Situational Analysis | June 23, 2021

Welcome to Wednesday! It's got to be one of my personal favorite days: National Pink Day. ðŸ’– If that's not your jam, it's also National Hydration Day. ðŸ’¦

Be in the Know

1. Salt Lake City and North Ogden ban fireworks because of the drought and extreme heat. In related news, Utah's fire danger is the highest in the nation.

2. Want some adventure?! There's a $10K treasure hunt underway in the  Utah wilderness, with weekly clues posted on social media.

3. NASA has sent dozens of baby squid from Hawaii into space for research on how microgravity affects microbes. They're almost cute.

4. The US will investigate Native American boarding schools’ dark history. Starting with the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, the U.S. enacted laws and policies to establish and support Indian boarding schools across the nation. For over 150 years, Indigenous children were taken from their communities and forced into boarding schools that focused on assimilation.

5. New research from IWPR ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia on four indicators: women’s earnings, the gender wage gap, women’s participation in the labor force, and women’s representation in managerial and professional occupations. Utah gets a C-. We are #12 in percentage of women in the labor force, but #50 for wage gap. 

Utah Headlines

General

• John Roberts: The man in the middle. Many on the right don’t like the chief justice. Others see him as protecting the institution. Is he the last bulwark against rank partisanship? (Deseret News)
• UTA concludes federal monitorship, implements new checks and balances (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah Community Credit Union to participate in first pilot of mobile driver's license program (KSL)
• Suspect shot and killed by police, officer injured after domestic violence call in Murray (ABC4)
• Records committee denies appeal in case over Utah County commissioner’s text messages  (Daily Herald)
• Pandemic aftershocks: Will there be better access to home canning supplies this year? (St. George News)

Politics

• Layton council adopts water-saving landscaping requirements for most new development (Standard-Examiner)
• Could Utah's colleges be stopped from teaching about divisive topics? Rep. Steve Christiansen thinks they should be. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah lawmakers split over special session to address firework ban (Daily Herald)
• Republican Rep. Kera Birkeland proposes funding statewide de-escalation training for law enforcement (KUER)

COVID Corner

• 249 new cases, 3 more deaths
• COVID-19 cases up, vaccinations low among younger Utahns as delta variant spreads in the state (Deseret News)
• ‘I’ll inject the vaccine in your butt’: Philippines president threatens to arrest those who refuse vaccination and inject them himself (ABC4)
• Colombia reaches 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 as cases surge (AP)
• Delta COVID-19 variant is spreading rapidly, could be dominant in US in 2-3 weeks, study says (Wall Street Journal)
• The deadly black fungus striking India’s recovering covid patients. Mucormycosis has killed hundreds in India and forced many to have an eye removed. (Washington Post)
• These countries relied on Chinese vaccines. Now they’re battling outbreaks. (New York Times)

Drought/Wildfires/Heat

• Why summer 2021 is looking hot, dry and flammable (Deseret News)
• Extreme heat is making Zion National Park dangerous for visitors (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah water company forced to raise rates by 400% for water use exceeding 20,000 gallons of culinary water, urges users to conserve (Fox13)
• ‘Historic’ heat wave to torch Pacific Northwest into next week. Last week's western heat wave produced 4000 daily records. (Washington Post)

Economy

• Governor Cox brings message about infrastructure, small business in visit to Southern Utah (St. George News)

Education

• Dixie State University registered Polytechnic, Utah Tech domain names in 2020. Both names were just recommended to DSU trustees (Deseret News)
• D.A.R.E. America recognizes W. Jordan police chief’s work with elementary students (Deseret News)

• New Utah Rural Leadership Academy to mentor state’s county leaders (Utah Business)

Environment

• As Lake Powell’s waterline recedes, Gregory Natural Bridge rises. This Southern Utah wonder hasn’t been seen since it was covered by Lake Powell’s waters in the 1960s (Salt Lake Tribune)

Family

• Perspective: Get your kids a summer job, not a summer camp (Deseret News)
• World's most premature baby just celebrated his first birthday. Born at 21 weeks, 2 days and weighing just 340 grams, he was given a zero percent chance of living. (Washington Post)

Legal

• Judge rules against controversial Hideout annexation of Summit County land hours before the town’s voters approve it (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Turkish businessman arrested in biodiesel fraud scheme with Utah polygamists (KSL)

