Situational Analysis | May 24, 2022

Happy Tuesday. It's Brother’s Day - got any plans?

Be in the Know

1. Rep. Travis Seegmiller finally acknowledges that he will withdraw from the primary for the House seat he will resign from on July 1. Oddly, the two withdrawals did not happen together and now, almost two weeks later, he has affirmed that he will not be on the primary ballot. The two remaining candidates for House District 73 are Nina Barnes and Colin Jack. 

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Utah Headlines

General

• New poll: Overwhelming majority of Utahns, and Gov. Cox, are concerned a recession is looming (Deseret News)
• Utah native Nathan Chen lands on Time 100 (Deseret News)
• Monkeypox in Utah: Officials report 2 suspected cases in Salt Lake County (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Salt Lake City International Airport connecting the crossroads of the West with the heart of Europe (KSL)
• Springville Utah Food Bank groundbreaking part of expansion (KSL Newsradio)
• New international market to help launch big plans for Utah State Fairpark (Fox13)

Politics

• After week of silence, embattled Utah lawmaker Travis Seegmiller confirms he will withdraw from primary (KUTV)
• Are you a Trump Republican or a Romney Republican? Poll reveals Utahns’ preference (Deseret News)
• U.S. should prepare for a ‘cornered, delusional’ Vladimir Putin using nuclear weapons, Mitt Romney says (Deseret News)
• What’s the difference between Christian nationalism and healthy patriotism? Watch for three signs that suggest a healthy love of God and country may have turned into something else (Deseret News)
• Unaffiliated voters, assemble! Here’s what you need to know about Utah’s primary election (KUER)

Education

• Utah County high school graduations unfolding this week (Daily Herald)
• Schools are emptying on the Salt Lake Valley’s east side and overflowing in the west. Districts face decisions about building new schools in growing communities while also considering consolidations and closures in aging neighborhoods. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Bennion Jr. High School employee on leave over racist allegations (KSL TV)
• Just terrible. Video shows teen being beaten in the girl's bathroom at Ogden High School (KUTV)
• Rules vary determining what Utah teachers can post on social media, display in classroom (KUTV)
• The online learning phenomenon impacts higher education; 17.3M students enrolled in 2021 (St. George News)
• ‘Jump on the opportunity’: $4 million in scholarship funds available to students who work in child care (St. George News)
• Want more Utah students to take AP classes? Try throwing a literary costume party (KUER)

Environment

• Priceless seeds, sprouts key to Utah's post-wildfire recovery (KSL)
• Don’t blame farms for drying up the Great Salt Lake. They could be key to its survival. (KSL TV)
• The ‘Flatline Fire’ hints at a concerning wildfire season for Utah (KSL TV)

Family

• U.S. births increase for first time since 2014 (Wall Street Journal) 
• Veronika Tait: Breastfeeding isn’t an option for all mothers — we need action on the baby formula shortage (Deseret News)
• Military flies 35 tons of baby formula from Europe, but it’s not destined for store shelves (Deseret News)
• The emotional reunion between a Holocaust survivor and family of man who saved him (Deseret News)
• Mental health services expanding for children (and parents) in Utah (KSL Newsradio)

Housing

•  Bob Belden: Housing prices are skyrocketing — why can’t smaller homes be the answer? Unconstitutional zoning laws might interfere with your plans (Deseret News)
• Why Utah housing market is ‘very low risk’ for price drops — while other parts of the West are ‘high risk’ (Deseret News)
• Salt Lake City property taxes soon may go up. Here’s how much it would cost you. Mayor Erin Mendenhall says the 4.9% increase would help bolster the city’s workforce and address other needs. Taxpayer advocates worry about timing as inflation soars. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Renters' rights: What to do if facing unexpected charges (Fox13)
• Concerning levels of radon found in many Utah homes (Fox13)
• Even when employed, housing in Utah isn’t a sure thing (KUER)

Utah/Ukraine Connection

• Lehi MLM Nature's Sunshine draws criticism for continuing to do business in Russia (Daily Herald)

National Headlines

General

• AP-NORC poll: Economy grows as priority on Russia response (AP)
• Reconstruction of reporter’s killing points to Israeli fire (AP)
• Egypt’s Bread Crisis Awakens Old Fears of Political Unrest (Wall Street Journal)
• Stock market ends 600 points higher after flirting with bear market (Wall Street Journal)
• Invade Haiti, Wall Street Urged. The U.S. Obliged.The long American occupation of Haiti began with a drumbeat from the bank that became Citigroup, decades of records show. (New York Times)
• D.C. attorney general sues Mark Zuckerberg over Cambridge Analytica (Politico)
• IMF says economy faces ‘perhaps its biggest test’ since WWII (The Hill)

Politics

•  Madison Cawthorn faces investigation by House ethics panel (Wall Street Journal)
• Two years after Floyd’s death, little movement on police reform in Washington (Washington Post)
• David Perdue makes racist remarks about Stacey Abrams as he ends a lackluster campaign. (New York Times)
• Trump-Pence battle plays out with Kemp-Perdue Georgia gubernatorial race (USA Today)
• GOP primary wars leave deep wounds in Georgia. It won't be easy to unite the party after an election season from hell. (Politico)
• Kellyanne Conway: Yes. Trump lost (Politico)
• Trump ditched Mo Brooks for going ‘woke.’ Now he’s rising again in the polls. (Politico)
• Dem-allied groups drop an A-bomb on Mastriano to start Pa. gov race (Politico)

