Also, Jazz series now tied 2-2, Scott Wyatt stepping down as SUU's president and the LDS Church is providing millions to the NAACP and UNCF | | | The Utah Policy newsletter is your one-stop source for political and policy-minded news. Send news tips or feedback to [email protected]. | | |
Situational Analysis | June 15, 2021 Welcome to Tuesday and the middle of the month. Already. Today is also Nature Photography Day, which sounds great if you can find a place that's not blistering hot. Just how hot is it, you ask? The record-setting heat is causing roads to buckle. That's how hot. Be in the Know Secretary Haaland wants to restore environmental safeguards for three national monuments and has advised President Biden to reinstate previous boundaries. Gov. Cox said that he was disappointed. âI think thereâs a better way, and I look forward to talking with the president about how to find a lasting solution thatâs better for the land and everyone involved." Utah's delegation is still asking to meet with the president. Scott Wyatt is stepping down as SUU's president to lead online education efforts for the Utah System of Higher Education. Count me as one of the graduates under Wyatt's leadership, earning a Master's degree entirely online. He is well-suited to his new role. The LDS Church is providing millions to the NAACP, UNCF for scholarships and humanitarian aid. LDS President Russell M. Nelson mentioned Juneteenth in his remarks, as well as a need to "abandon attitudes and actions of prejudice toward any other group." Politico has an article on "How the Mormon church unlocked medical pot for deep red states." âThey did everything that they could to fight this until the people had spoken," former Senator Mark Madsen said. Jazz lose Game 4. ð© Series is tied 2-2. An AP investigation has found that at least 1,900 U.S. military firearms were lost or stolen during the 2010s, with some resurfacing in violent crimes. Government records covering the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force show pistols, machine guns, shotguns and automatic assault rifles have vanished from armories, supply warehouses, Navy warships, firing ranges and other places where they were used, stored or transported. | | |
Utah Headlines General Doctors worried about heat health impacts as Salt Lake hits record (Deseret News) Yo-Yo Ma, ZZ Top and others coming to Red Butte Garden's concert series this summer (Salt Lake Tribune) Politics Salt Lake City Council candidate says swear-laden, âhatefulâ email over soliciting came from one of Utahâs Assistant Attorney Generals (KSL) America, we have a problem. Scholars warn that American democracy is "fundamentally at stake." Theyâre right. (Deseret News) COVID Corner 169 new cases, no new deaths in Utah 8 states, including Utah, see rise in daily average of coronavirus cases (Deseret News) CDC says vaccine link to heart inflammation is stronger than previously thought (The Hill) Coronavirus infections dropping where people are vaccinated, rising where they are not (Washington Post) U.S. COVID-19 deaths cross painful 600,000 milestone as country reopens (Reuters) Drought/Wildfires Utah Insight: Drought Disaster (PBS Utah) Division of Wildlife warns drought conditions may increase moose sightings in urban areas (Salt Lake Tribune) Lehi moves to limit watering to twice a week (Daily Herald) Economic Development Suazo Center provides bilingual assistance to new businesses (The West View) 5 reasons to believe Utahâs booming business sector is going global (Deseret News) Education Committee recommends Utah Polytechnic State University as name change for Dixie State. Twitter user @jeremybroberts quipped that UPS-U already has the branding taken care of. (Deseret News) Elections Rep. Steve Christiansen visited Arizona to observe election audit. Now he says Salt Lake County needs one. (Salt Lake Tribune) Family Redefining the âfeminist dad.' No, society has not outgrown the need for fathers (Deseret News) What Ann Romney, a mother of 5, thinks about the term âbirthing person.' (Hint: not much) (Deseret News) Housing With evictions moratorium nearing its end, housing advocates encourage renters to be proactive (KUER) National Headlines General 2021 Pulitzer Prize winners for journalism announced (Axios) Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson for powerful appeals court. Judge Jackson is seen as a candidate for a future Supreme Court vacancy (Wall Street Journal) FBI warns that QAnon followers could engage in 'real-world violence' (Reuters) The importance of mourning losses (even when they seem small) (NPR) A dispute over a mask Monday at a Georgia grocery store led to shootout that left an employee dead and two people, including a sheriff's deputy, injured. (CNN) Politics Greene apologizes after Holocaust Museum visit as House girds for censure fight (Politico) Outrage grows as Justice seeks to contain subpoena fallout (The Hill) Exclusive: Democrat exploring 'patriot tax' on multimillionaires' wealth (The Hill) Schumer apologizes after using outdated term for disabled children during housing interview (Politico) Hundreds protest Manchinâs opposition to voting law overhaul, marching in West Virginia's capital (AP) Scott Rasmussen: Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema arenât the real roadblocks in progressive legislation (Deseret News) Courts Virginia couple pleads guilty in Capitol riot. Jessica and Joshua Bustle carried anti-vaccine signs into rotunda during Jan. 6 unrest. (Politico) Federal judge accuses three