Situational Analysis | September 20, 2021

It's Monday and we have some nice fall weather today. 

Don't miss the conversation on civic education with the Hatch Foundation this morning at 10:30. You can still register here.

Be in the Know

1. A body matching the description of Gabby Petito has been found in northern Wyoming. The cause of death has not yet been determined. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday. Florida police announced this morning that the search for Gabby's fiancé has been suspended.

2. Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee personally vetted Trump’s fraud claims, new book says. They were unpersuaded. "Graham and Lee, both of whom ultimately voted to certify the results, took the claims of election fraud seriously enough to get briefed on the details, involve their senior staff and call state officials throughout the country," say Bob Woodward and Bob Costa in their new book, Peril.

3. Is minimalism dead? More is now more. After a year of sacrifice, people are filling their homes with what they love. After more than a decade of pared-down spaces and white-walled rooms, people are going in the opposite direction and filling their rooms with more of what matters to them and brings them joy — perhaps overcompensating for a year of sacrifice. Minimalism is out, and maximalism (or simply just filling your home with what you love) is in. Is that holding true for you?

FROM OUR SPONSOR

Thank you, Senator Romney

The Nature Conservancy and Utah Clean Energy thank Sen. Mitt Romney for his work. The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will bring critical water infrastructure, expanded broadband access, safer roads and highways, a modernized electric grid and clean energy innovation to Utah.

Utah Headlines

General

• Crash kills son, grandson of former Utah Gov. Norm Bangerter ðŸ˜¥ (Salt Lake Tribune)
• New data on Utah police shootings and race called ‘extremely uncomfortable’, ‘disappointing.' ’Tribune analysis shows police shoot at minorities at disproportionate rates. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah residents use the most water of any Western state. They also pay some of the lowest water rates. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Former Utah lawmaker Mike Noel plans to build a luxury golf course in the desert, and locals are not pleased (Salt Lake Tribune)

Politics

• Hinckley Report with Jason Perry: COVID-19 surge and new political boundaries (PBS Utah)
• Did the Biden administration mishandle U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan? New poll shows what Utahns think (Deseret News)
• ‘Redistricting geeks’ as the cure for gerrymandering? Utahns are drawing their own maps. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• What the battle over redrawing state borders says about our politics (Deseret News)
• What ‘rights’ do states really have under the Constitution? (Deseret News)
• J6 rally, state AGs lawsuit, debt ceiling (Political as Heck podcast)
• The Inside Utah Politics panel on vaccine and mask mandates (ABC4)

COVID Corner

• By Monday or Tuesday of this week we’ll likely exceed the number of Americans who died in the 1918-21 flu pandemic (675,000) (New York Times)
• Protesters in Salt Lake City decry vaccine and mask mandates (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Many faith leaders say ‘no’ to endorsing COVID-19 vaccine exemptions. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn’t provide religious exemptions for vaccines for its members, according to church spokesman Eric Hawkins. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• When unvaccinated Utahns die, loved ones are left to process blame, defensiveness, and regrets (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Low dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is safe and effective in children ages 5 to 11, companies’ study finds (Washington Post)
• Dr. Fauci says Nicki Minaj’s claims over the COVID-19 vaccine are false (Deseret News)

Health

• How much water do you actually need to drink? (New York Times)
• The impact of suicide in Utah and how to help prevent it (ABC4)

Legal

• West Valley man arrested for organized retail crime, caught with over $80,000 in stolen goods (ABC4)

National Headlines

General

• The new Taliban mayor of Afghanistan's capital Kabul has told female employees in the city to stay home unless their jobs cannot be filled by a man. Hamdullah Noman said the Taliban "found it necessary to stop women from working for a while". (BBC)
• US launches mass expulsion of Haitian migrants from Texas (AP)

Politics

• As House returns, Democrats face hard choices on Biden mega-bill, infrastructure (NBC News)
• In a blow to Democrats, Senate parliamentarian blocks immigration reform in budget bill (NPR)
• Trump looks for challenger to depose Mitch McConnell as split widens (Washington Post)
• Trump, allies launch onslaught as midterms kick into gear (The Hill)
• Israel killed Iran's top nuclear scientist with remote sniper rifle: report (The Hill)

International

• Gunman kills 8 at Russian university (New York Times)
• Canada votes in pandemic election that could cost Justin Trudeau his job (NPR)
• Thousands flee La Palma volcano eruption as rivers of lava flow towards villages (Washington Post)
• Endangered South African penguins killed by swarm of bees near Cape Town (BBC)
• Syrian detention camp rocked by dozens of killings blamed on Islamic State women (Washington Post)
• ‘I just cry’: Dying of hunger in Ethiopia’s blockaded Tigray (AP)

Policy News

On Colorado River trip, Romney and Bennet collaborate on bipartisan western approach to building climate resilience

U.S. Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) today led a Colorado River trip focused on solutions to building climate resilience in the West. From Hittle Bottom to the Rocky Rapid campground outside of Moab, Utah, the senators floated the river with Colorado and Utah leaders from water, agriculture, business, and environmental communities and local government and discussed a bipartisan approach to address drought, wildfire, mudslides in the West. (Read More)

