Phil Lyman blames Baltimore bridge collapse on diversity; Salt Lake planners unveil what future Ballpark's southwest corner could be
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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.

 

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Situational Analysis | March 27, 2024

It's Wednesday and Little Red Wagon Day

What you need to know

  • When Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013, he took an immediate interest in the organization’s operating side. But when it came to the paper’s chief output, its journalism, Bezos took a hands-off approach. He gave a simple piece of instruction to Martin Baron, who had been the paper’s editor for less than a year: “Don’t be boring.” Baron spoke at UVU on Tuesday, in conversation with Pres. Astrid Tuminez, on the future of news.

Rapid relevance

 

Utah Business 2024 Legal Elite Nominations Now Open!

Nominate a role model from the legal community for the Legal Elite 100! Nominations are due April 1, 2024. Limit of 5 nominations per law firm.

 

Utah Headlines

Political news

  • Public to vote on changing Cedar High mascot from 'Reds' back to 'Redmen'   ðŸ‘€ (Fox13)
  • Down a member, the remaining Utah County commissioners want to expand from 3 to 5 (KUER)
  • Temporary manager takes over the Cache County Clerk/Auditor's Office (UPR)
  • $1.5 million from legislature goes to enhance teacher salaries (Cache Valley Daily)
  • Nic Dunn: Reforming welfare and workforce policy elevates work (Washington Examiner)
  • Bill Duncan: How Utah has turned religious freedom from a controversy to a consensus (National Review)

Election news

  • We asked Utah Attorney General candidates how they would restore trust in the office. Here are their answers (Deseret News)
  • GOP gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman blames Baltimore bridge collapse on diversity (Deseret News)

Utah news

  • Marty Baron on the future of news: Less entertaining, more engaging (Deseret News)
  •  What a Utah Olympian thinks about the athlete housing at Paris Games not having air conditioning (Deseret News)
  • Idaho governor, NCAA, others speak out on racial incident targeting Utah women's basketball team (Deseret News)

Business/Tech

  • BYU student startup wins $30K at Utah Entrepreneur Challenge (KSL)
  • Ground breaks on $60M luxury resort not far from Zion National Park (KSL)
  • Do you want fries with that? Krispy Kreme doughnuts are coming to McDonald's (AP)
  • This Visa and Mastercard settlement could lower merchant fees by $30 billion. Here’s what it means for you (Deseret News)

Crime/Court

  • New charges: Utah mom charged with murdering husband also tried killing him on Valentine’s Day (KSL)

Culture

  • Bird flu, weather and inflation conspire to keep egg prices near historic highs for Easter (KSL)
  • A history of witchcraft in thirteen trials (RadioWest)
  • People say they're leaving religion due to anti-LGBTQ teachings and sexual abuse (NPR)

Education

  • Five steps to becoming a confident pluralist, according to Harvard prof. Danielle Allen in BYU Forum (Deseret News)
  • Leaders advocate for change instead of 'color inside the lines,' Carly Fiorina says to Weber State students (KSL)
  • Granite Education Foundation honors teachers, administrators with Excel Awards (KSL)
  • ‘Tech Hers’ event shows girls they can seek careers stereotypically for boys (KSL TV)
  • Parents weigh in over 6 proposed options to split Alpine School District (KUTV)

Environment

  • Professional engineer says design for proposed southern Utah reservoir is poor, poses risk to public safety (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • USDA investing $76.5M to bring clean energy to Navajo Nation (ABC4)

Health

  • Night owls: Poll shows quarter of adults still up at midnight (Deseret News)

Housing

  • 'A dream coming true': Habitat for Humanity's Kearns development is nearing completion (KSL)
  • How will the national Realtor settlement affect Utah? We asked some realtors (KUER)
 

National Headlines

General

  • They had 90 seconds. ‘Heroes’ scrambled to stop traffic before Baltimore bridge collapsed; 6 workers feared dead (AP)
  • Bridge collapse victims were workers supporting families, co-worker says (New York Times)
  • What we know about Diddy’s sex trafficking allegations (Washington Post)
  • A bustling block, a traffic stop and an officer’s life cut short (New York Times)