senior law enforcement officials of criminal obstruction (Washington Post) The Supreme Court is leaving in place the convictions of two men who as members of a white supremacist group participated in a white nationalist rally in Virginia in 2017 that turned violent. (AP) The state of Ohio vs. a sex-trafficked teenager. The criminal justice system mishandled 15-year-old Alexis Martinâs case. Now sheâs living with the consequences. Worth the read. (Washington Post) Elections McConnell warns he's willing to intervene in 2022 GOP primaries (The Hill) GOP bills rattle disabled voters: 'We don't have a voice anymore.' (New York Times) Energy Lebanon is running out of gas â literally (Washington Post) Environment China has promised to go carbon-neutral by 2060 but coal is still king (NPR) Immigration Biden extends temporary work permissions for some undocumented immigrants who are victims of crime. (New York Times) International NATO commits to training Afghan forces after U.S. withdrawal (Politico) Security Shifting focus, NATO views China as a global security challenge (New York Times) Business Headlines Mall owner with more than 100 US properties files for bankruptcy (The Hill) Countries lavish subsidies and perks on semiconductor manufacturers as a global chip war heats up (Washington Post) EU, US reach deal to end Airbus-Boeing trade dispute (AP) The seven industries most desperate for workers (Washington Post) Fed walks tightrope between big jobs gap and rising inflation (Reuters) | | |
Policy News Governor, Lt. Governor to welcome new U.S. citizens during World Refugee Week naturalization ceremony Governor Spencer Cox and Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson will participate in the naturalization of 14 new citizens during a ceremony at the Utah State Capitol on Tuesday, June 15, at 11:30 a.m. The naturalization ceremony is part of a weeklong celebration of World Refugee Week 2021. The public is invited to watch a livestream of the ceremony at Facebook.com/UTRefugeeServices. Broadband internet has become part of Americaâs core infrastructure. Itâs right to focus on it in the infrastructure debate, but President Bidenâs most recent proposal offers a misguided solution: Giving government more control. As I can attest from my time as mayor of Provo City, this is an ineffective way to pursue the worthy goal of expanding broadband access, which is more important than ever in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The better path is to lean on the expertise and innovation of private companies. âIt should come as no surprise that Russian President Putin is denying any involvement in the recent surge in cyberattacks against Americaâs infrastructure. It would be foolish to take him at his word. These cyber-terrorists are trained, funded, and protected by Russia. Putin is hiding behind criminal groups and attacking American infrastructure, businesses, and citizens with impunity. They must start paying a price. âAmerica is facing a panoply of competition concerns not just in Big Tech, but across our entire economy,â said Sen Lee. âWe need a holistic approach that deals with all of these concerns, and that benefits all consumers, in every industry â without massively increasing regulation and imposing a command-and-control grip over the economy. The TEAM Act strikes the right balance in protecting competition and consumer welfare while limiting government intervention in our free market economy.â âWe reiterate our request that the president publicly release the Secretaryâs report recommendations and meet with our delegation before making a final decision on the monumentsâ boundaries,â the delegation said in a joint statement. âWe also urge the administration to work with our delegation, as well as with state, local, and tribal leaders, to craft a permanent, legislative solution, which we believe is the only path to resolving this longstanding issue and providing much-needed certainty to our communities.â âThis legislation will provide critical protections against corruption by authorizing the President to revoke the visas of those engaging in corruption targeting Americans around the world,â said Curtis. âMany businesses, and especially small businesses, do not have the resources to combat this type of corruption overseas. This bill will provide certainty for small businesses to invest around the globeâbenefitting our economy and developing markets abroad for U.S. producers.â The Defense Health Agency (DHA) announced today that TRICARE beneficiaries in San Juan County, Utah affected by the Pack Creek Fire may receive emergency prescription refills now through June 24th. Task force to design a new Utah flag will include Gov. Cox, Lt. Gov. Henderson, and six legislators The process to create a new state flag, which will include opportunities for every Utahn to have input on the symbolism and design, begins this Wednesday with the first meeting of the State Flag Task Force at the Utah State Capitol. The task force will initially be chaired by Gov. Spencer J. Cox. Other members of the task force include Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, Sens. Jacob Anderegg, Luz Escamilla, and Daniel McCay, Reps. Stephen Handy, Robert Spendlove, and Elizabeth Weight, and Jill Love, the executive director of the Department of Cultural & Community Engagement. | | |
