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Utah Headlines

General News

• First lady Jill Biden came to Utah yesterday. She interacted with students and teachers at Glendale Middle School, then went to a pop-up vaccination site. West-siders plead for immigration reform. (Deseret News, Salt Lake Tribune, KUTV, ABC4, Fox13, Daily Herald)
• White House announces higher refugee cap, Utah leaders tout resources. Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson said recently she feels great about the work being done at the Utah Refugee Center. (KSL)
• Anti-Asian racism as a child broke me, but now I'm speaking up. (Deseret News)
• U.S. births in 2020 experienced the steepest decline in half-century. Here's why it matters (Deseret News)
• Banning Trump, booing Romney, pushing out Liz Cheney - it is not the way forward (Deseret News Editorial Board)
• Facebook's Trump ban is bad (Deseret News Executive Editor)

Economic Development

• Boosting our rural economies starts with outdoor recreation. The recreation economy is essential to small towns throughout Utah and the West (Deseret News)
• Provo Municipal Airport terminal construction taking off at jet speed (Daily Herald)

Education

• Tami Pyfer awarded PTA's "Friend of the Children Award" on Wednesday (Twitter)
• Anti-mask protesters force early ending to Granite School Board meeting. Criminal charges may be filed against protesters following disruptive event in South Salt Lake (Salt Lake Tribune, KUTV)

Homelessness

• USU study shows landlords willing to help reduce homelessness but often aren't aware of aid (Herald Journal)

Local Governments

• Cottonwood Heights becomes the latest city to opt-in to ranked choice voting for this year's municipal primaries. (Cottonwood Heights)
• Washington County declared a 'sanctuary for constitutional rights and freedoms' (St. George News)

Service

• Salt Lake grandmother knits slippers for kids at Primary Children's Hospital (KUTV)
• Utah's first lady Abby Cox, Special Olympics CEO Tim Shriver and other officials from the state and Cox's "Show Up" initiative, visited two Alpine School District schools to speak about the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program (Daily Herald)
• New name. Better alignment. The Utah Department of Heritage and Arts is now officially the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement. (Community.Utah.Gov)

Calendar Items

• Envision Utah's Virtual Luncheon: How do we grow from here? Today, May 6, 11:30-1:00. RSVP here.
• Salt Lake Chamber Webinar: Leading a Resilient Workforce. May 7, 12:00-1:00. Register here.
• Golden Spike anniversary celebration: May 8, 9 and 10. Go here for more information.
• Salt Lake Chamber Business Women's Forum Webinar: The Science Behind Being a Powerful Speaker. May 18, 11:00-1:00. Register here.

COVID Corner

• First case of rare blood-clotting condition linked to J&J vaccine diagnosed in Utah (Deseret News)
• After 3 days in the 200s, the number of new COVID-19 cases jumps to almost 500 (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Weber-Morgan Health Department: Don't throw your masks away quite yet (Standard-Examiner)
• COVID-19 infections are surging among climbers trying to scale Mount Everest. The cases have raised fears for the safety of climbers and their guides as Nepal's COVID-19 outbreak surges. (New York Times)
• Kenya reports a COVID-19 variant first diagnosed in India, days after the same variant was detected in Uganda. (Reuters)
• France kept classrooms open "at all costs." At a school where 20 pupils lost loved ones, some say the price was too high.??(CNN)
• Federal judge strikes down CDC eviction moratorium, saying CDC exceeded its authority (KUTV, Deseret News)
• US backs waiving intellectual property rules on vaccines (AP, Washington Post)
• India breaks its own records again with 412,000 new cases and nearly 4,000 deaths in 24 hours (Washington Post)

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National Headlines

General News

• Helen Murray Free dies at 98. She was a chemist that developed a dip-and-read paper strip to test for diabetes. (New York Times, Washington Post)
• Judge orders DOJ to release Trump obstruction memo, says Barr was 'disingenuous'. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, in a sharp rebuke of the former attorney general, said the Justice Dept. had obscured "the true purpose of the memorandum." (NBC News)
• While arguing against teaching about systemic racism in schools, some GOP lawmakers defended the "Three-Fifths Compromise," saying it was a good thing. (Washington Post)
• NEW POLL: Almost 6 in 10 support Biden's American Families Plan (The Hill)
• North Carolina advances bill banning abortions based on race or Down's Syndrome (The Hill)