Crossroads Urban Center hosting SLC Council candidate forums on housing and homelessness

Between September 28th and October 4th Crossroads Urban Center will be cohosting a series of virtual candidate forums focused on housing and homelessness for all five of the Salt Lake City Council elections happening  this year. These virtual forums are all open to the public and so everyone is welcome to register.Each forum will be moderated by a different agency that serves people impacted by homelessness or housing instability.  Almost all of the candidates have agreed to participate.  (Read More)

Sen. Romney commemorates Constitution Day

In honor of Constitution Day today, U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) delivered a speech titled “Our Constitutional Order: Freedom, Responsibility, and Power,” at BYU’s Wheatley Institution. (Read/Watch More)

100+-year-old Utahns who lived through 1918 pandemic to COVID-19 honored on ‘Centenarian Day in Utah’

They fought and survived six large-scale wars, the Great Depression and 13 recessions, and now two global pandemics. Utah’s most resilient citizens who are 100 years and older were honored by Gov. Spencer J. Cox’s declaration of Sept. 18, 2021, as “Centenarian Day in Utah.” 

Number of the Day

iGen Perspective: Is higher education a dying industry?

By Kaleila Dae Relle Ka’iulani Alaka’i Wren

iGen. Gen Tech. Gen Wii. Net Gen. Post-Millennials and Zoomers… all titles used to describe my generation.  See a common theme here?  Yep, TECH. 

Technology has transformed our way of life. What makes this significant for the iGeneration is – this is all we’ve ever known. We can’t imagine a world without the internet, iPhones, Snapchat, Tick Tock, and DoorDash. And, if we do, it is excruciatingly painful! Technology opens doors to create and make the unimaginable tangible and by default, this is how the iGen mindset is wired. Recognizing this is the foundation of our thinking, we Think BIG and we Think DIFFERENT, naturally. 

As a senior at Skyline High school, I navigated the college application process for months, toiling with the question, ‘Is higher education a dying industry?’  From an iGen perspective, the answer is, YES, if colleges and universities don’t change the way they play the education game. The question they need to be asking themselves is, “How can we turn ‘Education as Usual’ into ‘Education that is Useful’ and make it appeal to iGenners like me?  

What turns us off about ‘Education as Usual’ is we see traditional forms of education as being old, dated, inefficient, and irrelevant. We are absolutely interested in learning, but the content and delivery needs to be different, current, relevant, and expedient. My generation already thinks in a ‘keepin it real’ slash ‘real world’ mindset, so the more practical and real you can make our learning experience, the more likely we will be drawn to investing in it. 

I hear many adults say, ‘technology is responsible for the dumbing down of America,’ but, I would argue that there are iGenners, like me, who are taking advantage of advancements in technology and using them for good. As with any new thing like tech, there are always going to be people who will ‘abuse’ it and those who will ‘use’ it for good. So the real question is, which one are you going to be? An abuser? Or, a user, with a purpose? (Read More)

Upcoming

• A virtual discussion on civic education with Sen. John Cornyn with the Hatch Foundation - Sept 20 @ 10:30 am. Register here
• Utah Foundation Annual Luncheon with Shaylyn Romney Garrett – Sept 23 @ 12 pm. Register here
• 2021 ULCT Annual Convention with Capt. Scott Kelly – Sept 29-Oct 1. Register here
• One Utah Summit held at SUU – Oct 4-6. Register here
• Women in the money: Utah Financial Empowerment Conference with Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks – Oct 8, 8:30 am - 4 pm. Register here
• Growth, Grit and Grace - SLC Chamber's Women & Business Conference and ATHENA awards – Nov 19, 8:00 am - 3:30 pm Register here

On This Day In History

From History.com

• 1519 - Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan sets off on the 1st successful circumnavigation of the globe.
• 1777 - Nearly 5000 redcoats kill sleeping American soldiers with bayonets and swords in the Paoli Massacre.
• 1850 - The slave trade is abolished in DC
• 1881 - Chester Arthur becomes president, the 3rd in one year, afterJames Garfield dies
• 1899 - Anna Strauss is born. She was the League of Women Voters national president from 1944 to 1950. Truman named her to the Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights in 1951.
• 1961 - African-American student James Meredith is refused enrollment to the segregated University of Mississippi.
• 1963 - President John F. Kennedy proposes a joint mission to the moon between the US and the Soviet Union.
• 1973 - Billie Jean King triumphs in “Battle of the Sexes” after beating Bobby Riggs, the former #1 male tennis player who had announced “no broad can beat me.” 
• 1988 - Greg Louganis wins Olympic gold the day after nearly knocking himself unconscious and requiring 5 stitches when he hit his head on the diving springboard.
• 2001 - President George W. Bush declares a ‘war on terror’ in a joint session of Congress
• 2011 - The US ends its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.

Wise Words

“Don't let anyone define you. You define yourself.”

-Billie Jean King

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