Gov. Cox speaks on elevating women in Utah, Utah’s licensing boards discriminate against ex-offenders and Utahns eat a lot of burgers
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The Utah Policy newsletter is your one-stop source for political and policy-minded news. We scour the news so you don't have to! Send news tips or feedback to Holly Richardson at editor@utahpolicy.com.

 

Situational Analysis | August 26, 2022

It's already Friday and National Women’s Equality Day to mark the day the 19th Amendment was officially ratified. Tomorrow, the Iosepa Historical Association will be unveiling a National Votes for Women Trail marker honoring Hannah Kaaepa at the Iosepa Cemetery at 11 am.  

Be in the Know

  •  Governor Cox joined Pat Jones of Women's Leadership Institute yesterday at a townhall at Salt Lake Community College to talk about ways to elevate women in Utah. Jones asked Gov. Cox to talk about Utah's dead-last ranking (again) for women's equality. Gov. Cox said that after last year's ranking, the Cox-Henderson administration began a deep dive looking at how Utah can do better, including asking Dr. Susan Madsen to also do research and cross-check Wallet Hub's findings. He told the women in the room that some ways that Utah can do better include more mentoring, "building the bench" for women in politics and making room for "you to be you," and not mold yourself to be like men. He also said gender wage gap does exist, as does a "leadership gap" of women in the C-suite. Gov. Cox also noted that Utah is a family-oriented state and success at supporting women would mean that every woman who wanted to stay home to raise her family could, and that every woman who wanted to work, could do so and that both would be fully supported. 

Rapid Roundup

Friday Favorites

 

Effectv connects you with voters at the right place and time. 

Deliver your message to a targeted audience in Utah on every screen across top networks and thousands of programs. In this Myths of TV News video, we set the record straight on viewership trends that will boost your political strategy.

 

Utah Headlines

General

  • Midvale restaurant manager convicted of abusing teen worker faces new charges (KSL)
  • A former prosecutor who worked in the Child Protection Division of the Utah Attorney General's Office has been arrested for the alleged possession of child pornography. (Fox13)

  • She fled war in Ukraine for safety in Utah. But she may not be allowed to stay. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Politics

  • Another potential GOP presidential candidate endorses Mike Lee; challenger Evan McMullin gets nonpartisan boost (Deseret News)
  • Cox pushes for changes after survey ranks Utah dead last on women's equality (Fox13)
  • Weber County GOPer backs Dem in Utah House race, leaves GOP group (Standard-Examiner)
  • On Thursday, Sen. Mike Lee said that he plans to debate independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin as the two vie for the Utah seat in November’s general election. (ABC4)

Business

  • Salt Lake City views new 700-room hotel as a 'game changer' as it nears October opening (KSL)
  • What's causing inflation? Some say it's corporate greed (Utah Business)
  • Scammers are taking advantage of cancelled flights (ABC4)
  • Utah's top 50 fastest-growing and emerging companies (Utah Business)

Education

  • Do you qualify for Biden’s student loan cancellation? Here’s a primer (Deseret News)
  • How many Utahns will benefit from student loan forgiveness? And how soon? (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Riverton elementary school teaches kindness using rock 'n' roll (Fox13)

Environment

  • BLM begins Bears Ears planning process just after Utah sues to revoke monument’s restoration. Plans now underway will replace Trump-era plans for reduced Bears Ears, Grand Staircase monuments—steps Utah wants to block (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Moab just had a 100-year flood. What does that mean and how often does it happen? The term can create confusion, but they’re occurring more frequently in parts of the world. (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • How a fire may lead to a tripled water bill for this small Utah town (KSL)
  • Utah saved billions of gallons of water through programs, ordinances (Fox13)
  • Canyon locals puzzled over fire and water concerns voiced by Salt Lake County Council members (KUER)

Family

  • Kalani Sitake on how a newborn ‘completes’ his family and why the timing was perfect (Deseret News)
  • Susan Madsen: Utah is not a safe place for families until we change our sexual assault stats (Deseret News)

Health

  • Are we one step closer to making synthetic human embryos? Stem cell research has led to the development of lab-created mice embryos. Where could this research go? (Deseret News)
  • Utah reports 15 new COVID-19 deaths as case counts, hospitalizations dip. There have been more than 1 million reported coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • A new survey examines antibiotic stewardship programs nationally (UPR)

Housing

  • Scammers try to defraud renters, hijack legitimate home rental listings (KUTV)
  • How to lower your Utah property taxes — maybe (Fox13)

National Headlines

General

  • Dan O’Dowd calls Elon Musk a ‘crybaby’ after cease-and-desist order (Deseret News)
  • Uvalde parents and advocates will rally in Austin to up the age for AR-15 purchases (NPR)
  • California will ban sales of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035 (NPR)
  • Missouri school district brings back spanking for unruly children (Reuters)
  • The head of Formula 1 said he can’t foresee a scenario in which a "girl" races an F1 car in the next five years — unless a “meteorite” hits the Earth. (Washington Post)
  • Black pastor arrested while watering a neighbor’s flowers (Washington Post)
  • Texas requires ‘In God We Trust’ signs in schools. A man wants some in Arabic. (Washington Post)

Politics

  • White House calls out Greene, other GOP critics on how their own loans were forgiven (The Hill)
  • Trump search redacted affidavit set to be released today at 10am MDT (AP)
  • In fiery midterm speech, Biden says GOP’s turned toward ‘semi-fascism’ (Washington Post)
  • Biden sees highest approval in a year in latest Gallup poll (The Hill)

