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Good morning! Here are today’s temperatures:

🌦️ 47 – 65° in Logan | 💧 50%

⛅ 56 – 68° in Salt Lake | 💧 30%

🌤️ 64 – 91° in St. George

U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert L. Santos took a surprising lesson from the effects of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks: the value of collecting data.

Speaking to Utah Valley University students Wednesday at an event hosted by the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy, Santos emphasized that collecting data to accurately represent diverse demographics across the country is a “keystone to our democracy.”

Interviewing survivors was an “emotional” process, Santos said, but “we got really valuable information that helped come up with better building codes.”

Read more from Hannah Murdock about how UVU honored 9/11.

Also on our minds:

How to protect your health when wildfire smoke is filling the air
Why student loan forgiveness is a bad idea
Wake up, sheeple: Meg Walter says cats are controlling the timeline

What Utah’s Olympic organizers learned from the Paris Games

Utah’s Olympic organizers saw more than just the expected sights during the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

Besides the iconic locations that served as backdrops for Olympic events, like the Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde and the Grand Palais, the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games’ bid lead, Darren Hughes, toured the free “Clubs 2024″ live site set up in a low-income northeast Paris neighborhood with a large African immigrant population.

Hughes, responsible for pulling together the details of Utah’s successful bid for the 2034 Winter Games, went to the Jardins d’Éole park that’s built on a reclaimed rail yard as part of the International Olympic Committee’s observer program for future Olympic hosts.

Paris organizers helped the public feel like a part of the Olympics through efforts like the live sites set up throughout France, that Hughes said most impressed during the behind-the-scenes look at running the 2024 Summer Games. It’s something he hopes to replicate in all of Utah’s 29 counties when the state hosts in a decade.

Read more about the lessons Utah organizers learned in Paris.

Gubernatorial candidates debate ‘the golden age of Utah’

Gov. Spencer Cox declared this the “golden age of Utah” during a televised debate on Wednesday night. His general election opponents agreed.

But while Cox credited the Beehive State’s booming economy and 2034 Olympics with the legislative accomplishments of his first term, Democratic state Rep. Brian King and Libertarian attorney Robert Latham argued the governor’s approach risked cutting Utah’s golden age short.

King rehashed Cox’s flip-flop on former President Donald Trump and attempted to align Cox with the most “extreme” elements within the Republican Party. Latham criticized Cox for what he saw as a pattern of government “cronyism” that picks winners and losers to the benefit of lawmakers and corporations.

Read more about the debate and where each candidate stands on the issues facing Utahns today.

Faith

Why people prayed outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday (Deseret News)
What Kamala Harris said about faith and abortion (Deseret News)

Health

Wildfire smoke filling the air? Here’s what you should be doing (Deseret News)
Study found toxic metals in hygiene products; FDA investigating

(Deseret News)

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Thanks for reading!

— Ariel

Gubernatorial candidates debate ‘the golden age of Utah’

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