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Daily Briefing

Good Wednesday morning and happy getaway day from Salt Lake City. Today is the 326th day of the year. There are 39 days remaining in 2017.

The clock:

• 41 days until candidates can declare their intent to gather signatures for the 2018 election (1/2/2018)
• 61 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
• 106 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
• 107 days until the filing period for candidates in the 2018 election opens (3/9/2018)
• 113 days until the filing deadline for the 2018 elections (3/15/2018)
• 118 days until the statewide GOP caucus meetings (3/20/2018)
• 150 days until the GOP State Convention (4/21/2018)
• 216 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)
• 349 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 1,077 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR -

• POLL: Most Utahns say Alabama Republican Roy Moore should drop out of the U.S. Senate race because of allegations he sexually harassed teenagers when he was in his 30's [Utah Policy].
  
  
• Sen. Orrin Hatch says he intends to run for another term in 2018, but won't make a final decision until the end of this year or early next [Utah Policy].
  
  
• An overwhelming number of Utahns support a possible bid to host the 2026 or 2030 Winter Olympic Games [Deseret News].
  
  
• Rep. Chris Stewart says Congress should release the names of his colleagues who have been accused of sexual misconduct and any settlements made with taxpayer money should be disclosed [Deseret News].
  
  
• Utah lawmakers are getting pressure from industry groups to repeal the toughest in the nation DUI law, but they may not be willing to back down on the regulations [Fox 13].
  
  
• Rep. Mia Love says she will put pressure on the Trump White House to allow Haitian nationals to stay in the United States after the administration announced they would end temporary immigration protections for that group [Deseret News].
  
  
• The FEC is not willing to back off their campaign finance complaint against former Attorney General John Swallow [Deseret News].
  
  
• Utah graduate students rally against a GOP plan to tax tuition waivers as income [Tribune].
  
  
• Animal rights activists crash Gov. Gary Herbert's annual turkey pardoning [Tribune].

National headlines:

• President Donald Trump is tweeting again Wednesday morning:
  
  
  • 3:25 am (MST) - It wasn't the White House, it wasn't the State Department, it wasn't father LaVar's so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence - IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man's version of Don King, but without the hair. Just think..
    
    
  • 3:33 am (MST) - ...LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It's a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!
    
    
  • 3:48 am (MST) - The NFL is now thinking about a new idea - keeping teams in the Locker Room during the National Anthem next season. That's almost as bad as kneeling! When will the highly paid Commissioner finally get tough and smart? This issue is killing your league!.....
    
    
  • 4:51 am (MST) - Will be having meetings and working the phones from the Winter White House in Florida (Mar-a-Lago). Stock Market hit new Record High yesterday - $5.5 trillion gain since E. Many companies coming back to the U.S. Military building up and getting very strong.
    
    
• President Donald Trump came out in support of embattled Alabama Roy Moore on Tuesday afternoon, saying he would rather have Moore in the U.S. Senate than a Democrat [Washington Post]. 
  
  
• The race between Moore and Democrat Doug Jones is a statistical tie according to the newest polling from that state [The Hill].
  
  
• A prominent right-wing minister who is a supporter of Roy Moore says Moore dated teenage girls because of their "purity" and there were no women his age available when he returned from serving in Vietnam [Talking Points Memo].
  
  
• A second woman has accused Democratic Rep. John Conyers of sexual harassment [BuzzFeed].
  
  
• Good news for the GOP's tax reform efforts. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski supports repealing the individual healthcare mandate, which is a big part of the Republican tax plan [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner].
  
  
• Realtors are mobilizing against provisions in the GOP tax reform proposal that would eliminate the deduction for local property taxes and cut the mortgage interest deduction [New York Times].
  
  
• Jared Kushner's role in the White House has been cut back dramatically because special counsel Robert Muller is probing his contacts with foreign governments. Kushner has also expressed concern that Mueller's probe might "get" President Donald Trump [Vanity Fair].
  
  
• We may never see President Donald Trump's "big beautiful border wall" come to fruition, but Trump is building an immigration system that reduces the number of foreigners in the United States [Washington Post].
  
  
• The FBI is probing whether Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Robert Brady paid his 2012 opponent $90,000 to drop out of the race [Philadelphia Inquirer].
  
  
• The FEC is planning to roll back Obama-era net neutrality rules that would allow internet service providers to slow down access or even block some websites as long as they tell customers. The agency also wants to prevent local and state governments from creating their own laws to regulate the internet [Politico].
  
  
• Uber paid hackers $100,000 to keep a data breach that affected 57 million customers a secret [Recode].
  
  
• Military personnel at the White House have been reassigned following allegations they had improper contact with foreign women during President Trump's trip to Asia [Washington Post].
  
  
• Pixar chief John Lasseter is taking a leave of absence from the company after alleged sexual misconduct [The Hollywood Reporter].

On this day in history:

• 1718 - Off the coast of North Carolina, pirate Edward Teach (better known as "Blackbeard") is killed in battle.
  
  
• 1858 - The city of Denver was founded.
  
  
• 1954 - The Humane Society of the United States is founded.
  
  
• 1963 - President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the nation's 36th president.
  
  
• 1968 - The Beatles release the White Album.

Today At Utah Policy

Poll: Big majority of Utahns say Alabama Republican Roy Moore should drop out of the Senate race because of allegations he sexually harassed teenagers By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Utahns say Alabama Republican Roy Moore should drop out of the U.S. Senate race there after several women alleged Moore sexually harassed them when they were teenagers....

Hatch says he intends to run for another term By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Sen. Orin Hatch said Tuesday that he intends on running for another term in 2018, but he won't make a final decision until the end of 2017 or early 2018....

Weekly survey: Should Sen. Al Franken resign? By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor At least two women have accused Democratic Sen. Al Franken of groping them without their consent. Should he resign from the U.S. Senate? Vote now in our weekly survey....

Policy News

Wise Words

Reputation

"It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it." Benjamin Franklin

Lighter Side

Auction

"A piece of wedding cake from Donald and Melania Trump's wedding is currently up for auction. The 12-year-old piece of cake is being marketed as a rare collector's item. I can't believe it lasted this long. Not the cake, the marriage." James Corden