Situational Analysis | June 28, 2022

It's Primary Day in Utah. It's too late to mail in your ballot but you can drop them in a vote box or vote in person, 7 am - 8 pm. vote.utah.gov has all the info you'll need. Most election outcomes will be known tonight, but some may take up to two weeks for final results. You can check for results here.

Be in the Know

• Utah's trigger law has a 14-day restraining order, after Third District Court Judge Andrew Stone said that "irreparable harm" could be done without the order in place. "Doctors here are threatened with felonies. The affected women are deprived of safe, local medical treatments to terminate pregnancies," he said.
• Russia sent a missile into a big mall in Ukraine in the middle of the day Monday, when it was full of shoppers. “This is one of the most brazen terrorist acts in the history of Europe,” Mr. Zelensky said in an address Monday. “Russia became the biggest terrorist organization in the world.
• The Jan. 6 panel is to hear from Cassidy Hutchinson, a special assistant and top aide to Mark Meadows today at 11 am MDT. The panel’s announcement yesterday about today's hearing said it would be “to present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony.”

Rapid Roundup

• An Amtrak train hit a dump truck in Missouri, derailed, killed 3 people and injured dozens, a semi in Utah overturned, dumping some 200 beehives on the road 🐝 , and tragedy in San Antonio, where an abandoned tractor-trailer was found to have 46 dead migrants inside and around it.

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Utah Headlines

General

• Could Utah’s federal lands become a safe haven for abortion? (Deseret News)
• Census shows Utah had lowest abortion rate in country, spent little on family planning (Fox13)
• How to find a campsite in Utah for the Fourth of July or any other time this summer. ‘Be open to all sorts of different camping,’ says The Dyrt founder Sarah Smith (Salt Lake Tribune)

Politics

• Meet the conservative judge on a liberal court worried about rising partisanship (Deseret News)
• Jason Perry: The real lesson from Roe v. Wade? Your vote matters more than you think (Deseret News)
• Jenny Wilson: The end of reproductive rights will harm all Americans. There is no social safety net to help women who are forced to give birth. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Blake Moore urges next steps after Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision (Cache Valley Daily)
• Derek Kitchen: We are governed by extremists with unchecked power (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Lawmaker seeks to remove felony statute from Utah’s abortion trigger law (KSL Newsradio)
• The FOX 13 Investigates team has obtained a video of Utah County Attorney David Leavitt discussing his "strategy” to adopt a Native American baby, allegedly taking advantage of his political influence to overcome a federal law designed to protect Native American children from being adopted by non-Native families. (Fox13)

Elections

• List of every candidate in Utah primary elections (ABC4)
• 5 states — including Utah — are holding primary elections this week. Here’s what to know (Deseret News)
• Yesterday, the day before the primary, former President Trump endorsed two incumbents almost certain to win today. (Deseret News)
• The Utah primary election is expected to be ‘pretty normal’ (KSL Newsradio)
• GOP lawmaker alleges fraud in Utah primary election. State says there is no fraud (Deseret News)
• State elections leaders dismiss state lawmakers claims of vote switching (KSL Newsradio)
• Utah officials, Lee campaign push back against claims of election fraud in Senate primary (KUTV)
• Meet the Utah candidates running for office on June 28 (Fox13)
• Previewing the primary election (ABC4)

Environment

• It’s a nasty, hungry pest, and scientists just mapped its genome. Crop devouring locust transforms in famine-provoking way (Deseret News)
• Utah leaders urge caution with fireworks amid record drought. Will people listen (Deseret News)

Family

• How did the safety net hold up in COVID-19 — and should it be expanded? (Deseret News)

Health

• Women are still underrepresented in clinical trials (Washington Post)

Housing

• New apartments to rise in Salt Lake neighborhood at center of revitalization plan (Deseret News)

National Headlines

General

• Just a terrible story. Houston Tipping went into Los Angeles Police Department training on May 26 a healthy, 32-year-old police officer. But after his fellow officers beat him as part of an exercise designed to “simulate a mob,” he left a quadriplegic and died three days later. (Washington Post)
• Post-Roe: Dems challenge GOP to show they care for mothers (AP)
• New poll says 59% of Americans disapprove of Roe v. Wade being overturned (Deseret News)
• How is corporate America responding to Roe v. Wade reversal? (Deseret News)
• Abortion battles in state courts after Supreme Court ruling (AP)
• Roe Is the New Prohibition (The Atlantic)
• What does it take to impeach a Supreme Court justice? (ABC4)
• Supreme Court backs a high school coach's right to pray on the 50-yard line (NPR)
• World’s stress at record levels: Gallup (The Hill)
• Google is preparing to shut down its messaging platform, Google Hangouts, and to transition users to its newest service, Google Chat. (The Hill)
• A 101-year-old former concentration camp guard was convicted by a German court of being accessory to more than 3,500 murders and sentenced to five years in prison. (New York Times)

