Situational Analysis | July 11, 2022

It's Monday, National 7-Eleven Day, and Governor Spencer Cox's birthday 🥳 

Be in the Know

• 🔥 There are wildfires burning all over the West. One in Yosemite National Park doubled in size over the weekend and is threatening 500+ giant sequoias. The fire was zero percent contained as of Sunday. 8000+ acres are burning around Fillmore, Utah, in a human-caused fire, the Jacob City Fire by Tooele was also caused by humans and a new fire broke out in Parley's Canyon this morning. Be careful out there. 
  
  

• President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Friday aimed at protecting abortion access after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The order is primarily symbolic: It won’t override red-state restrictions, and its myriad provisions range from creating an interagency task force, to convening volunteer lawyers, to launching outreach efforts, to safeguarding access to certain abortion pills, to requesting the Federal Trade Commission chair strengthen privacy protections.

Rapid Roundup

• Steve Bannon agrees to testify before House committee, Subway is giving out 1 million free sandwiches, ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ scores the franchise's best debut, Vernon Winfrey, Oprah’s father, dies at 89, a pregnant woman is given a ticket for driving in the HOV lane - she argues that post-Roe, her unborn baby is a passenger, a Texas couple fed ducks near their home and now their HOA is threatening to foreclose. 🙄 

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First run in 1970, the Deseret News Marathon is the oldest road race in Utah and the 4th oldest marathon west of the continental divide. The marathon follows the path the Utah pioneers traveled when they first entered the valley. This event is truly a part of Utah’s heritage! Register today!

Utah Headlines

General

• St. George teen boldly compels thousands to redefine women's beauty (KSL)
• Susan Madsen: Is calling women ‘girls’ a problem? Yes. Language can make women feel less mature, professional or responsible. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Are inflation, high gas prices making travel a summer bummer? New Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll shows high costs thwarting vacation plans (Deseret News)
• Rev. Theresa Dear: It’s time to ask hard questions about gun violence. We are not free when our society must cower at the threat of mass shootings. We are not brave when we do nothing (Deseret News)
• Food shortages? Here’s what you need to know (Deseret News)
• She’s a domestic violence survivor. Now this Utahn is giving back, providing clothes, safety and hope. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• North Park Police Chief resigns following DUI arrest (Cache Valley Daily)
• Crumbl Cookies files trademark lawsuit against two competitors (KSL TV)

Politics

• Margaret Busse: Unleashing the power of Utah’s workforce through systematic licensure review and reform. Review of Utah’s licensing requirements will help boost the economy (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Do abortion bans violate the establishment clause? In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling, some Americans want to use religious freedom law to protect abortion access (Deseret News)
• 'So the state has options': Sponsor of Utah's trigger law proposes amending state constitution (KSL)
• The IUP Panel on the race for U.S. Senate and the latest SCOTUS rulings (ABC4)
• Evan McMullin on his run for U.S. Senate (ABC4)
• 23 different property tax hikes proposed in Salt Lake County (Fox13)
• Bill Lee won an award from an election fraud conspiracy group. Now he wants voting machine data from the 2022 primary. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Donations for DeSantis Utah fundraisers range from hundreds of dollars to $25,000 (KUTV)

Education

• Student demand is pushing some Utah districts to grow, not shrink, their online schools (KUER)
• Salt Lake City School District to conduct feasibility study on 2 high schools (KSL Newsradio)

Environment

• All-time Utah record 117° temperature confirmed after review. Salt Lake City also breaks all-time record for July 9 when it hit 104° (Fox13)
• 4 arrested, accused of starting wildfire that has burned almost 8K acres in Fillmore (KSL)
• Millard County wildfire scorches over 6,600 acres in 24 hours. The Halfway Hill Fire is the largest wildfire the state has seen this season, and officials are expecting further growth. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Over 200 personnel battle Halfway Hill Fire burning almost 8,000 acres (KUTV)
• Fishing limits increased at 5 Utah lakes, reservoirs as drought continues to take its toll (KSL)
• Conservation groups fight back against ‘terrible plan’ that would kill over 70 Yellowstone-area grizzly bears (Deseret News)
• Jacob City Fire scorches Soldier Canyon as smoke chokes Salt Lake Valley, and ash falls (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Jacob City fire at less than 4,000 acres, zero percent containment on Sunday afternoon (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Tooele County wildfire caused by generator explosion (Fox13)
• After 10 years, this Utah alternative energy tax credit has yet to pay out any money. Incentive program was expected to provide millions of dollars in tax breaks for energy projects ranging from solar to nuclear to oil shale. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Family

• The baby formula crisis may leave a permanent mark on the international market. The FDA wants to create a process to allow formula manufacturers in other countries to sell their goods in the U.S. — and help head off future shortages (Deseret News)

Health

• Utah’s abortion ban could decrease the number of OB-GYNs who study and work in the state (Deseret News)
• New York City is becoming a monkeypox hot spot (Deseret News)
• Over-the-counter birth control? Drugmaker seeks FDA approval (AP)
• America has decided the pandemic is over. The coronavirus has other ideas. The latest omicron offshoot, BA.5, has quickly become dominant in the United States, driving a wave of reinfections across the country. (Washington Post)