Ukraine 🇺🇦 

• After 3 months, Russia still bogged down in Ukraine war (AP)
• Russia steps up shelling, seeking gains in Ukraine’s Donbas (AP)
• Russia launches all-out assault to encircle Ukraine troops in east (Reuters)
• Pentagon says more high-tech weapons going to Ukraine (AP)
• Mariupol defenders surrender to Russia but their fate is uncertain (Reuters)
• Ukraine’s forces sink Russian river crossings, inflicting heavy damage (Wall Street Journal)
• ‘Ashamed’ Russian diplomat resigns over Putin’s ‘aggressive war’ (Washington Post)
• The first M777 howitzers, a more powerful American-made artillery weapon, have entered the fight in Ukraine. (New York Times)
• The war won't end until Putin loses (The Atlantic)
• Bungling the prewar and first moves in Finland 1939 and Ukraine 2022: A comedy of errors for Stalin’s Soviet Union and Putin’s Russia, respectively. The staggeringly ridiculous parallels between the First Soviet-Finnish Winter War and the current war in Ukraine are both profoundly illuminating and especially instructive (Small Wars Journal)

News Releases

Precedent-setting Cabinet appointment at University of Utah

In a move that emphasizes University of Utah President Taylor Randall’s efforts to pick up the “clock speed” on moving research to commercialization, the U’s chief innovation and economic engagement officer is now a cabinet-level position. The newly elevated role held by Keith Marmer will work closely with the university’s Interim Vice President for Research Erin Rothwell to broaden the impact of the U’s research mission through commercialization and corporate engagement. The administrative change takes effect on July 1, 2022. (Read More)

Ten Utah educators receive top 2022 teaching honors

10 educators were honored with the 2022 UEA/doTERRA Excellence in Teaching Awards. The awards will be presented at the KeyBank Superstars in Education Banquet June 14 at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City. Video profiles on each of the 10 winning teachers, produced by PBS-Utah, will be shown at the banquet awards ceremony and are available to view online at pbsutah.org/teachers. Award recipients were selected based on their impact on individual students or groups of students. Each winner receives an award, a poster to display at their school and a check for $1,500, courtesy of award sponsor doTERRA. (Read More)

Owens co-sponsors the Rural Broadband Network Study Act

This week, Rep. Burgess Owens (UT-04) co-sponsored the Rural Broadband Network Study Act, legislation to study the impact of big streamers like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ on rural broadband network costs and availability. Specifically, H.R. 1650 would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch a study into the current and projected demands on rural broadband networks associated with services offered by edge providers. (Read More)

Utah Taxpayers Association: Predicted surplus over $700 million – cut taxes – not more spending

With the release last week of the Monthly State Revenue Snapshot and TC-23 from the Utah State Tax Commission it is abundantly clear that the right decision for Utah is cutting taxes for 2023 now – not more “above-trend” spending.

Continuing to blow past all expectations by a wide margin, tax revenue collections show that general fund/education funds stand at $9.88 billion after 10 months of the fiscal year. With 2 months remaining, even with just average historical collections, Utah will likely end fiscal year 2022 (June 30th) with a surplus somewhere between $700 million and $1 billion. (Read More)

Number of the Day

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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

• 1775 - John Hancock is unanimously elected President of the Continental Congress.
• 1844 - Samuel Morse taps out "What hath God wrought" in the world's first telegraph message.
• 1878 - Lillian Moller (Gilbreth) is born. She completed a doctoral degree at Brown University with 4 young children at home. Her dissertation, Psychology of Management, was foundational to the field of organizational psychology. She is remembered as the “mother of modern management,” who balanced a trailblazing professional career while raising twelve children.
• 1883 - Brooklyn Bridge is opened.
• 1898 - Helen Taussig is born. A pediatric cardiologist and first woman full professor at Johns Hopkins (1959), she helped create the Blalock-Taussig shunt, a surgical technique which corrected “blue baby” syndrome, contributed to the ban on thalidomide in the 1960s, was the first woman president of the American Heart Association (1965), and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• 1943 -  Auschwitz gets a new doctor, 32-year-old Josef Mengele, a man who will earn the nickname “the Angel of Death.”
• 1943 - Final entry in the Stroop Report, detailing the destruction of the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto, compiled by Nazi officers, later used as evidence in the Nuremberg trials
• 2021 - Constitutional crisis deepens in Samoa after Speaker of the House shuts out Fiame Naomi Mata’afa from being sworn in as the country's first woman leader in 56 years

Wise Words

“When someone tells me ‘no,’ it doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it simply means I can’t do it with them.”

—Karen E. Quinones Miller

Lighter Side

Stephen Colbert waxes nostalgic about George W. Bush
“Dubya and I had so many good times together back at the old ‘Colbert Report,’” he said. “I made so much fun of him, and he gave me so many reasons to do that.”

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