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Daily Briefing

Good Wednesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 291st day of the year. There are 74 days remaining in 2017.

The clock:

20 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)96 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)141 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)384 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)1,112 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR -

Legislators are looking at suing Attorney General Sean Reyes to force him to release a legal opinion about the special election process set by Gov. Gary Herbert. The Legislature originally asked Reyes to give them an opinion on the election, but Herbert blocked it claiming attorney-client privilege [Utah Policy].
Sen. Orrin Hatch raised nearly $1 million during the last fundraising quarter, which gives him more than $4.5 million of campaign cash in the bank. His primary Democratic challenger, Jenny Wilson, raised about 1/9th of what Hatch pulled in [Utah Policy].
Sen. Orrin Hatch's office says his eyesight is declining following a medical procedure 18 months ago. However, they say the Senator is otherwise in excellent health [Utah Policy].
Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski details a new policy on releasing police body cam footage to the public [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune].
Sen. Orrin Hatch says he's "disappointed" that Rep. Tom Marino withdrew as President Trump's nominee to become the administration's drug czar following a Washington Post article that said Marino and Hatch were responsible for passing a bill that weakened the DEA's ability to combat the opioid crisis. Hatch has been very vocal about what he claims are flaws in that report [Deseret News].
Utah finished the previous fiscal year with a $26 million budget surplus [Tribune].
Advocates for ending the death penalty say they'll make another effort to get lawmakers to ditch capital punishment in 2018 [Tribune].
The state will need to spend $40 million upgrading existing Olympic facilities if Utah wants to host the Winter Games again [Tribune].
Utah spent $80 million combatting homelessness in 2016 according to a legislative audit. That number is $10 million more than last year and $20 million more than 2014 [Deseret News, Tribune].
A Legislative audit says the University of Utah did not follow state law when it awarded a $10 million contract to an outside group working on the Utah Population Database [Deseret News, Tribune].
The Salt Lake City Council has canceled the Twilight Concert Series for 2018 [Deseret News, Tribune].

National headlines:

Two Senators have crafted a deal to fund subsidies to health insurers President Trump has moved to cut off [New York Times].
It took President Trump 12 days to reach out to the families of four U.S. Special Forces soldiers who were killed in Niger. As he was taking heat for the delay, Trump tried to make the issue a political one by taking a swipe at former President Obama [Washington Post].
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has interviewed former White House press secretary Sean Spicer as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election [Politico].
Here's how Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, funded the "troll factory" that wreaked havoc online during the 2016 election [CNN].
A new national poll says nearly half of Americans believe that the media makes up stories about Donald Trump [Politico].
White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney says tax reform may slip into 2018 if Congress can't pass a budget resolution this week [Bloomberg].
An internal White House document alleges that a weakened manufacturing base leads to more abortion, divorce and domestic violence. The document was making the rounds while the Trump administration was preparing to renegotiate NAFTA and threatening to withdraw from other trade agreements. The assertions contained in the document were presented without data to back them up [Washington Post].
The Trump administration is pushing for an increase in federal immigration jails to hold the thousands of undocumented immigrants ICE agents are arresting [USA Today].
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon is hitting up big GOP donors to help fund his effort to primary sitting Republican Senators [Politico].
NFL owners will not penalize players for kneeling during the national anthem [New York Times].
The National Archives have been warning the Trump administration to follow document preservation laws [Politico].

On this day in history:

1648 - Boston Shoemakers form the first American labor organization.
1776 - The border between Maryland and Pennsylvania was established. Dubbed the "Mason-Dixon" line, it became the unofficial boundary between North and South.
1851 - Moby-Dick by Herman Melville was published.
1867 - The United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million.
1898 - The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.
1974 - The jury in the Watergate cover-up trial heard a tape recording in which U.S. President Richard Nixon told aide John Dean to try to stop the Watergate burglary investigation before it implicated White House personnel.

Today At Utah Policy

Legislature to sue Attorney General's office to release legal opinion on special election process By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor The Republican-controlled Utah Legislature will sue GOP Attorney General Sean Reyes in an attempt to get an opinion on whether Gov. Gary Herbert violated law in not calling a Legislature-requested special session earlier this year....

Hatch's health is good, but eyesight declining By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, 83, has difficulty seeing these days, apparently losing clear vision with a large percentage of his eyesight, his office confirmed to UtahPolicy Tuesday....

Mayor Biskupski releases new police body-worn camera policy By Press Release Mayor Jackie Biskupski issued an Executive Order governing the release of police body-worn camera recordings of officer-involved critical incidents in Salt Lake City....

