he victims Situational Analysis | May 25, 2022

Today is Wednesday and a heart-breaking day indeed.

Be in the Know

1. On what was supposed to be a "Footloose and Fancy" day right before the end of school, a teenage gunman crashed his car outside an elementary school in Texas and proceeded to massacre 19 children and two adults, one of whom was a teacher. The victims were all in a single 4th grade classroom. The shooter was shot and killed by a border agent who did not wait for backup. The carnage is so bad that some families must provide DNA to identify their children's remains. It is the second-deadliest school shooting in the US. The small town of Uvalde, Texas, has a population of about 16,000 people, around the size of Heber or South Ogden. Imagine.

   Condolences poured in from around the world. Ukraine, who knows the horror of seeing their children killed, offered their condolences as well. President Zelenskyy tweeted that "The people of Ukraine share the pain of the relatives and friends of the victims and all Americans." The Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States said “For us, the pain of losing children, especially of that age, is something we live for the past 90 days non-stop, and our condolences go to the American people. This should not happen anywhere. It should not happen in the U.S. and it should not happen in Ukraine.” In Utah, Governor Cox and Lt. Governor Henderson said they are "absolutely devastated" and the governor has ordered flags flown at half-staff. Senator Romney said "Grief overwhelms the soul."  Senator Lee said his heart breaks. 

   Texas Governor Greg Abbott said “What happened in Uvalde is a horrific tragedy that cannot be tolerated in the state of Texas." He and Senator Ted Cruz are still slated to speak at the annual NRA conference being held in Houston, Texas two days from now. The NRA did not respond to a request for comment on the shooting or the upcoming meeting.

FROM OUR SPONSOR, 100 PERCENT KIDS COALITION

82,000 Utah kids don’t have health insurance

Health insurance is crucial for the success of children, especially during a public health crisis. Unfortunately, too many kids across Utah are going without health insurance. Let's help all kids get the care they need, by covering all kids NOW!

Utah Headlines

Uvalde Massacre

• 'My heart's breaking': Utah politicians, officials react with grief to news of Texas school shooting (KSL)
• Utah leaders respond to Texas elementary school shooting (ABC4)
• Steve Kerr and Jason Kidd spoke on the Texas school shooting. Here’s what they said (Deseret News)
• President Biden addresses nation after Texas elementary school shooting that left 19 children dead (Deseret News)
• Editorial Board: How much longer will we choose to endure the mass shooting of children? From Columbine to Robb Elementary, the list of mass murders, many at schools, seems endless. America must set aside political differences and confront this national defect head on.
  (Deseret News)
• These states have the weakest gun control laws in the country (Deseret News)
• Active shooter incidents increased by 50% in the U.S. in 2021, FBI data shows (KUTV)
• Mother of Sandy Hook shooting victim says her heart is in Texas tonight (KSL TV)
• Utah County Sheriff’s Office among those offering active shooter training to teachers (KSL TV)
• Texas tragedy renews calls for mental health resources in Utah schools (Fox13)
• In the 10 years since Sandy Hook, gun laws in the U.S. haven't changed much (NPR)
• Families mourn, worry in wake of elementary school shooting (AP)
• Deadliest U.S. school killing in nearly a decade prompts Biden call for action (Reuters)
• Biden voices grief and anger at shooting: ‘I am sick and tired of it’ (Washington Post)
• More than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine (Washington Post)
• A 10-year-old victim was ‘always smiling,’ her anguished father says. (New York Times)
• Sen. Chris Murphy gives emotional speech on Texas elementary school shooting/ 'What are we doing?' (USA Today)
• Thoughts and prayers. It began as a cliché. It became a joke. It has putrefied into a national shame. (The Atlantic)

Politics

• Park City brewpub gets DABC’s only new bar license, but more are coming soon. Utah is set to award 10 more full bar licenses at an upcoming special meeting. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• In a rare move, Utah regulators will shut down Spanish Fork teen treatment center (Salt Lake Tribune)
• What people get wrong about political polarization. Transitioning from a tribal mindset to a pluralistic mindset goes against our wiring but it’s the solution to our current divisions (Deseret News)
• How this Latter-day Saint Sunday school teacher got to the top of Richard Nixon’s enemy list (Deseret News)
• Who’s in — and who’s out — for GOP congressional, Senate primary debates. Challengers will have the stage to themselves in Utah Debate Commission event (Deseret News)
• Where is the civility? Here’s what Utahns think about today’s political discourse (Deseret News)

