Situational Analysis | April 29, 2022

It's the last Friday in April and that means it's National Arbor Day! "I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree....."

Be in the Know

1. Governor Cox wrote in Fortune this week that the US needs to do more to be prepared to welcome refugees, outlines what Utah has done and suggests that other states could follow Utah's model. First, Utah has a "Refugee Services Office" embedded in the Department of Workforce Services and coordinate with agencies and organizations around the state. Next, Utah has enlisted the support of the business community. It has responded by donating airline miles, coordinating and supporting fundraising efforts, hiring refugees and more. A third component necessary to welcoming refugees is involvement from the community. "The odds of a smooth adjustment," he writes, "depend greatly on how we—as government, community, business leaders, and caring individuals—support them."
   
   
2. The Jan. 6 panel has announced eight public hearings will be held in June. "We'll tell the story about what happened," the panel's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson said. "We will use a combination of witnesses, exhibits, things that we have through the tens of thousands of exhibits we've [...] looked at, as well as the hundreds of witnesses we deposed or just talked to in general." The first public hearing is scheduled for June 9. The panel plans to release a full report in early fall. 

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Utah Headlines

General

• Utah businesswoman Robyn Openshaw, "Green Smoothie Girl," falsely claiming Ph.D. to sell event tickets, health products (Fox13)
• Ogden offering $1,000 for the winning design of a new official city flag (Standard-Examiner)
• Former intern remembers how Orrin Hatch helped her family during crisis (KUTV)
• Leaders plant pinwheels to represent 3,741 Salt Lake County children abused last year (KSL)
• U of U Hospital holds impromptu wedding (ABC4)

Politics

• Six-term Utah lawmaker Doug Sagers loses bid for re-election (KUTV)
• The conservative Democrats could get behind. Evan McMullin, a Senate candidate from Utah, is a curious politician in a curious state (The Atlantic)
• Russell Arben Fox: Evan McMullin’s not so independent senate campaign (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Republican candidates spar over who is better equipped to defeat Sen. Mike Lee (Deseret News)
• David Zook demands an apology for staff and citizens from Council member Paul Borup (Cache Valley Daily)
• Jake Tyler: The worst of Utah chose our GOP representatives at state convention (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Derek Kitchen: If Utah Democrats don’t invest in themselves, who will? (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Ally Isom, Becky Edwards trade barbs in Utah’s U.S. Senate primary race (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Becky Edwards not dropping out of U.S. Senate race after Isom calls to end campaign (KUTV)

Education

• Miller Family Foundation Creates endowed directorship at UVU (Daily Herald)
• A BYU student’s rainbow graduation gown has gone viral. This is what she has to say. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Environment

• Feds conditionally commit $500M to Delta’s Advanced Clean Energy Storage project (KUER)
  
• A century of human activity is coming back as toxic dust as the Great Salt Lake shrinks (KUER)
• The Salt Lake Valley’s dusty week has left us all wheezing (KUER)

Family

• 'I can actually succeed now': Federal program gives troubled teens in Utah hope for future (KSL)
• Repatriation of Utah Korean War veteran 'like a dream' for members of his family (KSL)

Housing

• Valerie Hudson: It's not just about rent. Why Wall Street landlords hurt families and democracy (Deseret News)
• Utah's housing market is tough, but those with disabilities face additional barriers, advocates say (KSL)
• Salt Lake’s latest camp abatement on Victory Road leaves people looking for ‘stability’ (KUER)
• Clean up underway in homeless camp near Utah State Capitol (Fox13)
• These Utah, Idaho cities are still among the nation’s most ‘overvalued’ housing markets (Deseret News)

Utah/Ukraine Connection

• Utah businessman, David Kirkham's factory in Poland becomes hub for supplies to fleeing Ukrainians (KUTV)
• The color and chaos of Medyka, the busiest border crossing in Poland (Deseret News)

COVID Corner

• 1695 new cases this week, 7 deaths
• Utah reports 7 more deaths from COVID-19 as virus levels rise in sewers (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Political stakes high as Beijing responds to virus outbreak (AP)
• Racial split on COVID-19 endures as restrictions ease in US (AP)

National Headlines

General

• US consumers boosted spending in March (Wall Street Journal)
• Dubai brings the East and the West into conversation in new and imaginative ways (Deseret News)
• Buffeted by weather, a historic Black town strives to endure (AP)
• Report calls out abuse of social media by Minneapolis police (AP)
• They called her 'Black Jet.' Joetha Collier, a young Black woman, was killed by a white man in 1971, near the Mississippi town where Emmett Till was murdered. Why isn’t her case known nationally today? (The Atlantic)
• Amazon posts first quarterly loss since 2015 as costs, Rivian stake weigh on results (Wall Street Journal)
• Elon Musk criticizes Twitter executive, drawing employee backlash (Wall Street Journal)
• Disney says Florida would have to pay nearly $1 billion to dissolve special district (NPR)

Politics

• Biden wants $33B more to help Ukraine battle Russia, by far the largest single funding proposal of the war (AP, Politico)
• Gender bias persists even in races with only female candidates (USA TODAY)
• As Biden considers student loan forgiveness, Sen. Mitt Romney asks what ‘bribe’ is next (Deseret News)
• Paul Manafort sued by Justice Department over foreign bank accounts (Washington Post)
• FDA proposes ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars (Washington Post)
• Senators relaunch bipartisan immigration discussions (Roll Call)
• Trump goes all in for candidate accused of sexual assault (Politico)

