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Situational awareness - May 24, 2019

Good morning from Salt Lake City and TGIF!

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

Here's what is driving the day:

Friday trivia!

Former Gov. Jon Huntsman is rumored to be considering a 2020 campaign seeking to return to that office. Utah is one of five states never to have a governor serve non-consecutive terms. Can you name the other four?

Send your guesses to me via email at bschott@utahpolicy.com. The first three readers who submit correct answers will be recognized in Tuesday's newsletter.

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The UtahPolicy.com daily newsletter gets you up to speed on the top local and national news about politics and public policy. Our news is curated by Managing Editor Bryan Schott, along with help from Golden Webb. ((Click here to subscribe))

TICK TOCK

Today is the 144th day of the year. There are 221 days remaining in 2019.

10 days until the municipal election filing period opens (6/3/2019)

14 days until the municipal election filing period ends (6/7/2019)

15 days until the Independent American Party Utah State Convention (6/8/2019)

29 days to the Utah State Democratic Party Organizing Convention (6/22/2019)

33 days to the first Democratic presidential primary debates in Miami (6/26/2019)

67 days to the second Democratic presidential primary debates in Detroit (7/30/2019)

81 days to the 2019 Utah primary elections (8/13/2019)

165 days to the 2019 municipal elections (11/5/2019)

248 days to the first day of the 2020 Utah Legislature (1/27/2020)

256 days to the 2020 Iowa Caucuses (2/3/2020)

284 days to the 2020 Utah presidential primary (3/3/2020)

525 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today At Utah Policy

OTHER UTAH HEADLINES

Deseret News

Salt Lake Tribune

NATIONAL HEADLINES

Breaking overnight. British Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would resign on June 7 - https://aol.it/2QmkjY4

Trump gives Barr the keys. President Donald Trump gave Attorney General William Barr "full and complete authority" to declassify government secrets in an investigation into how the probe into the Russian interference in the 2016 election began - https://wapo.st/2QieyLh

Mueller wants to testify in private. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Thursday night that special counsel Robert Mueller wants to testify in private about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election - http://bit.ly/2Qmjgrk

Trump, Pelosi trade insults. Trump called Speaker Nancy Pelosi "Crazy Nancy" while Pelosi said Trump's family and White House aides should "stage an intervention for the good of the country" - https://nyti.ms/2wjVrXO

Very stable genius. President Trump called on several White House staffers during a press availability to vouch for his demeanor and to back up his claim that he did not have a temper tantrum when he walked out of a meeting with Democratic leaders earlier this week - http://bit.ly/2QkNhHY

Trump vs. Congress. Wells Fargo and TD Bank have already turned over Trump-related financial documents to Congress - https://nbcnews.to/2Qo9S6r

The Trump administration may sidestep Congress on to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. Republican and Democratic members of Congress are warning the president not to invoke emergency powers to complete a controversial arms sale to Saudi Arabia and other countries - https://wapo.st/2Qj83I0

Judge questions lawsuit to stop border wall. A federal judge expressed doubt about a lawsuit from House Democrats to block construction of President Trump's border wall after a Justice Department Attorney argued Congress cannot sue to enforce its constitutional power of the purse - https://wapo.st/2wj3Z1a

$16 billion bailout. President Trump announced a $16 billion aid package for farmers hurt by his trade war with China - https://nyti.ms/2Ql0Abh

Friday's bizarre headline. President Trump is trying to steer the deal to build the border wall to a North Dakota firm whose top executive is a GOP donor and a frequent guest on Fox News - https://wapo.st/2Qk56XH

Trump vs. Tillerson. President Trump declared Rex Tillerson, who he hired as Secretary of State, "dumb as a rock" and "totally ill-prepared and ill-equipped for the job" after Tillerson told members of Congress that Russian President Vladimir Putin had outfoxed Trump - https://yhoo.it/2Ql1O6n

Senate approves massive aid package. The Senate passed a multi-billion disaster aid bill after making a deal with President Trump - https://politi.co/2wi93TK

For your radar. The FBI says they've seen a significant rise in white supremacist domestic terrorism - https://cnn.it/2QkpLuM

There is so much garbage on Facebook. The social media platform took down more than 3 billion fake accounts from October to March, which is double the number from the previous six months - http://bit.ly/2wjWWFq

Measles travel ban. Health officials in five states may block people believed to be infected with measles from boarding airplanes - https://wapo.st/2wh5RaC

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1607 - 100 English settlers disembark in Jamestown, the first English colony in America.

1626 - Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.

1844 - Samuel Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C.

1856 - John Brown and his men kill five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas.

1883 - The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.

1935 - The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 at Crosley Field.

1962 - American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.

2007 - Congress voted to increase the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years -- from $5.15 an hour to $7.25.

Policy News

Wise Words

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you." Walt Whitman

Lighter Side

"You guys, after 12 years, today [May 17th] was the final episode of 'The Big Bang Theory.' But don't worry, it was also the beginning of a brand-new comedy: Bill de Blasio's presidential campaign." - JIMMY FALLON

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