Today is International Women's Day! This year’s theme is “Invest in Women: Accelerating Progress.” And as Holly Richardson puts it, investing in women just makes sense, doesn’t it?
Also on our mind: New legislation prevents finance companies from tracking firearm sales in Utah, a guide to sleep from A to Zzzs and how the Islamic holy month of Ramadan will affect these BYU players' routines.
President Joe Biden's election-year State of the Union speech
President Joe Biden launched into his fiery and political election-year State of the Union speech by looking back at President Franklin Roosevelt’s address in 1941 when Adolf Hitler raged across Europe.
“President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary time. Freedom and democracy are under assault,” he said. “Tonight, I come to the same chamber to address the nation. Now it’s we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the union.”
Ahead of his speech, Biden’s motorcade to the Capitol was delayed because a pro-Palestine protest blocked intersections. He started 25 minutes later than scheduled, at close to 7:30 p.m. MT on Thursday evening.
As he made his way to the podium — shaking many hands and engaging in conversations — Democrats erupted in an enthusiastic chant of “Four more years!”
Read more about Biden's State of the Union address.
State school board member Natalie Cline returned to her first regular board meeting Thursday after she posted on social media a photo of a high school basketball player that implied the student is transgender captioned “Girls’ basketball…” The Facebook post has since been deleted.
On Feb. 15, the Utah Legislature took the unprecedented action of also publicly censuring Cline, opting not to impeach her. Legislative leaders, along with many state, county and locally elected officials urged her to resign, but she recently announced she will remain in the race for re-election to the board’s District 9 seat, largely in southwest Salt Lake County.
Cline’s supporters packed the Utah State Board of Education meeting room with a dozen people speaking during the board’s public comment period. Some of them called Cline a “hero for Utah’s children” and “a lifeline for parents.” Some wore T-shirts printed with “I support Natalie Cline.”
Heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale, BYU (9-8, 21-9) is tied for sixth place in the Big 12 standings. But if the No. 20 Cougars beat Oklahoma State Saturday night in Provo and Kansas (10-7, 22-8) loses at No. 1 Houston, BYU would get the fifth seed in Kansas City.
The fifth-seeded team will play its second-round game next Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. local time in Missouri. The timing of tipoff — in daylight hours — is significant to the three members of the team who are Muslim: post players Aly Khalifa, Fousseyni Traore and Atiki Ally Atiki.