Earmarks are back to stay; intelligence community living with trauma; Philadelphia Eagles have a Christmas album - really | The Utah Policy newsletter is your one-stop source for political and policy-minded news. We scour the news so you don't have to! Send news tips or feedback to Holly Richardson at [email protected]. | |
Situational Analysis | Dec. 1, 2022 Welcome to December - it's Root Vegetables and Exotic Fruits Month! Not interesting enough? It's also National Tie Month, National Write A Business Plan Month and Spiritual Literacy Month. Today, Dec. 1, is World AIDS Day. There are an estimated 38 million people living with AIDS worldwide and some 35 million have died from it since it was first identified in 1981. Be in the Know He's baaack. Rocky Anderson is running - again - for mayor of Salt Lake City. Anderson, who was mayor from 2000-2008, came out swinging against current mayor Erin Mendenhall and her predecessor, Jackie Biskupski, saying they and the city council have "do-nothing" attitudes that have hurt the city. Mayor Mendenhall said she was concentrating on governing, not campaigning. âWeâre focused on helping people be safe,â she said, âand not scaring them.â They're baaack. Earmarks are here to stay, at least for the time being. They went away in 2010 after the Tea Party wave, but now that Democrats brought them back, Republicans are keeping them around. US House Republicans voted 158-52 in a closed-door meeting yesterday to keep earmarks in annual spending bills. Heather Williams writes in Politico that working in the intelligence community often means living with trauma. "We canât pretend it doesnât exist," she says. Her article, "Donât tell your non-work friends about the decapitations," gives a sanitized-and-yet-still-brutal account of what some in the intelligence community live with. "In our line of work, being exposed to violent and traumatizing events all day is routine. And then we leave the office to go home to our family. Itâs a life that we signed up for, but it doesnât mean there arenât real consequences." The intelligence community lacks a culture of mental wellness, she says, with poor understanding of secondary trauma and stigmatizing seeking mental health treatment. Rapid Roundup The Philadelphia Eaglesâ Christmas album - yes, really; Utah's most likely bowl destinations; Utah is 4th safest state in US; US House Democrats unanimously elect Hakeem Jeffries as first Black party leader; Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter, dies at 79 Holiday Service Opportunities If you know of opportunities I've missed, please send them to me for inclusion here! Food banks fighting inflation to feed Utahns in need this Thanksgiving, need your donations (Fox13) Ditch your Grinch this holiday season by volunteering locally (St. George News) 'Light the World' giving machines Meals on Wheels (year-round) (thanks to reader Wendy Hill for this tip!) Sub for Santa Christmas for Africa benefit concert, Dec 2, St. John's Episcopal Church in Logan (thanks to reader Gordon Jones and Mahayla Bassett!) The Utah Food Bank braces for a challenging holiday season (UPR) Easy ways to do your part on Giving Tuesday. Supporting your fellow man doesnât look the same for everyone. Here are a few ideas to get you started (Deseret News) Salt Lake County Giving Tree program provides gifts to isolated, homebound adults and now accepting donations (KSL) Making small donations at the store checkout helps Utah charities (KUTV) Looking to give back this holiday season? Here are some places you can donate (Deseret News) | |
| Inspire InUtah is an initiative to help support women entrepreneurs and women in the workplace at every level. Whether youâre a woman starting a business or looking to elevate your career, Inspire In Utah is dedicated to providing you with the resources to help on your journey. Find funding, training, and even inspirational stories in our dedicated resource center. | |
