Ben McAdams, Jason Chaffetz and North Korea. Your Monday morning political briefing from UtahPolicy.com

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Local News Highlights: Daily Briefing

Morning must reads for Monday, May 15, 2017

Good Monday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 135th day of the year. There are 230 days remaining in 2017. Today is the 116th day of Donald Trump's presidency.

McAdams' favorability ratings take a hit. Chaffetz is telling colleagues he's heading to Fox News. North Korea conducts a successful missile test.

The clock:

5 days until the Utah Republican State Convention (5/20/2017)

33 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention at Weber State University (6/17/2017)

176 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)

252 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)

297 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)

540 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)

1,268 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR -

NEW POLL: Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams gets good, but not great, favorable ratings from voters inside Salt Lake County. However, he has some work ahead of him if he wants to run for a statewide office down the road [Utah Policy].
UtahPolicy.com was the first to report that Rep. Jason Chaffetz may be looking at taking a job with Fox News Channel once he steps down from Congress. Now, Chaffetz is reportedly telling colleagues in Washington that he indeed is on the verge of jumping to a television gig [Utah Policy].
Sen. Mike Lee says President Trump is "fully cooperating" with the FBI probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election [Utah Policy].
LaVarr Webb argues that the media has been unfair to President Donald Trump, but the president has also committed a number of unforced errors [Utah Policy].
Our "Political Insiders" say the race to be the next Utah GOP Chairman is a toss up between James Evans and Rob Anderson [Utah Policy].
President Donald Trump is reportedly considering a huge shakeup of the West Wing staff, which could include firing chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus and press secretary Sean Spicer [Utah Policy].
North Korea conducted their most successful missile launch in recent years, testing a rocket they claim can reach the United States. Experts say the new missile represents a significant step up of North Korea's technical capabilities [Politico]. North Korea has rapidly accelerated their missile program significantly over the past three years [Wall Street Journal].
President Donald Trump is racing to find a replacement for fired FBI Director James Comey [Wall Street Journal]. At least eight candidates for the job were interviewed over the weekend [CNN].
Democrats in Congress smell blood in the aftermath of Trump's firing of Comey. They plan to use the controversy to slow down Trump's political agenda, and could go so far as to shut down the government unless a special prosecutor is appointed to head up the Russia investigation [Axios].
Former director of national intelligence James Clapper said Trump's dismissal of Comey is "eroding" the system of checks and balances in Washington [Associated Press].
President Donald Trump threatened James Comey over Twitter, insinuating he may have secretly taped his conversations with the former FBI Director. That may well have happened as former employees of Donald Trump say he routinely taped conversations before he became president [Wall Street Journal]. Several Republicans and Democrats say if Trump does have tapes of his conversations with Comey, he should turn them over to Congress [Washington Post].
Republican Senators are considering massive cuts to Medicaid [Wall Street Journal]. Republicans in the House are weighing slashing food stamps, welfare and even making big reductions in veterans' benefits [Politico].
Following Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's visit to Utah to discuss public lands issues, many Native Americans say they feel marginalized [Washington Post].
The massive ransomware attack that crippled hospitals and government agencies in 150 countries is expected to spread even more as the world gets back to work on Monday [New York Times].
Rep. Chris Stewart holds a town hall meeting in Richfield. His reception there was markedly different from a previous public event in Salt Lake City [City Weekly, Tribune].
Rep. Adam Gardiner wants to raise the minimum age to get married in Utah from 15 to 16 [Associated Press].
Whether to continue or end the Utah GOP's lawsuit over SB54 is center stage in the race to be the next chairman of the state party [Deseret News].
Rob Craig, the newly elected chairman of the Utah County GOP promises to bring a new management style to the job [Daily Herald].
Jon Huntsman Sr. said in a two-page newspaper ad that the University of Utah "instigated" the trouble with the Huntsman Cancer Institute, and that the University still owes the HCI $54 million [Deseret News, Tribune].
Whoops! A basic accounting error exposed excessive compensation for two Kane County employees, which has now spiraled into a criminal investigation [Tribune].
Utah is one of two states still not complying with federal guidelines to prevent prison rape [Tribune].
For the fourth straight year Mormons Building Bridges, which aims to foster better relations between Mormons and the LGBTQ community, has been denied a spot in the annual Days of '47 Parade [Tribune].

On this day in history:

1911 - The Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Co., ruling it violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1969 - Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned amid a controversy over his past legal fees.
1972 - Alabama Gov. George Wallace was shot while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in Laurel, Md., and left permanently paralyzed below the waist.
2006 - Saddam Hussein refused to enter a plea at his trial in Iraq for crimes against humanity, insisting he was still the country's president.

