Situational Analysis | November 15, 2021

Today is Monday and National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day to be ready for the holidays.

It's also National Philanthropy Day - don't miss the Utah Philanthropy Awards tonight on ABC 4 from 6-7 pm.

Be in the Know

1. Next week is Thanksgiving (which is almost unbelievable in itself) and I am looking for your experiences with gratitude and/or Thanksgiving. It can be a sentence, a paragraph or a story. Please send them in and I'll be sharing next week!

2. President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke Friday on non-discrimination and religious liberty, urging policy solutions that protect both. “We should also be wary of the idea that one set of rights automatically trumps another in all circumstances. Both religious freedom and non-discrimination are important values that are powerfully protected by law.”

3. Home Depot in Park City is on fire this morning. Avoid the area if possible.

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Utah Headlines

General

• Governor vows to review district's handling of bullying after 10-year-old's death (KUTV)
• How highways changed the West and the West changed highways (Deseret News)
• Café Rio giving away a year of free food during the grand opening of its new flagship location at City Creek Center (ABC4)
• Previous refugees reach out to new Afghan refugees in Utah (Fox13)
• The Salt Lake City airport has not seen a temperature of 32°F or below since April 12th, resulting in a freeze-free period of 215 days. SLC's first freeze is forecast to be tomorrow morning, tying the record for latest first freeze on record. (National Weather Service)

Politics

• Special session debrief (Hinckley Report)
• What’s the answer to national labor shortage, supply chain issues? Mitt Romney says young people are key (Deseret News)
• Redistricting process results in bad blood between Utah lawmakers and anti-gerrymandering group. Speaker Brad Wilson says he regrets the 2020 compromise that saved Proposition 4 from repeal. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Inside Utah Politics panel: Redistricting and vaccine mandates (ABC4)
• Becky Edwards on why she's running for the US Senate (ABC4)
• Orem resident Jason Preston announces bid for 3rd Congressional seat (Daily Herald)

COVID Corner

• Thursday/Friday: 3842 new cases, 22 new deaths
• Utah’s COVID-19 numbers trending in the wrong direction (ABC4)
• Women with long COVID may never be able to exercise like they did before illness (ABC4)
• Study shows higher heart disease risk during pandemic due to depression, anxiety (KUTV)
• How the pandemic both helped and hurt workers' relationship to sick time (Deseret News)
• Utah ‘not in a good place’ as COVID-19 cases remain among the nation’s highest (Deseret News)
• A “COVID blizzard” is currently hitting the state of Minnesota, prompting officials to call on people to take precautionary measures against the coronavirus. (Deseret News)
• Austria to impose lockdown measures for all those aged 12 and older who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (CNN)

Business

• SLC Mayor announces "Choose SLC" initiative to encourage shopping locally. (Fox13)
• This Utah tech startup, led by Black CEO, just went public. Here’s why that’s a big deal for Black representation in business (Deseret News)

Education

• Parents organize to demand Davis County schools confront racism, discrimination (KUTV)
• Despite outcry from students, Utah high school drops ethnic studies class (Deseret News)
• UVU president Astrid Tuminez talks diversity, mental health and making higher education more inclusive (Deseret News)
• Nominate a deserving Utah teacher for a "Most Valuable Educator" prize (KUTV)
• ‘The pandemic in this case was a blessing’: Washington County schools use technology to bolster outcomes (St. George News)

National Headlines

General

• Britney Spears is finally free as a judge ends her conservatorship after 13 years (The Hill)
• FBI email system compromised by hackers who sent fake cyberattack alert (Washington Post)
• One of Blue Origin's newest astronauts, 49-year-old Glen de Vries, survived a ride to space in October alongside actor William Shatner. He died in a plane crash on Thursday (CNN)
• Imprisoned U.S. journalist released in Myanmar (Politico)

Politics

• President Biden named Mitch Landrieu, a former mayor of New Orleans, to oversee the distribution of $1 trillion in infrastructure funds to states. (New York Times)
• President Biden plans to bar new federal oil and gas leasing around New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, one of the nation’s oldest Native American sites. (New York Times)
• US and Israel announce joint task force on cybersecurity (The Hill)
• Trump adviser Bannon to face charges for stonewalling Capitol riot probe (Reuters)
• In wake of Bannon indictment, Republicans warn of payback (Washington Post)
• How ‘Let’s go Brandon’ became an unofficial GOP slogan (Washington Post)
• Beto O'Rourke launches bid for Texas governor (The Hill)

