Also, jobless claims at their lowest since March 2020, HUGE backlog in processing passport applications and Delta Airlines sees a profit
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The Utah Policy newsletter is your one-stop source for political and policy-minded news. Send news tips or feedback to editor@utahpolicy.com.

 

Situational Analysis | July 15, 2021

How is it already Thursday?? It is National Tapioca Pudding Day and National Gummi Worm Day - they probably go together ok. If you try it, let me know. 

It's also Rep. Chris Stewart's birthday. 

Be in the Know

  1. Jobless claims fell to a new post-pandemic lockdown low - 360,000, the lowest level since March 14, 2020.

  2. Delta Airlines sees a profit, the first since the pandemic slowed travel to almost nothing. Delta Chief Executive told investors that "Domestic leisure travel has fully recovered to 2019 levels, and there are encouraging signs of improvement in business and international travel."

  3. Speaking of traveling: Better check your passport and plan ahead - way ahead. The US State Department faces a backlog of 1.5 million to 2 million passport applications, and estimates turnaround times of 12 to 18 weeks.

  4. Hundreds of women - hundreds - made allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar. FBI agents disregarded them and later made false statements to cover their mistakes, said a scathing report released yesterday by the Justice Department. “This report is absolutely chilling, truly a gut punch to anyone who cares about effective law enforcement,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal after being briefed on the report.

  5. Random factoid: Tom Thumb, a real man only 40 inches tall and Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest known person at 8'11.1" both died on July 15 (different years).

 

Utah Headlines

General

  • Graffiti at Logan High that used Nazi symbols, codes, slogans sparks online uproar (Herald Journal)
  • Zion National Park sets all-time record of 670,000 visitors in a month, shattering the previous record of 629,000 (St. George News)
  • Massive Facebook Data Center in Eagle Mountain is now up and running. It is one of only 17 worldwide. (Fox 13)
  • Witness: Man hurled racial slurs at Cottonwood Heights Asian business owner in the 'most disgusting manner' (KUTV)

Politics

  • Wiser: The danger of picking politics over everything else (Standard-Examiner)
  • Utah lawmakers say they welcome public participation as the redistricting process begins (KUER)
  • Utah civic leaders call upon Sens. Romney, Lee to back immigration reform bills (KSL)
  • What will be 2022’s hot political topics? Look at these ads by GOP senators for clues: Republicans running in 2022 are emphasizing their ties to Trump and criticizing Big Tech, Fauci and Democrats’ ‘socialist agenda’ and immigration (Deseret News)

COVID Corner

  • 572 new cases, 4 new deaths
  • Iron and Washington counties back in the high transmission level (ABC4)
  • Summit County Board of Health members say vaccinations have become political (Park Record)
  • The U.S. Surgeon General Is Calling COVID-19 Misinformation An 'Urgent Threat' (NPR)
  • 'We're drowning': Argentines struggle under COVID-19 as death toll hits 100,000 (Reuters)
  • How Indonesia became Asia’s new COVID-19 epicenter (Deseret News)
  • Vaccine deliveries rising as delta virus variant slams Asia (AP)

Drought/Wildfires/Heat

  • Dry soils and historic drought are exacerbating flash floods in Utah (KUER)
  • If you thought the drought was bad for water supplies, just add wildfires (Deseret News)

Education

  • Utah Rural Schools Association comes to town, as the annual educator conference brought more than 700 to Richfield last week (Richfield Reaper)
  • Millard School District eyes $3 million in COVID spending, asks for public input (Millard County Chronicle Progress)

Environment

  • Zion National Park warns visitors to be aware that flash floods could kill them. It’s monsoon season at the park, and staff there doesn’t want a repeat of the 2015 deaths of seven hikers. (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Mary McGann: Proposed Book Cliffs highway would be expensive and damaging to local environment (Salt Lake Tribune)

Family

  • Money in the bank: Child tax credit dollars head to parents (AP)
  • Child tax credits should have immediate Utah County impact (Daily Herald)

