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Ten Things You Need to Know for Monday – February 2, 2015

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Obama makes his budget proposal. Lawmakers not convinced they should move funding from roads to schools. Utah's 2016 presidential primary may be in trouble.

Countdown:

  • Days to the final day of the 2015 Utah Legislature – 38
  • Days to the 2015 Utah municipal primary elections – 190
  • Days to the 2015 election – 274
  • Days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus (tentative) – 350
  • Days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – 357
  • Days to the 2016 Utah presidential primary – 512
  • Days until the 2016 presidential election – 645

Monday's top-10 headlines:

  1. President Barack Obama unveils his $3.99 trillion budget proposal [Reuters].
  2. Mitt Romney's supporters says they're disappointed that the two-time presidential candidate will not make a third run in 2016 [Deseret News].
  3. Republican candidates are scrambling to pick up Romney's donors now that he's not running [New York Times].
  4. Lawmakers say they're not convinced Gov. Gary Herbert's proposal to shift funding from transportation to schools will work [Tribune].
  5. Rep. David Lifferth claims Gov. Herbert favors moving the state prison to a site near the Salt Lake International Airport [Tribune]. Lifferth has since walked that claim back a bit [Deseret News].
  6. Utah may have to move its 2016 presidential primary because both possible dates conflict with national rules. However, Utah's Democrats say there's an effort to move the state into a regional primary on March 22 [Utah Policy].
  7. There may be no primary in 2016 at all because Utah's Republicans are mulling a party-held caucus [Deseret News].
  8. The Utah Transit Authority spent more than $800,000 on travel costs for employees during a 28-month period [Tribune].
  9. Very troubling. The Great Salt Lake has dropped to a near-record low level, and should surpass the 50-year-old mark sometime soon [Tribune].
  10. Hundreds of Utahns rally at the State Capitol for clean air [KSL].

On this day in history:

  • 1653 – New Amsterdam – now New York City – was incorporated.
  • 1887 – Punxsutawney, Pa., held its first Groundhog Day festival.
  • 1990 – South African President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free Nelson Mandela.
  • 2009 – Hillary Rodham Clinton was sworn in as U.S. secretary of state.