Housing

• What actually caused the pandemic housing market rush? (Deseret News)

National Headlines

General

• A crisis historian has some bad news for us: each current crisis is bad enough, but “the whole is even more dangerous than the sum of the parts.” (The Atlantic)
• We need to talk about cannabis in the wake of the Highland Park shooting. Long-term cannabis usage is associated with psychosis, and it is dangerous to view it as benign recreation (Deseret News)
• Abbott reopens Michigan baby formula plant after flooding (NPR)
• Elon Musk wants out of the Twitter deal. It could end up costing at least $1 billion (NPR)
• Twitter stock drops after Elon Musk looks to nix deal (Wall Street Journal)
• Tribal elders recall painful boarding school memories (AP)
• Abe’s killing haunts Japan with questions on homemade guns (AP)
• Abe’s ruling coalition secures big election win in Japan after his killing (Washington Post)
• U.S. banks profits to tumble on higher bad loan reserves (Reuters)

Politics

• Q&A: Rusty Bowers opens up on Trump, the Jan. 6 committee and his Latter-day Saint faith. The Arizona Speaker of the House recently testified before Congress about Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election (Deseret News)
• Jordan Ernstsen: Why China is not the threat we think it is. China is powerful, nobody can dispute that, but the U.S. is not defenseless or alone. We have the strength, allies and economic power to rival China. (Deseret News)
• China’s economy stumbles in the fog of Covid war (New York Times)
• Georgia’s Abrams raises $22M in 2 months, far outpacing Kemp (AP)
• Candidate challenges, primary scars have GOP worried about Senate chances. Four months from Election Day, Republicans are struggling in several of the marquee races in the fight for control of the upper chamber (Washington Post)
• House GOP marches into deeper blue terrain as Dem prospects fade (Politico)
• Tomorrow's Jan. 6 hearing to focus on Trump’s ‘siren call’ to violent extremists (Washington Post)
• Most Democrats don’t want Biden in 2024, new poll shows. With the country gripped by a pervasive sense of pessimism, the president is hemorrhaging support. (New York Times)
• Schumer tests positive for COVID as Senate set to reconvene (The Hill)
• Croydon is a town of 800 people in New Hampshire, where the state motto is, "Live Free or Die." When a motion passed at a low-turnout meeting to cut the school budget in half, it jolted the community to realize what it had taken for granted: democracy. (New York Times)

Courts

• How an upcoming Supreme Court case could upend 2024 election laws, lawsuits (USA Today)
• The case that could blow up American election law (The Atlantic)
• Immigration enforcement policy fight reaches Supreme Court
  Lower court rulings are thwarting Department of Homeland Security efforts to focus its limited resources, the Biden administration argues (Roll Call)
• Appeals court lets House panel subpoena Trump financial records. The decision is the latest in a yearslong fight between Trump and the House Oversight and Reform Committee (Roll Call)

Ukraine 🇺🇦 

• Ukraine official says Russia strikes ‘absolute terrorism’ (AP)
• Ukraine digs for survivors in rubble of apartment building destroyed by Russian missile (Wall Street Journal)
• A Ukrainian priest splits Sundays between church and the front lines (Washington Post)
• Ukraine aims to amass 'million-strong army' to recapture south, says defence minister (BBC)
• Ukraine’s defense minister says it has ‘passed the test’ on new U.S. guided rockets, and needs more. Himars launchers that can reach far behind enemy lines are a game-changer, says Oleksii Reznikov (Wall Street Journal)

News Releases

Gov. Cox orders flags to be lowered in honor of former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe

Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox has authorized the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the state of Utah to be kept at the half-staff position for one additional day in remembrance of former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe. 

Flags were kept in the lowered position until sunset on Sunday, July 10, 2022. President Joe Biden's statement regarding former Prime Minister Abe can be found here.

Number of the Day

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

• Hatch Center Webinar: Preserving Judicial Integrity — July 14, 11:00 am, MDT. Register here
• Monument dedication to Black pioneers — July 22, 10:00 am, This is the Place Heritage Park
• ULCT Annual Convention — Oct 5-7, Salt Palace Convention Center, Register here
• General election â€“ Nov 8

On This Day In History

• 1274 - Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (1306-1329) and national hero, is born in Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire

• 1656 - First Quaker colonists land at Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

• 1767 - John Quincy Adams is born 

• 1804 - “The damn fool that shot him.” Aaron Burr shoots Alexander Hamilton in an early-morning duel. 

• 1916 - US Congress passes Federal Aid Road Act

• 1945 - Soviets agree to hand over power in West Berlin

• 1955 - Congress authorizes all US currency to say "In God We Trust"

• 1960 - “To Kill a Mockingbird” is published.

• 1975 - Spencer J. Cox is born.

• 1977 - US Medal of Freedom awarded posthumously to Rev Martin Luther King Jr.

• 1988 - Mike Tyson hires Donald Trump as an advisor

Wise Words

"We need to get back to being a country of building, a country that dreams big and inspires others to dream big as well."

— Governor Spencer J. Cox

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