Education

• Jordan School District Board votes to allow leis, cultural regalia at graduation ceremonies this year (KSL TV)
• 87 elementary students in Washington County receive ‘bikes for books’ through Masonic Lodge program (St. George News)

Environment

• Utah has the nation’s cheapest electricity, but it’s not very climate-friendly (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Could widespread grid failure impact Utah this summer? Group warns extreme heat, wildfires put states at risk (Deseret News)
• Utah lakes, reservoirs likely at peak water levels for the year (Fox13

Health

• Utah kids were more depressed last year — and more findings from new state youth report. The 2021 Utah Adolescent Health Report also found that children caught COVID-19 more often than previously reported. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Study shows worse health outcomes and lower incomes for Black women in Utah (UPR)

Housing

• In the search to solve Utah’s high housing costs, rent control is ‘not on the table’ (KUER)

National Headlines

General

• A pastor quits over 'adultery,' but a woman says she was 16 when he abused her. He received a standing ovation after he confessed, calling for privacy and healing and saying he was stepping down. But as Lowe set the microphone down, a woman and her husband approached the stage and picked the mic back up. 'You are not the victim here.' (NPR)
• Ex-reality star Josh Duggar to be sentenced for child porn (AP)
• Vigil, rally planned for 2nd anniversary of Floyd killing (AP)
• As hunger spreads in Somalia, babies start to die (Reuters)
• 1.1 million Afghan children could face severe malnutrition (AP)

Politics

• Gov. Brian Kemp defeats Trump-backed David Perdue in Georgia primary. Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s top election official, fended off a Trump-backed challenger as primaries also take place in Texas, Alabama and Arkansas (Wall Street Journal)
• Jan. 6 probe enters uncharted territory with subpoenas for GOP lawmakers. Move highlights the extreme political tensions surrounding the investigation into the Capitol riot (Wall Street Journal)
• Trump faces growing dilemma after Georgia (The Hill)
• Five takeaways from primaries in Georgia, Alabama and beyond (The Hill)
• ‘Thank you, Georgia’: Herschel Walker celebrates Senate primary win (Politico)
• Marjorie Taylor Greene thanks Democrats after primary win in Georgia (Politico)

Ukraine 🇺🇦 

• Saving the children: War closes in on eastern Ukrainian town (AP)
• Ukraine: 200 bodies found in basement in Mariupol’s ruins (AP)
• Russia drives to cut off key towns in Ukraine's east (Reuters)
• Russian parliament scraps age limit for army recruits (Reuters)
• Ukraine war: Bodies of dead Russian soldiers abandoned near Kyiv (BBC)

Number of the Day

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

• Envision Utah Breakfast, May 25, 8:00-9:30 am, Register here
• "Defenders, Bullies & Victims: The Social Ecology of Adolescence" with Diana Meter - June 7, 2022 RSVP here
• Ballots are mailed â€“ June 7
• Primary election day â€“ June 28
• General election â€“ Nov 8

On This Day In History

• 1787 - The Constitutional Convention begins, with George Washington presiding.
• 1803 - Ralph Waldo Emerson is born.
• 1861 - President Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War.
• 1889 - Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson is born. An early civil rights activist and organizer of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP, she pioneered the tactic of non-violent resistance.
• 1905 - Dorothy Wesley is born. A librarian and historian, she was one of the first African- American women to earn a master’s degree in library science (Howard University, 1932). As curator of the Moorland-Spingarn Collection at Howard University, she helped it become a world renowned resource on the history and culture of African-Americans.
• 1910 - Mary Keyserling is born. An economist, she was also the Director of the Women’s Bureau of the Labor Department (1964-1969), the Executive Director of the National Consumers’ League (1938), and personal advisor to Eleanor Roosevelt in the Office of Civilian Defense
• 1919 - Madame C.J. Walker dies. She was an African American entrepreneur and the first Black self-made female millionaire in America.
• 1928 - Mary Wells Lawrence is born. She was the first woman executive of an advertising firm, the first woman CEO of a company traded on the New York Stock Exchange and was named Advertising Woman of the Year (1971)
• 1961 - JFK announces US goal of putting a man on the Moon before the end of decade. He made the task a national priority and a mission in which all Americans would share, stating that it would not be one man going to the moon—it would be an entire nation.
• 1977 - Star Wars opens in theaters
• 2018 - Stacey Cunningham becomes the first female president of the New York Stock Exchange.
• 2020 - George Floyd is killed.

Wise Words

"What might we be if only we tried.

What might we become if only we’d listen."

- Amanda Forman

– Advertise With Us –

Subscribers may receive special messages with information about new features, special offers, or public policy messages from clients and advertisers.