Health

  • U.S. drug-overdose deaths soared nearly 30% in 2020. Fentanyl, along with isolation and stress from Covid-19 pandemic, drove increase, experts say (Wall Street Journal)
  • New project at Utah State University is designed to help youth leaders identify mental health issues (Cache Valley Daily)
  • J&J recalls sunscreens after carcinogen found in some sprays (Reuters)

Housing

  • Property taxes for local San Juan County homeowners will increase dramatically due to “factoring order” (San Juan Record)
  • Agencies coordinate to fight homelessness in Moab: Council focuses on those with severe needs amidst housing crisis (Moab Sun News)
  • You need to earn $20.21 an hour to afford a 2-bedroom apartment in Utah, report says (KUTV)
  • Utah renters are doubling up with roommates, family members to make ends meet (Salt Lake Tribune)

Infrastructure

  • Mayors discuss transportation, future of mobility in Utah County (Daily Herald)

Legal

  • Lawsuit settled for woman 'driving while Black' in Murray City (Fox 13)

Local Communities

  • From polygamous refuge to tourist town: Residents adapt to the transformation of Short Creek (KUER)

PBS-Insight-General-300x250-2

National Headlines

General

  • Loving your country means teaching its history honestly (Time)
  • General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, likened Trump's effort to hold onto power after the 2020 election to Adolf Hitler, saying he was preaching 'the gospel of the Führer' with his lies about the election being stolen. (New York)
  • Singer Britney Spears won the right to choose her own lawyer to help her end a 13-year-long conservatorship and pleaded for the court to oust her father immediately from the role of controlling her business affairs.  (Reuters)
  • Uncovering boarding school history makes for monumental task (AP)

Politics

  • Authoritarianism advances as world battles the pandemic (AP)
  • Michigan GOP executive director quits under pressure from Trump allies after acknowledging former president's 2020 defeat. He was Mitt Romney's 2007 presidential deputy campaign manager. (The Hill)
  • Man who dangled from Senate balcony pleads guilty in Capitol riots, will cooperate against others (Washington Post)
  • The rise of Tucker Carlson as the preeminent voice of angry White America (Washington Post)
  • Pigs fly: McConnell weighs giving Biden a bipartisan win (Politico)

Education

  • What do Alabama and California have in common? Top-notch U.S. history standards (NPR)

Elections

  • ‘It will be remembered’: Trump allies cross him in special election
    Debbie Meadows, the wife of ex-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Sen. Rand Paul have endorsed candidates opposing a Trump pick in Ohio. (Politico)

International

  • Not good. Miami security firm faces questions in Haiti assassination (AP)
  • South Africa looting: Government to deploy 25,000 troops after unrest (BBC)

Business Headlines

  • Delta Air Lines reports its first profit since the start of the pandemic. (New York Times)
  • Many jobs lost during the coronavirus pandemic just aren’t coming back (Wall Street Journal)
  • Robinhood, Others Upend Rules for Early IPO Trading (Wall Street Journal)
  • Dogecoin Creator Says Crypto Is a Scam (Gizmodo)
  • The co-creator of dogecoin explains why he doesn't plan to return to crypto: It's 'controlled by a powerful cartel of wealthy figures' (CNBC)
 

Policy News

Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks announces $36 million in unclaimed cash returned to Utahns in FY2021

Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks today announced the Utah Unclaimed Property Division reunited $36 million in unclaimed property with rightful owners in fiscal year 2021 (July 2020 – June 2021).  

When a business owes money to an individual it cannot find, it remits those funds to the state’s Unclaimed Property Division after three years of non-contact with the owner. Last year, the division received 449,998 unclaimed properties totaling $52.1 million. Unclaimed property comes from sources like dormant bank accounts, overpaid medical bills, uncashed checks, safe deposit box contents and unpaid insurance benefits. Read More


Becky Edwards hits early fundraising goal with over $500,000 in contributions

Former Utah House representative Becky Edwards reported raising $504,881 after her first quarter as a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Utah. This major milestone indicates that Edwards achieved her first fundraising goal after only 35 days on the campaign trail.

