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Local News Highlights: Daily Briefing

Morning must reads for Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 262nd day of the year. There are 103 days remaining in 2017.

The clock:

• 28 days until ballots for the 2017 general election are mailed to voters (10/17/2017)
• 49 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)
• 125 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
• 170 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
• 413 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 1,141 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR -

• POLL: 49% of Utahns say they favor shrinking the boundaries of the new Bears Ears National Monument. 44% say they would get behind reducing the size of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument [Utah Policy].
  
  
• Wedge issue? Rep. Mia Love, who favors reducing the size of Bears Ears, is on the opposite side of voters in her district who would like to keep the monument as-is [Utah Policy].
  
  
• Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman faces a Senate committee on Tuesday as part of the confirmation process for him to become the U.S. ambassador to Russia. Huntsman will likely face some tough questions about Russia's role in the 2016 election [Deseret News, Tribune].
  
  
• Sen. Mike Lee says Huntsman's confirmation will be a "slam dunk," and the only thing that could hold up the process is "politics" [KSL].
  
  
• Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee cast opposing votes on a $700 billion defense spending bill, with Hatch voting in favor of the measure and Lee opposing. The bill passed the Senate on an 89-9 vote [Deseret News].
  
  
• Gov. Gary Herbert is asking lawmakers to sign off on a $11.4 million settlement proposal in a lawsuit the state filed against the contractor who constructed the Timpanogos Highway. Utah originally sued the contractor for more than $29 million [Tribune].
  
  
• More than 1,100 people have been arrested during Operation Rio Grande, but only a handful of those involved what backers of the plan to clean up downtown Salt Lake City call "dangerous criminals" [Tribune].
  
  
• Mary Burkett, a longtime GOP activist, is launching a bid to challenge Rep. Chris Stewart for the Republican nomination in CD2 next year [Tribune].
  
  
• Apartment vacancy rates are near an all-time low in Salt Lake County as the construction of new units is barely keeping up with demand [Tribune].
  
  
• A new survey finds Americans are alarmingly uninformed about the Constitution. Only 1/4 can name all three branches of government [Utah Policy].

National headlines:

• RUSSIA BOMBSHELL #1: Robert Mueller's prosecutors told former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort they planned to indict him following a "no-knock" raid on his house [New York Times].
  
  
• RUSSIA BOMBSHELL #2: Federal investigators used a FISA warrant to secretly wiretap Paul Manafort before and after the 2016 election. The government was concerned that Manafort encouraged the Russians to help with Trump's campaign, but sources say the evidence obtained so far is not conclusive [CNN].
  
  
• A last-ditch effort by Senate Republicans to repeal Obamacare is gaining steam, but time is running out for GOP Senators to pass the measure with a simple majority [Politico].
  
  
• Republican Sen. John Kennedy is warning that large "blue" states like California could use federal money to set up their own single-payer healthcare systems and wants to pass legislation to prevent that from happening [Washington Examiner].
  
  
• Senate Republicans may propose a budget featuring $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next 10 years [Wall Street Journal].
  
  
• Congressional investigators are worried Facebook is withholding some key information about how Russian intelligence used the social media platform to interfere in the 2016 election and boost the campaign of President Donald Trump [Washington Post]. 
  
  
• Hillary Clinton says she won't rule out questioning the legitimacy of the 2016 election if it turns out Russian meddling in the election goes deeper than previously revealed [The Hill].
  
  
• President Donald Trump speaks at the United Nations on Tuesday, where he is expected to strike an "America first" tone in his first address to the body [Associated Press].
  
  
• Donald Trump Jr. says he is giving up his Secret Service detail. Additionally, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is losing her protective detail [New York Times].
  
  
• Immigration advocates shut down a news conference held by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi because of the deal Democrats made with President Donald Trump over DACA [San Francisco Chronicle].
  
  
• Hackers reportedly breached Equifax in March, which is almost five months before the date the company says the breach happened [Bloomberg].
  
  
• Hurricane Maria is churning across the Caribbean as a dangerous Category 5 storm [Washington Post]. 

On this day in history:

• 1777 - American soldiers won the first Battle of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War.
  
  
• 1778 - The Continental Congress passes the first United States federal budget.
  
  
• 1796 - George Washington's Farewell Address is printed across America as an open letter to the public.
  
  
• 1881 - President James A. Garfield died of wounds inflicted by an assassin more than two months earlier.
  
  
• 1885 - Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa and other musicians testify at Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music.
  
  
• 1982 - Emoticons were born when Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott Fahlman proposed using a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis - :-) - to depict a horizontal smiley face.
  
  
• 2008 - The Bush administration asked Congress for $700 billion to buy up troubled mortgage-related assets from U.S. financial institutions.

Today At Utah Policy

Poll: 49% of Utahns support reducing size of Bears Ears, fewer favor reducing Grand Staircase-Escalante By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor Utahns are split over whether President Donald Trump should reduce the size of either the new Bears Ears National Monument or the 20-year-old Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument, a new UtahPolicy.com poll finds....

Analysis: Reducing Bears Ears could cause a political headache for Rep. Mia Love By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor U.S. Rep. Mia Love, who faces re-election next year, is on the opposite side from most of her constituents on whether GOP President Donald Trump should reduce the size of the newly-created Bears Ears National Monument and the 20-year-old Grand Staircase/Escalante National Mo...

Yikes! Americans don't know much about the Constitution By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor A new survey shows Americans are shockingly poorly informed about some of the basic things in the U.S. Constitution....

Congressional Democrats break fundraising record By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor The campaign arm of Democrats in the U.S. House posted their highest August fundraising haul ever....

Win a copy of 'Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History' By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor We're giving away a copy of MSNBC's Katy Tur's book about her experience covering Donald Trump's presidential campaign....

Policy News

Fox Files: 'FY 2016-2017' Thank you to everyone who attended our Annual Meeting last week....

EDCUtah marks 30 years of bringing business to Utah During its annual meeting, EDCUtah commemorated its 30th anniversary by rolling out its vision for the next chapter in EDCUtah's history....

Northern Utah talent symposium EDCUtah is a proud sponsor of the Northern Utah Talent Symposium....

SLCC partner in $1M Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant Salt Lake Community College will share in a $1 million dollar grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in partnership with the University of Utah to develop fully articulated degree pathways for students seeking science degrees....

Wise Words

Attitude

"Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions." Harold S. Geneen

Lighter Side

Fences

"President Trump tweeted that his border wall is going to be built out of old fences. Which explains why today, millions of Americans walked out of their homes and said, "Where the hell's my fence?" Jimmy Fallon