Situational Analysis | August 18, 2021

It's Wednesday and the 101st anniversary of the young Harry Burn listening to his mother and her admonition to "be a good boy" and casting a vote in favor of women's suffrage. His vote made Tennessee the 36th state to vote for ratification of the 19th Amendment and gave it the 2/3 majority it needed to become law.

Be in the Know

1. "As the heart of the “Mother of Exiles,” Utah stands ready to help. 'Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,'" says Lt. Governor Henderson, referring to Governor Cox's letter to President Biden asking him to send refugees to our state. "Utah was settled by refugees fleeing religious persecution. We understand the pain caused by forced migration and appreciate the contributions of refugees in our communities," says Cox. He also tells the President that Utah is eager to continue our long history of welcoming refugees from around the world.

2. Malala Yousafzai was only 15 when she was shot in the head by a Taliban soldier. The youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate and activist for girls' education world-wide, she fears for the women and girls of Afghanistan. "We will have time to debate what went wrong in the war in Afghanistan, but in this critical moment we must listen to the voices of Afghan women and girls," she says. "They are asking for protection, for education, for the freedom and the future they were promised. We cannot continue to fail them. We have no time to spare."

3. Former vice-president Mike Pence penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal and said that President Biden had broken the deal the Trump administration had made with the Taliban. "After 20 years, more than 2,400 American deaths, 20,000 Americans wounded, and over $2 trillion spent, the American people are ready to bring our troops home," he said, "but the manner in which Mr. Biden has executed this withdrawal is a disgrace, unworthy of the courageous American service men and women whose blood still stains the soil of Afghanistan.

4. Still early in the election cycle and name recognition - or lack thereof - plays a big role, but Mike Lee holds a commanding lead over GOP challengers in new Utah poll. 45% to single-digits for his challengers.

Utah Headlines

General

• “I don’t think, as a woman, I’ll ever recover from this”: Utah mothers share struggles during pandemic. Hundreds of women across state describe juggling caregiving responsibilities with work in new report. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Afghanistan: American intelligence agencies predicted a rapid collapse of the Afghan government (Deseret News)
• Are Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban regime headed to Utah? (Deseret News)
• Utah family desperate to get sister, children out of Afghanistan (KSL)
• ‘We are afraid’: Afghan women in Utah share fears for family members still in Afghanistan (Fox13)
• How a Cuban exile became a judge and fell in love with the Constitution (Deseret News)
• FOX 13 Investigates: How Vivint Smart Home used what a federal official called identity theft to boost sales (Fox13)
• Native activists hope for probe of Utah boarding school (Herald Journal)

Politics

• Courts reverse course on stream access: There is no public easement to beds crossing private land. New ruling in Provo River case upholds Utah’s restrictive access law passed in 2010. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah misusing public funds for fossil fuel projects, environmental groups allege (Deseret News)
• In bold move, mayor plans to declare mask mandate in Salt Lake City schools. Erin Mendenhall says she’s “fully confident” the Utah Legislature’s “endgame” law does not apply to city mayors. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Salt Lake County is a census winner, but will end up a redistricting loser. (Salt Lake Tribune)

COVID Corner

• 963 new cases, no reported deaths due to computer complications
• U.S. reports more than 1,000 COVID deaths in single day (Reuters)
• The vaccine doesn’t stop the delta variant, according to Israel (Deseret News)
• Covid-19 booster shot to be offered to people fully vaccinated with Pfizer & Moderna. The Biden administration is expected to unveil booster program Wednesday, citing threat from Delta variant (Wall Street Journal)
• Pope Francis urges everyone to get COVID-19 vaccines for the good of all (Reuters)

Drought/Wildfires/Heat

• Summit County evacuations for Parleys Canyon Fire are lifted after rain. The fire is at 40% containment and has burned 541 acres. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Economy

• Southern Utah businesses, workers take advantage of first statewide apprenticeship resource site (St. George News)

Education

• Happy first-day-of-school. Alpine School District places teacher on leave for classroom tirade caught on video (KUTV, Fox13)
• Ogden School District resource center to provide aid for students in need (Standard-Examiner)
• Navajo students in the San Juan School District return to the classroom for the first time since the pandemic began in March 2020. (KUER)

