Situational Analysis | October 18, 2021

Welcome to a new week. It's National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day - a scary proposition for some (me). Afterward, you can celebrate by observing National Chocolate Cupcake Day.

Be in the Know

1. Colin Powell died this morning of complications of COVD-19. He served served as secretary of state during the presidency of George W. Bush and led the first Gulf War as chairman of the joint chiefs, the first African American to serve in both of those senior posts. Former President George W. Bush sent his condolences, saying that General Powell was "such a favorite of Presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom - twice."

2. Judy Weeks-Rohner will replace Rep. Craig Hall in District 33. She helped organize the massive signature-gathering effort to block Utah's tax reform bill and defeat proponents of the bill, including Senator Lyle Hillyard.

Utah Headlines

General

• Meet Tom McCourt, the bard of Carbon County. Nobody knows southeastern Utah — or writes about it — better than Tom McCourt (Deseret News)
• How Utah plans to replace its state prison with a ‘world-class’ community (Deseret News)
• After litigation and political intrigue, Park City seeks to bring closure to heated land dispute (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office looks to fill 100+ openings (KSL)
• First Chinese house for transcontinental railroad workers discovered in Utah (Fox13)
• Encircle reaches $8 million for eight homes goal (Daily Herald)
• 'It's about helping your neighbor': How you can help solve southern Utah's housing crisis (The Spectrum)

Politics

• West Valley City mayoral candidates speak to a big challenge: Getting residents to stay (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utahns have one week to submit input on the state’s new voting districts, or wait another 10 years. The Utah Independent Redistricting Commission will deliver their final report to the Legislature on Nov. 1, but lawmakers get the final say. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• U.S. District Court denies effort by state, county officials to weigh in on prairie dog lawsuit (St. George News)
• Opinion: Is Evan McMullin a threat to Sen. Mike Lee? (Deseret News)
• Opinion: What if our politicians were more like entrepreneurs? (Deseret News)

COVID Corner

• Friday: 1493 new cases, 17 new deaths
• Front-line fatigue: COVID resurgence leaves ICU doctors feeling ‘heavy in the soul’ (Deseret News)
• Poverty in the pandemic: Studies hope to help Utah families hit financially by COVID-19 (Fox13)
• New maps show pandemic impacts on Indigenous people in the U.S. (KUER)
• What to know about the covid-19 treatment molnupiravir (Washington Post)
• Miami school says vaccinated students must stay home for 30 days to protect others, citing discredited info (Washington Post)

Business

• 'Ping-Pong tables are not culture': Why Utah tech leaders say startup culture is changing (Deseret News)

Education

• Why schools increasingly offer mental health days for students (Deseret News)
• New survey reveals how Utah students are weathering the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly half of high school seniors report feeling anxious, sad or hopeless. (Deseret News)
• 420,000 homeless kids went missing from schools’ rolls last year. They may never be found (Deseret News)
• Vandalism spike in Washington County and other Utah school districts linked to a TikTok social media challenge (Salt Lake Tribune)

National Headlines

General

• US religious group says 17 Christian missionaries - including 5 children - kidnapped in Haiti after visiting an orphanage (AP)
• Haiti's kidnapping crisis is plunging the country even further into turmoil (NPR)
• Jury selection to start in trial over Ahmaud Arbery’s death (AP)
• The ‘Great Resignation’ goes global (Washington Post)

Politics

• Manchin draws his red lines on the child tax credit (Yahoo News)
• At Axel Springer, Politico’s new owner, allegations of sex, lies and a secret payment (New York Times)
• Missouri governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website (Missouri Independent)
• As Texas gains political power, Black and Hispanic districts get squeezed via redistricting (Wall Street Journal)
• Members of Congressional Committee question whether Amazon executives misled Congress (Wall Street Journal)
• Lawmakers warn Biden not to dilute the ‘biggest racial justice bill in generations’ (Politico)

Elections

• ‘This is the future’: Black Senate candidates crush fundraising expectations (Politico)
• As Trump thunders about the last election, Republicans worry about the next one (New York Times)
• Democrats face grim political reality in midterms (The Hill)

International

• Tigrayan forces accuse government of air strikes in Ethiopia's Mekelle (Reuters)
• British lawmaker stabbed to death in 'terrorist incident' while meeting with constituents (Reuters)

Policy News

Major Brent Taylor Foundation Veterans Week 2021 Events

The North Ogden-based Major Brent Taylor Foundation (MBTF) announces the theme and schedule of events for the 2021 Veterans Week celebration. Please see the attached flyer for details about each event. 

This year’s theme is “Now More Than Ever,” meaning: Now more than ever, we honor those who serve.  Now more than ever, we stand behind our military men and women.  Now more than ever, we come together as neighbors and citizens to express our gratitude to all of America’s veterans, past and present. 

 Events include the unfurling of the giant flag known as The Major in North Ogden’s Coldwater Canyon, a memorial blood drive with the American Red Cross, a Field of Honor with 500 American Flags placed in honor of local service men and women, an outdoor Veterans Devotional Program, and a fundraiser gala for the Major Brent Taylor Foundation’s Leadership Legacy Scholarship program. (Read More)

Rep. Curtis attends roundtable with small businesses on the “Road to Recovery”

On Friday, October 15, 2021, U.S. Representative John Curtis (UT-03) toured Relic, an advertising agency, and attended a roundtable discussion with local small business owners to discuss the challenges facing small businesses on the road to recovery, including labor shortages, supply chain issues, and the ongoing issues caused by COVID-19 and new challenges posed by the rise of the Delta variant. The attending small business owners from the Third District of Utah — Adam Stoker of Relic, Ezralea Robbins of Mountainside Spa, Lelani Craig of CommGap International Language Services, and Craig Boorman of Computune Certified Auto Repair â€” are graduates of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program delivered in partnership with Salt Lake Community College.

“Small businesses represent over 90% of all Utah businesses, many of which have faced extreme hardships resulting from the uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Rep. Curtis. “I was proud to support bipartisan legislation in the early days of the pandemic that provided critical resources to millions of small businesses across the United States that helped keep their doors open and employees on the payroll. More importantly, countless private individuals and businesses stepped up to support American jobs in a time of need. (Read More)

Number of the Day

Upcoming

• Hatch Center Symposium with U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) â€”  Oct. 29, Noon, Salt Lake City. Space is limited. Register here.
• Utah Business Economic Summit – Nov 5, 8:00 am - 4 pm Register here
• Growth, Grit and Grace - SLC Chamber's Women & Business Conference and ATHENA awards – Nov 19, 8:00 am - 3:30 pm Register here

On This Day In History

From History.com

• 1648 - Boston Shoemakers establish the first American labor organization. 
• 1767 - Mason and Dixon draw a line, dividing the colonies
• 1867 - The US formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre.
• 1897 - Isabel Briggs Myers is born. She later teamed up with her mother Katharine Cook Brigs to develop one of the most widely used personality inventories.
• 1898 - US takes control of Puerto Rico.
• 1917 - Mamie Clark is born. A psychologist, and her husband were the first African Americans to earn PhDs in psychology from Columbia University. 
• 1931 - Thomas Edison dies at age 84.
• 1968 - US Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving the Black Power salute to protest racism and injustice against African-Americans during Olympic medal ceremony.
• 1972 - Clean Water Act becomes law.
• 1982 - Bess Truman, former First Lady (1945-53), dies in Independence, Mo at 97

Wise Words

“A racist system inevitably destroys and damages human beings.”

-Mamie Phipps Clark

Lighter Side

Q: What are a ghost’s favorite rides at the fair?
A: The scary-go-round and rollerghoster!

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