Utah Headlines General Not everything is lost. The powerful, societal force of charitable giving (Deseret News) A place at the table. How one rabbi is bridging the partisan divide (Deseret News) Special Christmas tree pays tribute to teen hit, killed while riding bike (KSL TV) Riverton family honors child with Christmas tree (ABC4) Community comes together to grieve 6th grade girl killed in auto-pedestrian collision yesterday (KUTV) National Guard Airman from Roy dies after medical emergency while deployed in Guam (KUTV) Utah State University deep space radio makes history as it reaches moonâs orbit (ABC4) Former American Fork soccer coach arrested on charges of child sexual abuse (KSL TV) Politics Editorial Board: What the 2022 election reveals about election fraud: In the United States, elections are remarkably fair and well-managed, despite the constant baseless allegations of fraud (Deseret News) Brothers in arms. The unlikely story of how the oddest couple of American politics saved religious liberty (Deseret News) Negative campaigning dominated Utah Senate race between Mike Lee, Evan McMullin. How much influence did those attack ads have? (Deseret News) Business Opinion: How a 14-year-old Hispanic immigrant became an entrepreneur in the U.S. (Deseret News) Amazon says it had its biggest Thanksgiving shopping weekend ever (Reuters) Small businesses need a federal solution to address rising swipe fees. Visa and Mastercard have too much power in the marketplace and raise costs to business and consumers. (Salt Lake Tribune) Culture A chef comes home, bringing Utah and Spanish cuisine together at Mar | Muntanya (Salt Lake Tribune) Education New alliance seeks to boost number, diversity of U. graduates. Invitation-only University Innovation Alliance is on track to double 68,000 degree goal by 2025 (Deseret News) UVU student group is asking people to give the gift of clean air by utilizing public transportation (KSL) Utahâs open enrollment policy is hard on schools in low-income neighborhoods. Schools lose funds and parental support when higher-income families abandon them. (Salt Lake Tribune) Davis School District community gathers to discuss DOJ settlement concerns (KUTV) School principals say culture wars made last year 'rough as hell' (NPR) Environment Want to save more water next year? Money flowing for secondary metering (Deseret News) The Westâs next national monument? Biden âcommitted to protectingâ Nevadaâs Spirit Mountain. If created, the 450,000-acre Spirit Mountain National Monument, or Avi Kwa Ame in Mojave, would be the second new monument Biden designates (Deseret News) Utahâs Coordinated Action Plan for Water released this week (KSL Newsradio) State OKs road upgrades for Parleys quarry project. Set to begin Thursday, fence construction is paused while UDOT weighs neighborsâ concerns (Salt Lake Tribune) Family Perspective: Parents want more time with their kids. We should find ways to help them (Deseret News) âDifficult decisionsâ: Inflation increasing need for food assistance in Utah ahead of holidays (KSL TV) Health Healing house. Dignified endings and new beginnings at a home on the margins (Deseret News) The science behind spirituality as an antidepressant (Deseret News) Angela Deneris and Cordelia Schaffer: We thought we were safe from lung cancer. Utahâs pollution proved us wrong (Salt Lake Tribune) Family caregiving takes a toll on âUtahâs Invisible Workforceâ (KUER) Housing Can Floridaâs collaborative approach to homelessness work in Utah? Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall thinks it can. (Salt Lake Tribune) National Headlines General 𥰠Dwayne Johnson bought every Snickers bar at a Hawaii 7-Eleven to make up for stealing them as a kid (Deseret News) Viewers flock to watch glowing lava ooze from Hawaii volcano (AP) Victimsâ families urge love, kindness as Idaho campus mourns (AP) Rise in Iranian assassination, kidnapping plots in the West alarms officials (Washington Post) The Washington Post will end its Sunday magazine, eliminate positions (Washington Post) CNN Layoffs Are Under Way (Wall Street Journal) Politics The future of the Fed. The Federal Reserve is dramatically expanding its powers. Why the man who helped steer it says thatâs dangerous (Deseret News) Politicians or performance artists? The 2024 presidential candidates youâve never heard of (Deseret News) McCarthy readies for floor showdown in Speakership bid as opponents dig in heels (The Hill) DeSantis-backed school boards begin ousting Florida educators. New board members in two GOP-leaning counties essentially sacked their school superintendents over the span of one week. (Politico) Ukraine ðºð¦ U.S. announces plans to help Ukraine in energy crisis (Deseret News) âDo something:â Ukraine works to heal soldiersâ mental scars (AP) Ships Linked to Russiaâs Biggest Grain Exporter Moved Stolen Ukrainian Cargo (Wall Street Journal) Russiaâs foreign minister defended the strikes on Ukraineâs energy system. The U.N. has said they could amount to war crimes. (New York Times) World News Jacinda Ardern and Sanna Marin shut down a reporter's sexist question about their ages (NPR) | |
