Plus, could Waymo, the driverless cars, come to Salt Lake City?
🌨️ 39 – 48° Logan | 🌦️ 51 – 57° Salt Lake ⛅ 34 – 56° Manti | ☀️ 48 – 56° Moab ⛅ 39 – 56° Cedar City | ⛅ 46 – 67° St. George 🌅 Good morning! Utah high school graduates could soon be required to know more about civics than maybe even their parents. A new bill would up the requirements to graduate from 2.5 units of social studies to 3.5 units, including a yearlong course on American constitutional government and citizenship. Rep. Douglas Welton wrote House Bill 381, which is primarily motivated by wanting to produce thoughtful citizens, he said. “There is a growing interest in civics education and making sure that our future voters understand how their government works.” Surveys reveal only about one-third of Americans could pass the U.S. naturalization test, Jason Swensen reported. The nation’s collective grasp of U.S. history and government operations apparently falls short of what’s demanded of even the country’s newest citizens. Here are three other major headlines coming out of the Legislature: Will Utah follow Tennessee’s lead by banning adult-themed performances in public? Utah House passes bill on transgender inmate regulations Big Utah election bills pass House committee |
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| Interior secretary orders review of public lands withdrawals |
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| Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed a review of withdrawals of federal lands this week — a comprehensive and controversial order that could impact national monuments including Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase. What does a review of withdrawals of federal lands mean? When federal lands are “withdrawn” by federal agencies, it means the public or private interests can no longer use the land in certain ways, Amy Joi O'Donoghue reported. This upends their multiple use function by disallowing activities like cattle grazing, geothermal or other clean energy development and of course the extraction of minerals through mining or oil and gas exploration. What could it mean for Utah? Sen. Mike Lee brought up the issue of the creation of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments and pressed Bergum on the struggles Utah has experienced with the federal government regarding the regions. He invited Burgum to visit Utah and commit to working with locals on any decisions regarding the areas in the future. “President (Donald) Trump and Secretary Burgum are headed down the wrong path with this monument review. The last time Trump attempted to shrink national monuments, his efforts were met with near-universal condemnation,” said Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities. Read more about the review. More in Utah Who vandalized this iconic southern Utah petroglyph? (Deseret News) Utah’s busiest state park topped 3 national parks in visitation, as more records fell in 2024 (Deseret News) University of Utah, Utah Tech propose partnership to address Utah’s ‘medical desert’ (KSL)
How Utah's outdoors has become the secret to Silicon Slopes' growth (KSL)
Becoming a Top Voice on LinkedIn (Utah Business)
Gabby Petito subject of new "American Murder" Netflix docuseries (Axios)
'A quiet place of reflection': Springdale’s push to protect Pioneer Cemetery (St George News) |
| The future is here. Driverless cars have come to Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco by the name of Waymo taxis, which has a partnership with Uber. The cars drive 24 hours per day and average 150,000 trips each week. Could they come to Salt Lake City soon? Salt Lake City's grid system is ideal for testing the technology — it's the winter snow that creates a challenging environment to bring the driverless cars to Utah. But Waymo is making progress on that front, announcing a winter weather testing initiative coming to California, Michigan and upstate New York. The self-driving cars are coming to Austin and Atlanta this year and are set to arrive in Miami in 2026. What's it like riding in a driverless car? "It’s eerie at first, but you soon forget that you are riding in an all-electric Jaguar vehicle without a driver," Gitanjali Poonia writes. "And although there’s no need for a steering wheel, you see one swirling left and right during your car ride." Read more about driverless cars. |
Health Families buy more sugary cereal if advertising targets kids, not adults (NPR) How to eat more vegetables for a healthy heart (Healthline) Faith At major religion summit, faithful wonder and worry what Trump will do as Vance speech looms (Deseret News) Primary general presidency invites children to watch February Friend to Friend (Church News) Politics Democrats release retaliatory measures in attempt to rein in Trump’s agenda (Deseret News) Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. advance out of Senate committees, await floor vote (Deseret News) Sen. Lee introduces resolution affirming US creation and protection of the Panama Canal (Utah Policy) This Republican Senator Says Trump Needs to Hear Dissent. Will He Speak Up? (🔒 The New York Times) The Nation and the World Trump says U.S. will "take over the Gaza Strip" during news conference with Netanyahu (CBS News) All 67 victims of D.C. midair collision recovered from Potomac River; only 1 left unidentified (NBC News) Police say around 10 people killed in Sweden school campus shooting (BBC) Sports Analysis: Once-hot BYU simply outclassed by No. 20 Arizona in demoralizing loss (Deseret News) Could Utah gymnastics’ Avery Neff be back this season? (Deseret News) BYU’s 2025 Big 12 schedule isn’t optimal, but sets Cougars up for another successful season (Deseret News) What stands out most about Utah’s 2025 Big 12 schedule (Deseret News) Former BYU legends reflect on their Super Bowl games, talk up Andy Reid, and share a few regrets (Deseret News) |
🗓️ Events Calendar We put together a calendar list of events and activities going on around the state of Utah during the next month. Check it out and let us know if we are missing anything! Here are some highlights for events in Utah today: “Titanic: The Musical (Concert Edition)” | Terrace Plaza Playhouse, Ogden “The Play That Goes Wrong (High School Edition)” | Mountain Crest High School, Hyrum Utah Jazz vs. Golden State Warriors | 7 p.m. BYU women’s basketball vs. UCF | 7 p.m. U of U men’s basketball vs. Colorado | 7 p.m. USU women’s basketball vs. UNLV | 6 p.m. |
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Please reach out to me at sgambles@deseretnews.com if you have any thoughts, feedback or ideas you would like to share! ✨ Cheers ✨ — Gambles |
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