Local Communities

• 'They're our mountains': Moab community reflects on Pack Creek Fire at live reading (KUER)
• Ransomware attack hits a Summit County water district (Park Record)

Service

• America is becoming less religious. That could be bad news for people in need (Deseret News)
• Photo of the day: Ken Garff employees thank veterans by transforming American Legion Hall in Lehi (Deseret News)

National Headlines

General

• The moment is right for a history lesson. By believing in progress during our country’s gloomiest times, we can sustain the American story (Deseret News)
• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says he'll support removing sexual offense cases from commanders (NPR)
• 90-year-old Warren Buffett resigns as trustee of Gates Foundation (Reuters)
• After his shoe came loose, a steeplechase runner used his wits to keep his Olympic dream alive (Washington Post)
• A lemur was kidnapped from a zoo, authorities say. A 5-year-old helped crack the case. (Washington Post)

Politics

• GOP filibuster blocks debate on Democrats’ big voting rights bill (AP)
• Biden’s pick to lead federal personnel agency squeaks by in divided Senate as Harris casts tiebreaking vote (Washington Post)
• Biden ‘zero tolerance’ policy to target rogue gun dealers (Roll Call)
• GOP riven by infighting over Big Tech crackdown. The finger-pointing underscores that the politics of antitrust laws designed to take on Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook don’t cut neatly across ideological lines. (Politico)
• Poll: 30 percent of GOP voters believe Trump will 'likely' be reinstated this year. (He won't) (The Hill)
• Trump has "zero desire" to be Speaker, spokesman says (The Hill)

Elections

• Other countries use ranked-choice voting. Has its moment in the U.S. arrived? (Washington Post)
• New York City narrows the Democratic field for mayor with Eric Adams taking the lead on election night, Maya Wiley in second place and Kathryn Garcia. (NPR)

Energy

• U.S. solar developers see opportunity in America's post-industrial lands (Reuters)
• Amazon and other tech giants race to buy up renewable energy (Wall Street Journal)

Housing

• Millions of Americans refinanced last year—but fewer Black and Latino homeowners did. Financial, historical factors likely steered some minority borrowers away from refinancing, researchers say. (Wall Street Journal)

Infrastructure

• The gas tax is obsolete. Here’s a better idea. It’s based on the simple principle that those who benefit should contribute. (Politico)

International

• Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper will stop publishing Thursday, following last week’s arrest of five editors and executives and the freezing of $2.3 million in assets under the city’s year-old national security law. (AP)
• Witnesses say airstrike in Ethiopia’s Tigray kills dozens. Soldiers blocked medical teams from assisting. (AP)
• Russian forces reportedly fire warning shots at British destroyer in Black Sea (Reuters)
• France's Macron pushes controls on religion to pressure mosques, demands that they endorse the nation's secular values. (Wall Street Journal)

Security

• Saudi operatives who killed Khashoggi received paramilitary training in U.S. (New York Times)

Business Headlines

• Parent Playbook, a South Jordan-based parenting app startup, has raised a $1 million. (Utah Business)
• Global stocks rise after Fed chair says inflation temporary (AP)
• Manufacturers have an answer to higher costs: Pass them on (Reuters)
• Nasdaq 100 futures hit record high ahead of business activity data (Reuters)
• Self-driving truck startup Embark to go public in $5.2 billion SPAC deal (Wall Street Journal)
• Bitcoin slides, erasing nearly all 2021 gains, as China’s crackdown continues. The cryptocurrency market shed more than $100 billion in value overnight. (Washington Post)

Policy News

Sen. Romney presents a federal update on infrastructure spending

Senator Romney along with a group of bipartisan Senators reached a compromise agreement on infrastructure investment totaling 1.2 Trillion. The majority of the funding would be spent over the next five years and focus on core physical infrastructure without increasing income taxes. This agreement will be presented to each caucus for buy-in, but represents a good faith effort from both parties to reach agreement on critical needs. The framework will form a large component of any compromise effort and Senator Romney as a leading architect will join us to provide a key update to help business leaders know what to expect.

