Situational Analysis | June 3, 2022

It's Friday, Friday. And, it's National Doughnut Day. Great way to start a weekend! Here's where you can get some freebies.

Be in the Know

• More Utah debates yesterday, including another Senate debate (without the incumbent) and a First Congressional district debate. The Senate debate between challengers Ally Isom and Becky Edwards gave them another opportunity to differentiate themselves from Senator Mike Lee. Both said he's long on rhetoric and short on actually getting things done. In the first Congressional district debate, Rep. Blake Moore was under attack for "not doing enough" to fight President Biden, for participating in the Conservative Climate Caucus and for voting for a bill he did not, in fact, vote for. Prior to the debate, Rep. Moore released polling that showed him almost 50 points ahead of his nearest competitor. 

• It's Day 100 of the war in Ukraine, a war where losses of Russian military personnel (30,000+) could be as high as ten times the number of Ukrainian soldiers (~3,000). "At least" tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed, President Zelenskyy said yesterday. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia to be put up for adoption, while an estimated 1.2 million Ukrainians have been forcibly relocated to Russian "filtration camps." 38,000 residential buildings have been destroyed, 1900 schools and 500 hospitals have been damaged, and more than 14 million have been displaced.

Rapid Roundup

• Adam Pomeroy drops out of the race for Utah County Attorney and is supporting Jeff Gray in an effort to defeat David Leavitt (although his name will remain on the ballot), there was a shooting at a cemetery in Wisconsin and another in an Iowa church parking lot which left multiple people dead and more wounded; Turkey today, Türkiye tomorrow - a country changes its name, the US added 390,000 new jobs in May and finally, a California court rules that bees are actually fish. 

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Utah Headlines

General

• Natalie Gochnour: Are we headed toward recession? Maybe not if we prepare (Deseret News)
• Allegiant and Avelo drop Ogden flights, leaving city without commercial air service (Standard-Examiner)
• Utah Women in STEM careers slowly increasing, reports USU UWLP (Cache Valley Daily)
• The untold story of K. Kawanishi. Headstone lacks details about an individual, but illustrates an era (Moab Sun News)

Politics

• Fireworks fly in debate ahead of GOP primary for Utah’s 1st Congressional District (Deseret News)
• First-term Utah congressman faces sharp criticism in heated debate (KUTV)
• The Deseret News invited three experts to respond to President Joe Biden’s Wall Street Journal op-ed. Here's what they think (Deseret News)
• Stephanie Pitcher: Time for Utah to find the political willpower to make clean air a reality (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Box Elder officials tout existing natural gas pipeline to bring seawater into Great Salt Lake (Herald Journal News)
• The culture war isn’t solving any of our problems. We need a ‘coalition of the decent’ to lower the temperature and advance real solutions (Deseret News)

Education

• Biden administration forgives $5.8 billion in student loans for Corinthian Colleges borrowers. Now-defunct Everest College in West Valley City was among 105 campuses nationally that were under the Corinthian Colleges Inc. umbrella. (Deseret News)
• 16-year-old arrested for planning mass shooting at a high school in California (Deseret News)
• L. Rex Sears: Utah’s children should understand critical race theory and the work yet to be done. Junteenth is a time to remember that schools should not protect our children from the truth. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah speller gets second chance to advance to finals after winning National Spelling Bee appeal (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah food banks might have to pick up the slack if federal school meal waivers expire (KUER)
• High school students celebrate wearing cultural, religious items at graduation (Fox13)

Environment

• Watering restrictions hit the West in worst drought in 12 centuries (Deseret News)
• Fire restrictions now in effect in 2 Utah national parks (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah is rattlesnake country. How to keep yourself — and your dog — safe on the trails. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Family

• Airlifts will bring baby formula to store shelves, Biden says (Deseret News)
• The ‘working family tax credit,’ explained (Deseret News)

Health

• 5728 new weekly COVID cases, 4 more deaths
• Teen substance use declined during the pandemic — even as mental health concerns increased (Deseret News)

Housing

• More sellers are slashing housing prices in these Western cities. Housing market ‘just hit a turning point that could change the homebuying game,’ Realtor.com says (Deseret News)

Utah/Ukraine connection

• Benefit concerts to raise funds for Ukraine and other refugees (Fox13)

Between its massive size and level of government involvement, China's economy is like no other in the world. How will a forecasted slowdown in China's economic growth affect the country's political stability and the rest of the global economy? At the China Challenge Summit – hosted by World Trade Center Utah and Utah Valley University in partnership with Utah Policy – leading experts will take a deep dive into China's economy. They will provide the latest assessments of President Xi's economic policies and ambitions, the business environment for foreign companies operating in China, challenges to demographic and workforce trends and the sustainability of Beijing's zero-COVID policy. Register at ChinaChallengeSummit.com to join us on June 9 for this critical conversation.

