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Situational awareness - April 17, 2018

Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. It's tax day! Here are some tips on reducing your chances of an audit.

Ballot initiative organizers declare victory. Veto override session set. Sean Hannity is revealed as a client of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer.

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Tick Tock

4 days until the Utah GOP State Convention (4/21/2018)
11 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention (4/28/2018)
20 days until the final day a veto override session may begin (5/7/2018)
70 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)
204 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
287 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
934 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Take a minute and subscribe to the "Bernick and Schott on politics" podcast. Listen to Utah's best political analysis while you're on the go. Hosts Bryan Schott and Bob Bernick have more than 60 years combined experience covering Utah politics, so they bring you knowledge and insight that's unprecedented. You can subscribe using iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.

Here are the news stories driving Tuesday

Which citizens initiatives will make the ballot?

Backers of all four proposals say they have enough signatures to qualify for November's ballot. Could the LDS Church's opposition to the medical marijuana initiative damage its broad base of support? [Utah Policy].

How many verified signatures does each proposal have right now? We've got the latest numbers showing how close each is to making the ballot [Utah Policy].

Veto override session set

Lawmakers will attempt to override two of Gov. Gary Herbert's vetoes on Wednesday afternoon [Utah Policy].

Our Schools Now deal official

Our Schools Now dropped their signature-gathering efforts to get an income and sales tax hike on the ballot in November as part of the deal they reached with lawmakers for more school funding [Utah Policy].

Primary and general election candidates

Which candidates are left standing following the political conventions? Check out who remains with our 2018 Candidate Trackers.

Congressional races

Utah Senate

Utah House

Other Utah headlines

The Salt Lake City Council is postponing their vote on a proposed sales tax hike to work out how to spend the new funds [Deseret News, Tribune].
The Utah State Board of Education updates their anti-bullying policies to include LGBTQ children [Fox 13].
A study says a toll road is the best way to deal with increasing traffic in Little Cottonwood Canyon [Deseret News].
Gas prices in Utah are the 8th highest in the country and could be heading upwards [Deseret News].

National headlines

Stunner! President Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen reveals in court that one of his clients is Fox News host Sean Hannity. Hannity disputes that claim [ABC News].
A federal judge may appoint a special master to review records seized from Michael Cohen's office and hotel room [Washington Post].
The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on whether online retailers should be required to collect sales taxes [CNN].
President Trump backs off new sanctions on Russia that U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced on Sunday [Washington Post].
The Trump 2020 re-election campaign is targeting small donors to boost their campaign coffers [New York Times].
Russian hackers are targeting wireless internet routers in the U.S. and other western countries [ABC News].

On this day in history

1397 - Geoffrey Chaucer tells The Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.
1512 - The Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Martin Luther after he refused to admit to charges of heresy.
1524 - Italian navigator Giovanni Verrazano discovered what is now New York Harbor.
1861 - Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States, becoming the 8th state to join the Confederate States of America.
1905 - The Supreme Court decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
1961 - Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
1969 - Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
1993 - A federal jury convicted two Los Angeles police officers and acquitted two others of violating the civil rights of Rodney King during his 1991 arrest and beating.

Today At Utah Policy

Citizen initiative backers claim victory; Signature verification underway
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
Utahns, be prepared to vote on at least one citizen initiative petition on this November's ballot....

Ballot initiative signature update
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
The deadline for ballot initiatives to submit signatures has passed. How close are the proposals to qualifying for the 2018 ballot?...

Lawmakers set veto override session for Wednesday
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Lawmakers will gather on Wednesday afternoon for Utah's first veto override session since 2011....

Gov. Herbert and Our Schools Now celebrate legislative collaboration
By Press Release
On the last day to submit signatures to file a ballot initiative for the November election, Gov. Herbert ceremonially signed H.B. 491, paving the way for a ballot question with the potential to bring significant levels of new investment in public education to head to voters ...

Utah Foundation tax calculator shows impact of federal, state tax changes
By Utah Foundation
Utah families have a new resource to compare their state income tax liability for 2017 to their expected taxes for 2018....

2018 Utah candidate tracker - Congress
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
There's a U.S. Senate seat up for election in 2018 as well as all four U.S. House seats. Here's the list of candidates ahead of the Republican and Democratic state conventions....

2018 Utah candidate tracker - Utah Senate
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
2018 means another election cycle is upon us. Half of the Utah Senate seats are up for election this year. Here's the list of candidates are either headed to a primary or secured a spot in the general election....

2018 Utah candidate tracker - Utah House
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
All 75 Utah House seats are up for election this year. Here's our running list of who has clinched the nomination, and who is in a primary election....

Policy News

Riverton launches new mobile app for residents
Riverton City has launched a new mobile app aimed at connecting residents with city information and services right from their mobile devices....

GOED names Roger Killpack to Board of Directors
The Governor's Office of Economic Development announced the appointment of Roger Killpack to its Board of Directors....

Fox files 'FTZ #30 - An example in partnership'
About a year ago, we noticed a trend in our project pipeline. We received more and more inquiries from expanding companies about Salt Lake City's Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ)....