Situational Analysis | March 10, 2022

It's Thursday and in case you haven't left for work, it's also National Pack Your Lunch Day. 

Be in the Know

1. Russia bombed a hospital complex including a maternity hospital and a children's hospital in Mariupol. Putin isn't even pretending to fire only at military targets anymore. But - Russian officials said the news was not only false, it was "information terrorism." They bombed themselves, you see. Or else it was actually a militia base and a legitimate military target. Darn those photos of bloodied pregnant women.

2. The United States denied renewed Russian accusations that Washington was operating biowarfare labs in Ukraine, calling the claims "laughable" and suggesting Moscow may be laying the groundwork to use a chemical or biological weapon.

3. Have you wondered what an oligarch is??  An oligarch is a member of an oligarchy, a power system led by a small group of people. The term is typically used today to refer to uber-wealthy Russians who either have direct or perceived power in Russia's state of affairs despite not being elected to positions of power and are part of Putin's inner circle.

4. In news at home, the US House passed a $1.5 trillion spending bill with $13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine. It now heads to the Senate. 

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Utah Headlines

General

• What economic impacts should Utah expect from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? (Deseret News)
• First lady Jill Biden just made a trip out West. Here’s what she said (Deseret News)
• A big hospital complex is coming to West Valley City. See what it will have. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah organization pushing to share more historic stories of local women (KUTV)
• Gender pay equity still a distant goal in Utah and the U.S. (Fox13)
• Learn if your Utah home had racist covenants and how to change them (Fox13)

Politics

• How misinformed protesters hurt their own case against digital driver’s licenses. A digital driver’s license program will begin in Utah. All lawmakers wanted to do was to add privacy protections in a bill protesters ended up killing. (Deseret News)
• Which 8 Utah lawmakers won’t run for reelection this year (Deseret News)
• What Utah lawmakers did and didn’t do for public schools. Legislature OKs record spending but parents must still pay school fees (Deseret News)
• Austin Searle isn’t challenging Sen. Mike Lee and says viral tweet wasn’t ‘grifting.’ He announced his candidacy in late 2020 but said he forgot to file by the state deadline in March 2022, prompting some to wonder if he was simply ‘grifting’ for donations. His entire campaign raised $6,000-7,000, he said. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Candidates aplenty in Washington County, state and federal office races (St. George News)
• Salt Lake County Mayor says endorsing Independent Evan McMullin is the ‘pragmatic’ choice for Democrats (KUER)

Education

• 1st-of-its-kind veterinary program coming to Utah thanks to $18 million in state funds (Deseret News)

Environment

• 'Clearly a litany of impacts': Groups slam proposed Iron County water pipeline (KSL)
• Conservationists question need for Utah groundwater pipeline (Fox13)
• Recent storms aren’t changing the ‘overall picture’ of Utah’s drought (KUER)

Housing

• Unaffordable Utah: Salt Lake County’s apartment market the tightest in history (KSL TV)

Ukraine

• Utah Jazz to fund temporary housing for Ukrainian refugees (Deseret News)
• Ukranian National Anthem played before Jazz game (KSL TV)
• Eli McCann: Conflict is familiar in Ukraine’s history. So is courage. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• The Kremlin has responded to recent U.S. sanctions, saying it is ‘economic war’ (Deseret News)
• Want to help Ukraine? Don’t fall for scams. Here’s how to make your donation count (Deseret News)

COVID Corner

• 198 new cases, 9 new deaths
• Around 63,000 Americans died of COVID last month. On average, each death leaves 9 close relatives bereaved. That's at least half a million people with extremely recent grief. How did this many deaths become normal (The Atlantic)
• Body bags, overflowing morgues and chaotic hospitals: Hong Kong’s pandemic goes critical (Washington Post)

National Headlines

General

• Dow jumps 800 points as oil prices plummet (Washington Post)
• U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 7.9% in February as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed energy prices sharply higher. (Wall Street Journal)
• 😳 Construction crew finds mummified body in wall at old Oakland convention center (NBC News)
• Plane carrying Donald Trump made emergency landing in New Orleans after engine failure over Gulf of Mexico (Washington Post)
• A two-year, 50-million-person experiment in changing how we work (New York Times)
• ‘Black Panther’ Director Ryan Coogler goes to his bank to make a cash withdrawal with his bank card; he enters his PIN -- and is somehow arrested for bank robbery (New York Times)

Politics

• Colorado county elections official Tina Peters is indicted in probe of alleged tampering with voting equipment (Washington Post)
• The 17 lawmakers that voted against the Russian oil ban (The Hill)
• EPA restores California waiver on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions (Politico)