Today At Utah Policy

Poll: McAdams gets good favorable ratings inside Salt Lake County, but has work to do By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor Salt Lake County Democratic Mayor Ben McAdams has a 57 percent approval rating – good, but not great – in the county, a new UtahPolicy.com poll shows....

Lament of a reluctant Trump supporter By LaVarr Webb, Publisher I want Donald Trump to be successful. I support his efforts to shake up Washington, to enact tax reform and tax cuts, to reduce the regulatory quagmire, improve healthcare, to achieve energy independent, and produce jobs and economic growth....

Lee: Trump is 'fully cooperating' with Russia investigation (with video) By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Sen. Mike Lee says President Donald Trump is "fully cooperating" with the FBI investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 election....

'Political Insiders' say Utah GOP Chairman's race is a toss up By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Our "Political Insiders" say Saturday's race to be the chairman of the Utah GOP is wide open....

Trump reportedly considering getting rid of Bannon, Spicer and Priebus By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Axios scoops Sunday with the news that President Donald Trump is considering a "huge reboot" of the White House that could include replacing several key parts of his administration....

Utah Farm Bureau applauds monument review By Ron Gibson, President, Utah Farm Bureau Federation Utah Farm Bureau applauds President Trump’s review of presidential national monument designations over the past two decades including the highly controversial 1996 Grand Staircase-Escalante and 2016 Bears Ears National Monument....

Chaffetz telling colleagues in Washington he's headed to Fox News By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor It looks like that crazy rumor about Rep. Jason Chaffetz stepping down from Congress to take a job with Fox News Channel may be coming true....

Policy News

Sen. Lee seeks answers from President Trump on new Afghanistan policy Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) sent a letter to President Trump on Friday requesting answers about possible strategic and operational changes to America’s longest conflict. ...

Litehouse to expand manufacturing in southern Utah The Governor’s Office of Economic Development announced that Litehouse Inc. will expand its manufacturing operations in Hurricane, adding up to 165 jobs to the community and $40 million in capital investment. ...

Utah schools receive official state STEM designation The Utah State Board of Education approved eight public schools for the Utah STEM School Designation. This is the second group of schools to be selected since the program began last year. ...

Local Headlines

Salt Lake Tribune

Op-ed: Sutherland Institute: Think tank or advertising agency?

Op-ed: Partnerships with local water management entities are the key to water data

Op-ed: GOED process is open and transparent

Editorial: Utah politicians give themselves lots to laugh about

Editorial: Zinke's visit didn't include a balanced view

Guv nominates former UTA chair to lead Transportation Commission

Stewart's Richfield town hall is a marked departure from his raucous SLC forum

How an accounting error led to a criminal investigation of payments to a Kane County commissioner

Trump is 'fully cooperating' in Russia probe, Utah Sen. Mike Lee says

Utah one of only two states not complying with federal prison-rape guidelines, DOJ says

Deseret News

Frank Pignanelli & LaVarr Webb: Mother's advice: Play nice with others

Patricia Jones: Elevating women in leadership is the smart thing to do

Richard Davis: A call for political diversity, not conformity, within the LDS Church

Editorial: Time for a bipartisan investigation into Russia for the sake of national security

Huntsman Sr. says U. 'instigated' dispute in two-page ad

Stewart holds subdued town hall meeting in Richfield

Activists call for civic engagement, end to partisan politics at Constitution rally

Chaffetz telling colleagues he's headed to Fox News, report says

Utah GOP chairman race focused on fight over candidate nomination process

Other

New Utah County GOP leadership looking toward improved communication and technology (Daily Herald)

Op-ed: In Northern Utah, the ICE raids are real - and so is fear of the law (Standard-Examiner)

Andy Beerman says a second mayoral bid is possible (Park Record)

National Headlines

Abortion politics hound senators from both parties (Politico)

Pope says he'll seek common ground with Trump (Associated Press)

Senate GOP's agenda is at a moment of reckoning with unpredictable Trump (Washington Post)

Trump, irked at cabinet and staff, mulls sweeping shake-up (Axios)

Violence And Intimidation Against Republicans Are Becoming The New Normal (Daily Caller)

At Liberty, Trump Calls Critics 'Pathetic,' Praises Putting 'Faith Into Action' (NPR)

Melania Trump loves being a mom. As first lady, will she be mom-in-chief? (Washington Post)

Flynn subpoena sets up battle between White House, Congress (The Hill)

Gorsuch's Famous 'Burping Dissent' Is Now Before The Supreme Court (Daily Caller)

Who got hurt by the ransomware attack (CNNMoney)

Trump's Trade Deal 'Win' With China: Fake News? (Forbes)

Wise Words

Advice

"Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve." Benjamin Franklin

Lighter Side

Contracts
"The big story still is Trump firing FBI Director James Comey, and it turns out Comey had six years left on his 10-year term. It's easier get out of your FBI contract than it is your AT&T contract." Jimmy Fallon

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