Situational Analysis | January 24, 2022

Today is Monday and International Day of Education and National Compliment Day, so let me be the first to say, you're looking fabulous!

The weekend was pretty newsy, including what the Washington Post calls the NFL's "best weekend ever," so let's get to it. 

Be in the Know

1. Lt. Governor Henderson has COVID for the second time. According to a news release, she is doing well, all things considered. She has canceled all public events for the week.

2. Senate Minority Leader Karen Mayne announced that she has cancer, found when she was being evaluated for a broken shoulder. Senate Minority and Majority Leadership issued a joint statement of support, calling her a "strong, resilient leader." 

3. The US State Department has ordered the families of all American personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine to leave the country amid heightened fears of a Russian invasion. NATO is putting extra forces on standby and sending more ships and fighter jets to Eastern Europe.

4. Censuring one's own is not just a Republican thing. On Saturday, the Arizona Democratic party voted to censure Senator Sinema for failing to endorse Senate rule changes (ie: the filibuster) in order to pass voting rights legislation. 

5. Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen master, Buddhist monk, political reformer and an ally of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., died at age 95. He was one of the world's most influential Zen masters, spreading messages of mindfulness, compassion and nonviolence.

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2022 Legislative Session

4 days down, 41 to go

General

• Editorial Board: What Governor Cox got right and wrong in his State of the State (Deseret News)
• Inside Utah Politics panel on inflation and overturning mask mandates (ABC4)

Today

(Links go to committee agendas)

Sub-appropriations committee meetings, 8 am

• Executive Offices and Criminal Justice, Higher Ed, Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environmental Quality, Social Services

Floor Time

• Senate: 11:00 - 11:50
• House: 11:00 - 12:15

Committee meetings, 2 pm

• House Economic Development and Workforce Services, House Government Operations, House Political Subdivisions, House Revenue and Taxation, Senate Business and Labor, Senate Education, Senate Health and Human Services, 

Tomorrow

Sub-appropriations committee meetings, 8 am

• Business, Economic Development, and Labor,  Infrastructure and General Government, Public Education, Social Services

Floor Time

• Senate: 11:00 - 11:50
• House: 11:00 - 12:00

Education

• Utah student speaks out as the Utah State Board of Education looks at pronouns (KUTV)

Health and Human Services

• Utah House overturns Salt Lake, Summit county mask mandates, effective immediately (Deseret News)
• House leaders bullied two Salt Lake County Council Republicans to change their votes on the COVID mask mandate. They didn’t budge. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Utah Headlines

General

• 'Madam Mayor': More women being elected in Utah (Fox13)
• David Archuleta’s anguished journey: Be true to his faith or true to his feelings? (Fox13)
• Perspective: It’s not the big differences that divide us. It’s the green Jell-O and Provo roundabouts. A prominent cleric and Oxford academic discovers the small charms of Utah and Latter-day Saint standard time (Deseret News)
• Thousands of Utahns join pro-life rally on anniversary of Roe v. Wade ruling (Deseret News)
• Wanted: Utahns willing to help test a birth control gel for men (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Why some say targeting big tech will harm the economy and national security (ABC4)
• Park City School District won't explain new policy prohibiting talk about vaccines (KCPW)

COVID Corner

• Friday's data: 756 new cases, 11 new deaths, 756 current hospitalizations (another new record)
• Utah’s COVID surge is hitting the homeless population hard (KUER)
• Intermountain donation to help fund homeless services amid COVID surge (KSL)
• Paul Huntsman: Utah hospitals are rationing care while public officials favor friends, donors (Salt Lake Tribune)
• WHO head says 'dangerous' to assume pandemic is nearing end (Reuters)
• Getting vaccinated doesn't affect your fertility — but getting Covid might for men, new study says (CNBC)
• Stressed hospitals are asking workers with covid to return — even if they may be infectious (Washington Post)

National Headlines

General

• Stock Futures Fall, Signaling More Market Volatility (Wall Street Journal)
• The FBI says Brian Laundrie, the boyfriend of slain cross-country traveler Gabby Petito, admitted to killing her in a notebook discovered near his body in a Florida swamp. (AP)
• The volcanic eruption in Tonga was larger than the biggest nuclear detonations have been, an atomic testing group says. The Tonga eruption could be felt all the way in Antarctica (Deseret News)
• Omicron Leaves Nurses Stretched Thin and Seeking Help From Burnout (Wall Street Journal)

Politics

• How the government hopes to prevent wildfires by starting them: The Biden administration announced this week a $50 billion plan to more than double the use of controlled burns and logging to thin out vegetation that has fueled the growing number of catastrophic wildfires, primarily in the West (Deseret News)
• Biden Weighs Deploying Thousands of Troops to Eastern Europe and Baltics (New York Times)
• Army of millionaires flood Senate map in cash - and it's only January (Politico)
• Sarah Palin v. New York Times goes to trial (Politico)
• Cheney hits Gingrich for saying Jan. 6 panel members may be jailed (The Hill)

International

• Mutinous soldiers detain president of Burkina Faso in apparent coup d’etat (Washington Post)
• UAE says it intercepted 2 ballistic missiles over Abu Dhabi (ABC News)
• Taliban begin talks with Western officials in Oslo (BBC)
• Hundreds of children held by IS in besieged prison in Syria (BBC)

News Releases

Lt. Gov. Henderson tests positive for COVID-19

Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson tested positive today for COVID-19. As a result, she is canceling her public events this week. She is doing well under the circumstances and looks forward to getting back to work as soon as possible.

