Situational Analysis | November 22, 2021

Good morning! It might be Monday, but just remember that it's a short week that ends with pie and shopping! (H/T: Facebook memes)

Still looking for gratitude thoughts for Wednesday's special edition! 

Be in the Know

1. I gave a shoutout to BYU's basketball team for defeating the Oregon Ducks last week and on Saturday, it was the U's football team that went duck hunting. Previously ranked #3, the Ducks fell 38-7 to Utah, who moved up 8 spots in the AP to become #16. ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘

2. Three Utah Library Associations released a statement on Friday expressing their "strong beliefs in the First Amendment's provision of free speech...A parent has the right to determine what is best for their child but they do not have the right to determine what is best for any other child." They note that the Library Bill of Rights was adopted in 1939 and that there is an established process for reviewing a challenged book, which, when circumvented, jeopardizes intellectual freedom, as well as subjecting libraries to legal challenges.

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Utah Headlines

General

• Meat keeps getting more expensive — and you should probably get used to it (ABC4)
• Valerie Hudson: Why are so many of our pregnant women dying? The United States has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world. The reason why isn’t what you think (Deseret News)
• Unified Police arrest man with an incendiary device during a domestic violence call (ABC4)
• The Great Salt Lake is dying. It’s time to make our maps show it (Salt Lake Tribune)

Politics

• New laws and infrastructure spending in Utah (Hinckley Report)
• The Inside Utah Politics Panel on the final redistricting maps (ABC4)
• Inside Utah Politics: Jason Perry on the 2022 midterm election (ABC4)
• Pignanelli & Webb: What is the long-term fallout of the Legislature’s recent session? (Deseret News)
• Britney freed, Rittenhouse trial, Dems causing inflation (Political as Heck)

COVID Corner

• Friday's numbers: 1764 new cases, 17 new deaths
• Utah House Republican leader Mike Schultz tests positive for COVID-19 (Deseret News)
• All adults in Utah now eligible for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots (Deseret News)
• US COVID-19 deaths in 2021 outpace last year's toll (The Hill)
• Why people with mental illness are at higher risk of COVID (NPR)
• Today is the deadline for federal workers to be vaccinated (NPR)

Courts

• Victims happy fake attorney in prison after string of frauds (Standard-Examiner)
• Pseudonym issue could sink woman’s sexual harassment and misconduct civil suit against Weber State (Standard-Examiner)
• Cases moving forward separately for trio accused in St. George woman’s murder (St. George News)
• Southern Utah prosecutors, police and parents weigh in on problematic criminal justice reforms (St. George News)

Education

• Record number of American women selected as Rhodes Scholars (The Hill)

Family

• Joe & Renae Ingles discuss autism journey, efforts to spread awareness and acceptance (Fox13)

• The Build Back Better bill could impact your family in a big way. The bill’s provisions include paid leave, health care access, child care, universal pre-K and a tax break for families. (Deseret News)
• Pew study looks at what people say makes life meaningful (ABC4)
• Perspective: The socialist at the dinner table (Deseret News)

National Headlines

General

• City of Waukesha, Wisconsin, says at least 5 people dead and more than 40 injured after SUV speeds into Christmas parade. (AP)
• The dangerous experiment on teen girls. The preponderance of the evidence suggests that social media is causing real damage to adolescents. (The Atlantic)
• 80 looters simultaneously broke into a Nordstrom near San Francisco, police say: ‘Clearly a planned event’ in weekend filled with looting incidents (Washington Post)

Politics

• What's in the budget reconciliation bill: The package retained most of its original major elements, including funding for universal pre-K, healthcare and clean energy. (Wall Street Journal)
• Two Fox News contributors quit over Tucker Carlson's Jan. 6 documentary (The Hill)
• The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved the nomination of Charles "Chuck" Sams III as National Park Service director, which will make him the first Native American to lead the agency. (KSL)
• Republicans’ chances to take back Congress in 2022 are looking good (Deseret News)
• G.O.P. is energized, but ‘Trump cancel culture’ poses a threat. The former president, tightening his grip on the party as a haphazard kingmaker, threatens Republican incumbents and endorses questionable candidates. (New York Times)
• In Africa, Blinken sees limits of US influence abroad (AP)
• U.S. lawmakers call for privacy legislation after Reuters report on Amazon lobbying (Reuters)
• Biden will nominate Jerome Powell for a second term as Fed chair, despite resistance from some progressives. Lael Brainard will be nominated as vice chair. (Wall Street Journal)