Politics

• The question floating over the Jan. 6 hearings: Should Donald Trump be prosecuted? No U.S. president has ever been indicted on federal charges, but millions of Americans think Trump should be (Deseret News)
• John Eastman, one of the lawyers who aided Donald Trump's efforts to undo the 2020 election results, had his cell phone seized last week. (AP)
• Pence leans in on abortion, as Trump, other potential 2024 candidates are more cautious (Washington Post)
• McConnell moves to center ahead of midterms (The Hill)
• Her father fled the Nazis. She’s the new U.S. Ambassador to Germany.
  For Amy Gutmann, a respected democracy scholar, her role as President Biden’s envoy to Germany is not a job, “it’s a mission,” one both professional and personal. (New York Times)
• Storm clouds at home dampen Biden’s return to Europe. The president kicked off the G-7 summit in Germany hoping to rally the world’s leading democracies, but turmoil in Washington hangs over the proceedings. (Politico)
• Democrats' big bets on GOP primaries come due: What to watch in Tuesday's elections (Politico)

Ukraine 🇺🇦 

• France’s Macron: Russia cannot, should not win Ukraine war (AP)
• Zelenskyy tells G-7 summit Ukraine forces face urgent moment (AP)
• G-7 pledges $4.5 billion to improve food security (Washington Post)
• At a boarding school in Ukraine, displaced children long for home.
  Many left their parents behind when they were evacuated from the country’s east. Now they wrestle with the trauma of a conflict that has consumed much of their young lives. (New York Times)

News Releases

WGU and BYU-Pathway Worldwide announce scholarship and student transfer collaboration to improve lives through education

Western Governors University (WGU) and BYU-Pathway Worldwide announced a collaboration that provides access to additional degrees for BYU-Pathway students, alumni, and employees. The agreement establishes seamless transfer processes for individuals enrolling at WGU from BYU-Pathway – and helps them map a straightforward path toward select bachelor’s and master’s degree programs offered by the online, nonprofit university.

In addition to clear-cut transfer processes, WGU has established the Pathway to WGU Scholarship. BYU- Pathway students who have at least completed PathwayConnect or the first year, as well as currently employed staff members, are eligible to apply for this scholarship. Valued at up to $4,000, this award will make it easier for students and staff to enroll with WGU and earn a respected, career-ready degree. (Read More)

UCAIR donates hundreds of smart thermostats to SLCo program to reduce emissions, improve air quality

The Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR) generously donated 200 smart thermostats to Salt Lake County’s Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, which serves low- to moderate income families with health conditions worsened by their home environment. Hundreds of Salt Lake County homes will soon reduce their emissions and improve health conditions for those housed.

“Air quality continues to be at the front of Utahns minds,” said Kim Frost, Executive Director of UCAIR. “We are thrilled to partner with Maverik and Big West Oil to provide smart thermostats to Utah households that experience greater effects of air pollution. With the implementation of energy efficient technology, such as smart thermostats, we will see benefits to our air shed.” (Read More)

Congressman Blake Moore appointed to the House Budget Committee

Today, Congressman Blake Moore announced his appointment to serve as House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s representative on the House Budget Committee as the second highest ranking Republican member of the committee. He also serves as the representative from the House Armed Services Committee.

“I am beyond excited to be appointed to serve on the House Budget Committee,” said Congressman Blake Moore. “Addressing our national budget issues has been the focus of much of my work both in Washington and in Utah’s First Congressional District. It is imperative that we rein in our federal spending and get our fiscal house back in order so we can chart a course forward that will ensure prosperity for the next generation. I thank Leader McCarthy, Ranking Member Mike Rogers, and Ranking Member Jason Smith for recognizing my work, passion, and vision for how we can address these issues and for including me in this important committee. I look forward to getting to work.” (Read More)

Sen. McCay’s statement about temporary restraining order on S.B. 174

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Upcoming

• Primary election day â€“ June 28
• ULCT Annual Convention - Oct 5-7, Salt Palace Convention Center, Register here
• General election â€“ Nov 8

On This Day In History

• 1762 - Russian Tsarina Catherine II seizes power, declaring herself sovereign ruler of Russia
• 1820 - Tomato is proven to be non-poisonous by Colonel Robert Gibbon eating a tomato on steps of courthouse in Salem, New Jersey
• 1836 - James Madison dies
• 1914 - 1914 - Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie are assassinated by a Bosnian Serb nationalist, setting in motion the events that led to WWI.
• 1919 - Treaty of Versailles is signed, officially ending WWI. John Maynard Keynes predicts economic chaos because of the harsh terms of the treaty.
• 1969 - Stonewall riots start. In the early morning hours, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. That night the street erupted into violent protests and street demonstrations that lasted for the next three days. The Stonewall riots marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.
• 1971 - Elon Musk is born.
• 2007 - Egyptian Health Ministry officially bans female genital mutilation
• 2011 - Christine Lagarde becomes the 1st women to be elected head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Wise Words

"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad."

— Brian O'Driscoll

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