Senator Minority Leader Karen Mayne’s statement on health status

Senate Minority Leader Karen Mayne issues the following statement regarding her health status:

“Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes. I have felt them all, and I greatly appreciate all of you and your support.

“This past week has been difficult for my family and me as I have been forced to focus on my health amidst unfortunate news. I had an accident where I broke my shoulder, and during the medical analysis, I discovered that I have cancer. With the support of my family and friends, I will undergo the proper treatment regimen suggested by my doctors.

“I am hopeful to return to the Legislature soon where I can be with all of you, my friends, and colleagues. I have unfinished work to do. I look forward to being with you again.”

Majority and Minority leadership statement on Sen. Mayne’s health status

The Senate Majority and Minority members of leadership issue the following statement regarding Sen. Karen Mayne’s health status:

“We are deeply saddened by Sen. Mayne’s diagnosis. She is a close friend and confidant. Karen is integral to the Senate and loved by everyone. We offer our love and support to our dear colleague and friend. She is a strong, resilient leader of the minority caucus and has the entire Senate’s unwavering support. We pray for strength and comfort for her and her family as she undertakes this battle. She’s a fighter, and we look forward to the day when she is back with us.”

Sen. Lee celebrates the March for Life

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) celebrated the 2022 March for Life this week in a speech on the Senate floor and a message to the tens of thousands of marchers in Washington, D.C., Utah, and across the country.

Of the pro-life movement, Sen. Lee said, â€œLife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; inalienable rights, endowed by our Creator.  This is the promise of America, yet for millions of unborn babies, because of a twisted precedent and a misreading of the Constitution, that promise is denied.  Equality begins in the womb. (Read/Watch More)

Sens. Lee & Romney congratulate Utah’s Senate Youth Program delegates

Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) congratulated high school seniors, Arundhati Oommen and Neve Rauscher of Salt Lake City, for their selection to represent Utah in the sixtieth annual United States Senate Youth Program Washington Week in March 2022.  The programs events include meetings with senators, the president, a Supreme Court justice, and cabinet secretaries.  These delegates represent the top one percent of Utah high school students.  Each of the two delegates will also receive a $10,000 college scholarship through the program. (Read More)

Number of the Day

Tweet of the Day

I had a tweet go viral over the weekend. Not about politics, or religion or sports but about ice on the concrete in my backyard. Maybe people are starving for more beauty and less controversy?

Upcoming

• The Emergence of the Crypto Economy with the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation and special guests – Jan. 26, 10 am. Register here.
• Legislative Bootcamp with Americans for Prosperity and Libertas Institute – Jan. 29, 9 am - 1 pm. Register here.
• State of the Union address – Mar 1, 7 pm MST
• Utah legislative session ends – Mar 4, 2022, midnight
• Fireside chat with Justice Clarence Thomas hosted by the Hatch Foundation - Mar 11, 2022, 7 pm

On This Day In History

From History.com

• 1848 - Gold discovered at Sutter’s Creek.
• 1862 - American author Edith Wharton is born.
• 1925 - Maria Tallchief is born on the Osage reservation. She began dancing as a child and became the nation’s first major prima ballerina.
• 1935 - First canned beer, “Krueger’s Cream Ale,” goes on sale. 
• 1950 - Percy L. Spencer receives U.S. patent no. 2,495,429 for a “Method of Treating Foodstuffs” - otherwise known as the microwave oven.
• 1956 - Emmett Till’s murderers confess in a detailed article published in “Look” magazine. They were never brought to justice. 
• 1965 - Winston Churchill dies at age 90.
• 1968 - Mary Lou Retton is born. Now I feel old. 
• 1972 - Japanese soldier found on Guam after 28 years of hiding. 
• 1984 - Apple Computer unveils the Macintosh personal computer.
• 1989 - Ted Bundy dies in the electric chair.
• 2003 - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
• 2006 - Walt Disney International announces it is buying Pixar.
• 2011 - Becky Lockhart is sworn in as Utah’s first female Speaker of the House. 
• 2011 - Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport is bombed by Chechen terrorists, killing 35 and injuring 173. 
• 2018 - After years of unhindered assaults, Larry Nassar is sentenced to prison for sexual assault. 260 women alleged that Nassar abused them while they were minors and the FBI found more than 37,000 images of child porn on his computer. He will spend the rest of his sorry life in prison. 

Wise Words

“Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh

Lighter Side

“President Biden said that his first year in office has been ‘a year of challenges,’ but he’d rather focus on the positives, like your Covid test.”

— SETH MEYERS

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