Situational Analysis | July 12, 2021

Happy Monday! It's Malala Day - I hope you can find time to read a book in her honor.

Be in the Know

1. A very happy birthday yesterday to Governor Spencer Cox. 

2. Weather extremes: The coldest temperature in the contiguous United States on Saturday was Peter Sinks, Utah at 22 degrees. The same day, Utah tied its all-time hottest temperature of 117 degrees in St. George. Also, Death Valley hit 130° this weekend and has had 3 consecutive days of 128° of hotter.

3. Richard Branson reached space in his own ship. The nearly 71-year-old Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space-tourism company reached an altitude of 53.5 miles over the New Mexico desert — enough to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and witness the curvature of the Earth — and then glided back home to a runway landing.

Utah Headlines

General

• NAACP denounces Utah Black Lives Matter stance over American flag (Deseret News)
• Utah musical theater teacher Katelin Ruzzamenti Knight honored with national award. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Camp Hope provides mountain haven for children who have experienced trauma (Salt Lake Tribune)

Politics

• Utah County residents charged for allegedly disrupting Alpine School Board meeting. One of them is running for Cedar Hills city council. (Daily Herald)
• Sen. Romney: How the negotiated infrastructure plan would benefit Utah (Deseret News)
• INSIDE UTAH POLITICS: Political polarization, the filibuster and firework bans. (ABC4)

COVID Corner

• The Delta variant now accounts for more than half of the new coronavirus cases in the United States —52%. Almost all of the new cases — 99.7% —are among people who have not been vaccinated.  (CBS)
• Utah long-hauler clinic seeing 'COVID toes,' brittle teeth, ringing in ears (KUTV)

Drought/Wildfires/Heat

• Weather, wildfires and climate change. (PBS Utah)
• Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest bring the smoke to Utah (Deseret News)
• ‘Megafire’: Bootleg Fire in Oregon nearly doubles in size over 24 hours, encompasses over 143,000 acres (ABC4)
• Drought, wildfire smoke moves Utah air into 'unhealthy' levels (KUTV)
• Report: Latest figures put 98% of Utah at worst levels of drought. (The Spectrum)
• Western wildfires: Over 300K acres burned across 6 states; 2 firefighters dead after plane crashes in Arizona (USA Today)
• 'Wither away and die:' Pacific Northwest heat wave bakes wheat, fruit crops (KSL)

Elections

• Both of Sen. Mike Lee’s GOP challengers opposed Trump — that could hurt them in the primary (KUER)

Energy

• Project near Milford in Beaver County aims to tap into geothermal energy (The Spectrum)

Housing

• Utah family of 13 unable to find a place to rent (KUTV)
• Faith leaders call for federal relief funds to be used to end homelessness in Salt Lake County. (Deseret News)

Legal

• Is crumpling a pro-police sign in front of an officer a hate crime? Garfield County says yes. She was ‘smirking in an intimidating manner’ (Deseret News)
• VIDEO: A West Valley City police officer killed a man inside the police department. It was his third shooting. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Local Communities

• Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: Residents rose to unique challenges on 4th (Daily Herald)
• Tales From Utah Valley: Flag is still a beacon of hope (Daily Herald)

Service

• Utah nonprofit Eye Care 4 Kids donates eyeglasses to 400,000th child (KSL)

National Headlines

General

• Lost friendships break hearts and nations. We were not created for power and prosperity, but for community and fellowship. (The Dispatch)
• More manatees have died already this year than in any other in Florida's recorded history (NPR)
• Why FEMA is denying disaster aid to Black families who’ve lived for generations in the Deep South (Washington Post)

Politics

• Kinzinger slams GOP colleagues for invoking Nazi-era imagery to criticize Covid vaccination efforts. 'It's absolute insanity.' (CNN)
• Lawmakers to Determine Fate of Infrastructure, Antipoverty Plans (Wall Street Journal)
• Texas Republicans advance voting restrictions in special session (Washington Post)
• White House removes top Social Security officials (Roll Call)
• Trump on Jan. 6 insurrection: 'These were great people.' The former president described the participants as loving and patriotic, and said Democrats could be blamed for any violence. (Politico)
• Trump says being impeached twice didn't change him: 'I became worse' (The Hill)

Economy

• What happens to the economy when $5.2 trillion in stimulus wears off? (Washington Post)

Energy

• Average US price of gas rises 5 cents per gallon to $3.21 (AP)

International

• Gangs complicate Haiti effort to recover from assassination. (AP)
• Democratic socialists ignore Cuban protesters railing against communist dictatorship (Fox News)
• 52 dead in Bangladesh factory fire as workers locked inside (KUTV)

Business Headlines

• Financial expert calls Dogecoin ‘a joke’ as Tiger King coin rises (Deseret News)
• Earnings Kick Off With Sky-High Forecasts, Record Stock Market (Wall Street. Journal)
• Bank profits are poised to surge as the pandemic recedes. (New York Times)

Policy News

ICYMI: Gov. Spencer J. Cox appoints Sean M. Petersen to the Fourth District Court, Senate asks for public input

Gov. Spencer J. Cox has appointed Commissioner Sean M. Petersen to fill a judicial vacancy on the Fourth District Court. The governor’s nominations are subject to confirmation by the Utah Senate.
“Sean’s experience as both a court commissioner and an attorney in the private sector have prepared him well for this new responsibility on the bench,” Gov. Cox said. “I’m pleased that he is willing and able to serve the people of Utah in this way.”

Those who desire to comment should contact Utah Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee staff, Jerry Howe at the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, by 5:00 p.m. Thursday, July 22, 2021, at the Utah State Capitol, House Building, Suite W210, PO Box 145210, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-5210. All statements should include the respondent’s name, telephone number and mailing address.

Number of the Day

Upcoming

• Securing the American Dream: A conversation with Tim Scott presented by the Hatch Foundation – Aug 11 @ noon. Register here
• Utah Foundation Annual Luncheon with Shaylyn Romney Garrett – Sept 23 @ 12 pm. Register here

On This Day In History

From History.com

• 1389 - Geoffrey Chaucer is named chief clerk to the king by Richard II
• 1849 - Dolley Madison dies. She was the 4th First Lady of the United States
• 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signs a law that creates the Medal of Honor
• 1984 - Geraldine Ferraro named vice presidential candidate, the first woman to be named on a major political ticket
• 1997 - Malala Yousafzai is born. She is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate known for human rights advocacy, especially the education of women and children in her native Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. In 2012, they shot her in the head for teaching other girls to read.
• 2013 - Malala Yousafzai addresses the United Nations and calls for worldwide access to education

Wise Words

"Extremists have shown what frightens them most: A girl with a book"
-Malala Yousafzai

Lighter Side

Vacationing in Vermont, I picked up the local paper to check out the forecast. It read: Today: Sunny, 76. Tonight: Not so sunny, 55. 

~Norrine Trono

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