Ukraine 🇺🇦 

  • A Putin critic fell from a building in Washington. Was it really a suicide? D.C. police say they don’t suspect foul play. Fellow activists are incensed. (Politico)
  • Ukraine narrowly escapes nuclear catastrophe as plant loses power, Zelenskiy says (Reuters)
  • Russia and Ukraine brace for a war of attrition. (New York Times)
  • The U.S. State Department and Yale identify 21 detention sites in Russian-controlled territory. (New York Times)

World News

  • Britain to see 80% spike in energy bills as crisis deepens (AP)
  • Germany promotes Baltic Sea’s ‘enormous’ energy potential (AP)
 

Utah’s licensing boards discriminate against ex-offenders

Picture this. A young man falls into poverty and, out of desperation, resorts to petty theft in order to help feed his family. He gets caught and is sentenced to a few months in prison as punishment for committing a Class B misdemeanor. While serving out his time, the young man reflects on his past mistake, vowing to never resort to such acts again, and dedicates himself to pursuing a better life...

After having dumped hundreds of hours and dollars into the process, he later finds out that his licensure application was denied. Why? A licensing board consisting of landscape architects (who benefit from gatekeeping to decrease competition) subjectively decided that he did not meet the requirement of having a “good moral character,” using his criminal record as “evidence,” despite the crime being completely unrelated to the practice of landscape architecture and occurring long in the past. Now, not only is the young man continuing to be indirectly punished for a mistake he has served time for, but he is also being denied his right to practice his desired occupation. This has the potential to banish him to a life of limited social and financial mobility and push him into tough situations where he may choose to recidivate in order to meet his family’s basic needs.

This is problematic as many ex-offenders may find themselves denied licenses for occupations that have nothing to do with the crimes they committed in the past. It also dissuades ex-offenders from pursuing licenses as it requires a lot of money and time to pass through the licensing process to the point of board consideration and decision. These licensing denials do not make Utahns any safer. Ironically, they accomplish the opposite, as the limiting of economic opportunities for ex-offenders only helps create desperate situations that foster the repeating of crimes..... (Read More)


News Releases

Disruption Advisors CEO Whitney Johnson announced as WIN Venture Summit keynote

The Wasatch Innovation Network (WIN), a partnership between the Salt Lake Chamber and TechBuzz News, announced today that the keynote speaker of the WIN Venture Summit is Whitney Johnson, CEO of Disruption Advisors, a tech-enabled talent development company and a 2020 Inc 5000 fastest-growing company.

The WIN Venture Summit is an invitation-only event that will gather Utah’s leading venture firms alongside the next generation of Utah entrepreneurs, mentors, and key stakeholders from the state’s entrepreneur community. The Summit will include inspiring speakers, relevant and timely panels to educate entrepreneurs on raising capital and growing your business under current market conditions. The Summit will be held October 5, 2022. (Read More)


Request for expression of interest released by the Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub Coalition

As efforts to establish a regional hydrogen hub in the Intermountain West continue,  the Western Inter-States Hydrogen Hub (WISHH) coalition released a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) Thursday, August 25 to solicit input from key stakeholders. The RFEI provides an avenue for stakeholders such as industry leaders, elected officials, community groups, tribes, and the general public to provide vital input in creating a regional clean hydrogen hub across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. 

In addition, the Rocky Mountain Alliance for Next Generation Energy (RANGE) launched a website that provides information about WISHH and its efforts to establish this hydrogen hub across the four-state region. The website also creates a portal for interested parties and stakeholders to respond to the RFEI and offer information on how they could participate in the regional hydrogen hub. (Read More)


Number of the Day

Number of the Day, Aug 26, 2022
 

Tweet of the Day

Screen Shot 2022-08-26 at 6.52.15 AM
 

Upcoming

  • Women in the Money with Utah State Treasurer's Office — Sept. 15-16, Salt Lake Sheraton + online, Register here
  • Interim Days — Sept. 20-22, le.utah.gov
  • ULCT Annual Convention — Oct 5-7, Salt Palace Convention Center, Register here
  • One Utah Summit — Oct 11-13, Southern Utah University, Register here
  • Interim Days — Oct 18-20, le.utah.gov
  • General election â€“ Nov 8
  • Utah Economic Outlook and Public Policy Summit with the Salt Lake Chamber — Jan. 12, 2023, Salt Lake City Marriott, 8 am - noon, Register here
 

On This Day In History

  • 1682 - English astronomer Edmond Halley first observes the comet named after him
  • 1794 - President George Washington decides to subdue the Whisky Rebellion
  • 1873 - The Missouri Board of Education establishes the first public kindergarten in the country. Susan Blow directed the new program.
  • 1910 - Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu is born. We know her as Mother Teresa.
  • 1918 - “Hidden Figures” Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson is born.  She was an African-American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. manned spaceflights. She lived to be 101.
  • 1920 - The 19th Amendment is formally adopted into the Constitution
  • 1930 - Idahoan Philo T. Farnsworth receives patent No. 1773980 for his invention of a television system.
  • 1939 - The first televised Major League baseball game is broadcast.
  • 1971 - The first Women’s Equality Day, initiated by Representative Bella Abzug, is established by Presidential Proclamation and reaffirmed annually
  • 1996 - US President Bill Clinton signs welfare reform into law
  • 2016 - San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick kneels in protest during the US national anthem

Wise Words

"When the space programme came along I just happened to be working with guys and when they had briefings I asked permission to go, and they said the girls don’t usually go. And I said, well, is there a law? They said no and then my boss said let her go."

—Katherine Johnson


The Punny Side

What do you call a sick eagle?

Illegal.

 

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