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Situational awareness - August 21, 2018

Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City.

Stewart on North Korea. Utah County GOP suffers backlash from a Nazi joke. Microsoft foils Russian hackers targeting U.S. political institutions.

TICK TOCK

49 days until the last day to register to vote by mail (10/9/2018)
56 days until mail-in ballots are sent to voters (10/16/2018)
63 days until in-person early voting begins (10/23/2018)
70 days until the last day to register to vote in person or by mail (10/30/2018)
72 days until in-person early voting ends (11/2/2018)
77 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
160 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
205 days until the final day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (3/14/2019)
805 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

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HERE ARE THE STORIES YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO TODAY

Stewart speaks

Rep. Chris Stewart says the Trump administration is making progress with North Korea, but there's still a long way to go. Stewart recently returned from a visit to the Korean peninsula. Stewart also made an eyebrow-raising claim about the media without offering any proof - http://bit.ly/2BvugPi

New podcast

Download the podcast of our full conversation with Rep. Stewart - http://bit.ly/2PrsmSW

Nazi joke fallout

The Utah County GOP has lost three high-profile donors for an upcoming fundraising dinner after it was revealed the party's vice-chairman made a Nazi joke in a private Facebook group - http://bit.ly/2OPP2Le

GOP hardliners fall short

An effort by some members of the Utah GOP Central Committee to change the rules to boost convention-route candidates over opponents who gather signatures failed on Saturday - http://bit.ly/2nWomgl

OTHER UTAH HEADLINES

Salt Lake Tribune

Op-ed: Modern physicists are scientifically astute but philosophically naive

Utah medical marijuana opponents wanted Gov. Gary Herbert to direct the state government to help fight the initiative

Why do Republican Mia Love and Democrat Ben McAdams have the same orange campaign imagery?

UTA illegally fired whistleblower who warned agency it was violating safety rules while trying to get good publicity, feds say

The Utah Inland Port board's committees meeting in private despite criticism over lack of transparency

Deseret News

Editorial: What does Operation Rio Grande look like one year later?

Groups gear up to propose drastic changes to Pioneer Park

Feds order UTA to reinstate whistleblower, pay him $300K

Could Ogden be new home for BLM headquarters?

First TV commercial airs in Love-McAdams race

Other

Did your property taxes go up? If you live in these seven cities the answer is yes (Logan Herald Journal)

NATIONAL HEADLINES

Microsoft says they have foiled a Russian operation targeting political institutions in the U.S. A notorious hacking group linked to Russian intelligence aimed to hack into the computers of people who visited fake websites designed to look like legitimate public policy and U.S. Senate websites - https://wapo.st/2Bw0kCz
In an interview with Reuters, President Trump said he is leaning against sitting down with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators for an interview because he's worried it could turn into a "perjury trap" - https://reut.rs/2BvPZGP
President Trump says he could run special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Russian attack on the 2016 election if he wanted to - https://wapo.st/2BvGdEx
Democrats in Congress are questioning whether national security adviser John Bolton's ties to Russia were properly vetted before he joined the White House - https://politi.co/2BxtDVA
White House counsel Don McGahn says he does not believe he implicated President Trump in legal wrongdoing during his discussions with special counsel Robert Muller's team - https://wapo.st/2Br318B
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh urged prosecutors investigating Bill Clinton to ask graphic questions about his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky - https://nyti.ms/2Bw0WrR
Trump administration officials believe they have the upper hand with China in the growing trade war between the two countries as China's economy is beginning to cool down - https://on.wsj.com/2BvZBBr
President Trump taunted former CIA director John Brennan via Twitter on Monday, urging him to file a lawsuit against the president for revoking his security clearance - https://nyti.ms/2BuzD17
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney suggests President Trump's planned military parade was canceled for reasons other than the projected $92 million price tag, but would not elaborate - https://politi.co/2BvJYd7
Former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt placed only one phone call from the $43,000 secure booth he had placed in his office - https://wapo.st/2BvoSf9
She's baaack. Hillary Clinton will fundraise for Democrats at three events this fall - https://nbcnews.to/2BuBBP3
Immigration officials deported the last-remaining Nazi concentration camp guard in the U.S. on Monday - http://bit.ly/2BvzzOI
Protesters at the University of North Carolina toppled a Confederate statue on Monday night - https://cnn.it/2BDWK9Q
The EPA is expected to unveil a replacement for President Obama's Clean Power Plan. The new policy is said to include fewer restrictions on coal-fired power plants - https://abcn.ws/2BwWhG8
Hospital emergency rooms are seeing a rash of injuries related to electric scooters that are popping up in cities across the U.S. - http://bit.ly/2Bvjybp

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1831 - Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Virginia. Turner was later hanged.
1888 - The first successful adding machine in the U.S. is patented by William Seward Burroughs.
1897 - American automobile manufacturer Oldsmobile is founded.
1911 - The Mona Lisa is stolen by a Louvre employee.
1959 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union.
2017 - Millions watched the first total solar eclipse in the U.S. in 38 years.

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Today At Utah Policy

images/Resized_Mugshots/Chris_Stewart_10.jpg

Stewart: Trump administration making progress with North Korea
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
President Donald Trump tweeted in June that North Korea was "no longer a nuclear threat" following his much-publicized meeting with Kim Jong-un. Rep. Chris Stewart says that's not the case....

Effort by Utah GOP hardliners to punish signature-gathering candidates falls short
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
An attempt over the weekend inside the Utah Republican Party to endorse convention-only candidates above signature-gathering candidates failed....

Donors flee Utah County GOP after online Nazi 'joke'
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
An insensitive "joke" about Nazis made by a Utah County GOP leader is prompting sponsors to withdraw their financial support for the county party's annual fundraising dinner. ...

Podcast: Rep. Chris Stewart
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Rep. Chris Stewart joins Managing Editor Bryan Schott to discuss the situation in North Korea, election security, and the ballooning federal deficit....

U.S. Department of Commerce invests $1.8M in Provo infrastructure
By EDCUtah
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the Department's Economic Development Administration is awarding a $1.8 million grant to the Provo City Corporation of Provo, Utah, for roadway and utility infrastructure needed to support business expansion and developme...

Policy News

Over 1,300 community members will celebrate outstanding Utah women at YWCA LeaderLuncheon
At this year's 30th annual YWCA LeaderLuncheon on Friday, September 7 from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM at the Grand America Hotel, community members will come together to celebrate, be inspired, and raise critical funds for YWCA Utah....