Guest opinion: Speak up and speak out by Dr. Ellen Brady The former president ate Thanksgiving dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Ye and Nick Fuentes, an avowed white supremacist whose views on women, Jews, racial minorities, the LGTBQ+ community, and democracy can kindly be described as cringe-worthy. More accurately and horrifyingly, his views are taken directly from the Nazi playbook. Elimination of elections, total subjugation of women, and comparisons of the slaughter 6 million Jews in Nazi crematoriums to âbaking cookiesâ were some of the ideas put forth in podcasts and speeches.... We applaud Senator Mitt Romney for his clear denunciation of the former Presidentâs embrace of these individuals. Accordingly, we call on our entire Congressional Delegation, Utah Legislators, elected officials at all levels of government, and ordinary citizens to speak out with equally clear denunciationsânot only of this incident, but also of toxic culture of hate and bigotry fermenting in our society... Please donât pass on yet another opportunity to speak up and speak out. (Read More) News Release Sen. Lee & colleagues write to Leader McConnell: âNo additional spending â¦â Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and colleagues delivered a letter to Leader Mitch McConnell expressing the need to pass a short-term Continuing Resolution that funds the federal government ONLY until shortly after the 118th Congress is sworn in. In the letter signed by Senators Lee, Cruz, Scott of Florida, and Braun, the Senators said in part: âThe undersigned stand with the voters. We believe it would be both imprudent, and a reflection of poor leadership, for Republicans to ignore the will of the American people and rubber stamp an omnibus spending bill that funds ten more months of President Bidenâs agenda without any check on his reckless policies that have led to a 40-year high in inflation. Since taking office, President Biden has overseen a $4.8 trillion increase in the national deficit, costing the average American household an estimated $753 more a month. It should be up to the new Congress to set spending priorities for the remainder of this fiscal year.â (Read More) | |
Upcoming Utah Health Policy Project annual conference, Dec. 7, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, Utah Cultural Celebration Center, Register here Utah Economic Outlook and Public Policy Summit with the Salt Lake Chamber â Jan. 12, 2023, Salt Lake City Marriott, 8 am - noon, Register here Legislative session begins, Jan. 17, 2023, le.utah.gov | |
On This Day In History 1641 - Massachusetts becomes the first colony to give statutory recognition to slavery 1761 - Marie Tussaud is born. She created wax sculptures and then a museum 1824 - Presidential election goes to the House of Representatives after no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes. The House chooses John Quincy Adams. 1862 - Abraham Lincoln delivers the State of the Union address, 10 weeks after the Emancipation Proclamation. 1878 - First White House telephone installed 1893 - Dorothy Detzer is born. She worked at Hull House where she investigated child labor infringements for several years and became the national secretary of the Womenâs International League for Peace and Freedom (1924-46) where she became known as the âLady Lobbyistâ in Congress, respected for her research and integrity â no personal favors, private dinners or backroom deals 1913 - The worldâs first assembly line begins at Ford Motor Company 1941 - Japanese Emperor Hirohito signs declaration of war 1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. 1978 - US President Jimmy Carter more than doubles national park system size 1981 - AIDS virus officially recognized 1988 - Benazir Bhutto named the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim country (Pakistan) 1990 - Ty Detmer wins the Heisman 2019 - Earliest traceable patient, a 55-year-old man, develops symptoms of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China Wise Words "In giving freedom to the slave, we ensure freedom to the freeâhonorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last, best hope of earth.â âAbraham Lincoln, State of the Union address, 1862 The Punny Side Have you ever tried eating a clock? Itâs really time consuming, especially if you go for seconds. | |
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