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Situational Analysis - October 19, 2020

Welcome to Monday. Have you ever had the eerie feeling that you're the only real human and everyone else is a prop? Popular Mechanics reports there's a 50% chance we're just living in a computer simulation.

TICK TOCK

Today is the 2nd Congressional district debate.
2 days to the Utah Attorney General debate (10/21/2020)
3 days to the third presidential debate (10/22/2020)
15 days to the 2020 election (11/3/2020)
92 days to inauguration day (01/20/2021)
98 days to the start of the 2021 Utah Legislature (1/25/2021)
Monday Trivia Quiz
What Utah politician, who was seemingly couldn't resist running for higher office, said, "Whenever someone whispers in my ear I hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus"?

Please send your answer by end of day Wednesday to lwebb@utahpolicy.com.

Today At Utah Policy

Utah Headlines

Deseret News

• Trent Staggs: My plan to help all Salt Lake County residents prosper
• Jenny Wilson: We need leaders who understand how to fight COVID-19
• Pignanelli & Webb: Amy Coney Barrett, Mike Lee and Utah's Amendment G ... what are the political ramifications?
• Op-ed: Candidates want more flexibility, less regulation in Utah education
• Editorial: Barrett doesn't need notes to be principled. That's hard for Congress to understand
• Utah unemployment rate rises in September, reporting more than 80,000 out of work
• Owens raises $2.5 million for campaign against McAdams
• D.A. declines to charge officer in shooting tied to 'breakdown' in Utah's mental health system
• In late-night vote, Hideout council decides to annex 350 acres east of Park City
• Utah congressional candidate tests positive for COVID-19
• Utah gubernatorial race still focused on state's pandemic response
• Survey says: 78% of Utahns willing to pay more to support education
• How to find out more about the nearly 60 Utah judges on the ballot
• Rep. Chris Stewart trying again to create sixth national park in Utah
• Utah's 4th District - one of the nation's closest races - is contentious, competitive
• Why this clerk says he and all voters should be big fans of mail-in ballots
• Report: Utah's criminal justice reform falls short without access to good treatment
• Utah election watch: The battle over the Salt Lake County mayor's seat

Salt Lake Tribune

• University of Utah Hospital overcapacity as the 'unsustainable' coronavirus outbreak continues
• Company linked to ballot bungle in Sanpete County has history of errors, financial troubles
• Salt Lake County mayor candidates battle over pandemic response, spending and future recovery
• Utah has 7 amendments on the ballot. Here's a rundown.
• Dirty dialing in the contest for Utah governor and other election races
• San Juan County expands in-person voting on the Navajo Nation during the pandemic
• Democrat Ben McAdams walks a political tightrope in a district that leans Republican
• Burgess Owens makes race central to his campaign in appeal to white conservative voters

Other

• Citing health threat, Utah animal rights group asks Herbert to shut down mink farms (Daily Herald)
• Utah voters to decide on proposed change to school funding in balloting, other amendments (Standard-Examiner)
• Kaysville voters to decide whether to build new $22 million fiber network (Standard-Examiner)
• Following 'The Utah Roadmap': Local leaders say signing Utah's first Climate, Clean Air Compact is 'the first step' (Logan Herald Journal)
• The Water Tap: How protecting endangered species protects our water source (St. George Spectrum)
• Hideout cleared to move forward with annexation after court ruling (Park Record)

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National Headlines

• 'The Democratic party left us': how rural Minnesota is making the switch to Trump (Guardian)
• By censoring The Post, Big Tech is begging for big-time reform (New York Post)
• Ratings changes in 25 House and Senate races; only three move toward GOP (Roll Call)
• GOP House challengers, outraised by Democrats for months, make last-minute sprint in third quarter (Roll Call)
• Pennsylvania's Erie County will test the Rust Belt's loyalty to Trump in the 2020 election (CNBC)
• Will flag-waving Latinos win Florida for Trump? (POLITICO)
• Amy Coney Barrett's Silence Is an Expression of Extremism (New Yorker)
• The greatest surprise from this week's hearing: Judge Barrett is normal (Spectator)
• The Two Republicans Who Could Blow Up Democrats' Shot at the Senate (New York Magazine)
• Swingy I-4 Corridor Is Still Key in Bellwether Florida (RealClearPolitics)
• 'White Supremacy' Means a Lot More Today Than It Used To (New York Times)
• Why The Left Needs Us All To Believe The United States Is Racist Forever (Federalist)
• Will Dems Acknowledge Defeat If Trump Wins? (American Greatness)
• Trump's rallies make no political sense. Here's why he does them anyway. (CNN)
• Hey, Joe Biden, what did you know about Hunter's dirty deals? (New York Post)
• Pfizer says coronavirus vaccine won't be ready until Thanksgiving at the earliest (Detroit News)
• The coronavirus vaccine will not be free: Americans have already paid for it - twice (Salon)
• Atlanta Fed president 'concerned' about uneven economic recovery (FOX Business)

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Policy News

Will Utah's new COVID-19 game plan work?
In last week's briefing for the public about the coronavirus pandemic, the governor and state health officials announced a revised plan to help bring the current spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations under control. But how effective will the new system be? The answer to that question will be driven by public awareness of the plan, a willingness to follow it, and our knowledge of COVID-19.

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Stewart's National Suicide Hotline Designation Act becomes law
WASHINGTON, D.C. Pres. Donald Trump has signed Rep. Chris Stewart's (UT-02) National Suicide Hotline Designation Act into law. Following the President's signing, Rep. Stewart issued the following statement: "Today's signing is the culmination of years of work by many. What started as a Utah-based initiative, led by Rep. Steve Eliason and Utah State Sen. Daniel Thatcher, has now become a reality. Being able to quickly dial 9-8-8 in a mental health crisis will give Americans a much-needed resource to help reverse the tragic trend of suicide. I am grateful to President Trump for prioritizing mental health and signing this bill into law in a timely manner. This is a great day for Utah and a great day for our country. " Rep. Chris Stewart

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BUSINESS HEADLINES

• Utah unemployment rate rises in September, reporting more than 80,000 out of work (Deseret News)
• Unemployment claims remain high in Utah, report says (Deseret News)
• New NASA motor contract involves heavy load of work in Box Elder County (Standard-Examiner)

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ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

(From History.com)

1781 - Americans defeat the British at the Battle of Yorktown, Virginia, effectively bringing an end to the American Revolution.

1796 - An essay appears in the Gazette of the United States in which "Phocion" slyly accuses presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson of having an affair with an enslaved woman. Phocion turns out to be former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton.

1812 - Napoleon's starving French army begins a hasty retreat from Russia, a month after invading a burning and deserted Moscow.

1985 - The first Blockbuster video-rental store opens in Dallas, Texas, with some 8,000 videos displayed on shelves around the store. Thousands of additional stores are opened, but Blockbuster files for bankruptcy in 2010, the victim of Amazon, pay-per-view, and movie streaming.

Wise Words

Lighter Side

Red Flags

Q: How did we know communism was doomed from the beginning?

A: All the red flags.

Reders Digest

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