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Local News Highlights: Daily Briefing

Morning must reads for Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Good Wednesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 179th day of the year. There are 186 days remaining in 2017. Today is the 159th day of Donald Trump's presidency.

Utahns would consider voting for a candidate from the new United Utah Party. Salt Lake County will investigate whether Gary Ott lives in the county. Senate Republicans hit a roadblock in their effort to repeal Obamacare.

The clock:

• 48 days until the 2017 Utah primary election (8/15/2017)
• 132 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)
• 208 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
• 253 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
• 496 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 1,225 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR -

• NEW POLL: Nearly 2/3 of Utahns said they would be open to voting for a qualified candidate who ran under the banner of the new United Utah Party. Most of those who would consider voting for the UUP are Democrats and independents [Utah Policy].
  
  
• An analysis says nearly 200,000 Utahns would lose their healthcare coverage in the next decade if the current Senate plan passes as is [Utah Policy].
  
  
• Rep. Jason Chaffetz says members of Congress need a $2,500 per month housing allowance to help ease the financial burden on those who serve in Washington [Utah Policy].
  
  
• LaVarr Webb says passing health care reform is difficult for Congress because it's easier to be generous with benefits than to pay heed to what those benefits will cost taxpayers down the line [Utah Policy].
  
  
• A group of Native American tribes and environmental groups are readying a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's ability to reduce or rescind the Bears Ears National Monument [Associated Press].
  
  
• The Salt Lake County Council forms a committee to investigate whether troubled County Recorder Gary Ott actually lives inside the county [Deseret News, Tribune].
  
  
• Protesters gather in downtown Salt Lake City to oppose the Senate version of the Obamacare repeal bill [Deseret News, Tribune].
  
  
• A lawsuit says a plan to make Utah's school board elections partisan affairs is unconstitutional because it violates the Utah Constitution's ban on a partisan requirement to work in Utah's public schools [Deseret News, Tribune].
  
  
• The state is investigating $37,000 in public funds that went missing from a state-contracted liquor-package agency in Payson. That agency was shut down about two months ago [Tribune].

National headlines:

• You don't have the votes! Senate GOP leaders yank their version of the Obamacare repeal bill after it looked like the measure was headed toward failure in a planned vote before the July 4th recess. Now, Republicans will try to regroup and figure out what to do next [Washington Post].
  
  
• The failure of the Senate to pass the health care measure underscores one thing. Not enough members of the Senate are afraid of Trump for him to push unpopular legislation through [Washington Post].
  
  
• Fake news? A framed Time Magazine with Donald Trump on the cover hangs in at least five of Trump's golf clubs. The problem is the magazine is a fake [Washington Post]. 
  
  
• Some would-be refugees are trapped in legal limbo because of the Supreme Court's decision to reinstate a soft version of President Trump's travel ban [Reuters]. 
  
  
• Another massive cyber attack on Tuesday hit a number of banks and companies in Ukraine [Huffington Post].
  
  
• French President Emmanuel Macron invites President Donald Trump to visit Paris on Bastille Day [New York Times].
  
  
• This summer some prototypes for President Donald Trump's promised border wall will be going up in San Diego [Los Angeles Times].
  
  
• U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she does not foresee another financial crisis in her lifetime [Reuters].
  
  
• Americans will hit the road this summer with the cheapest gasoline prices since 2005 [Bloomberg].
  
  
• Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook now has 2 million users. That's 27% of the world's population [Facebook].

On this day in history:

• 1894 - Labor Day was established as a holiday for federal employees.
  
  
• 1914 - Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sofia, were assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist. The event triggered World War I.
  
  
• 1919 - The Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, ending World War I.
  
  
• 2000 - The Supreme Court ruled the Boy Scouts can bar homosexuals from serving as troop leaders.

Today At Utah Policy

Poll: Utah Democrats and independent voters would be most likely to vote for United Utah Party candidates By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor There may be an opening for the new United Utah Party to make some headway with Utah voters according to a new UtahPolicy.com survey....

Weekly survey: Will the medical marijuana ballot initiative be successful? By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor A group has launched an initiative to put legalizing medical marijuana in Utah on the 2018 ballot. Will they be successful? Vote in our weekly survey....

Why health care reform is so difficult for Congress By LaVarr Webb, Publisher In a divided Congress reflecting a divided country, passing a healthcare plan that wins support from all competing interests is impossible....

How many Utahns will lose coverage under the Republican healthcare proposal? By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor If the Senate's Obamacare repeal plan passes in its current form, nearly 200,000 people in Utah could lose their health care coverage in the next decade....

Chaffetz says Congress should get $2,500 per month for housing By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Rep. Jason Chaffetz says lawmakers in Washington should get $2,500 per month to pay for housing because many members cannot afford two mortgages or rent....

Policy News

Consumer confidence in Utah's economy continues to rise in June The Zions Bank Utah Consumer Attitude Index increased slightly in June, notching upward by 3.3 points from 111.9 in May to 115.2 in June....

Wise Words

Responsibility
"We need to restore the full meaning of that old word, duty. It is the other side of rights." Pearl Buck

Lighter Side

NASA
"NASA reports that it had a record 18,000 applicants to be astronauts. And apparently 1,000 more apply every time President Trump tweets." Conan O'Brien