Good morning. Salt Lake City will have a high of 33° and a low of 18°.
Today marks Lunar New Year2022. Millions of people across multiple countries celebrate Lunar New Year, commonly known in the West as Chinese New Year. But since my family celebrates because of our ties to Taiwan, I'll wish you a happy new year in Mandarin Chinese: 新年快乐! Xīn nián kuài lè!
It's also the first day of Black History Month. If you're wondering why Black History Month should matter to you, Jelani Cobb makes the case for why celebrating it can help America become a better country.
Also on our mind today: why more people should solve their problems like Joe Rogan and Spotify, when COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 could be available and why your days of playing Wordle for free might be numbered.
Correction: In our last newsletter, we cited some miscalculated data from an earlier version of a story about employment in the Intermountain West. The number of Utah workers laid off in 2021 was 162,000, and the number of Utah workers who quit their jobs was 509,000.
Rent has spiked by 35% in some cities. How does Utah compare to the rest of the U.S.?
While Utah often leads the U.S. in growth and rising housing prices — Ogden, Provo and Salt Lake City recently made the top 10 list of the country’s most overvalued markets — last year the Beehive State saw an increase in rent that was aligned with the national average.
The Salt Lake City metro area saw a 17.7% year-over-year increase in rent
Provo saw a 16.2% increase
St. George saw a 10.5% increase
“There’s still more demand than there is supply. But we aren’t standing still. We’re adding inventory,” said Paul Smith, executive director of the Utah Apartment Association.
Read more from Kyle Dunphey about what's leading to the increases.
Context: According to a recent Utah State Board of Education report, Utah schools collected more than $53 million for curricular or co-curricular fees during the 2020-2021 school year. These fees go toward instructional activities, courses or programs provided or supported by a school and occurring during school hours, as opposed to extra-curricular fees for activities such as after-school sports.
What's new: HB211, sponsored by Rep. Adam Robertson, R-Provo, would prohibit Utah schools from charging curricular fees and portions of co-curricular fees and would appropriate $55 million in state funding to help offset fees paid annually by Utah families.
“We have an obligation as a society, a moral obligation, to educate the upcoming generation, and our priority there is for the core curricular topics," Robertson said.
Read more from Marjorie Cortez about what the bill would do.
More in Politics
New poll finds 1 in 10 Americans think violence against the government is justified ‘right now’ (Deseret News)
Utah allowing state workers time off to substitute teach in public, private schools (Deseret News)
Bill would change Utah public records law, aims to limit 'vexatious requests' (KSL.com)
Utah weighs how to use millions awarded in opioid settlement (KSL.com)
COVID
Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children under 5 could be available by the end of February, people with knowledge say (The Washington Post 🔒)
The FDA just fully approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine (Deseret News)
Two new mass COVID-19 testing sites open in Utah, but state still urging most to skip the swab (Deseret News)
Faith
Groundbreakings announced for Lindon Utah, Farmington New Mexico Temples (Deseret News)
How a Supreme Court ruling for a Catholic foster care agency changed America (Deseret News)
How to attend the Washington D.C. Temple open house (Deseret News)
University of Utah President Taylor Randall challenges institute students to seek ‘worth’ at devotional featuring Elder Holland, Elder Gilbert (Church News)
Southern Utah
Did the Utah Bureau of Land Management ruin dinosaur tracks outside of Moab? (Deseret News)
Crash adds to ‘nightmare’ stretch of I-15 in Arizona just south of St. George (St. George News)
Northern Utah
This Utah Capitol complex building will be demolished. Here's what is slated to replace it (KSL.com)
58-year-old woman dies in hunting accident in Summit County (KSL.com)
The Nation
Perspective: Joe Rogan didn’t ‘cave’ and neither did Spotify (Deseret News)
The World
U.N. says over 100 ex-Afghan officials have been slain since the Taliban's takeover (NPR)
Russia moved a naval exercise because Irish fishermen said they’d stop it (Deseret News)
North Korea has confirmed that it tested a missile capable of striking Guam (NPR)
Trending
New York Times acquires Wordle, and the game’s days of free play could be numbered (Deseret News)
Utah is one of the top states for SAT scores (Deseret News)
In his first Olympics, the then-18-year-old Nathan Chen was among the favorites to medal. In his individual short program at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, with all of the pressure on him, he fell and missed a couple of jumps, placing 17th.
What happened in his next event, the free skate, would set the tone for the next four years of his career.
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