Situational Analysis | January 12, 2022

Welcome to Wednesday. For all you redheads out there - or anyone who knows a redhead - it's National Kiss A Ginger Day. 

Be in the Know

1. US inflation reaches its fastest pace in four decades, with December consumer prices up 7% from December 2020. That marks three months in a row in which inflation exceeded 6%. “There’s still a lot of scarcity in the economy. Consumers and businesses are in great financial shape, and they’re willing to pay up for more goods, more services and more labor,” said Sarah House, director and senior economist at Wells Fargo, pointing to reasons for the “blistering pace of inflation.” The December unemployment rate dropped to 3.9%, from 4.2% in November. Average hourly wages were up 4.7% compared to the previous December. Average is around 3%. 

2. Good news on the omicron front: we may be reaching the peak number of cases in the US. The bad news: it's because this mutation is so contagious, it's running out of people to infect. Some modeling projections put the peak in the middle of next week. In the meantime, hospitals, ICUs - and healthcare workers - remain overwhelmed.

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Utah Headlines

General

• Ogden’s Kai Kovar wins gold at US Figure Skating Championships (Standard-Examiner)
• Does DOJ treat Capitol rioters more harshly than violent 2020 protesters? Sen. Mike Lee still wants answers (Deseret News)
• BYU bans protests on Y Mountain year after LGBTQ students lit it up in rainbow colors (Salt Lake Tribune)
• University of Utah police investigate bomb threat against Black Cultural Center. The threat comes after a series of other racist incidents at the Salt Lake City school. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Politics

• Why Mitt Romney says Joe Biden is going down the same road as Donald Trump (Deseret News)
• Why Utah says its review of COVID treatment scoring has nothing to do with Tucker Carlson (Deseret News)
• SL County Council votes to hold emergency meeting to address indoor mask order (KSL) 
• Could Sabbath closure laws make a comeback? (Deseret News)
• Orem city manager objects to creation of new legislative counsel office (Daily Herald)

COVID Corner

• Another record-setting day, with 9813 new cases, 15 new deaths
• Editorial Board: The omicron surge makes a mask mandate necessary. It’s a minimally restrictive measure to protect the public during a surge, while allowing the economy to remain open (Deseret News)
• The major omicron variant symptoms you have might have missed (Deseret News)
• Copper Hills High School enters ‘Test to Stay’ protocol due to COVID-19 (ABC4) 
• Canyons School District announces 'emergency' Remote-Learning Day amid rising COVID cases (KUTV)
• Parents, schools react to simplified student mask exemption process (KSL)
• Utah student was ordered to quarantine in school closet after COVID-19 exposure, lawsuit alleges (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah Latinos trail other groups in COVID-19 vaccine rates. About half of Utah Latinos are fully vaccinated, experts say access and COVID-19 misinformation are preventing some from getting the shot. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Biden administration will provide K-12 schools with additional 10 million Covid-19 tests per month (CNN)

Environment

• What national parks see the most search and rescues? (Deseret News)
• Bill Rappleye: America needs leaders who can unite the nation on climate change. The good news is that we have a market based solution: an economy-wide carbon fee (Deseret News)

National Headlines

General

• Four reasons you’re seeing empty grocery store shelves (Washington Post)
• Former Senate leader Harry Reid to lie in state at Capitol Rotunda today (AP)
• Oil prices could hit $100 as demand outstrips supply, analysts say (Reuters)

Politics

• Pressed on his election lies, former President Trump cuts NPR interview short after just 9 minutes (NPR) 
• Biden calls for changing the filibuster in major voting rights speech (Washington Post)
• Pressures aligning on Biden, Democrats to forgive student loans (The Hill)

International

• With more girls pregnant, Zimbabwe pushes a return to school (AP)
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson had a BYOB party during lockdown (and no, not ‘bring your own biscuits’) (Deseret News)
• In related news, UK PM Johnson apologizes for attending lockdown party (Reuters)

Guest Opinion: The important role of tech in national security and economic growth

By Andrew Sandstrom

Technological innovation and advances have changed the quality of life of people throughout the world. American tech has created jobs, opportunities, and economic growth all across our country. Using core technology tools and platforms, millions of small businesses have been able to thrive throughout the pandemic. American tech also aids in securing our country’s national security interests and our economic competitiveness. Misguided regulations and policies currently being discussed in Congress could put all of this and more at risk and put us on an unwanted path.