Liz Cheney

• Pelosi mocks House GOP looking for "non-threatening female" to replace Liz Cheney (The Hill)
• Perspective: The effort to dump Liz Cheney is the consequence of a party that lost its way. For now, Trump has won the battle for the soul of the GOP. Dissenters to his big lie are not welcome. (Washington Post)
• Liz Cheney chooses truth over power -- a lonely path in Trump's GOP (CNN)
• Romney defends Cheney: "Every person of conscience draws a line beyond which they will not go: Liz Cheney refuses to lie." (The Hill)
• Liz Cheney: The GOP is at a turning point. History is watching us. (Washington Post)

Trump's Facebook ban

• Facebook's Oversight Board upheld the social network's ban of former President Trump, but said the indefinite ban was wrong and gave Facebook six months to either ban Trump permanently, reinstate him or suspend him for a specific period of time. (NPR, New York Times)
• Just who makes up Facebook's Oversight Board? Meet all 20 of its distinguished, multinational members. (Oversight Board)
• Trump, Republicans express outrage over extension of Facebook ban (Washington Post)

International News

• Rethinking - and thinking beyond - the U.S.' foreign policy on China. U.S.' trade partnerships in Asia and Africa could be reconsidered. (Deseret News)
• Myanmar's military forcibly disappearing boys, young men to crush uprising (The Hill, AP)
• Italian jury convicts 2 Americans of murder, with a punishment of life in prison, in 2019 killing of police officer (Washington Post)
• Colombia, strained by pandemic and economic hardship, explodes in protest. Police respond with bullets. (New York Times)

News of the Weird

• She told followers she was 'Mother God.' Her mummified body was found wrapped in Christmas lights. (Washington Post)

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Policy News

Salt Lake Chamber names Ginger Chinn Vice President of Public Policy
The Salt Lake Chamber announced today that Ginger Chinn, former Managing Director at the Governor's Office of Economic Development, will lead the organization's policy team as Vice President of Public Policy. In that capacity, Chinn will direct the Chamber's efforts on policy analysis and development, including directing the Chamber's committees that bring together Chamber members and community partners to establish strategies in key policy areas from economics and education to housing and environment.

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May 6 luncheon: Post-pandemic and beyond - what will Utah's new future look like?
What will Utah be like 1 year after COVID-19? What about 10, or even 30 years? Tune in on May 6 from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. as local nonprofit Envision Utah dives into the future with the help of an expert panel. The discussion will focus on questions like:

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Foxx, Owens request examination on child trafficking
In case you missed it, Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Republican Leader Burgess Owens (R-UT) sent a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examine the federal government's efforts to combat child trafficking.

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Nominees announced for 3rd District Court vacancy, comments requested
The Third District Judicial Nominating Commission has selected nominees for a vacancy on the Third District Court. The vacancy results from the retirement of Judge Royal Hansen, August 1, 2021.

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Reps. Stewart and Matsui Introduce the Suicide Prevention Act
Tuesday, Congressman Chris Stewart (R-UT) and Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) introduced the Suicide Prevention Act. This bipartisan legislation will provide new resources to help reverse the tragic rise of suicide across the nation.

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Business Headlines

• Utah's tech sector is still booming: 5 tips for landing a great job (Deseret News)
• Why are American workers becoming harder to find? Labour shortages are rising even though unemployment remains high (The Economist)
• Dow ends at record high, Nasdaq falls as tech slides (Reuters)
• One year after the worst jobs loss on record, millions of Americans remain out of work (CNN)
• Peloton recalls all treadmills after a child's death and 70 injuries (CNN)
• Dogecoin is worth more than Coinbase, which sells cryptocurrency (Deseret News)
• Dogecoin continued to surge Wednesday morning, climbing up to $0.70 (Deseret News)
• Nintendo profits boom as people stuck at home play games (AP)
• Futures rise ahead of jobless claims data; drugmakers extend fall (Reuters)
• Elon Musk's Staggering 2020 Earnings Revealed-And It's More Than All Other CEOs (Forbes)

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