National Headlines

General

• The US economy added 390,000 jobs in May, extending a yearlong streak of strong gains. The jobless rate remained at 3.6% (Wall Street Journal)
• Police: Tulsa gunman targeted surgeon he blamed for pain (AP)
• Michael Avenatti was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison for stealing book proceeds from Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who catapulted him to fame as he represented her in courtrooms and cable news programs during her legal battles with then-President Donald Trump. (AP)
• Burnout drove Sheryl Sandberg’s exit from Meta (Wall Street Journal)
• Sheryl Sandberg departure marks the end of an era for women in tech (Washington Post)
• Coal pile slide buries, kills 2 at Colorado power plant (AP)

Politics

• Biden urges Congress to act on guns in rare prime-time address (Washington Post)
• President Biden calls for assault weapons ban and other measures to curb gun violence (NPR)
• Economic recovery buoys Social Security, Medicare (Politico)
• Jan. 6 committee sets prime-time hearing date for findings (AP)
• GOP lawmaker pulls guns during markup (The Hill)
• Gaetz says he supports voters arming themselves at polls (The Hill)
• New York passes bill raising age to buy, own semi-automatic rifles (The Hill)
• House Republicans are finally talking climate. The White House is not interested (Deseret News)

Ukraine 🇺🇦 

• Unsparing images from Ukraine show war at the 100-day mark (AP)
• Thousands flee front-line towns in Ukraine as Russian forces advance (Wall Street Journal)
• Putin fires five more generals: report (The Hill)
• ‘Everything is gone’: Eastern Ukraine residents say Russia is wiping their towns off the map (Politico)
• Putin thinks West will blink first in war of attrition, Russian elites say (Washington Post)
• In Ukraine, broken lives in a broken house, just one of many (AP)

News Releases

Utah Division of Technology Services completes massive data server transfer

The Utah Department of Government Operations and Division of Technology Services (DTS) are celebrating the landmark transfer of the state’s data center from the Utah State Capitol to the state office building in Taylorsville. This means the state phone system and call centers, the print center, the state network, and more than 2,000 servers (which house all state systems and applications) moved to their new home in the cloud or in Taylorsville. More than 350 employees from the Utah Department of Government Operations, the Division of Technology Services and the Division of Facilities Construction and Management were involved in this move, spending countless hours to ensure the safety and security of the state’s data and IT systems remained intact. (Read More)

Gov. Spencer J. Cox appoints four additional members to serve on the Utah Board of Higher Education

Gov. Spencer Cox has appointed the following members to serve on the Utah Board of Higher Education: Grace Acosta, Richard Wheeler, Xitlalli Villanueva, and Heather Johnson. The governor’s nominations are subject to confirmation by the Utah Senate.

The Utah Board of Higher Education oversees the Utah System of Higher Education, which includes eight public colleges and universities and eight technical colleges. The 18-member board sets policy, reviews degrees and programs, hires and evaluates institutional presidents, and submits an annual budget request to the governor and Legislature, among other responsibilities. (Read More)

Romney, Rosen introduce bipartisan legislation to advance more options to lower drug prices

U.S. Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) announced that they have introduced the Advancing Affordable Medicines for Families Act, bipartisan legislation which would direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a report on the impact that nonprofit generic drug companies would have on lowering drug costs, addressing drug shortages, and accelerating the development of new drugs. The report would also look at existing barriers to the success of nonprofit pharmaceutical organizations, and what Congress can do to support them.

“Utahns and Americans across the country are strapped with skyrocketing prescription drug costs, and it is increasingly difficult for them to receive the medicine they need,” said Senator Romney. “We must explore ways to lower costs for medication and spur the research and development in new drugs. I’m proud to team up my efforts with Senator Rosen on this issue by requiring a report to look at how Congress can work with nonprofit generic drug companies like Utah’s Civica Rx on a bipartisan basis to lower drug costs, address shortages, and accelerate the development of new drugs.” (Read More)

Romney, 47 senators will vote to block taxpayer funding for abortion

U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) joined Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), founder and chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, in a letter also signed by 46 other pro-life senators to send a unified message to Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer pledging that they will vote to block any bill that would undermine the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion, or any other pro-life protections.

“We write to express our unwavering support for the Hyde Amendment and all other longstanding pro-life protections. For more than 45 years, the Hyde Amendment has ensured that taxpayer dollars are not used to fund abortions, saving the lives of nearly 2.5 million preborn children. As you know, the Hyde Amendment is supported by both a substantial majority of the American public and a bipartisan majority of sitting United States Senators, and was most recently signed into law by President Biden in Public Law 117-103,” the senators write. (Read More)

Number of the Day

Tweet of the Day

Four-year-olds are just the greatest

Upcoming

• "Defenders, Bullies & Victims: The Social Ecology of Adolescence" with Diana Meter - June 7, 2022 RSVP here
• Ballots are mailed â€“ June 7
• China Challenge Summit with WTCU, at UVU – June 9, 2022, 8:30-4:30, Register here
• Hatch Foundation Debate w Lindsey Graham & Bernie Sanders – June 13, 10 am MDT. Tune in here
• Utah Legislature Interim Days – June 14,15 le.utah.gov for more info
• Primary election day â€“ June 28
• General election â€“ Nov 8

On This Day In History

• 1906 - Singer/actress Josephine Baker is born. She was the first African American woman to star in a major motion picture and to integrate an American concert hall. She was also a spy and owner of Folies-Bergere in Paris.
• 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson signs National Defense Act, expanding the size and scope of the National Guard, which was the network of state militias that had been developing from colonial times.
• 1919 - Elizabeth Koontz is born, the first African-American president of the National Education Association.
• 1937 - Duke of Windsor weds American socialite
• 1940 - Last British and French troops evacuated from Dunkirk.
• 1965 - First American astronaut, Major Edward H. White II, walks in space.
• 1989 - Crackdown at Tiananmen begins
• 2016 - Muhammad Ali dies at age 74

Wise Words

"There is nothing America needs more than an infusion of humility born of long suffering."

– Elizabeth Duncan Koontz

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