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Morning must reads for Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 276th day of the year. There are 89 days remaining in 2017.
The clock:
14 days until ballots for the 2017 general election are mailed to voters (10/17/2017)35 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)111 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)156 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)399 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)1,127 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
Today's political TL; DR -
POLL: Sen.
Orrin Hatch's job approval rating sits under 50% right now, while Sen.
Mike Lee is in positive territory at 51% [
Utah Policy].
Democrat
Kathie Allen says she's not a supporter of current House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and would vote for someone else to lead the party in Congress if she were elected [
Utah Policy].
Newly minted Russia ambassador
Jon Huntsman is already in Moscow and plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday [
Deseret News,
Tribune].
Backers of a proposal to put full Medicaid expansion on the 2018 ballot file paperwork to officially launch their effort [
Deseret News,
Tribune].
Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer jokes that the GOP tax proposal is "anti-Mormon" because it reduces deductions for big families [
Tribune].
Republican 3rd District candidate
John Curtis deletes a Facebook post explaining why his campaign pulled social media ads on illegal immigration [
Tribune].
Rep.
Brian Greene is wondering why parents who choose not to vaccinate their children are asked to sign a statement taking responsibility for the risks of not doing so [
Deseret News].
Sen.
Todd Weiler wants to revive the long-dormant "porn czar" office with a wider focus on the public health risks posed by smut [
Tribune].
National headlines:
Las Vegas massacre:59 people have died and more than 500 were injured in the rampage in Las Vegas on Sunday night [
Washington Post].
Police are struggling to figure out who the shooter was and what his motivations might have been [
New York Times].
Law enforcement officials say the shooter had two "bump stock" devices that could have converted his semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic ones [
Associated Press].
Russia investigation:
Associates of President Donald Trump had even more previously unreported contacts with Russia during the 2016 campaign [
Washington Post].
Special counsel
Robert Mueller is researching whether President Donald Trump could issue pre-emptive pardons if the investigation into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election gets closer to his family or close advisers [
Bloomberg].
Russian operatives used a Facebook advertising tool to target Americans and repeatedly send them messages designed to influence their behavior during the 2016 election [
Washington Post].
The social media posts from Russians posing as Americans during the 2016 presidential election showed an astonishing level of sophistication. Investigators say the massive effort was part of a sprawling effort to influence last year's election by Russia [
New York Times].
Facebook announced they are hiring 1,000 people to review and remove objectionable ads in the wake of Russians using the platform to influence the presidential election [
Recode].
Investigators are examining a third email account on
Jared Kushner and
Ivanka Trump's private domain. Hundreds of emails have been sent to email addresses on the Kushner family domain since January. That account was accessible by both Kushner and Trump and was shared with their personal staff for scheduling [
Politico].
The White House is close to launching a legal defense fund for staffers who face mounting legal bills from the Russia investigation [
Politico].
Facepalm! Ron Estes, a freshman member of Congress from Kansas, was duped into holding a fake Congressional hearing for Ukranian television by former Florida Congressman Connie Mack, who is now a lobbyist. The fake "hearing" on the Ukranian banking sector was held in a basement room of the U.S. Capitol and broadcast on Ukranian TV. The event was billed as the "U.S. Congressional Committee on Financial Issues," even though not a single member of Congress was present [
Weekly Standard].
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday in a case that involves partisan gerrymandering of state legislative districts [
Associated Press].
President Trump is mulling issuing an executive order ordering federal agencies to review assistance programs for low-income Americans. The executive order would require those agencies to propose new requirements to help shift welfare recipients back into the workforce [
Politico].
A Federal watchdog is looking into Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke's use of private and military aircraft for travel as well as his mixing official travel with political appearances [
Washington Post].
Education Secretary
Betsy DeVos' security detail could cost the agency more than $6 million over the next year [
Politico].
President
Donald Trump isn't wrong about negative media coverage of him. A study by the Pew Research Center found only 5% of the news coverage of his early days in office was positive [
NBC News].
On this day in history:
1849 - Author Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious in a gutter in Baltimore under mysterious circumstances; it is the last time he is seen in public before his death.
1863 - The last Thursday in November is declared as Thanksgiving Day by President Abraham Lincoln.
1922 - Rebecca Felton, a Georgia Democrat, was chosen to become the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate following the death of Sen. Thomas E. Watson.
1990 - Formerly communist East Germany merged with West Germany, ending 45 years of post-war division.
1993 - Battle of Mogadishu: A firefight occurs during a failed attempt to capture key officials of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's organization in Mogadishu, Somalia, costing the lives of 18 American soldiers.
1995 - O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Today At Utah Policy
Policy News
| Fox Files: 'Echo Chamber'
Observers of the political news media often talk about "echo chambers." Situations where ideas are reinforced and repeated within a defined system, thus making it challenging for competing ideas or views to be heard or understood. ... |
| Site Selector's Guild Fall Forum
EDCUtah's Chief Operating Officer Michael Flynn recently attended the Site Selector's Guild Fall Forum to learn more about the latest trends in the site selection industry.... |
Local Headlines
Salt Lake Tribune
At least two Utahns die in mass shooting at Las Vegas country music festival
Instead of wiping old 'porn czar' law from books, Utah lawmaker may push to revive - and expand - it
In wake of nurse arrest, Utah burn unit staffers keep caring for their patients with river trips and more
Congressional hopeful John Curtis deletes Facebook post that explained 'build the wall' campaign ads
Ambassador Huntsman arrives in Moscow, set to meet Putin this week
Backers file paperwork to put Utah Medicaid expansion on 2018 ballot
Top Democrat jokes that Republican tax-reform plan is 'anti-Mormon'
Deseret News
Boyd Matheson: Tax reform - inside, outside, up and down
Editorial: Sympathize and mourn before politicizing an evil act
Ambassador Huntsman already in Moscow, meets with President Putin Tuesday
Faces of intergenerational poverty: State program highlights success stories
Full Medicaid expansion a step closer to being decided by Utah voters
Lawmaker says immunization 'risk' statement creating confusion
2 Utahns among those murdered in mass shooting
Gov. Gary Herbert, Jackie Biskupski and Mitt Romney respond to 'horrific' Las Vegas shooting
Modest gains, troubling signs to help kids out of poverty
Other
Experts plead with Utah County leaders to plan strategically for immense growth that is coming (Daily Herald)
Anti-abortion group brings graphic display to Weber State University (Standard-Examiner)
UTA finishes reforms to executive pay, but retirement perk raises questions (Standard-Examiner)
National Headlines
Las Vegas shooting presents new kind of leadership test for Trump (Politico)
Terror experts puzzled by ISIS claim in Las Vegas attack (The Hill)
Trump's Right: His Media Coverage Is Mostly Negative (NBC News)
NFL Owners Clashed in Private Over Protests (Wall Street Journal)
Connecticut Towns Grapple With Big Funding Cuts Amid Budget Deadlock (Wall Street Journal)
Democrats Immediately Call For Gun Control After Las Vegas Shooting (Daily Caller)
The Political World Reacts to the Las Vegas Massacre (Atlantic)
CBS fires VP for writing 'Republican gun toters' killed in Las Vegas don't deserve sympathy (Washington Post)
Neil Gorsuch being closely watched on immigration (CNN)
Facebook admits it promoted fake Vegas massacre stories (New York Post)
Trump May Have Found Paths to Save Coal and Hobble Clean Energy (Bloomberg)
Budget
"Never spend your money before you have earned it." Thomas Jefferson
Tax Code
"President Trump unveiled his new tax code, and he said that it will be "simpler to understand." When asked how simple, he said, "Even I can understand it." Jimmy Fallon
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