International

• Who, and where, is Peng Shuai? (New York Times)
• China says ‘not aware’ of tennis player Peng Shuai issue (AP)
• Jack Ma. Actress Fan Bingbing. Businesspeople and a scientist. And now a tennis star. All have vanished from public view in China for a time after running afoul of authorities. What drives such high-profile disappearances? (AP)
• Famous Afghan psychiatrist Mohamed Nader Alemi abducted, murdered (The Hill)
• Sudan’s military and civilian leaders reach a deal to reinstate PM Abdalla Hamdok, who was deposed in a coup last month. (NBC News)
• EXCLUSIVE U.N. warns of 'colossal' collapse of Afghan banking system (Reuters)
• Venezuela’s ruling socialist party claims sweeping wins in elections (Washington Post)

Policy News

Utah job growth leads the nation-New economic dashboard release

The Salt Lake Chamber’s Roadmap to Prosperity Coalition, in partnership with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, has updated the Economic Dashboard for October to help business leaders know where Utah stands in the overall recovery. This tool tracks the state’s path to a complete economic recovery from the pandemic recession and provides context for decision-makers.

“Our continued productivity and economic expansion during the pandemic with unemployment among the lowest in the nation is remarkable,” said Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance. “This dashboard shows we are on the right path from shock, to recovery, and now into a growing economy across several industries. Challenges remain for our hospitality and service sectors, but the broad nature of this recovery gives confidence that these parts of the economy will return. Utah continues to be a shining star of business and community leadership in overcoming the pandemic and its challenges.” (Read More)

Chamber hosts 45th annual Women & Business Conference ATHENA Awards

Local business women heard from inspirational speakers, gained business insights, and recognized the accomplishments of those helping to make a difference in our community at the 45th Annual Women & Business Conference and ATHENA Awards Luncheon. 

Four-time Olympian Catherine Raney Norman and National Speakers Association CPAE Hall of Fame Speaker Christine Cashen provided the day’s keynotes to share their first-hand experiences overcoming obstacles and becoming the best versions of themselves, from shifting perspective to utilizing an athlete mentality in everyday life.

Following Cashen, the 2021 ATHENA Leadership Award was given to Natalie Gochnour, Associate Dean of the David Eccles School of Business and Director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah for her leadership and contributions to the Salt Lake community. (Read More)

Number of the Day

Upcoming

• Solving for Housing in the Economic Inclusion Equation - Zions Community Speaker Series – Nov 30, 12:00 - 1:00 pm, via Zoom. Register here
• 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

• 1718 - Blackbeard (Edward Teach) is killed off the North Carolina coast
• 1842 - Mount St. Helens erupts
• 1900 - First Mercedes goes for a test drive
• 1943 - Billie Jean King is born
• 1954 - The Humane Society of the United States is established. 
• 1963 - JFK is assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas in an open-top convertible. Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as president on Air Force One, before leaving Dallas.
• 1972 - First B-52 shot down over North Vietnam
• 1984 - Fred Rogers of PBS "Mr Rogers Neighborhood" presents a sweater to Smithsonian Institution
• 1988 - Stealth bomber shown publicly for the first time
• 1990 - Margaret Thatcher resigns
• 1995 - Toy Story is released
• 2005 - Angela Merkel becomes Chancellor of Germany, the first woman to do so
• 2016 - President Barack Obama posthumously awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to pioneering computer scientist and Navy Admiral Grace Hopper
• 2020 - Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed gives Tigrayan forces 72 hours to surrender before the military begins offensive on regional capital of Mekelle

Wise Words

“The most dangerous phrase in the language is, ‘We've always done it this way.’"

-Admiral Grace Hopper

Lighter Side

“I wish I could have seen Trump’s face when he found out Biden met with the president of Mexico at the White House. You know he was like: ‘Impossible! How’d he get through my wall? This doesn’t make any sense!’” 

— JIMMY KIMMEL

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