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Situational awareness - June 20, 2018

Good Wednesday morning from Salt Lake City. 

Curtis pushes back against Trump's family separation policy. Utah lawmakers donate to their colleagues in primary elections. The uproar over separating immigrant families continues to grow.

 

  TICK TOCK   

2 days until in-person early primary voting ends (6/22/2018) 6 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018) 139 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018) 222 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019) 867 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

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  HERE ARE THE STORIES WE'RE WATCHING TODAY  

Family separation

Rep. John Curtis told President Trump and other administration officials that "Utah is all about families" during a meeting about possible solutions to the family separation situation at the southern border [Utah Policy].

Sen. Orrin Hatch authored a letter asking the administration to halt the separation of migrant children from their families until Congress can find a solution [Utah Policy].

Primary donations

Republican lawmakers are donating to their colleagues who are fighting off an intra-party challenge in next week's primary elections [Utah Policy].

Campaign cash

Mitt Romney has raised nearly 14-times as much campaign money as his GOP primary challenger Mike Kennedy [Utah Policy].

  OTHER UTAH HEADLINES   

Rep. Chris Stewart suggests using ankle monitors on families that enter the U.S. illegally could prevent children from being separated from their parents [KSL].
The Salt Lake County Council won't override Mayor Ben McAdams' veto of a controversial housing development in Herriman [Deseret News].
Salt Lake County has enough support from cities to implement a $58 million sales tax hike to fund transportation projects [Deseret News].
Attorney General Sean Reyes is hopeful a federal judge will decide soon how to proceed with the legal challenges to President Trump's reductions of two national monuments [Deseret News].
A quirk in the state auto insurance database might put up to 50,000 Utah drivers at risk of getting their cars impounded improperly [Tribune].
Emery County officials are cautiously optimistic that a public lands proposal could win approval in Congress [Deseret News].
The Utah County Commission approved a study with the aim of bringing county employees salaries up to market values [Daily Herald].

  NATIONAL HEADLINES  

Babies forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border have been sent to at least three "tender age" shelters in Texas. Medical providers who have visited the shelters describe rooms full of crying children in crisis [Associated Press].
The cost of housing immigrant children separated from their parents is $775 per person, per night. That's more than it would cost to keep the children with their parents in detention centers [NBC News].
President Trump meets with House Republicans to urge them to fix the immigration system but offers no strong guidance on how to do that [Washington Post].
Jaw dropping! Former Trump campaign chairman Corey Lewandowski dismissed the story of a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was reportedly separated from her mother at the border by saying "Womp, womp" [CNN].
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was heckled by protesters at a Mexican restaurant on Tuesday evening. The protesters were applauded by diners [Washington Post].
A fundraising campaign on Facebook to help reunite immigrant children with their parents has topped $6 million. At one point, the effort was raising more than $4,000 per minute [ABC News].
House Republicans are pushing a plan to balance the federal budget in nine years by making large cuts to entitlement programs like Medicaid and Medicare [Washington Post].
President Trump's threat to impose tariffs on nearly every Chinese product sent stock markets tumbling on Tuesday [New York Times].
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is not happy with President Donald Trump's trade war with China [Bloomberg].
The number of Americans applying for Social Security disability benefits has dropped dramatically, which is seen as evidence of a stronger economy [New York Times].
The U.S. is leaving the U.N. Human Rights Council over perceived anti-Israeli bias [CNN].
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross shorted stock in a Kremlin-linked shipping firm after learning reporters were about to publish a potentially negative story about his involvement with the company [New York Times].
Canada becomes the second nation in the world to legalize marijuana [CNN].

  ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY   

1782 - Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.
1787 - Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the "United States."
1840 - Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.
1863 - West Virginia is admitted as the 35th state.
1963 - Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called "red telephone" link between Washington and Moscow.
1972 - An 18 1/2 minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex.