When: Wednesday, June 23, 2021, 4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

Register here

Utah reaching 70% immunity would decrease COVID-19 cases by 94.7%

Epistemix, a computational modeling software company that develops simulations to model the spread of diseases and inform policy, released new national data that demonstrates the vast difference in COVID-19 infections based on 50% and 70% vaccination coverage. The report shows Utah reaching 70% immunity would decrease statewide COVID-19 cases by 94.7% — one of the highest in the country. Read More

Congressman Blake Moore and Senator James Lankford introduce the bipartisan Retain Skilled Veterans Act to permanently repeal the “180-Day Rule”

Today, Congressman Blake Moore (R-UT) and Senator James Lankford (R-OK) introduced the bipartisan Retain Skilled Veterans Act. This legislation would permanently remove the existing requirement for retired military members to submit a waiver to work as a civilian employee at the Department of Defense within 180 days of their retirement or separation for positions at the GS-13 level or below. Last year, the House Armed Services Committee improved veterans hiring by temporarily removing the “180-Day Rule” under a 2-year authority only for the Organic Industrial Base (Military Depots). The Retain Skilled Veterans Act furthers this progress by permanently repealing the rule across the entire Department of Defense. Read More

Number of the Day

Commentary: Trump can help — but is more likely to hurt — the GOP in 2022

By LaVarr Webb

Looking to the mid-term elections next year, it’s clear Republicans have a good chance to win control of both the U.S. Senate and House.
But much depends on the actions of one person – Donald Trump. It’s unfortunate that one individual has so much control over what happens to his out-of-power party.
Trump could be a great asset to his party and almost ensure wins in 2022 if he stayed out of primary elections, encouraged his base to vote for GOP nominees, demonstrated a bit of grace and humility and was a team player.
Or, he can seriously weigh down the party and almost ensure Democratic victories if he endorses primary candidates who can’t win general elections, if he discourages his base from voting because “elections are rigged,” and if he demands loyalty to his nonsensical and single-minded claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
I don’t doubt that some election irregularities occurred in the pandemic-impacted 2020 election. Many states changed procedures to make it easy for people to vote amid COVID-19 restrictions. But voters have moved on. There is very little appetite, except among a small group of Trump loyalists, to continue to focus on 2020 grievances.
I claim standing to talk about Trump and how he is likely to hurt the party because I voted for him twice. And, as a mainstream conservative, I stand by those votes. I was in good company with 56 percent of Utah voters in 2020. I preferred Trump’s policies over the direction liberal Democrats promised to take the country. I really disliked the unfair way the national news media treated Trump.
But Trump was his own worst enemy with his deeply flawed character and narcissistic personality. He lost, and will lose again if he runs, because he makes everything about himself. Rather than being about conservative principles and a party that needs to win elections, it’s all about his personal glory.
A political party and a political movement can’t be just about one person. Great leadership requires a modicum of humility, a willingness to sacrifice a bit for the greater good.
Trump could really help Republicans win back control of the legislative branch of government in 2020 by being a team player. I fear he will instead drag the party down to defeat.

Upcoming

• Sen. Romney presents update on federal infrastructure spending via Zoom today, June 23 at 4 pm. Register here.
• Utah Democratic Party Organizing Convention  – June 26
• Securing the American Dream: A conversation with Tim Scott presented by the Hatch Foundation – Aug 11 @ noon. Register here
• Utah Foundation Annual Luncheon with Shaylyn Romney Garrett – Sept 23 @ 12 pm. Register here

On This Day In History

From History.com

• 1921 - Jeanne M. Holm is born. She became the first female one-star general of the United States Air Force and the first female two-star general in any service branch of the United States
• 1949 - The first twelve women graduate from Harvard Medical School
• 1950 - Swiss parliament refuses voting rights for women.
• 1972 - Title IX of the Education Amendments is signed by President Nixon, one of the most important legislation initiatives passed for women and girls since women won the vote in 1920. This legislation guarantees equal access and equal opportunity for female and male students in almost all aspects of our educational systems.
• 1986 - Tip O’Neill refuses to let President Reagan address the US House
• 1992 - Mafia boss John Gotti, aka “Teflon Don,” sentenced to life in prison. He dies there ten years later of throat cancer. 
• 1995 - Jonas Salk, the American biologist who created the Polio vaccine, dies of heart failure at 80
• 2016 - Britain votes for Brexit
• 2018 - 12 boys and their coach are stranded in a cave in Thailand after monsoon flooding traps them.

Wise Words

"The summer night is like a perfection of thought."
-Wallace Stevens

Lighter Side

“‘Matthew Calamari’ sounds like a name a cop makes up when he’s undercover at Olive Garden: [imitating police officer] ‘Yeah, yeah, I’m Matthew — Matthew Calamari, and this is my buddy, Larry Unlimited Breadsticks.’”

— STEPHEN COLBERT

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