Situational Analysis | May 23, 2022

Can you believe it's the last full week of May? Welcome to Monday.

Be in the Know

1. The 2022 China Challenge Summit is coming to Utah on Thursday, June 9th, and is presented by World Trade Center Utah, Utah Valley University, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Hoover Institution and others. It will be an important gathering of leaders and experts in U.S.-China relations, international trade and business, national security policy, and others. Participants will have the opportunity to learn from and engage with a unique group of China specialists on today’s most salient diplomatic and industrial challenges. 

2. Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations, according to a scathing 288-page investigative report issued Sunday. These survivors, and other concerned Southern Baptists, repeatedly shared allegations with the SBC’s Executive Committee, “only to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC,” said the report. Also, for decades, Southern Baptists were told the denomination could not put together a registry of sex offenders because it would go against the denomination’s polity — or how it functions. What the report reveals is that leaders maintained a list of offenders while keeping it a secret to avoid the possibility of getting sued.

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Utah Headlines

General

• 'When stunt doubles marry': How one Ogden couple set themselves on fire in holy matrimony (KSL)
• Should Americans look to faith for help making business decisions?. A Deseret-Marist poll shows that Americans are divided over whether religion should influence professional choices (Deseret News)
• The legendary tale of Brigham Young and the Bear Lake Monster(s) (Deseret News)
• SLCC adviser mentors immigrants to Utah who ‘start from scratch’. Utah “Woman of the Year” Luz Gamarra knows what new arrivals need, because she was one in 2004. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• New Heavenly Mother debate breaks out between LDS feminists and LGBTQ activists. Key question: How can Mormonism make teachings about Mother God more inclusive? (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah hunting guide charged with illegally baiting bear that Trump Jr. killed (Fox13)
• ‘Candy Bomber’ honored with dedication, airlift re-creation (Daily Herald)

Politics

• Mitt Romney: We must prepare for Putin’s worst weapons (New York Times)
• Most Utahns support labor unions, but their views aren’t that simple. Let’s unpack (Deseret News)
• Editorial Board: The Utah GOP hurts the voter when it tries to control debates (Deseret News)
• Pignanelli & Webb: Utah’s primary elections are filled with intrigue (Deseret News)
• Title 42 to stay — for now — as Utah Gov. Cox says repealing law would be a ‘mistake’ (Deseret News)
• Colorado’s ‘groundbreaking’ parental leave for lawmakers could be key to diversifying statehouses (KUER)

COVID Corner

• Utah sees major spike in COVID-19, first since 2021 (UPR)
• One million Americans have died of covid. See how their lives were cut short. (Washington Post)
• They left craters of grief: Here’s a closer look at the impact of one million U.S. Covid deaths. (New York Times)
• 1 million deaths,13 last messages (New York Times)

Education

• What the school wars are really about. The 1925 Scopes trial was presented as a conflict between secularism vs. religion. But the fight also went deeper, hitting at the very meaning of freedom in a democracy. And that same debate rages on today. (Politico)
• Utah businesses turn to higher education for a hiring edge in a tight labor market (KUER)

Environment

• A hidden forest was discovered inside of a giant sinkhole in China. Scientists and researchers believe the sinkhole may be home to new varieties of plants and animals (Deseret News)
• Pollution kills 9 million people a year, researchers say (Deseret News)
• ‘Water is not going to magically appear,’ says Interior’s Tanya Trujillo (Deseret News)

Family

• Adoptions another facet of life halted by war in Ukraine (AP)
• Why emotional health matters in kids — and how the pandemic disrupted it (Deseret News)
• They said he’d never walk again. He just crossed the stage at NYU graduation. The journey of a Utah husband and father after a swimming pool accident left him paralyzed (Deseret News)
• New hotline helps mothers struggling with mental health (Daily Herald)
• 'We have to do better': Policymakers, advocates call for better support of maternal mental health (KSL)
• New campaign aims to erase mental health stigma among elderly and help them to ‘live on’ (St. George News)

Housing

• Mortgage costs are up $1,000, yet Salt Lake homes still selling in just 5 days (Deseret News)

National Headlines

General

• Abbott CEO apologizes for the formula shortage (NPR)
• First baby formula shipment arrives in U.S. from Europe (Reuters)
• Small business lose confidence in US economy (Wall Street Journal)
• Stock market bottom remains elusive despite deepening decline (Wall Street Journal)
• How a trash-talking crypto founder caused a $40 billion crash (New York Times)
• A senior member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is killed in Tehran. No one claimed responsibility for the assassination of Col. Sayad Khodayee, which took place in broad daylight outside his home. (New York Times)
• Taliban enforcing face-cover order for female TV anchors. Afghanistan's rulers have made a hard-line pivot in recent weeks. (Politico)

