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Daily Briefing

Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 285th day of the year. There are 80 days remaining in 2017.

The clock:

• 5 days until ballots for the 2017 general election are mailed to voters (10/17/2017)
• 26 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)
• 102 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
• 147 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
• 390 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 1,118 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR -

• Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is apologizing for endorsing current Mayor Jackie Biskupski during the 2015 campaign. Anderson says, in his opinion, Biskupski is incompetent and lacks the qualifications for her job [Utah Policy]. Here's a podcast of our conversation with Anderson [Utah Policy].
  
  
• Utah leaders are praising the results so far of Operation Rio Grande, but experts say the efforts to clean up homelessness in downtown Salt Lake City are "misguided" and a "disaster" [Deseret News, Tribune].
  
  
• Rep. Rob Bishop's bill to curb the power of the president to create national monuments under the Antiquities Act passes a House committee [Deseret News, Tribune].
  
  
• The Utah Transit Authority may need another $10 million to cover cost overruns on a rapid-transit project in Utah County [Deseret News].
  
  
• The Utah A.G. office is fighting to keep the legal opinion on whether the timeline for the special election in Utah's 3rd CD was proper secret from the media [Tribune].
  
  
• Enrollment at Utah State University drops for the second straight year [Tribune].
  
  
• Snap Inc., the company behind the massively popular apps Snapchat and Bitmoji, is considering opening an office in Utah [Deseret News].

National headlines:

• Breaking: President Donald Trump threatens to abandon the recovery effort in Puerto Rico. On Thursday morning the President tweeted "We cannot keep FEMA in PR forever" [Washington Post].
  
  
• President Trump's latest media target is NBC News. Trump lashed out at NBC's report that he called for a massive increase in America's nuclear arsenal, saying news organizations should not be allowed "to print whatever they want" [Washington Post].
  
  
• Former White House strategist Steve Bannon says he thinks there's only a 30% chance that President Donald Trump completes his first term in office. Aides and confidantes say Trump is "unstable," "losing a step," and "unraveling" [Vanity Fair].
  
  
• House lawmakers plan to release the Facebook ads purchased by Russian agents during the 2016 election to help elect Donald Trump [Recode].
  
  
• President Trump pitches his tax reform plan in Pennsylvania [Politico].
  
  
• President Donald Trump plans to issue an executive order to weaken Obamacare through the creation of cheaper health care plans that would pull healthier consumers away from the Obamacare exchanges [Politico].
  
  
• Aides to President Donald Trump say the chief executive was "livid" and "threw a fit" in July when advisers suggested he stay with the Iran deal brokered by President Obama [Washington Post].
  
  
• President Trump may sit down for a meeting with special counsel Robert Mueller in order to help Mueller wrap up his probe of Russia's interference in the 2016 election [Politico].
  
  
• President Donald Trump nominates Kirstjen Nielsen to be Homeland Security Secretary. Nielsen is currently the chief deputy to White House chief of staff John Kelly [Axios].
  
  
• The death toll in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria has risen to 45. Most of the island remains without basic services [CNN].
  
  
• The wildfires in Northern California have killed 23 people so far. Firefighters worry the blazes could gain momentum on Thursday [Associated Press].
  
  
• The Boy Scouts announces they will allow girls to join the Cub Scouts. The organization will also create a program for girls to attain the rank of Eagle Scout [BSA].

On this day in history:

• 1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean.
  
  
• 1692 - The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter for Massachusetts Governor Sir William Phips.
  
  
• 1810 - First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
  
  
• 1892 - The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many public schools as part of the celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage.
  
  
• 1901 - President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.
  
  
• 1960 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations General Assembly meeting.
  
  
• 1973 - President Richard Nixon nominated House Minority Leader Gerald Ford for the vice presidency to replace Spiro Agnew, who had resigned two days earlier.

Today At Utah Policy

Rocky Anderson apologizes for endorsing Jackie Biskupski By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is not pulling any punches when it comes to criticising current Mayor Jackie Biskupski....

Podcast: Interview with Rocky Anderson By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Over the weekend, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson took to Facebook to apologize for endorsing current Mayor Jackie Biskupski during the 2015 campaign....

Weekly survey: Gun legislation following Las Vegas By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Do you think either Congress or the Utah Legislature will address meaningful gun legislation following the massacre in Las Vegas? Let us know what you think in our weekly survey....

Policy News

Salt Lake Chamber signs letter urging Trump administration to modernize NAFTA, 'Do no harm' The Salt Lake Chamber joined more than 300 state and local business associations from across all 50 states in expressing its support for a modernized North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and urging the Trump administration to "do no harm" as negotiations continue....

STEP Grant now accepting applications The application period for the State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) Grant is open now through Oct. 31. The program is managed by World Trade Center Utah and funded in part through a grant with the U.S. Small Business Administration....

Announcing the 1st Real Women Run event in Logan 'Top of Utah' Women in northern Utah and surrounding communities who want to get involved in politics as candidates, campaign managers or community leaders, are invited to join the first ever Real Women Run training event in Logan on November 4, 2017 from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM in t...

Wise Words

Countrymen

"If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen." Ronald Reagan

Lighter Side

Good News Bad News

"So this was the closest thing I could find. A group of Turkish archaeologists claimed they've uncovered the final resting place of St. Nicholas, Old St. Nick. How do you explain that to kids? "I have some good news about Santa and some bad news. Good news is he was real. Santa is real and Santa is dead." Jimmy Kimmel