National Headlines

General

• Taliban violently disperse rare protest days after takeover (AP)
• The Taliban respond with force to an outpouring of public anger. (New York Times)
• Taliban fire into crowd, beat protesters: reports (The Hill)
• Afghan woman in limbo at Kabul airport after Taliban sweep (AP)
• Taliban says it will be more tolerant toward women. Some fear otherwise. (Washington Post)
• Taliban allowing ‘safe passage’ from Kabul in US airlift (AP)
• Taliban block routes to Kabul airport, hampering evacuations from Afghanistan (Wall Street Journal)
• Taliban attack women and children with whips as they desperately try to reach Kabul airport (iNews)
• Evacuations from Afghanistan gain momentum as Taliban promise peace (Reuters)
• Balkan countries affirm US alliance by accepting Afghan refugees (Politico)
• Trump's deal with the Taliban set the stage for the Afghan collapse (The Hill)

Politics

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has sought to ban mask mandates in schools, tests positive for the coronavirus (Washington Post)
• ‘Massive wake-up call’: Crypto faces growing legal crackdown (Politico)
• Biden finds few Capitol Hill allies amid Afghanistan backlash (The Hill)

Environment

• Mustang roundups fuel deepening debate as drought grips West (AP)

Security

• T-Mobile says hackers steal on more than 40 million people (Reuters, Wall Street Journal)
• US officials in Germany hit by Havana syndrome (Wall Street Journal)

Policy News

Congressman Blake Moore, Ranking Member Bruce Westerman, and local officials to tour shared stewardship project in Summit County

Congressman Blake Moore, Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee Bruce Westerman (R-AR), and local officials will participate in a tour to discuss watershed management, shared stewardship projects, and wildfire issues in Kamas, Utah. The tour will include a drive up Mirror Lake Highway to view the current phase of the Upper Provo River shared stewardship project as well as stops at various sites to discuss land management activities and challenges. (Read More)

Rep. Owens joins freshman Republicans in blasting Biden on Afghanistan failure

Yesterday, Rep. Burgess Owens (UT-04) signed a letter alongside House Freshman Republicans to President Biden denouncing his administration’s catastrophic failures in Afghanistan. The lawmakers urged the administration to immediately prioritize the evacuation of American citizens and the many Afghans who served alongside U.S. forces.
“We write today as members of the House Republican Freshman Class to express our deep concern with the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, and to highlight the plight of Americans and the many Afghans who worked alongside U.S. forces and have still not been evacuated. While we may be new to Congress, the complete lack of leadership and direction that has come from your administration in the midst of this ongoing crisis has not been lost on us." (Read More)

Number of the Day

Upcoming

• Utah Foundation Breakfast Briefing: Mental health in anxious times – Aug 26 @ 9 am. Register here
• Utah Foundation Annual Luncheon with Shaylyn Romney Garrett – Sept 23 @ 12 pm. Register here

On This Day In History

From History.com

• 1587 - Just days after landing at Roanoke Island, Virginia, Eleanor Dare gives birth to the first English child born in the Americas. She and her husband, Ananias, name the baby girl Virginia.
• 1590 - The Roanoke Colony is found deserted. John White, the governor of the Roanoke Island colony returns from a supply-trip to England to find no trace of the 100 or so colonists he left behind, and there was no sign of violence. Among the missing were Ellinor Dare, White’s daughter; and Virginia Dare, White’s granddaughter and the first English child born in America.
• 1872 - Aaron Montgomery Ward produces a mail-order catalog that would launch a growing era of mail-order publications that would last more than 100 years.
• 1920 - With Tennessee’s vote, women's suffrage is ratified by 2/3 of states. It will be officially certified on August 26.
• 1927 - Rosalynn Smith Carter is born. She was the U.S. First Lady from 1977 to 1981, politically active while in the White House, focused on mental health, senior citizens, and community voluntarism, and co-founded the Carter Center with her husband in 1982.
• 1936 - Robert Redford is born.
• 1963 - James Meredith becomes the first Black graduate from the University of Mississippi.

Wise Words

"Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place."
-Rosalynn Carter

Lighter Side

“The first people to get boosters will likely be nursing home residents and health care workers, who could get the jab as early as mid-September. So these are autumn shots. The options will be Moderna, Pfizer or pumpkin spice.” 

— STEPHEN COLBERT

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