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Utah Headlines

Political news

• Military spending shaped the West — then came the fallout (Deseret News)
• State Sen. Escamilla, originally from Mexico, garners Outstanding American by Choice award (KSL)
• Road rage can now cost your driver license, plus 400 other bills the governor has signed (KSL Newsradio)
• St. George leaders ecstatic over $87 million grant to construct new I-15 underpasses, ease traffic woes (Salt Lake Tribune)
• ‘New step in criminal justice’: Gov. Cox signs criminal restitutions bill (ABC4)

Election news

• Big money floods race to replace Sen. Mitt Romney (Deseret News)

Utah news

• Meet the F-35A demonstration commander at Hill Air Force Base. U.S. Air Force Capt. Melanie ‘MACH’ Kluesner took over the team earlier this month and showcased her skills Tuesday (Deseret News)
• Japantown advocates push for preservation of downtown street amid NHL stadium plans (KSL TV)
• Women's leadership and social change in Utah (UPR)

Business/Tech

• Can Utah keep up with emerging AI technology? (Deseret News)
• CEO is out, Utah psychiatric hospital loses its license for the fourth time (Fox13)

Crime/Court

• Body of missing Taylorsville man found in 'remote desert area'; case now a homicide (KSL)
• Man arrested in Utah after abducting 10-year-old California girl he planned to marry, police say (KSL)

Culture

• Can a picture make you happy? We asked photographers and here's what they sent us (NPR)

Education

• Why education is the ‘silver bullet’ to our national problems (Deseret News)
• New BYU class for freshmen is generating student success (Deseret News)
• What lessons from the past will help Utah public schools and students succeed in the future? (Deseret News)

Environment

• Steve Handy: Geothermal energy deserves the red carpet, not red tape (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Great Salt Lake rescue plans begin to roll out (Fox13)
• ‘Policy is everything’ when it comes to acting on Utah’s air quality (KUER)

Family

• Many still want to get married. But the path to getting there can feel impassable. (Deseret News)

Health

• Study: Intermittent fasting may be hard on your heart (Deseret News)
• U.S. drops in new global happiness ranking. One age group bucks the trend (NPR)
• A battle between drug makers and insurers hits patients in the wallet (Washington Post)

Housing

• What are the most affordable states to a buy a home? Utah is third least affordable state for homebuyers, report shows (Deseret News)

National Headlines

General

• Cherry blossoms arrived in Washington, DC early this year. See the photos (Deseret News)
• MacKenzie Scott donates $640 million, more than doubling her planned gifts to nonprofit applicants (AP)

Political news

• Peter Navarro reports to prison for contempt in Jan. 6 investigation (Washington Post)
• Congress leaders seal the deal on remaining 2024 funding days ahead of shutdown deadline (Deseret News)

Supreme Court

• Trump urges US Supreme Court to endorse 'absolute immunity' for ex-presidents (Reuters)
• Supreme Court opens new frontier for insurrection claims that could target state and local officials (AP)
• Supreme Court unanimously rules against government in No Fly List case (The Hill)

Election news

• Will Biden and Trump debate? (Deseret News)
• Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Bernie Moreno wins Ohio's GOP Primary (NPR)
• Trump looks to rehire Paul Manafort, a man convicted of multiple crimes and whom a bipartisan Senate report labeled a “grave counterintelligence threat” because of his ties to a Russian spy (Washington Post)
• Trump avoids mention of his father’s Alzheimer’s disease as he lashes Biden for being ‘cognitively impaired’ (Washington Post)
• Trump claims 2024 will be rigged, putting Republican turnout at risk (Wall Street Journal)

Ukraine 🇺🇦

• UN says Russia consolidates control of occupied Ukraine with ‘climate of fear’ (Reuters)
• A Russian border region reels from sustained Ukrainian artillery and drone strikes (AP)
• Ukraine races to build weapons at home (Washington Post)

Israel and Gaza

• In Gaza, starving children fill hospital wards as famine looms (Reuters)
• Heavy fighting rages around Gaza’s biggest hospital as Israel raids it for a second day (AP)

World

• On the Aral Sea, graves rise above the dust. They’re reminders of the life its waters once sustained (AP)
• In a first, the West African country of Gambia moves toward ending the ban on female genital cutting (Washington Post)

Number of the Day 

News Releases

Senator Luz Escamilla is first Utahn to receive USCIS’ Outstanding American by Choice Award