| By LaVarr Webb Will Biden meet with Utah delegation? Utahâs entire congressional delegation has requested â twice â a meeting with Pres. Joe Biden before he makes a final decision regarding the fate of the Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante national monuments. Itâs really quite a reasonable request. This is a test to see if Biden really does want to reach across the aisle and govern in a bipartisan way. The delegation also requested that Interior Secretary Deb Haalandâs full report on the monuments be made available to Congress. Thatâs also a very reasonable request. Biden should welcome the delegationâs input as the folks who actually represent the monument areas. Some reasonable discussion, negotiation and compromise could produce final boundaries for the monuments that would be permanent. That would allow monument managers, local citizens and governments and tourism officials to make real, lasting plans for the monuments. If Biden shoves something down the collective throats of Utah leaders, then itâs likely yo-yo management will continue. The next Republican president will reverse Bidenâs action. Thatâs not good for the land or the psyche of those trying to live around and manage the monuments. Relationships between Utah leaders, local citizens and the Biden administration will worsen. This is also an opportune time for negotiation and cooperation because Biden will be dealing with a relatively moderate delegation and governor. Gov. Spencer Cox, Sen. Mitt Romney, and Congressmen John Curtis and Blake Moore, in particular, are willing to negotiate in good faith. They donât want to slash the monuments to nothing. They want to protect land that deserves protection. Theyâre not looking to make political points. Executive orders are a terrible way to create large national monuments. It creates yo-yo land management. Biden should jump at this chance to do it right and resolve this divisive issue permanently. His decision will show his true colors. Let private sector handle broadband. In a Fox News op-ed, Utah Congressman John Curtis argues that Bidenâs infrastructure plan, which would spend $100 billion on broadband, is ill-advised because it would subsidize government-owned broadband networks and give government more control. Curtis has experience with government-run broadband networks because he inherited i-Provo (a city-owned network) when he become mayor of Provo and had to eventually sell it for $1 â because that was all it was worth â to Google Fiber. âThe better path,â he wrote, âis to lean on the expertise and innovation of private companies.â I agree with Curtis. Iâve written previously that it makes no sense for government to build and operate broadband networks, or even subsidize private networks, when entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are planning to cover the globe with high-speed broadband access. If government wants to be involved, perhaps it could offer vouchers to low-income people to purchase broadband. I noted in another column that I live in a very remote location and the only Internet access I can get is via satellite. Itâs a bit expensive and isnât blazingly fast, but it works fine for Zoom meetings and most any digital activity. Satellite internet is available essentially everywhere. And, thanks to a half dozen or so firms, led by Muskâs StarLink, satellite internet is becoming much faster and cheaper. Over the next several months or, at most, a few years, essentially every spot in the country will have fast broadband, at a good price, via satellite. There will be provisions for schools, businesses, etc. The rollout is occurring much faster than any federal broadband program will happen. It isnât necessary to spend a hundred billion dollars of taxpayer money for broadband when the private sector is going to do the job just fine. | | |
Upcoming Utah Elder Abuse Awareness Day Virtual Conference â June 15 @ 10 am. Register here Fire in the West - Appreciating the Inevitable with USU Research Landscapes â June 22 @11:30 Register here Zions Bank Community Speaker Series: LGBTQIA+ panel â June 22 @ noon. Register here Utah Democratic Party Organizing Convention â June 26 Securing the American Dream: A conversation with Tim Scott presented by the Hatch Foundation â Aug 11 @ noon. Register here Utah Foundation Annual Luncheon with Shaylyn Romney Garrett â Sept 23 @ 12 pm. Register here | | |
On This Day In History From History.com 1215 - King John puts his seal on the Magna Carta 1775 - George Washington is appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. 1850 - The first edition of the Deseret News is published 1864 - Robert E. Leeâs home area becomes a military cemetery - Arlington. 1921 - Bessie Coleman earns her international aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in France and becomes the first Black woman in the world to earn an aviation pilot's license. 1971 - 17-year-old Cheryl White becomes the first Black female jockey in a race at Thistledown. 1974 - "All the President's Men" by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward detailing their Watergate investigation is published by Simon and Schuster in the US 2006 - Construction begins on the Global Seed Vault. The vault has the capacity to hold 2.25 billion seeds as âinsurance against both incremental and catastrophic loss of crop diversity.â Wise Words "The air is the only place free from prejudice."
-Bessie Coleman Lighter Side âEveryone wanted something from Biden. Germany asked to stand up to Russia, the U.K. told him to keep an eye on China, and France wants him to renew âEmily in Parisâ for a third season.â â JIMMY FALLON | | |
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