Orrin Hatch raised nearly $1 million last quarter By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Even though Sen. Orrin Hatch has not yet decided whether he will run for an eighth term, his fundraising is showing no signs of slowing down....

CYBER24 Episode 3 - Internet of Things By Marty Carpenter In the third episode of CYBER24, we down and look at the security risks of IoT - or the Internet of Things....

Win a copy of 'Grant' by Ron Chernow By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor We're giving away a copy of the latest book from Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ron Chernow....

Press release: Hatch sets record straight on one-sided opioid report By Press Release Monday on the Senate floor, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the senior Republican in the United States Senate, addressed the Washington Post's recent misleading report about Congress's ties to the drug industry....

Chaffetz says he doesn't see the case to keep McConnell as Senate Majority Leader (with video) By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Former Utah Representative turned Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz joined the attack from the political right on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying he does not "know what the case is" to keep McConnell in that position....

Policy News

Hatch: Budget resolution key to meaningful tax reform Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Senate Finance Committee Chairman, discussed the importance of passing a budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2018 to make unified tax reform possible....

Business leaders gather for fourth annual Utah Global Forum More than 400 Utah business leaders gathered for the fourth annual Utah Global Forum, presented by Gov. Gary R Herbert. The theme of this year's event was "Prosperity Through Diversity."...

Local Headlines

Salt Lake Tribune

Editorial: Stop deporting mothers

Hughes questions whether University of Utah had a 'Cinderella-slippered' deal when it directed donation money back to donor's company

Audit gives Utah Olympic facilities high marks, but says they need a $40M upgrade to host Games again

Study: Most Utah races are noncompetitive, leading to low voter turnout

Provo Mayor John Curtis takes a big lead in newest poll

Federal government carries biggest financial burden for $81 million price tag for homeless services in Utah, audit says

Legislature eyes suing attorney general for refusal to release legal opinion on special election

Amid healthy economy, state ends fiscal year with $26 million surplus

Rio Grande Street closure gets SLC Council's approval

SLC Council approves new airport director to oversee $3B rebuild

Deseret News

Op-ed: Utah's new tool for changing the bail system

Op-ed: Don't introduce business practices into public education

Report: Ballot initiatives may invigorate Utah voters

Feds to drop 11 criminal charges against ex-UTA board member

Attorney files to expand lawsuit against Mountain Accord to all counties, cities involved

Audit: U. didn't follow state bidding laws with $12 million gift for gene sequencing

Audit: Utah's spending on homelessness exceeded $80 million in 2016

Is Salt Lake City a water monopoly? State commission dives for answers

Salt Lake City passes ordinance for 2-year closure of Rio Grande Street

Utah lawmakers may take attorney general to court to get opinion released

Utah's Olympic facilities need $39 million in upgrades, legislative audit finds

Sen. Orrin Hatch 'disappointed' over withdrawal of drug czar nominee

Forum touts virtues of diversity in Utah's culture and economy

Other

Diversity, not 'bubbles', brings Utah prosperity, according to leaders at Utah Global Forum (Daily Herald)

Editorial: A plan to get traffic moving again in I-15 express lanes (Standard-Examiner)

Few attend hearing on Summit County's proposed property tax increase (Park Record)

Winter Olympic map could expand through Park City area (Park Record)

Park City seen as critical to any Winter Olympic bid in Utah (Park Record)

Utah forms Olympic exploratory committee, Park City will be represented (Park Record)

National Headlines

FBI uncovered Russian bribery plot before Obama administration approved controversial nuclear deal with Moscow (The Hill)

Jaguars apologize to local military for anthem demonstration (Associated Press)

Senior Homepage Editor Reveals Biased Political Agenda at New York Times (Project Veritas)

Harvey Weinstein Scandal Could Finally Change Hollywood's Culture of Secrecy (Variety)

Hollywood's Other 'Open Secret' Besides Harvey Weinstein: Preying on Young Boys (Daily Beast)

New health deal falls flat with GOP (The Hill)

Where's Jesus? Vegas guard's vanishing just the latest mass-shooting mystery (New York Post)

Heritage Foundation considers top White House aide, Cubs co-owner as next leader (Washington Post)

George Soros Transfers Billions to Open Society Foundations (New York Times)

White House denies Trump joked about Pence being anti-gay (Politico)

Amazon Caused Donald Trump to Lose $400 Million in Net Worth, Says Forbes (Fortune)

Wise Words

Trust

"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." Ernest Hemingway

Lighter Side

Near Miss

"An asteroid passed by the Earth, missed us by 26,000 miles. Which in space terms is close. In fact, the asteroid was planning to hit us, then it saw what's going on down here and said, "You know what? I'm going to keep going that way, I want no part of that." Jimmy Kimmel

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