Former Provo mayor George Stewart dies at 84; big changes proposed for Utah high school sports; and the U.S. economy slows to 1.6%.
View in browser

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.

 

If you're a candidate in 2024 and want to advertise on UtahPolicy.com, contact Suzanne Benitez.

 

Situational Analysis | April 25, 2024

It's Thursday and it is, of course, the perfect date. Not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light jacket. 

What you need to know

  • Utah turns out for to welcome the new NHL team, with a packed house in the Delta Center and thousands more outside. Head coach André Tourigny told his wife he thought it was his "best day in the NHL so far." Goalkeeper Conor Ingram told the raucous crowd: "Utah, if you keep this same energy, I'll run through a wall for you." 29,000 people have already made a deposit for season tickets in an arena that will seat about 16,000 for hockey. 

Rapid relevance

 

Drones, E-Bikes and Self-Driving Cars – What’s the future of transportation, and what does it mean for our cities?

Have you ever wondered how advances in transportation will affect our city planning and development? Join Envision Utah at Little America on Thursday, May 16, at 7:45 a.m. to be a part of the conversation on the future of our cities and towns. Tickets are available at envisionutah.org.

 

Utah Headlines

Political news

  • Utah Transit Authority audit evaluates changes after 2014 scandal (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Bill from Utahns in Congress could jeopardize expanded compensation for downwinders (Daily Herald)

Election news

  • Rep. John Curtis wants to heal a climate of distrust in the Senate (Deseret News)
  • John Curtis says voters are 'tired' of politicians not getting things done (KSL)
  • Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman declares big fundraising haul, but over half comes from a loan (Deseret News)

Utah news

  • Remembering Melissa Inouye — scholar, author, wife and mother (Deseret News)
  • Editorial Board: What the NHL means to a state and city’s vision (Deseret News)
  • 😱 Utahns reunited with pet cat they accidentally shipped with Amazon return (KSL)
  • Decades-old explosives detonated in Holladay were inherited, found after man's death (KUTV)
  • Neighbors asking who pays damages for their homes damaged in dynamite detonation (KUTV)

Business/Tech

  • ‘We’re not criminals, we’re workers’: Day laborers say sometimes they have no other work options (KSL)

Crime

  • McKinsey is under criminal investigation for its opioid work (New York Times)

Culture

  • Are the NHL and the Olympics about to turbocharge youth winter sports in Utah? (KUER)
  • Utah’s giant golden spike wants to celebrate the transcontinental railroad’s unsung workers (KUER)

Education

  • School board vote halts move to reinstate ‘Redmen’ name at Cedar High School (Deseret News)
  • Opinion: Don’t force all-day kindergarten on Utahns (Deseret News)
  • Federal oversight of Utah State will continue longer than anticipated. (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Utah’s largest school district, Alpine, could split in two. Here’s how. (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Granite School District teaching financial literacy to high school students (KUTV)
  • New trails to be blazed this fall at Utah Tech with 6 new degree programs (St. George News)

Environment

  • This spring’s runoff could lift Great Salt Lake to levels not seen in a decade, but it’d still be below the ‘healthy’ threshold (ABC4)
  • The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources conducts their annual Spotted Frog surveys (UPR)
  • Forecast group predicts busiest hurricane season on record with 33 storms (Washington Post)
  • E.P.A. severely limits pollution from coal burning power plants (New York Times)

Family

  • Limiting ‘free play’ may be worse than screen time for children, professor says (Deseret News)

Health

  • Can you boost your health by playing in the dirt? (Deseret News)
  • UNC researchers create artificial cells that act like living cells (Deseret News)

Housing

  • ‘I got frustrated and gave up’: High mortgage rates keep some Utah homebuyers on the sidelines (KSL TV)
 

National Headlines

General

  • Why it's OK to ask 'deep, painful questions' about the state of our democracy (Deseret News)
  • Arizona indicts 18 in election interference case, including Giuliani and Meadows (AP)
  • US births fell last year, marking an end to the late pandemic rebound, experts say (AP)
  • About 1 in 4 US adults 50 and older who aren’t yet retired expect to never retire, AARP study finds (AP)
  • Police arrest 108 at Emerson College as antiwar student protests spread (Washington Post)
  • Police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters at USC, UT-Austin and Emerson College (NPR)