Politics

• Biden to lay out in Japan who’s joining new Asia trade pact (AP)
• Pentagon weighs deploying special forces to guard Kyiv embassy. Administration weighs desire to avoid escalating military presence against security of U.S. diplomats in a conflict zone (Wall Street Journal)
• He’s raised and spent millions running against Marjorie Taylor Greene. Experts doubt a Democrat can win in her Georgia district. That hasn’t stopped people from throwing money at Marcus Flowers. (Washington Post)
• Ahead of Biden visit, Israel launches biggest eviction of Palestinians in decades (Washington Post)
• Biden says U.S. military would defend Taiwan if China invaded (New York Times)
• Judge puts hold on plan to lift Title 42 border expulsion policy (Roll Call)
• Baby formula bill faces rocky terrain in Senate (The Hill)
• Republicans vow to kill domestic terrorism bill in Senate (The Hill)
• The doom spiral of pernicious polarization. The U.S. is more dangerously divided than any other wealthy democracy. Is there a way back from the brink? (The Atlantic)

Ukraine 🇺🇦 

• Poland’s president addresses Ukraine’s Parliament, calls for removal of all Russian troops. Andrzej Duda returns to Kyiv, backing Ukraine’s EU membership bid and efforts to restart exports (Wall Street Journal)
• Russian offensive turns to key Donbas city, heavy shelling (AP)
• ‘Such bad guys will come’: How one Russian brigade terrorized Bucha (New York Times)
• Russia presses Donbas attacks as Polish leader praises Kyiv (AP)
• Ukraine must decide its own future, says Poland's president (Reuters)
• Ukraine, Poland agree on joint customs control to ease movement of people, goods (Reuters)
• Ukraine rules out territorial concessions, as Russia steps up attacks (Reuters)
• ‘A long journey’: Volunteers from Belarus fight for Ukraine (AP)
• Ukraine’s first lady details war’s toll on the Zelensky family. Olena Zelenska says she didn’t see President Volodymyr Zelensky for 2½ months (Washington Post)
• President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is set to give a virtual speech on the first day of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Monday. (New York Times)
• Experts say Ukraine war shows we need a new way to feed the world (Politico)

News Releases

Curtis and colleagues seeks answers on formula shortage

Representative John Curtis (UT-03) this week introduced bipartisan legislation with Representative Sherrill, and 8 other Republican and Democratic Members requiring the Administration to submit a report to Congress within 30 days detailing the actions being taken to end the infant formula shortage. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) has introduced companion legislation. (Read More)

Romney and Markey call on China to provide unfettered and unsupervised access for top UN Human Rights official in visit to country

U.S. Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, and Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, today released the following statement on the eve of the visit of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to Xinjiang Province and other parts of Western China starting on Monday, May 23.

“We welcome news that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, after almost four years of negotiations with the Government of the People’s Republic of China, will travel to Xinjiang Province, China next week. It is vital that she have unfettered and unsupervised access to investigate crimes committed by the Chinese government against the Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities. She should document and publicize any attempts to limit or control her access,” said the senators. (Read More)

Number of the Day

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

• Envision Utah Breakfast, May 25, 8:00-9:30 am, Register here
• Ballots are mailed â€“ June 7
• Primary election day â€“ June 28
• General election â€“ Nov 8

On This Day In History

• 1785 - Benjamin Franklin announces he has invented bifocals
• 1810 - Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli was born today. Commonly known as Margaret Fuller, she was an American journalist, critic, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movement. She was the first full-time American female book reviewer in journalism. Her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first major feminist work in the U.S.
• 1824 - Ambrose Burnside is born. An American soldier, industrialist and politician (Governor of Rhode Island, 1866-69), he popularized sideburns. Burnside=sideburns. Who knew?
• 1911 - The New York Public Library, the largest marble structure ever constructed in the United States, is dedicated in New York City.
• 1934 - Bonnie Parker, of the Bonnie and Clyde duo, is shot and killed. (So is Clyde.)
• 1960 - Israel announces that high-ranking Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was captured in Argentina.
• 1977 - US Supreme Court refuses to hear appeals of Watergate wrong doers H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman & John Mitchell
• 2021 - Belarus accused of “state-sponsored hijacking" after diverting commercial Ryanair flight to Minsk to arrest dissident journalist Roman Protasevich

Wise Words

"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader."
— Margaret Fuller

Lighter Side

“Some business news, it’s been a rough couple of months for the economy and I saw that yesterday was the stock market’s worst day in over two years. Yeah, stocks fell so fast, the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling at CNBC.” 

— JIMMY FALLON

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