UVU's basketball team upsets #12 BYU, Omicron is already in the US, Michigan school shooter charged w terrorism, parents may also be charged
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The Utah Policy newsletter is your one-stop source for political and policy-minded news. Send news tips or feedback to editor@utahpolicy.com.

 

Situational Analysis | December 2, 2021

It's already Thursday and National Special Education Day. 

Be in the Know

  1. There was an officer-involved shooting in Taylorsville overnight. Two officers were injured, one critically, and the suspect is dead. Officers were looking for a rape and robbery suspect and located him around 10 pm, with an infant inside the SUV he had been driving. After negotiations, he released the baby and after more than hour, he finally exited the vehicle and began shooting at the officers who returned fire. The baby was unharmed. 

  2. The UVU basketball team shocked #12 BYU by winning in overtime last night, 72-65. Congrats, wolverines! 
 

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Utah Headlines

General

  • Staffing shortage at Utah State Hospital reaches ‘critical state’ (KSL Newsradio)
  • Analysis: Utah ranks last in elder-abuse protections. The Beehive State came in 51st in comparison of 50 states plus the District of Columbia. (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Christmas light display goes on hiatus due to city ordinance in West Valley (KSL)
  • If you want your holiday package to arrive on time, here are the deadlines to know (NPR)
  • Utah Kids Foundation provides support & medical supplies for families in need (KUTV)

Politics

  • Voting rights debate reignites in San Juan County with new commission, school board district proposals (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Utah officials plan agency merger to form massive department of health and human services (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • The government wants this word removed from more than 50 places in Utah (Spoiler alert: It's "squaw") (Deseret News)
  • Live free or die? Utah ranks 20th on Cato Institute’s ‘freedom index’ and lower than many states in the West (Deseret News)

COVID Corner

  • 2297 new cases, 17 more deaths
  • 1 in 6 of all COVID-19 deaths in Utah occurred in the last two months (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Intermountain, MountainStar, pause employee COVID vaccine requirements amid legal challenges (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Why a University of Utah doctor gave the new COVID-19 pill a thumbs down (Deseret News)
  • Santa Clara County braces as first omicron COVID case detected in California (San Jose Spotlight)
  • Covid: South Africa new cases double in 24 hours as Omicron spreads (BBC)
  • Lara Logan draws outrage for comparing Fauci to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele on Fox News (Washington Post)
  • Omicron could knock a fragile economic recovery off track (New York Times)

Education

  • Removing books limits our growth, student tells Canyons School Board (Deseret News)
  • Offensive Halloween costumes partly led to Utah school holding diversity assembly, which the principal then apologized for (KUTV)
  • Family accuses Lehi private school of pushing boys out over hair length (Fox13)
  • Educators say more support is needed to retain teachers in their first five years (KUER)

National Headlines

General

  • Michigan school shooting suspect Ethan Crumbley charged with terrorism, murder: 'Not just an impulsive act' (Fox News)
  • Michigan school shooting prosecutor suggests she will charge parents (Washington Post)
  • You can run but you can't hide. Debt collectors OK'd to use social media to reach borrowers (NBC News)
  • MLB owners lock out players, 1st work stoppage since 1995 (AP)
  • The U.N. pledged to cut by half the proportion of people living in the worst conditions around the world. It met its goal. (New York Times)

Politics

  • Symone Sanders, senior adviser to Vice President Harris, will leave post (Washington Post)
  • Longtime president of Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, Tim Phillips, is forced out (Washington Post)
  • GOP fears boomerang as threat of government shutdown grows (The Hill)

Courts

  • Justice Coney Barrett questions if adoption laws could eliminate the 'burden' of parenthood for abortion seekers (Business Insider)
  • The Supreme Court appears inclined to roll back Roe v. Wade (NPR)
  • Abortion remarks by 9 court justices indicate how they lean (AP)
 

Policy News

Sen. Romney, colleagues lead roundtable with local child care providers under threat by Democrat spending bill proposal

