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Good morning. Salt Lake City will have a high of 46° and a low of 29°.

Salt Lake City-born figure skater Nathan Chen broke a world record at the Beijing Olympics on Monday. Tonight, he'll compete for a gold medal in the individual free skate. If he wins, it will be his first-ever Olympic gold medal, as well as the USA's first gold medal of the 2022 Olympics.

Also on our mind today: why you should plan for the next major COVID-19 variant now, an Ogden School District "pathway" school and which state eliminated its ban on nuclear power.

Sticker shock: Survey finds most Utahns worried about record inflation

A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found 93% of respondents are somewhat or very concerned about inflation. Of those who are concerned about inflation, 64% believe inflation impacts will be long term and prices will continue to climb.

Compared to the same time the previous year, the U.S. Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index December 2021 report found:

grocery prices up 6.3%
energy prices up 29.3%
used car and truck prices up 37.3%
shelter prices up 4.1%

The Federal Reserve is poised to increase interest rates in March, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly told Reuters in a brief phone interview late last month.

Daly said that COVID-19 has simply persisted longer than expected and economic impacts like higher-than-normal demand for goods and supply chain bottlenecks that have exacerbated inflation rates will not persist past the time when pandemic conditions ease.

Read more about the effects of inflation on Utahns.

Is misinformation about COVID, United Nations a trend at Utah Capitol?

A Utah bill to create a permanent digital driver’s license program faces an uncertain future after dozens of constituents flocked to a House committee hearing on Monday to voice their frustration with digital IDs — many citing unfounded fears of a United Nations takeover or concentration camps.

Context: Last month, another bill drew a “litany” of public comments from constituents with concerns involving martial law, "concentration camps" and U.N. involvement.

Why it matters: Neither bill is about the kind of hot-button issue — like abortion or guns — that typically draws public ire. And what's more, it seems that a handful of websites and organizations that stoke fear with speculation and misinformation are tipping constituents off about these bills.

What's next: The committee adjourned without recommending the bill, which previously passed the Senate unanimously. The House can resurrect discussion of the bill at any time, though they have no public plans to do so.

Read more about misinformation and privacy concerns.

More in Politics

Biden’s approval rating has improved with these Utah voters (Deseret News)
Is Utah running out of water? Latest forecast won’t help water supplies (Deseret News)
Utah bill would require police officer training for responding to hate crimes (KSL.com)
Gov. Cox serves as a substitute teacher in the Granite School District (KSL Newsradio)
Juneteenth could become an official state holiday in Utah (KUER)

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COVID

You should plan for the next major COVID-19 variant now, expert says (Deseret News)

Faith

Latter-day Saint Young Men leader apologizes for ‘wrong’ statement about Black people and priesthood (Deseret News)
Church leader says BYU will remain ‘a religious university with a religious purpose’ (Deseret News)
Retired Pope Benedict asks for forgiveness due to abuse cases (Deseret News)

Southern Utah

Cedar City Council expected to vote Wednesday on proposed water rate increases (St. George News)

Northern Utah

Nintendo president to keynote University of Utah commencement (KSL.com)
How a new arts grant will flow directly to local artists and revive cultural industry hurt by pandemic (Deseret News)
Did TikTok challenge lead to random pellet gun shootings in Vernal? (KSL.com)
Unknown clothes, bones found in search for Susan Powell in West Desert mine (KUTV)
Gears in motion for Ogden School District ‘pathway’ high school on O-Tech campus (The Standard-Examiner)

The Nation

Protesters call for Minneapolis police chief's resignation after Amir Locke killing (NPR)
Coal-dependent West Virginia eliminates ban on nuclear power (NPR)

The World

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he won’t escalate Ukraine crisis, French president says (Deseret News)
Republicans in the U.S. are supporting the Ottawa trucker protests (Deseret News)

Trending

Here are the Oscar nominations to watch (Deseret News)
Lin-Manuel Miranda has another chance to win an Oscar and achieve EGOT status (Deseret News)

Blocking out all the trade deadline noise is hard to do. Here’s how Jazz players are trying to do it

The way the Jazz see it, no matter who is on the roster on Feb. 11, once the NBA trade deadline has passed, they have a goal and they need to keep working toward it. That means building on some of the good that they’ve seen in recent days and cleaning up more of the bad.