Today At Utah Policy

Rep. Curtis tells Trump administration officials 'Utah is all about families' during meeting on border crisis
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Rep. John Curtis had a message for President Trump and other administration officials about their policy separating families as they attempt to cross the southern border into the United States....Legislative Republicans donate to help their colleagues fend off intra-party challengers
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
Used to be the Utah House and Senate majority political action committees would stay out of intraparty primary fights....Romney has raised nearly 14-times more campaign cash than Kennedy
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Mike Kennedy raised just over $151,000 during the past two months for his U.S. Senate run, bringing his total fundraising haul since he launched his campaign to just over $190,000....Hatch calls for end to immigrant family separations
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Sen. Orrin Hatch is circulating a letter calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to put a halt to the Trump administration policy of separating immigrant children from their families along the border until Congress can deal with the problem....Weekly survey: Call your shot for Tuesday's primary elections
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Voters go to the polls on Tuesday for Utah's 2018 primary elections. Who do you think will win? Vote now in our weekly survey....

Policy News

Utah asks for one-year reprieve from ESSA accountability provision
The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) has asked U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to use the U.S. Department of Education's transitional authority under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to allow Utah one year to resolve a conflict between state law and ...There is still time to register for WTC Utah's seminar on Elevating Utah's Life Sciences Industry
Is your company familiar with the benefits that World Trade Center Utah can provide to help you grow your business?...Rep Curtis speaks out about border enforcement policies impacting families
Congressman John Curtis issued the following statement about the troubling news reports of children being separated from their families....Opportunity awaits: Statewide opportunity zones announced
The Governor's Office of Economic Development, in coordination with the Utah Department of Workforce Services, is pleased to announce newly designated Opportunity Zones from the U.S. Treasury Department....

Local Headlines

Salt Lake Tribune

Editorial: High school graduations are supposed to be celebrations

Despite a court order to reverse historic political domination by whites over American Indians in southern Utah, Navajo voters say little has changed

More than 50,000 vehicles in Utah are at risk of being impounded because of a flaw in a statewide database

Sen. Orrin Hatch and 12 other Senate Republicans pressure the Trump administration to end family separations at the border

Utah drivers are paying the 7th highest price for gasoline in the nation

Mitt Romney on the investigation into the Trump campaign: 'No one is above the law'

Deseret News

Op-ed: LDS moral commitments on immigration are grounded in history and scripture

Editorial: Inland Port Authority rules are anything but 'ambiguous'

Romney spends nearly 5 times as much as Kennedy on U.S. Senate campaign

Utah lawmakers cautiously optimistic over Emery lands proposal

Council won't override veto of controversial development near Herriman

Herbert approves spending plan for VW settlement money

Utah colleges to use consultant to review tuition waivers, aid policies

Each Utahn uses an average of 242 gallons of water per day

Reyes hopes for venue ruling in Utah monument challenge soon

Utah Democrats spar for Rob Bishop's seat in 1st District race

Utah House members say president backs bill that would resolve family separations at border

Salt Lake County gets enough support from cities to enact $58 million transportation tax

National Headlines

Here are the horrifying photos of Obama's illegal alien facilities the media refuses to show you (Daily Caller)

Let's Call The Supreme Court's Gerrymander Inaction What It Really Is: A GOP Win (HuffPost)

F.B.I. Agents Gave Trump a Weapon Against Mueller. Republicans Are Wielding It. (New York Times)

Poll: Majority of Republicans back family separation policy (The Hill)

Trump's campaign manager says Trump should fire Jeff Sessions and end Mueller investigation (Vox)

US Army boots West Point officer who touted communist revolution during graduation ceremony (Associated Press)

Trump's new health insurance rules expected to hurt Obamacare (Politico)

Trump says he would back both U.S. House immigration bills as separation crisis grows (Reuters)

US-China trade spat takes toll on soyabeans and squeezes farmers (Financial Times)

Big Banks Are Once Again Taking Risks With Complex Financial Trades, Report Says (NPR)

Microsoft Employees Pressure Leadership to Cancel ICE Contract (Gizmodo)

Wise Words

Equality

"Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women." Joss Whedon

Lighter Side

CA Break Up

"In November, people in California will vote on whether they want to break the state up in to three smaller states. The states would be Northern California, Southern California, and Kardashistan." Jimmy Fallon

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