Political news

  • Arizona’s border problem much different than Texas’, Rep. Celeste Maloy says (Deseret News)
  • Gag order bars Donald Trump from commenting on witnesses, others in hush money case (AP)
  • Alina Habba mocks New York AG after appeals court reduces Trump bond (The Hill)
  • NBC fires ex-RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel after staff uproar (Deseret News)
  • Trump mocks McDaniel after ouster from NBC (The Hill)
  • U.S. appeals court keeps block on Texas immigration law (Washington Post)

Election news

  • Why these ex-Trump supporters won’t vote for him in November (Deseret News)
  • As election season heats up, so do scammers. How to guard against them (Deseret News)
  • Trump evokes more anger and fear from Democrats than Biden does from Republicans, AP-NORC poll shows (AP)
  • Marilyn Lands, a Democrat who ran on reproductive rights, flips seat in Alabama House, defeating her Republican opponent by 25 points (AP)

Supreme Court

  • Supreme Court seems doubtful of challenge to abortion pill (NPR
  • Supreme Court to anti-abortion activists: You can’t just challenge every policy you don’t like (Politico)

Ukraine 🇺🇦

  • Ukraine's Kharkiv moves classrooms underground so kids survive Russian attacks (NPR)
  • Russia executed Ukrainian POWs, UN report says (Politico)

Israel and Gaza

  • Protecting Palestinians a moral imperative, Pentagon chief tells Israeli counterpart (Reuters)
  • Israel deploys expansive facial recognition program in Gaza (New York Times)
 

Number of the Day 

Number of the Day, Mar. 27, 2024

 

News Releases

Rep. Maloy to attend grand opening of Utah Beef Producers

This Saturday, Rep. Celeste Maloy will attend the ribbon cutting and grand opening of Utah Beef Producers, LLC (“UBP”) in Richfield, Utah. At the event, UBP will also introduce their “Salute the Rancher” initiative, a heartfelt effort to shed light on the concerning issue of suicide rates within the ranching community.

 

Tweet of the Day

Screenshot 2024-03-27 at 7.21.16 AM

 

Upcoming

  • April 10 — Utah Valley Chamber Pillar of the Valley recognizing Gail Miller, 7:00-9:00 pm, Register here
  • April 18 — Utahns’ Perceptions of the Challenges Facing Women and Girls, 12:00-1:15 pm, Register here
  • April 20 — United Utah Partyconvention
  • April 27 — State GOP and Democratic Conventions
 

On This Day In History 

  • 1866 - US President Andrew Johnson vetoes civil rights bill; it later becomes the 14th amendment.
  • 1868 - Patty Hill is born. The American educator composed songs for children with her sister Mildred Hill. They would publish Song Stories for Kindergarten. The melody for one composition, “Good Morning to All” gained worldwide fame. We know it by the name “Happy Birthday to You.”
  • 1884 - Branch managers of the American Bell Telephone Company in Boston, MA made the first long-distance telephone call when they called the branch managers in New York.
  • 1897 - Effa Manley is born. She became part-owner of the Negro League team the Brooklyn Eagles and grew it into a successful business. Effa was also known for her fierce stance on equal rights, often hosting Anti-lynching Days at games. Later known as the Newark Eagles they would win the 1946 Negro League World Series.
  • 1905 - Elsie MacGill is born. She became the world’s first female aeronautical engineer. Her pioneering work to help perfect the Hurricane Hawker, a fighter plane that helped ensure the Allies’ air dominance during WWII earned her the title “Queen of the Hurricanes.” 
  • 1912 - Japanese cherry trees are planted along the Potomac in Washington, D.C.
  • 1944 - The Coca-Cola Company officially submits Coke as a registered trademark.
  • 2014 - UN General Assembly condemns Russia's “annexation” of Crimea

Quote of the Day

“The press depends upon a democracy. We can’t exist without a democracy. But the democracy can’t exist without us, either.”

—Marty Baron, former editor of the Washington Post, speaking at UVU


On the Punny Side

Why couldn’t the flower ride a bike?

It lost its petals.

 

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