Ukraine

• "Palo Alto startup SE Ranking confirmed Wednesday that the photo depicts its chief accountant, Tatiana Perebeinis, 43, along with her daughter, Alise, 9, and son, Nikita, 18, who were killed by Russian forces as they tried to flee the town of Irpin" (SF Chronicle)
• As millions seek to escape Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 200,000 people have gone the other way, toward the fighting. Many are women, risking the dangers of war to rescue relatives or defend their homes. (New York Times)
• ‘No off-ramps’: U.S. and European officials don’t see a clear endgame in Ukraine (Washington Post)
• Vice President Harris and Polish President Duda vow unity in defense against Russia (NPR)
• Attack on Ukrainian hospital draws outrage as talks stall (AP)
• Ukraine says Russia snubs plea for humanitarian access to besieged civilians (Reuters)
• One of the 'world's deadliest snipers' who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq arrives in Ukraine from Canada after answering Zelenskyy's plea for foreign fighters (Daily Mail)
• ‘They were shooting civilians’: Ukraine refugees saw abuses (AP)
• Russia has effectively legalized patent theft from anyone affiliated with countries “unfriendly” to it, declaring that unauthorized use will not be compensated. (Washington Post)
• UK sanctions Russian oligarch and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich (CNN)
• Day 14: Mass grave dug; pregnant women evacuated (AP)
• Satellite images show flooding north of Kyiv in possible sign of ‘hydraulic warfare’ (Washington Post)
• Putin weaponizing refugees: NATO must draw red lines and enforce them (The Hill)

News Releases

Salt Lake County rental rates increase by double digits in 2021; vacancy at 2%

Salt Lake County’s housing shortage and high home prices have led to the “tightest” apartment market in the county’s history, according to research released today by the Kem C. Gardner  Policy Institute. In 2021, the vacancy rate dropped below 2%, and rental rates increased by double-digits.  

“2021 was truly an unprecedented year for Salt Lake County’s apartment market,” said James Wood, Ivory Boyer Senior Fellow at the Gardner Institute and lead author of the study. “Builders and developers have  responded to the imbalance of rental units and renters with a record number of developments under  construction and proposed, with growth projected to stay strong in the coming years.” (Read More)

Owens co-sponsors the DICTATOR Act

Today, Rep. Burgess Owens (UT-04) co-sponsored the Direct Investigations on China, Take Action To Oppose Russia (DICTATOR) Act, bipartisan legislation to investigate whether the Chinese government and affiliated entities are helping Vladimir Putin’s regime evade U.S. sanctions following Russia’s unprovoked, barbaric invasion of Ukraine. 

The DICTATOR Act would require the Secretary of State and other officials to submit a report and brief Congress on the extent to which the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and affiliated entities may have aided the Russian Federation in evading sanctions, actions taken by the U.S. government in response, and our strategy to prevent further support from the PRC to Russia.

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• Fireside chat with Justice Clarence Thomas hosted by the Hatch Foundation – Mar 11, 2022, 7 pm. Register here.
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• Dem. caucus night – Mar 22
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• Ballots are mailed – June 7
• Primary election day – June 28
• General election – Nov 8

On This Day In History

• 1452 - Ferdinand II of Aragon is born. He and his wife Isabella funded Columbus’ journey in 1492.
• 1867 - Lillian Wald is born. A pioneering nurse and social activist, she started American community nursing when she established the Henry Street Settlement in NYC.
• 1876 - The first discernible speech is transmitted over a telephone system when inventor Alexander Graham Bell summons his assistant in another room by saying, “Mr. Watson, come here; I want you.”
• 1898 - Josephine Grove Holloway is born. She founded the first unofficial Girl Scout troop for African American girls and worked for two decades to have her troops recognized by the Nashville Girl Scout Council. 
• 1903 - Clare Booth Luce, playwright and politician, is born.
• 1906 - An explosion in a complex series of mines kills 1,060 in France.
• 1913 - Harriet Tubman dies of pneumonia at about age 91. She earned the nickname “Moses” for her role as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War, Tubman volunteered as a cook and nurse but quickly became a scout and spy for the Union. In this role, she freed hundreds of slaves. She was buried with military honors at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn.
• 1917 - Turkish troops begin evacuation of Baghdad.
• 1940 - Chuck Norris is born. I hear it was the doctor who cried.
• 1951 - FBI director J. Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner.
• 1959 - Tibetans surround the summer palace of the Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese occupation forces.
• 1964 - Simon and Garfunkel record the first version of "The Sound of Silence."
• 1969 - James Earl Ray pleads guilty to killing Martin Luther King, Jr.
• 1972 - 3000 delegates and 5000 observers attend the first Black political convention in Gary, Indiana.
• 1982 - President Ronald Reagan declares sanctions against Libya.
• 1988 - Disco sensation Andy Gibb dies at age 30.
• 1997 - The PalmPilot is released.
• 2019 - Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crashes just after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 on board.

Wise Words

"Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes'; They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes.'"

– Clare Boothe Luce

Lighter Side

“It looks like all major food brands are ‘Russian’ for the exits. Yesterday, Coca-Cola and Pepsi announced that they will suspend business in Russia. Your move, Shasta!” 

— STEPHEN COLBERT

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