International

• Report: Storms in Egypt leave 3 dead, unleash scorpions (AP)
• Despite calls for "unimpeded" humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, where millions face starvation, India is struggling to get permission to transfer 50,000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan through Pakistan. (New York Times)
• ‘You can’t even cry loudly’: Counting Ethiopia’s war dead (AP)
• British police declare taxi explosion outside Liverpool women's hospital ‘terrorist incident’ (Washington Post)

Policy News

Women & Business conference and ATHENA Awards luncheon

The Salt Lake Chamber will honor Natalie Gochnour, Associate Dean in the David Eccles School of Business and Director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, as the 2021 ATHENA Leadership Award recipient at this year’s Women & Business Conference and ATHENA Awards Luncheon on November 19, 2021, at the Grand America Hotel.

In addition to the ATHENA Leadership Award, six women will receive Pathfinder Awards at the conference. (Read More)

University of Utah’s PIVOT Center honored with BioUtah Life Sciences Award

The U’s Partners for Innovation, Ventures, Outreach & Technology (PIVOT) Center was presented with the Friend of Industry Award at the Virtual Renalytix BioHive Summit.

Friend of Industry Award: Keith Marmer, chief innovation and economic engagement officer for the University of Utah accepted the award on behalf of the U’s Partners for Innovation, Ventures, Outreach & Technology (PIVOT) Center, for its long-standing partnership with BioUtah and Utah’s life sciences industry, and its commitment to fostering innovation and economic development. PIVOT has provided the gateway and guidance for hundreds of life sciences technologies along their paths from university research to commercialization. In just the past five years, U startup companies have raised more than $1.4 billion in investments. PIVOT has also co-founded the region’s largest life sciences wet-lab incubator and founded three life sciences-related accelerators.

Sen. Romney joins Utah officials to highlight water wins in infrastructure bill

At the Central Utah Project Completion Act (CUPCA) construction site in south Utah County, U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) joined state and local officials to highlight how the recently-passed bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will help improve Utah’s water infrastructure for families and communities across our state. The legislation, authored and negotiated by Senator Romney and his colleagues, includes $50 million in funding for the Central Utah Project Completion Act, which provides water for both municipal and recreational use throughout Utah. Details on the how the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will deliver for Utah can be found here. 

Number of the Day

Upcoming

• Utah Philanthropy Day Awards – Nov. 15, 6:00 - 7:00 pm on ABC4.
• Growth, Grit and Grace - SLC Chamber's Women & Business Conference and ATHENA awards – Nov 19, 8:00 am - 3:30 pm Register here

On This Day In History

From History.com

• 1777 - Articles of Confederation adopted by the Continental Congress
• 1806 - Zebulon Pike spots an imposing mountain in what is now Colorado
• 1864 - Union General Sherman’s scorched-earth March to the Sea campaign begins
• 1867 - First stock ticker debuts
• 1887 - Georgia O’Keefe is born. 
• 1919 - US Senate first invokes the Cloture Rule to end a filibuster, passes Versailles Treaty
• 1939 - FDR lays cornerstone of Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
• 1943 - Himmler orders Roma to concentration camps
• 1957 - Nikita Khrushchev challenges the United States to a missile “shooting match.”
• 1969 - An estimated 2 million people take part in the Vietnam War Moratorium demonstration across the United States
• 1969 - Dave Thomas opened his first Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburger Restaurant in downtown Columbus, OH, and their Frosty was only 35¢.
• 1977- President Carter hosts Shah of Iran
• 1979 - Iran cancels all contracts with US oil companies
• 1990 - US President George H. W. Bush signs Clear Air Act of 1990
• 2001 - Microsoft releases the first Xbox game console in the US
• 2020 - US President Donald Trump tweets [Biden] "won because the election was rigged,” while still refusing to concede the election

Wise Words

“Hard work is good for the soul, and it keeps you from feeling sorry for yourself because you don’t have time.”

-Dave Thomas

Lighter Side

Speaking of Jacob Chansley, known as the QAnon Shaman

"Can we stop calling him a shaman now? I mean, that would make half the fans at the Buffalo Bills game shamans too.” — JIMMY KIMMEL

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