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Situational awareness - April 2, 2019 Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. It's Equal Pay Day. Today is how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year because of the gender pay gap. Here's more information from the National Committee on Pay Equity. Here's what is driving the day: - Utahns blame Republicans and Democrats for failing to fix the immigration problem.
- Our "Political Insiders" and readers say Sen. Luz Escamilla is the frontrunner to be the next mayor of Salt Lake City.
- Utah opens enrollment in the state's limited Medicaid expansion.
- The White House granted security clearances to at least 25 people who were initially rejected over serious national security concerns.
Political bracket "Sweet 16: The next four matchups in our "Sweet 16" are live. Check out the brackets here.
 What do you think? We always welcome your feedback, questions, story suggestions, news tips, etc... Send us an email at this link.
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TICK TOCK Today is the 92nd day of the year. There are 273 days remaining in 2019. 18 days to the Utah Libertarian Party state convention (4/20/2019) 32 days to the Utah State Republican Party Organizing Convention (5/4/2019) 32 days to the United Utah Party state convention (5/4/2019) 62 days until the municipal election filing period opens (6/3/2019) 66 days until the municipal election filing period ends (6/7/2019) 81 days to the Utah State Democratic Party Organizing Convention (6/22/2019) 85 days to the first Democratic presidential primary debate in Miami (6/26/2019) 133 days to the 2019 Utah primary elections (8/13/2019) 217 days to the 2019 municipal elections (11/5/2019) 300 days to the first day of the 2020 Utah Legislature (1/27/2020) 308 days to the 2020 Iowa Caucuses (2/3/2020) 336 days to the 2020 Utah presidential primary (3/3/2020) 577 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
Today At Utah Policy  Utahns blame both Republicans and Democrats for immigration impasse
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
With GOP President Donald Trump threatening to close our southern border with Mexico, a recent UtahPolicy.com poll finds that Utahns blame Trump and both parties in Congress for the stalemate on immigration policy reform.
 Tuesday's 2019 bracket face-off matchups
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
There are four more matchups for you to vote on as we determine the final slots in the "Elite Eight" in this year's competition.
 Straw poll: Who will be Salt Lake City's next mayor?
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Our "Political Insiders" and readers think Sen. Luz Escamilla is the most likely to be elected the next Mayor of Salt Lake City according to our straw poll.
Monday's political bracket face-off winners
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
The first four tickets into our "Elite Eight" were punched in today's matchups. Winners are below:
OTHER UTAH HEADLINES Deseret News Salt Lake Tribune Other
NATIONAL HEADLINES White House security clearance scandal. A whistle-blower inside the White House told a House committee that Trump administration officials granted security clearances to at least 25 people who had initially been rejected for "disqualifying issues," including foreign influence, drug use and financial problems - https://nyti.ms/2UdvEis
Kushner: "I've been accused of all different types of things." White House adviser Jared Kushner gave a rare interview to Fox News on Monday night. When asked about the current White House security clearance scandal, Kushner said he's been accused of many things that have turned out to be false. Notably, host Laura Ingraham did not follow up with a question on whether President Donald Trump intervened to give him a security clearance after he was initially rejected - https://fxn.ws/2FPZNKC
Democrats tee up a subpoena over Mueller report. The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote for Wednesday to authorize a subpoena to force the Justice Department to hand over an unredacted copy of special counsel Robert Mueller's report if Attorney General Bill Barr doesn't hand it over by Tuesday's deadline - https://nyti.ms/2U8Z2GG
Trump punts on healthcare until after the 2020 election. President Donald Trump said Monday night that Republicans are working on a new healthcare plan, but won't introduce it until after the 2020 election - https://cnn.it/2U922CV
Trump considers an "immigration czar." President Trump is mulling naming a "border" or "immigration czar" to coordinate immigration policy - http://bit.ly/2UeZjYz
A second woman says Biden touched her. Another woman says former Vice President Joe Biden touched her without consent in 2009. The woman says the contact with Biden wasn't sexual but did make her feel uncomfortable - https://nyti.ms/2UdtBea
Trump says he's "saving" Judge Amy Barrett for Ginsberg's seat. President Trump told close allies last year he was waiting to nominate Judge Amy Comey Barrett for the Supreme Court when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's seat is open - http://bit.ly/2FLEA4I
Good luck with that. Democrats in the Senate plan to introduce a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College this week - https://politi.co/2FVUeuv
Disaster relief bill fails. The Senate voted down a pair of disaster relief bills on Monday. Democrats said the measures did not include enough money for Puerto Rico relief while Republicans wanted more money for Midwestern states hit hard by flooding - https://nyti.ms/2U9RT9d - President Trump and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz trade insults over disaster relief for Puerto Rico - http://bit.ly/2FJm0Ko
The next government fiscal crisis. House Democrats are working to avoid a financial disaster if Congress fails to raise the debt limit in the coming months. If they fail to raise the debt ceiling, it would lead to severe automatic budget cuts and may crash the economy - https://politi.co/2FKmq38
750,000 Americans could lose food stamps. A new proposal from the Trump administration to encourage able-bodied adults to go to work would likely kick nearly a million Americans off of government aid programs - https://n.pr/2FLzMw3
Bloomberg could still run for president. Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is reportedly telling confidants he could still run for president if former Vice President Joe Biden decides not to get in the race - http://bit.ly/2FJkI20
Harris rakes it in. Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris reported a first quarter fundraising haul of $12 million on Monday - http://bit.ly/2FDDUy0
Woah! Americans borrowed $88 billion to pay for health care last year - https://nyti.ms/2FModVj
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon first sights land in what is now Florida. 1792 - The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint. 1902 - "Electric Theater," the first full-time movie theater in the U.S., opens in Los Angeles. 1917 - President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. 1982 - Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
Policy News Hatch Center and FWD.us release report: Our outdated immigration system needs overhaulThe Hatch Center-the policy arm of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation-joined FWD.us in releasing a new report on the need to reform to the US immigration system to grow the economy, foster innovation, and create new American jobs. The report advocates specifically for commonsense, bipartisan changes to our high-skilled immigration policy.
More National Headlines
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"It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?" Henry David Thoreau
Game of Telephone
"Trump's been on his own high ever since we got the Barr report of the Mueller report that said there's nothing to report,..." Which means that coverage of the investigation's findings has been like "a weird game of telephone where you don't know what the first guy said but the last guy stabs you in the ear." Stephen Colbert Subscribers may receive special messages with information about new features, special offers, or public policy messages from clients and advertisers. Advertise With Us | 
