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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 editor@utahpolicy.com.

 

Situational Analysis | June 11, 2025

It's Wednesday and National Corn on the Cob Day. 🌽

What you need to know

  • In Pres. Trump's first term, he reduced the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments, calling them a "massive land grab." Now, he could unilaterally abolish them. A new Justice Department advisory opinion says it is possible, and disavowed a 1938 determination that monuments created by previous presidents under the Antiquities Act can't be revoked. The department said presidents can cancel monument designations if protections aren't warranted. Environmental groups were quick to call the advisory opinion an assault.

Rapid Relevance

 

Beyond Fun and Games

Nearly half of Boomers and 36% of the Silent Generation play video games weekly — for mental sharpness, stress relief, and fun. Learn more and game on.

 

Utah Headlines

Political news

  • John Curtis says July 4 deadline to pass Trump’s tax bill is ‘false’ (Deseret News)
  • Opinion: Curtis is right; keep the energy tax credits (Deseret News)
  • Gov. Cox supports Trump sending National Guard troops to quell riots in LA (Deseret News)
  • November statewide special election for collective bargaining referendum ‘not off the table,’ Cox says (ABC4)
  • ‘We’re living in the dumbest timeline’: Gov. Cox speaks on Utah flag ban (Deseret News, Salt Lake Tribune)
  • On their way to BYU, teens first help run the Senate (Deseret News)
  • Gov. Spencer Cox said he supports deployment of National Guard over LA protests (KSL)
  • Utah congressman says DOGE can still do good (Inside Sources)
  • Former Utah governor Gary Herbert addresses Los Angeles protests (KUTV)

Municipal news

  • A favorite family-friendly Utah farm is about to become part of the big city (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Elections to lead new Weber County city draw 37 mayoral, city council hopefuls (Deseret News)

Utah

  • The legendary Yo-Yo Ma will perform at 2 universities in Utah (Deseret News)
  • Bear euthanized after attempting to enter multiple homes in northern Utah (KUTV)
  • Have You Seen This? Utah teen earns MVP honors at $1 million soccer tournament (KSL)
  • Utah police officer who survived 2012 ambush dies after battle with brain cancer (KUTV)

Crime/Courts

  • Police investigating bomb threat at Utah County government buildings in Provo (Deseret News)
  • Utah Supreme Court declines to consider appeal in Kouri Richins’ murder case (Deseret News)
  • Utah therapist arrested, accused of sexually assaulting patient (KSL TV)
  • More sexual assault charges filed against Provo OBGYN David Broadbent (ABC4)

Biz/Tech

  • Dozens of states sue to block sale of 23andMe personal genetic data without customer consent (AP)
  • Federal agency sues Utah Subway franchise company over failing to prevent sexual assault (KSL TV)

Education K - 12

  • A federal law helps homeless students get an education. Trump's budget could weaken it (NPR)

Education - Higher

  • School presidents celebrate the value of faith-based higher education (Deseret News)

Energy

  • Ray Ward: The U.S. cannot afford to undo our federal investments in energy and technology (Deseret News)

Environment

  • Wasatch Front water managers concerned by new usage trends (Deseret News)
  • Like open space and farms? You will like this Utah effort (Deseret News)
  • Trump on changes to FEMA. Here’s how it could affect states fighting wildfires (Deseret News)
  • Why Great Salt Lake faces a 'good news, bad news situation' this year (KSL)
  • Researchers may be underestimating the intensity of Utah’s future big earthquakes, study finds (Standard-Examiner)

Faith

  • Angel Studios series ‘Testament’ puts a modern spin on Bible stories (Deseret News)
  • 5 takeaways from a major new report on religion around the world (Deseret News)

Family

  • Surprise! Married parents aren’t miserable — they’re America’s happiest adults (Deseret News)

Health

  • RFK Jr. fires CDC expert panel on vaccines to ‘restore trust’ (Deseret News)

Housing

  • Why the Salt Lake housing market outlook is deemed one of country's worst (Fox13)
  • Utah’s affordable housing puzzle: A new approach toward 35,000 starter homes (KSL TV)
 

National Headlines

General

  • Former pupil kills 10 people and himself in shooting at Austrian school (Reuters)
  • Simone Biles vs. Riley Gaines: Feud exposes fractured debate on women’s sports (Deseret News)
  • Southern Baptist delegates at national meeting overwhelmingly call for banning same-sex marriage (AP)
  • News sites are getting crushed by Google's new AI tools (Wall Street Journal)