Startups are a special piece of Utah’s innovative environment. In 2020, Forbes ranked Utah as the best state for entrepreneurs, and a study from wallethub.com in 2021, found that six of the 10 best small cities to start a business are in Utah. Unfortunately, anti-innovation legislation on
Capitol Hill will restrict this system by depriving startups ability to raise capital and jeopardize the tools that small businesses use every day to reach new and existing customers, build trust, and boost economic growth....

American technology companies help maintain our national security interests, and innovation is required to advance our national defense and cybersecurity strategy. With cyberattacks growing in frequency and complexity, America’s technology companies serve a critical part in the fighting and preventing cyber threats. China has acknowledged they are committed to destroying the U.S. tech advancement by any means to be the world’s leading power. Policies that relinquish our competitive edge to foreign entities put Americans’ safety, privacy, and economic prosperity at risk. (Read More)

News Releases

New Utah Foundation report explores Utahns’ development preferences

Today, the Utah Foundation released the third part of its new study, Is the Middle Missing? A Guide to Expanding Options for Utah Homebuyers and Renters. “Utahns’ Development Preferences” draws on the findings of a recent Utah Foundation survey to reveal favored approaches for new housing.

“Missing Middle Housing” is a term that encompasses a variety of multi-unit housing buildings that are house-scale, facilitate neighborhood walkability, accommodate changing demographics and preferences, and are available to people with a range of incomes. Middle housing offers the potential to increase the supply of housing, but at a scale that is not objectionable to most neighbors and in a manner that can improve upon neighborhoods. There are obstacles to increasing this type of housing, though they are not insurmountable. (Read More)

Sen Romney: Health officials are scientists, not politicians

During a Health Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) highlighted the important role scientists play in the fight against COVID, pressed health officials on the Administration’s failure to build testing capacity, and requested data-driven guidance for the American people on when they should be getting tested. (Read/Watch More)

Sen. Romney: Democrats conveniently ignore their own impassioned defense of the filibuster

U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the Democrats’ radical attempts to remake our governmental institutions by eliminating the Senate filibuster.

"Our country has defied the odds for a democratic republic; it has survived and thrived for over 200 years. The character of the American people deserves most of the credit for that. But close behind are our vital institutions.
Over the last several years, many of us recoiled as foundational American institutions have been repeatedly demeaned: the judiciary was charged with racial bias; the press was called the enemy of the people; justice and intelligence agencies were belittled; public health agencies were dismissed; even our election system was accused of being rigged.
The United States Senate is one of our vital democratic institutions, and the power given to the minority in the Senate and the resulting requirement for political consensus are among the Senate’s defining features." (Read/Watch More)

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Upcoming

• 2022 Legislative Outlook - Utah Taxpayers Association – Jan 12, 2022, 9:00 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

• 1820 - Caroline Severance is born. She co-founded the American Woman Suffrage Association and was the first woman to register to vote in California (1911).
• 1888 - The “Schoolchildren’s Blizzard” kills 235 people, many of them children on their way home from school across the Northwest Plains. The storm came without warning, with a temperature drop of 100 degrees in 24 hours. 
• 1904 - Henry Ford sets a land speed record of 91.37 mph. Multiple drivers broke that record this weekend on I-15.
• 1920 - James Farmer is born. The American civil rights activist co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality and worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr.
• 1922 - Ira Hamilton Hays is born. During World War II, Hays and five other U.S. Marines raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima during the six week siege on the island. Photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the event on film and the photo would later be used to create the Marine War Memorial at Arlington, Virginia.
• 1932 - Hattie Wyatt Caraway (D-Arkansas) is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She becomes the first woman to chair a Senate Committee and the first to serve as the Senate’s presiding officer
• 1964 - Jeff Bezos is born.
• 1967 - The first person is cryogenically preserved. Upon his death, psychology professor Dr. James H. Bedford of California achieved half his dream of being placed in cryogenic suspension. It remains to be seen whether or not he will see the other half of his dream and survive to be re-animated.
• 1986 - Franklin Chang Díaz launches into space aboard the space shuttle Columbia 7 and the first Hispanic person in space.
• 2010 - Massive earthquake strikes Haiti

Wise Words

“I am very proud of the work I have done in my life to better the world in which we live and to elevate the condition of humanity, whether black or white, rich or poor, male or female."

-Caroline Severance, in a letter sent August 17, 1869

Lighter Side

“I don’t know what’s going on because the United States reported 1.5 million new infections yesterday. That is terrible, but kind of sweet that we all gave each other the same thing for Christmas.” 

— STEPHEN COLBERT

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