Whistle(blower) while you work! Friday morning's must-read political news roundup from UtahPolicy.com

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Situational awareness - September 27, 2019

Good morning from Salt Lake City and TGIF!

Thanks for reading Utah's must-read daily political news rundown. Please encourage your friends and colleagues to sign up for our emails.

Here are the stories you need to pay attention to this morning:

Friday trivia

Utah has never elected a woman to the U.S. Senate. How many times has a major party in Utah nominated a woman for U.S. Senate?

Bonus: Name those female nominees.

The first person to submit the correct answer will get to ask next week's trivia question. Send your guesses to me via email at [email protected].

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TICK TOCK

Days to the 2019 Utah municipal elections: 39 (11/5/2019)

Days to the first day of the 2020 Utah Legislature: 122 (1/27/2020)

Days to the Utah presidential primaries: 158 (3/3/2020)

Days to the 2020 Utah primary elections: 277 (6/23/2020)

Days to the 2020 election: 403 (11/3/2020)

Today At Utah Policy

OTHER UTAH HEADLINES

Deseret News

Salt Lake Tribune

NATIONAL HEADLINES

Another crazy day on the impeachment front

The report from the unnamed government whistleblower alleges the White House tried to cover up President Trump's abuse of power by locking down access to the records of his call with the Ukranian president where he urged them to investigate Joe Biden [NYT].

Support among Americans for impeachment jumped 7 points from last week according to a new poll [Morning Consult].

President Trump said whoever provided information to the whistleblower is "close to a spy" and suggested punishment for leaking [NYT].

The acting director of national intelligence defended his decision to withhold the whistleblower complaint from Congress during a tense Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday [Politico].

Democrats are eyeing a quick impeachment inquiry with an eye toward wrapping the process up before the holiday season begins [WaPo].

Vulnerable Democrats in the House are seeking advice from Speaker Nancy Pelosi as they try to keep up with the party's messaging on the impeachment effort [Politico].

That was fast! The whistleblower report is available as a 30-minute audiobook [Soundcloud].

Rudy Giuliani rages

The president's personal lawyer gives an unhinged interview to the Atlantic's Elaina Plott where he says his dealings in Ukraine will make him the hero when the whole affair is over. "You should be happy for your country that I uncovered this," he said [The Atlantic].

Giuliani also claimed he was the "real whistleblower" because of his efforts to investigate Joe Biden and Ukraine [Politico].

White House secrecy

The effort to shield President Trump's communications with the president of Ukraine was part of a larger secrecy effort by the White House to limit access to Trump's dealings with other foreign leaders [WaPo].

Who is the whistleblower?

The White House is said to have learned of the allegations made by the whistleblower shortly after Trump's phone call with the Ukranian leader [AP].

No government shutdown...for now

The Senate passed a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open through November 21, setting up a potential ugly showdown over funding for President Trump's border wall right before Thanksgiving [WaPo].

For your radar

U.S. economic growth slowed to 2% during the last quarter, which is sharply lower than the 3% growth rate from the last year [AP].

Climate

An oil and gas industry lawyer says energy companies must accept the reality that fossil fuels are helping to drive climate change [WaPo].

Social media

Facebook and YouTube say they will continue to allow politicians to say what they want as long as it's newsworthy [Recode].

Tragic

A new report says the suicide rate among military troops increased to its highest level in five years [USA Today].

BUSINESS HEADLINES

Policy News

More National Headlines

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1777 - Lancaster, Pennsylvania becomes the capital of the United States for one day during the Revolutionary War after the Second Continental Congress evacuates Philadelphia to avoid invading British forces.

1908 - The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was completed in Detroit.

1954 - The Tonight Show made its television debut with host Steve Allen.

1964 - The Warren Commission report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was released. The report concluded there was no conspiracy and that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

1979 - The United States Department of Education receives approval from Congress to become the 13th Cabinet agency.

Wise Words

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."Henry Ford

Lighter Side

"He didn't need the brown face to make the costume work - he's in a full Aladdin outfit at an Arabian Nights-themed party. Nobody was gonna see him and be like 'Huh, white skin - are you the snowman from 'Frozen?'"- TREVOR NOAH

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