OTHER UTAH HEADLINES   

Deseret News

Op-ed: Hatch extends health care legacy by fighting patent trolls

Jay Evensen: Like swallows to Capistrano, inversions always come back

Walmart pushing for Utah to allow higher alcohol content beer in stores

Joe Biden mum on 2020 presidential run during Utah visit

Salt Lake Tribune

Editorial: Is the inland port too urgent for public input? More like too vague

Utah's Board of Education eliminates a leadership position - effectively demoting a conservative member

Did law enforcement have a seat at the table in negotiations over medical cannabis? Utah public-safety commissioner says no but that's OK.

The top Democrat in the Utah House says Summit County is gerrymandered

Cellphone taxes in Utah are among the nation's highest, which may especially hurt the poor here

Speaking to University of Utah students, Joe Biden offers no clarity about whether he'll pursue another presidential run

Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox headlines a fundraiser hosted by Gov. Herbert in what sure looks like the start of a 2020 campaign

Utah's shift of nonviolent drug criminals from prison to jail has had an unintended side effect - a treatment gap

Other

Utah County commissioners vote no on property tax increase, expect to budget $8 million into reserves (Daily Herald)

  NATIONAL HEADLINES  

• Congress has just one week to pass a spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown. President Trump is pushing for $5 billion in funding for his border wall. Republicans say there's no plan right now to avoid the shutdown - https://politi.co/2GfO77r 
  
  
• If Republicans cannot come up with a plan to fund the government by midnight on Dec. 21, here's what would happen in a partial shutdown - https://bloom.bg/2GeotzS
  
  
• Federal prosecutors are investigating whether foreigners illegally funneled donations to President Trump's inaugural committee and a pro-Trump super PAC - https://nyti.ms/2GgMJSc
  
  
• President Donald Trump was present at a 2015 meeting that federal prosecutors say was central to a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws to help Trump win the presidency - https://cnn.it/2GhEc19 
  
  
• President Trump said Thursday he bears no responsibility for the campaign finance law violations that are sending his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to jail. Trump said he "never directed Cohen to break the law," and any legal problems were entirely Cohen's fault - https://politi.co/2GiyNqK 
  
  
• In an interview with Fox News, President Trump said he never told Michael Cohen to break the law, and Cohen's allegations are an attempt to embarrass him - https://fxn.ws/2GgEllJ
  
  
• In his first TV interview since being sentenced to jail, Cohen said "of course" President Donald Trump knew hush money payments during the 2016 campaign to two women who alleged they had affairs with him were wrong - http://bit.ly/2GeokwE
  
  
• Marina Butina pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to act as a foreign agent in a plot to open up unofficial lines of communication with influential Americans in the N.R.A. and the Republican Party. She has also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors - https://nyti.ms/2GiAkNH 
  
  
• President Trump is still searching for a replacement for White House chief of staff John Kelley. Trump met with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday to discuss the job. He is also being pushed by some of his advisers to name his son-in-law Jared Kushner to the post - https://reut.rs/2GeoEv2
  
  
• The U.S. Senate sent a sharp rebuke to President Trump on Thursday by passing a resolution condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi - https://cnn.it/2GhJZE9 
  
  
• A 7-year-old migrant girl from Guatemala died of dehydration and shock after she was taken into custody by the Border Patrol last week - https://wapo.st/2GgR7QW
  
  
• Authorities across four countries, including the United States, are trying to discover who sent dozens of email bomb threats on Thursday afternoon. The senders said a hidden bomb would detonate unless they received a Bitcoin ransom - https://cnn.it/2GizxMx

  ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY  

• 1780 - Alexander Hamilton marries Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York.
  
  
• 1799 - Former President George Washington died at his Mount Vernon home in Virginia.
  
  
• 1819 - Alabama becomes the 22nd state.
  
  
• 1911 - Roald Amundsen's team becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
  
  
• 1940 - Plutonium is first isolated at Berkeley, California.
  
  
• 1972 - Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan re-entered the lunar lander -- the last man to walk on the moon.
  
  
• 2012 - A gunman killed 27 people, including 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., then killed himself.

Policy News

More National Headlines

Michael Cohen Pled Guilty to Something That Is Not a Crime (National Review)

Fears about artificial intelligence are 'very legitimate,' Google CEO says (Washington Post)

The shadow campaign for Democratic presidential nomination is well underway (Los Angeles Times)

China readying plan to widen foreign access to its economy: WSJ (CNBC)

McConnell to bring up criminal justice bill for a Senate vote (Washington Post)

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren meet ahead of 2020 (CNN)

Trump reveals chief of staff search down to 5 candidates (FOX News)

Pelosi to press: Nonstop Trump coverage is hurting your ratings (Washington Examiner)

Donald Trump tears into GM: Mary Barra's decision was 'nasty' (Detroit Free Press)

California proposes a plan to tax text messages (CNN)