series: Finance, 11:30 am-12:30 pm,Register here
• Feb. 8 — Women in Leadership Executive Speaker Series: Traditional Industries, 2:00-3:00 pm,Register here
• Feb. 21 — Women in Leadership Executive Speaker Series: Women Focused Organizations, 11:30 am-12:30 pm,Register here
• Feb. 22 — Understanding Utah’s Caucus-Convention System, with GOP Chair Rob Axson and Dem. Chair Diane Lewis, sponsored by Utah Women Run, 6:00-7:30 p.m., Register here
• Mar. 1 — Legislative session ends 
• Mar. 5 — Caucus night
• Mar. 20 — Utah Foundation Annual Lunch, 11:45 am-1:30 pm; Grand America, Purchase tickets here
• Apr. 20 — United Utah Partyconvention
• Apr. 27 — State GOP and Democratic Conventions

On This Day In History 

• 1784 - In a letter dated January 26, 1784, Benjamin Franklin writes to his daughter Sarah (Sally) Bache expressing his dismay that the eagle is chosen as an American symbol. Were he to choose, the turkey would be a more appropriate bird.
• 1788 - British settlement begins in Australia with 11 ships of convicts. It is now celebrated as Australia Day, although many Aboriginal Australians call it “Invasion Day.”
• 1826 - Julia Boggs Dent is born. She later marries Ulysses S. Grant and becomes the 19th First Lady of the United States.
• 1893 - Bessie Coleman is born. In pursuit of becoming a pilot, Coleman traveled to France after being denied the opportunity in the United States. In France, she learned to fly, returning to the United States as the first female African American and Native American pilot.
• 1905 - Maria von Trapp is born.
• 1918 - Ukraine declares its independence.
• 1954 - Ground is broken for Disneyland. 
• 1961 - JFK appoints first female presidential physician, Janet Travell.
• 1962 - Bishop Burke of Buffalo Catholic dioceses declares Chubby Checker's "The Twist" to be impure and bans it from all Catholic schools.
• 1980 - Mary Decker became the first woman to run a mile under 4 1/2 minutes, running it at 4:17.55
• 1988 - “Phantom of the Opera” opens in NYC, goes on for 4000+ performances. 
• 1998 - President Bill Clinton says "I want to say one thing to the American people; I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”
• 2005 - George W. Bush appoints Condoleeza Rice as secretary of state. 
• 2010 - The World Health Organization rejects claims that it overstated the severity of the swine flu pandemic.
• 2020 - Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna die in a helicopter crash.

Quote of the Day

"Society will not rescue, let alone help recuperate, these individuals (experiencing chronic homelessness) by building more physical shelter alone — they need qualified human support that is accompanied with the medical care, services infrastructure and accountability that will enable meaningful, lasting improvement."
—Randy Shumway

On the Punny Side

In High School I was so excited to become a Senior.

I'm not too excited now.

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