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Local News Highlights: Daily Briefing

Morning must reads for Thursday, February 16, 2017

Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 47th day of the year. There are 318 days remaining in 2017.

A fight may be brewing over a bill establishing a runoff in some primary elections. Some Republicans are urging Rep. Jason Chaffetz to start investigating Donald Trump's White House. A Colorado group takes out newspaper ads to lure the Outdoor Retailers Show away from Utah.

The clock:

• 12 days until President Trump is scheduled to addresses a joint session of Congress (2/28/2017)
• 21 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature (3/9/2017)
• 264 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)
• 629 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 1356 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Here are the stories making news in politics this morning:

• There may be a fight in the Legislature brewing over a bill establishing a runoff for some primary elections. The current legislation calls for a runoff if candidates reach 35%, but some Republicans in the House think that number is too low [Utah Policy].
  
  
• Rep. Jason Chaffetz wants an investigation into who leaked classified information that led to the resignation of National Security Adviser Gen. Michael Flynn [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Politico]. 
  
  
• A Colorado group takes out half-page newspaper ads in Utah lobbying the Outdoor Retailers Show to abandon Salt Lake City over the attitude toward public lands shown by state leaders [Utah Policy].
  
  
• Rep. Brad Daw wants to allow cities and counties to boost sales taxes to fund road projects [Utah Policy, Tribune].
  
  
• The House approves a bill removing race and gender when considering candidates for Utah judges [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune].
  
  
• The Senate advances a bill that would remove the requirement to have a certain number of Democrats on some state boards and commissions [Utah Policy, Tribune]. 
  
  
• Some Congressional Republicans are pushing Rep. Jason Chaffetz to unleash Oversight Committee investigations on the Donald Trump White House [Politico].
  
  
• Andrew Puzder withdraws as President Donald Trump's nominee for Labor Secretary [Washington Post].
  
  
• Gov. Gary Herbert says he supports a proposal to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and hopes to discuss the Bears Ears National Monument with the Trump administration when he visits Washington next week [Associated Press].
  
  
• Rep. Mike Winder's proposal to give teachers in low-income schools a salary boost barely passes a House committee [Tribune, Deseret News].
  
  
• What?! When Donald Trump made surprise calls to the Air Force general in charge of the F-35 jet program to discuss the ballooning cost of the program, the CEO of Boeing was listening in on the call. The only problem is the F-35 is manufactured by Boeing's chief rival, Lockheed [Bloomberg].
  
  
• U.S. intelligence officials are withholding some information from President Trump because they are fearful it could be leaked or that the White House is compromised [Wall Street Journal].

On this day in history:

• 1923 - The burial chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt.
• 1948 - NBC-TV aired the first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre," which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.
• 1959 - Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba a month after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

Today At Utah Policy

Threshold for runoff elections could derail bill addressing plurality By Bob Bernick and Bryan Schott Many politicos believed the SB54 plurality fight was over with this legislative session after the Utah Republican Party’s Central Committee voted last Saturday to drop its federal lawsuit against the dual-pathway to the primary ballot law.Not so fast....

House approves measure that prohibits consideration of race and gender in judicial nominations By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor In his seven years in office, Gov. Gary Herbert has been criticized for not appointing more women and minorities to the state court bench....

Chaffetz wants probe into who leaked information that brought down Flynn By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Rep. Jason Chaffetz wants the Justice Department to investigate who leaked the classified information that led to the resignation of former National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn....

Lawmakers move forward with proposal to remove requirement that Democrats sit on some state boards By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor The Utah Senate moved one step forward with a measure that would reduce, or eliminate, Democrats on some state boards and commissions....

Weekly survey: Did paid protesters disrupt Chaffetz's town hall meeting? By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Rep. Jason Chaffetz claims that paid protesters disrupted his town hall meeting last week. Do you believe his claims? Vote now in our weekly survey....

Colorado group takes out newspaper ads in Utah urging Outdoor Retailers Show to move By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor A Colorado group has taken out half-page ads in Utah newspapers trying to lure the Outdoor Retailers show away from Utah....

Proposal would allow cities and counties to boost sales taxes for road projects By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor When Utah County residents roundly voted down the Utah Transit Authority quarter-cent sales tax hike several years ago, local cities were in a bind....

Colbert rips Chaffetz for refusal to investigate Flynn's communications with Russia By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Rep. Jason Chaffetz has once again drawn the satirical brickbat of Stephen Colbert, this time over his disinclination to investigate former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's contacts with Russia....

Policy News

Expanding FMLA will negatively impact Utah's small businesses and employees Utah’s small businesses are the lifeblood of our economic success and provide hundreds of thousands of jobs for Utah families....

Wise Words

Be Patient
"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." Leo Tolstoy

Lighter Side

Migration
"A recent study found that the number of monarch butterflies migrating to Mexico from the U.S. has dropped by 27 percent. Apparently the butterflies are afraid if they go from the U.S. to Mexico, they won't be allowed back in." Conan O'Brien