Political news

  • Arizona House passes bill to repeal 1864 abortion law. Will its Senate do the same? (Deseret News)
  • Supreme Court to decide if outright camping bans constitute cruel and unusual punishment (KSL)
  • Trump is in New York for the hush money trial while the Supreme Court hears his immunity case in DC (AP)
  • The right starts to reckon with its Marjorie Taylor Greene problem (Washington Post)
  • Gateway Pundit files for bankruptcy after election conspiracy defamation lawsuits (NPR)
  • Female Supreme Court justices push back most strongly on Idaho abortion ban (The Hill)

Election news

  • How a single quirk in the U.S. Constitution could trigger an electoral disaster this November greater than any in modern history (Deseret News)
  • Haley attracts more than 150K votes in Pennsylvania GOP primary, weeks after dropping bid (The Hill)

Ukraine 🇺🇦

  • Eighty percent of Ukraine-Israel bill will be spent in U.S. or by U.S. military (Washington Post)
  • Why this small Ukrainian hilltop town is Russia's next big target (New York Times)

Israel and Gaza

  • Israel intensifies strikes on Gaza's Rafah ahead of threatened invasion (Reuters)
  • Hamas official says group would lay down its arms if an independent Palestinian state is established (AP)

World news

  • Blood-soaked royal horses make frenzied escape in London, several injured (Deseret News)
  • Iran expands public crackdown on women and girls, sparking public anger (Washington Post)
  • Flooding inundates Kenya, killing at least 32 and displacing thousands (New York Times)
 

Number of the Day 

Number of the Day, April 25, 2024

 

News Releases

Nominees announced for Fifth District Juvenile Court vacancy

The Fifth District Judicial Nominating Commission has selected nominees for a vacancy on the Fifth District Juvenile Court. This position results from the retirement of Judge Paul E. Dame, Aug. 1, 2024.

The nominees for the vacancy are: Angela Adams, Justin Caplin, K. Jake Graff, Julie Nelson, Jay Overson. Written comments can be submitted to the Fifth District Judicial Nominating Commission at judicialvacancies@utah.gov or Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, P.O. Box 142330, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-2330. The deadline for written comments is noon May 6, 2024. (Read More)


UDP launches UtahForBiden.com

Today, the Utah Democratic Party launched UtahForBiden.com, a website dedicated to sharing what President Biden has done for Utah families. UtahForBiden.com will also help Utahns become involved in supporting Democratic candidates for local, state, and federal office. (Read More)

 

Tweet of the Day

Screenshot 2024-04-25 at 7.05.28 AM

 

Upcoming

  • April 25 — Giant in Our City, 6:00-9:00 pm, Grand America Hotel, 
  • April 26 — YWCA Leader Luncheon, Grand America Hotel, 11:30 am-2:00 pm, Purchase tickets here
  • April 27 — State GOP and Democratic Conventions
  • May 8 — BioHive Live conference, Hale Centre Theatre, Register here
  • May 13-15 — Interim Days
  • May 29 — Northern Utah Conference to End Violence, USU Logan campus,  8:30 am-4:30 pm, Register here
  • June 6 — Bolder Way Forward 2nd Annual Summit, Zions Technology Campus, 9:00 am-2:00 pm, Register here
  • June 18-19 — Interim Days
  • August 20-21 — Interim Days
  • September 17-18 — Interim Days
  • October 15-16 — Interim Day
  • November 19-20 — Interim Days
 

On This Day In History 

  • 1859 - Ground broken for Suez Canal
  • 1918 - Ella Fitzgerald, "First Lady of Song," is born. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century.
  • 1945 - Americans and Russians decide to divide Germany in two. 
  • 1954 - Bell labs announces the 1st solar battery made from silicon. It had about 6% efficiency.
  • 1983 - Soviet leader Yuri Andropov writes letter to U.S. fifth-grader Samantha Smith.
  • 2014 - The Flint water crisis begins.
  • 2015 - Magnitude 7.8 earthquake kills over 8 thousand in Nepal, leaves over 100,000 homeless.

Quote of the Day

“It will be my seventh year in the NHL and I said to my wife I think it’s my best day in the NHL so far.”

—André Tourigny, Utah hockey club head coach


On the Punny Side

What do vegetarian zombies eat?

Graaaaiiiins....

 

– Advertise With Us –

Subscribers may receive special messages with information about new features, special offers, or public policy messages from clients and advertisers.