Today, Senator Luz Escamilla joined over 120 immigrants representing more than 40 nations and their loved ones and as they as they took the oath of naturalization, becoming citizens of the United States. During the naturalization ceremony, Senator Escamilla was honored with the Outstanding American by Choice recognition by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, celebrating her remarkable contributions and achievements as a naturalized U.S. citizen. Through active engagement in civic affairs, notable professional accomplishments, and exemplary citizenship, recipients of this prestigious recognition have demonstrated their commitment to this nation and to the shared civic values that unite us all as Americans. Notably, Senator Escamilla holds the distinction of being the inaugural recipient in 2024 and the first Utahn to receive this honor. (Read More)

UVU announces Martin Baron as Presidential Lecture Series speaker

Utah Valley University (UVU) is pleased to announce Martin Baron, former executive editor of The Washington Post, as the university’s spring 2024 Presidential Lecture Series speaker. The event will be held on March 26 at 11:30 am in the Keller Building’s Vallejo Auditorium on UVU’s Orem Campus. UVU students, faculty, and staff, as well as business and community leaders, are invited to attend this highly anticipated lecture. (Read More)

Interest in Utah’s Alternative Pathway to Educator Licensure for Special Education exceeds expectations

Two and a half years ago, the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) launched the Alternative Pathway to Educator Licensure for Special Education (APPEL-SpEd), a program for those interested in earning a Professional Educator License in the areas of Special Education (K-12+) or Preschool Special Education. The response has far exceeded expectations, with almost 400 candidates currently enrolled in the program and 13 recent graduates. Interest has been so substantial that USBE has had to increase capacity on several occasions by adding additional staff and contracting out for assistance. (Read More)

Owens backs students First Amendment rights

Higher Education and Workforce Development Chair Burgess Owens (UT-04) helped introduce the Students Bill of Rights, legislation to protect the First Amendment rights of students and student organizations on America’s college campuses. (Read More)

Weber State to develop degrees, certificates taught in Spanish to foster strong bilingual workforce

With help from a $2.5 million grant from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, Weber State University is developing a program that will offer certificates and degrees through classes taught entirely in Spanish. “This is one of the first programs of its kind nationwide, and the very first in Utah,” said Ryan Starks, GOEO executive director. “We see this as an opportunity to upskill our workforce, especially in northern Utah where there’s a higher population of Spanish-speaking people.” (Read More)

Gov. Spencer Cox signs 55 bills in the 2024 General Legislative Session

Gov. Spencer J. Cox signed 55 bills today. He has signed  453 pieces of legislation from the 2024 General Legislative Session to date. 

Information on the bills signed today can be found here.

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

• March 20 â€” UVU First Amendment Conference, 10:00 am-5:00 pm, More information here
• March 20 — Utah Foundation Annual Lunch, 11:45 am-1:30 pm; Grand America, Purchase tickets here
• March 21 — Utah Women in Society – A Living Room Conversation, 12:00-1:15 pm, online, Register here
• March 22 — YWCA Utah Legislative Recap, 5:00-7:00 pm, YWCA offices (322 East 300 South, SLC), Register here
• March 23 — MWEG annual conference, 8:30 am-3:30 pm, UVU campus, with virtual option, Register here
• April 20 — United Utah Partyconvention
• April 27 — State GOP and Democratic Conventions

On This Day In History 

• 1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published and becomes the best-selling book of the 19th century.
• 1854 - The Republican Party is founded. In Ripon, Wisconsin, former members of the Whig Party meet to establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories.
• 1856 - Frederick Winslow Taylor is born. He was an American mechanical engineer and considered the father of scientific management.
• 1906 - Pop Chalee is born in Castle Gate, Utah. She was a Taos Pueblo artist who became known for her paintings of enchanted forests.
• 1917 - After trying to stay out of WWI, multiple American ships were sunk. On this day, President Woodrow Wilson met with his cabinet who agreed that war was inevitable. 
• 1925 - Romana Acosta Bañuelos is born. She became the thirty-fourth Treasurer of the United States, where she served from 1971 to 1974 as the first Hispanic in that role. She was also the owner of a multimillion-dollar business, Ramona’s Mexican Food Products, Inc.
• 1965 - LBJ sends federal troops to Alabama to protect a civil rights march.
• 1968 - LBJ signs a bill removing gold backing from US paper money.
• 2003 - A US-led coalition launches a ground invasion of Iraq after an ultimatum for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq expires

Quote of the Day

“When I became a citizen, I was a young mother with a newborn baby, and I had a very heavy sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of my community and as a New American I had an incredible sense of giving back to the country that was opening doors and giving me an opportunity to fly."

—Sen. Luz Escamilla

On the Punny Side

I went for an interview at IKEA.

The manager greeted me by saying, "come in, make a seat."

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