U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), with his Republican colleagues on the Education Committee, today led a roundtable discussion to hear firsthand how the Democrats’ ill-constructed child care proposal, which is included in their reckless tax-and-spending bill, would devastate existing child care programs, increase costs for families, and limit parental choice. (Read/Watch More)


Sen. Romney joins colleagues in requesting assistance for livestock producers affected by drought

U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today joined his colleagues, led by Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Jon Tester (D-MT), in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to address a gap in coverage under the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP). In September, USDA announced it would provide ELAP assistance for the cost of transporting feed to livestock, but producers who are transporting their livestock to feed are not eligible for the program. (Read More)


State Treasurer Marlo M. Oaks and State Auditor John Dougall join fellow state financial officers in push back against bank boycotts of traditional energy industries

State Treasurer Marlo M. Oaks and State Auditor John Dougall joined state financial officers representing 15 states in an effort to stand up against the ongoing and growing economic boycott of traditional energy production industries by U.S. financial institutions.

A coalition of 16 State Treasurers, Auditors and Comptrollers has sent an open letter to banking industry officials notifying them that each state will take deliberate steps toward selecting financial institutions that have not adopted corporate policies to cut off financing for the coal, oil and natural gas industries. In Utah, the State Treasurer will perform an enhanced due diligence assessment of future financial services contracts with institutions that have publicly pledged to boycott traditional energy industries.

The letter makes clear that officials are not asking for special treatment for these industries, just that they be treated like any other legal business operating in the free market, without prejudice or preference. (Read More)


Day 18: Sen. Lee continues fight against Biden’s vaccine mandate

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), for the eighteenth day, spoke against President Biden’s vaccine mandate on the Senate Floor today (Dec. 1) and asked the Senate to pass by unanimous consent his bill to protect members of the military from President Biden’s military vaccine mandate.

Lee again offered his bill, S. 2842, the Respecting Our Servicemembers Act, which has previously been rejected by Senate Democrats.  (Read/Watch More)

 
 

Upcoming

  • 2022 Congressional Policy Forecast Webinar - Hatch Center – Dec 8, 10:30 am - 11:30 am Register here
  • Utah Economic Outlook & Public Policy Summit 2022 - SLC Chamber – Jan 13, 2022, 8:30 am - 1:30 pm. Register here
  • Utah legislative session begins – Jan 18, 2022, 10:00 am
  • Utah legislative session ends – Mar 4, 2022, midnight
 

On This Day In History

From History.com

  • 1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor of France
  • 1823 - The Monroe Doctrine declared, a foreign policy approach opposing European colonialism in the Americas and asserting US neutrality toward future European conflicts.
  • 1845 - US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West, a widely held belief termed "manifest destiny" by newspaper editor John O'Sullivan
  • 1863 - Jane Appleton Pierce, American First Lady (1853-57) and wife of Franklin Pierce, dies of tuberculosis at 57
  • 1886 - Josephine Roche is born. A humanitarian, industrialist, Progressive Era activist, and politician, she was a big fighter for workers rights. One of her biggest accomplishments was unionizing mine workers and getting them paid an unheard of $7 dollars a day. 
  • 1899 - The US and Germany agree to divide Samoa
  • 1942 - Physicist Enrico Fermi produces the first nuclear chain reaction
  • 1954 - Joseph McCarthy condemned by Senate
  • 1960 - Deb Haaland is born. First Native American named to head a cabinet agency as Secretary of the Interior
  • 1970 - The Environmental Protection Agency opens its doors
  • 1982 - The first permanent artificial heart successfully implanted at the University  of Utah in retired dentist Barney Clark. He lived 112 days with the Jarvic-7 heart
  • 1986 - Desi Arnaz dies of lung cancer at 69
  • 2001 - Enron files for bankruptcy

Wise Words

“December is a bewitching month...”

-Joseph Coelho


Lighter Side

Both Pfizer and Moderna are testing how well their vaccines protect against Omicron. Unfortunately, they won’t know the results for two weeks, at the earliest. Evidently, the scientists are stuck in a container off the coast of China.”

— STEPHEN COLBERT

 

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