These contributions were the result of a true grassroots effort that brought together more than 269 individual donors, many chipping in $22 for the campaign’s #22for2022 initiative. Contributions were made before June 30, the end of the campaign finance reporting period set by the Federal Election Commission. Read More


Utah Independent Redistricting Commission launches new interactive website for Utahns to participate in the redistricting process

The Utah Independent Redistricting Commission (UIRC) today launched its new website (uirc.utah.gov) to allow Utahns to participate first-hand in the redistricting process for the first time in the state’s history.

Prior to Utah Proposition 4 being passed in 2018 and compromise legislation passed in 2020, Utah’s citizens relied solely on their state elected officials to create political boundaries. The increasing desire of citizens to have more say in Utah’s redistricting process resulted in the creation of the seven-member, bipartisan UIRC that acts independently from the Utah State Legislature, whose mission is to gather input Utah citizens, and use that information to develop new, proposed political boundary maps for the state of Utah.

This website is critical in this independent process. (Read More)


Utah hosting NCSL redistricting conference

More than 450 people are expected this week in Salt Lake City as the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) will host its final “Get Ready to Redistrict” seminar from July 14-16.

“Redistricting is front and center on the minds of legislators throughout the nation right now as we wait for the U.S. Census Bureau to release the detailed data required to do the job,” said Wendy Underhill, NCSL’s elections and redistricting director. “We’re lucky to have the nation’s experts on this exciting and sometimes contentious topic gathered in Salt Lake City. Read More


C.W. Urban to construct affordable housing in Park City

C.W. Urban, an innovative Utah real estate developer, announces a new affordable housing project called The Village, located in Silver Creek, a master planned development in Park City.

The project consists of 38 condominiums including a mix of studio, 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, and 3-bedroom dwellings. Of that number, 24 of the units will be sold as workforce housing to households earning 55% to 80% of the Summit County Area Median Income. The remaining 14 units will be sold at market prices. The affordable units will be integrated with the market rate units and C.W. anticipates having all units completed within 18 months. (Read More)


Dane Ishihara named director of the Office of Regulatory Relief

The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity is pleased to announce Dane Ishihara as the director of the newly formed Utah Office of Regulatory Relief.

“Dane is going to do awesome work in this new role, and we’re excited to have him be the first-ever director of the Office Regulatory Relief,” said Dan Hemmert, the Economic Opportunity office’s executive director. “I am confident Dane has the experience and capabilities to lead this new Legislative initiative.” (Read More)

 
 

Upcoming

  • Securing the American Dream: A conversation with Tim Scott presented by the Hatch Foundation – Aug 11 @ noon. Register here
  • Utah Foundation Annual Luncheon with Shaylyn Romney Garrett – Sept 23 @ 12 pm. Register here

PBS Utah-Public-Lands_0712-0713_UP Newsletter
 

On This Day In History

From History.com

  • 1799 - The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign.
  • 1806 - Zebulon Pike leads an exploring party across the American Southwest. He ends up in Colorado and has a mountain named after him. 
  • 1899 - Estelle Ishigo is born. An artist, she joined her Japanese-American husband in a Wyoming internment camp during WWII, made sketches of her experience for the War Relocation Authority, and published “Lone Heart Mountain” in 1972 chronicling her internment.
  • 1923 - Connie Boucher is born. An artist, she helped start the character merchandising industry by licensing characters such as Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” and Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.”
  • 1952 - Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is born. In 1989, Ros-Lehtinen became the first Cuban American and Latina elected to Congress. She gave the first Republican response to the State of the Union Address in Spanish in 2011 then again in 2014.
  • 2006 - Twitter officially launches

Wise Words

"Silence is complicity. To silence one’s own voice gives power to others who are not silent."
-Rebecca Chavez-Houck


Lighter Side

“Pop star Olivia Rodrigo met with President Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci today to discuss coronavirus vaccine outreach. That story, again: America’s No. 1 teen idol met with Joe Biden and Olivia Rodrigo.” 

— SETH MEYERS

 

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