Ukraine 🇺🇦 

• Explosions rock Kyiv again as Russians rain fire on Ukraine (AP)
• Blasts hit Kyiv as U.N. chief visits, U.S. pledges new Ukraine aid (Reuters)
• NATO says it's ready to back Kyiv for years in war against Russia (Reuters)
• Russian forces executed surrendering Ukrainians, US official says (USA TODAY)
• Ukrainians deported to Russia beaten and mistreated (BBC)
• After a rocket: ‘One second and you are left with nothing’ (AP)
• Ukrainian attacks bring war home to Russia, fraying civilian nerves (Washington Post)
• What a U.N. team has seen while documenting possible war crimes in Ukraine. "Unfortunately, the longer this conflict goes on, the more violations we're finding." (NPR)
• 'It was a massacre': Mariupol residents recall battle for Ukrainian city (Reuters)

News Releases

Wasatch Innovation Network selects Top 100 Entrepreneurs

The Wasatch Innovation Network (WIN), a partnership between the Salt Lake Chamber and TechBuzz News, has completed its inaugural round of the WIN100, a community-nominated and peer-selected process of the top 100 venture entrepreneurs in Utah. Sponsored by the top venture firms in the region, WIN100 is designed to help identify and cultivate relationships among emerging and top founders, CEOs, CTOs and ventures with ties to the state.

“These entrepreneurs represent the best of the best in terms of innovation and capacity to lead our growing ecosystem,” said Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance. (Read More)

Romney, Hickenlooper, Barrasso introduce bill to more accurately measure student success at community colleges

U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), and John Barrasso (R-WY) today introduced the Graduation Reporting for Accuracy and Decision-Making (GRAD) Act, bipartisan legislation that would improve transparency and inform the decision-making of prospective students by ensuring the reporting of graduation rates accurately reflect the success of community colleges. Text of the legislation can be found here. (Read More)

Mike Lee on first quarter GDP report

Today, Ranking Member Mike Lee (R-UT) released the following statement on the Bureau of Economic Analysis GDP estimate for the first quarter of 2022:

“Today’s GDP estimates show the economy shrinking by 1.4% as inflation continues to rob Americans of their purchasing power and grind business investments to a halt. It’s no wonder that Americans’ views of the economy are at their lowest levels since 2009—with inflation erasing wage gains and 6.6 million Americans still out of work measured against the pre-pandemic trend, more spending and bigger government have created a long road to recovery ahead.

Romney, colleagues request information from SBA Administrator Guzman on illegal PPP loans given to Planned Parenthood affiliates

U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Republican members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC), led by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), requested information from U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman regarding illegally obtained Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans received by Planned Parenthood affiliates across the U.S. (Read More)

Senate passes Downwinders extension

The United States Senate unanimously passed Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) two-year extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) ensuring that those Americans harmed by the nation’s early nuclear program can be compensated.

Of the extension, Sen. Lee said, “Downwinders, uranium miners, uranium millers, and ore transporters were harmed by the federal government and deserve compensation.  I am encouraged that my colleagues agreed with this important extension and passed the bill unanimously.” (Read More)

Congressmen Blake Moore and Jimmy Panetta introduce the bipartisan Lodging Options Developed for Government Employees (LODGE) Act

Today, Congressmen Blake Moore (R-UT) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) introduced the Lodging Options Developed for Government Employees (LODGE) Act.

Given the unprecedented interest in our national parks and subsequent management challenges, the LODGE Act will foster innovative public-private partnerships to increase the availability of affordable housing in and around our nation’s parks. This legislation will cut red tape and provide the National Park Service (NPS) with new authorities and increased flexibility to enter into innovative housing partnerships. It will also reduce costs to the taxpayer, provide modern housing for both NPS employees and the private sector to rent, and improve NPS employee morale and the agency’s ability to hire and retain staff. This model is similar to those used successfully by other federal agencies, such as at Falcon Hill Aerospace Research Park at Hill Air Force Base. (Read More)

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Upcoming

• Breakfast Briefing with Utah Foundation, May 17, 8:30-10:00 am
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• Ballots are mailed â€“ June 7
• Primary election day â€“ June 28
• General election â€“ Nov 8

On This Day In History

• 1854 - First African American college is chartered in Pennsylvania: Lincoln University
• 1945 - U.S. Army liberates 31,601 people from the Dachau concentration camp.
• 1945 - Conscientious objector Desmond Doss saves approximately 75 wounded soldiers in the Battle of Okinawa at Hacksaw Ridge.
• 1992 - Riots erupt in Los Angeles after police officers are acquitted in Rodney King trial
• 2004 - World War II monument opens in Washington, D.C.
• 2011 - Britain’s Prince William marries Kate Middleton

Wise Words

“Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Lighter Side

“In newly released excerpts from a deposition taken last year, former President Trump said that he was worried that protesters might throw fruits and vegetables at him...It’s like the homeland security threat level: red’s tomato, yellow’s for banana, and green is for avocado. And you know what they say if you get hit with an avocado: You’re toast.” 

— SETH MEYERS

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