Political news - Trump

  • Religious leaders protest cuts to Medicaid, SNAP in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ (Deseret News)
  • Trump warns protests at Army parade will be met with force (Reuters)

Other political news

  • Republicans advance measure to ban noncitizens from voting in local DC elections (Deseret News)
  • Another unanimous win for religious freedom at the Supreme Court (Deseret News)
  • LA police swiftly enforce downtown curfew as protests against Trump’s immigration crackdown continue (AP)
  • LA protests far different from ’92 Rodney King riots (AP)
  • Musk backs off from Trump feud, saying he regrets some posts that ‘went too far’ (AP)
  • Mikie Sherrill to face Trump-backed Jack Ciattarelli for N.J. governor (Washington Post)

Immigration/deportation

  • After ICE raids in LA, families of those detained are desperate for answers (NPR)
  • ICE’s tactics draw criticism as it triples daily arrest targets (Reuters)
  • World’s most popular TikTok star Khaby Lame leaves the US after being detained by ICE (AP)

Trade/Tariffs

  • Peru, USA's top blueberry supplier, looks to China as tariffs hit (Reuters)
  • Appeals court keeps Trump’s sweeping tariffs in place for now (Wall Street Journal)

Ukraine/Russia

  • Russia and Ukraine exchange sick and wounded prisoners of war (Reuters)
  • Russia hits Ukraine's Kharkiv with deadly nighttime barrage of drones (Reuters)

Middle East

  • Israeli fire kills 35 in Gaza, many near an aid site, medics say (Reuters)

World news

  • Record number of people displaced by violence in Haiti, UN agency says (Reuters
 

Number of the Day 

Number of the Day, June 11, 2025 (1200 x 1000 px)

 

News Releases

Moody’s affirms Utah’s AAA credit rating, citing strong fiscal governance and resilience

Moody’s Ratings has reaffirmed Utah’s Aaa issuer credit rating, reflecting the state’s strong economy, exemplary fiscal management, and minimal debt. Utah has never been rated below Aaa by any credit rating agency for its largest and most common debt, general obligation (GO) bonds. Currently, there are only 14 states that hold Aaa ratings with each of the big three rating agencies. (Read More)


Utah Office of Energy Development and NuCube sign MOU

The Utah Office of Energy Development (OED) and NuCube Energy (NuCube), an innovative nuclear energy company designing a revolutionary fission reactor capable of producing electricity and high temperature heat, announced today the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU establishes a collaboration for siting one of NuCube’s microreactors at OED’s Utah San Rafael Energy Lab (USREL), Utah’s premier energy lab, located in Orangeville, Utah. (Read More)


New treatment for brain tumors available in Utah

Physicians at Holy Cross Hospital – Jordan Valley are the first in Utah to utilize a new type of radiation therapy, called Gamma Tiles, to treat brain tumors including gioblastomas, meningiomas, and brain metastasis. The tiles, made of an absorbable collagen material embedded with radioactive seeds and are placed at the time of surgery. The benefit of Gamma Tiles is that they deliver a high-dose radiation directly to the tumor cavity, where it is most needed to help prevent regrowth while giving much less radiation to  healthy brain tissue. (Read More)

 

Tweet of the Day

 

Upcoming

  • June 17-19 â€” Interim Days
  • Aug 7 â€”  Titan of Public Service gala with Sen. Tom Cotton hosted by the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation at the Grand America Hotel. More Information Here
  • Aug 12 â€” Municipal primary
  • Aug 19-21 â€” Interim Days
  • Nov 4 â€” General election
 

On This Day In History

  • 1776 - Congress appoints the Committee of Five to draft the Declaration of Independence.
  • 1880 - Jeannette Rankin is born. An American politician, she was the 1st woman elected to US Congress (R-Montana), women's rights advocate and pacifist
  • 1913 - Women in Illinois celebrate passage of a state woman suffrage bill allowing women to vote in presidential elections
  • 1963 - Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức immolates himself at a Saigon intersection, creating one of the Vietnam War's most iconic images.
  • 1963 - Facing federalized troops, Gov. George Wallace ends his blockade at the University of Alabama and allows Vivian Malone and James Hood to enroll.
  • 1964 - Nelson Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment
  • 2001 - Timothy McVeigh executed by lethal injection
  • 2009 - The World Health Organization declares H1N1 swine flu to be a global pandemic, the first such incident in over forty years.
  • 2021 - US lobsterman survives being swallowed by a humpback whale off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts

Quote of the Day

"We're half the people; we should be half the Congress."
–Jeannette Rankin


On the Punny Side

Why do melons have weddings?

Because they cantelope.

 

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