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Daily Briefing 10-27-17

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Good Friday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 300th day of the year. There are 65 days remaining in 2017.

The clock:

  • 11 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)
  • 87 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
  • 132 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
  • 375 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
  • 1,103 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today’s political TL; DR –

  • Mia Love, Ben McAdams, Gary Ott, Donald Trump and Game of Thrones. You’ll find all of that and more in our rundown of the week that was in Utah politics. Watch! [Utah Policy]. Here’s a podcast if that’s what you prefer [Utah Policy].
  • Sen. Mike Lee says criminal sentencing reform will likely pass the Senate once the bill makes it to the floor [Utah Policy].
  • Republican John Curtis launches his latest TV campaign ad with just two weeks to go before the November election [Deseret News].
  • Speaker Greg Hughes says Utah should be a priority after President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national health emergency [Fox 13, Deseret News].
  • Researchers at the University of Utah and the University of North Carolina say online giants Facebook, Twitter, and Google played a critical role in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign [Politico].
  • Weber County leaders want voters to consider whether the current form of government needs to be changed in order to better deal with the growing population there [Deseret News].
  • Luis Miranda, the father of Lin-Manuel Miranda who created the Broadway smash “Hamilton,” visits Utah to launch the educational program being developed around the musical’s engagement in Utah next year [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • Most Utah school districts are testing for lead in drinking water at public schools, but there are some exceptions [Deseret News].
  • A plan to build a private medical school in Utah County is drawing fire because the construction would cover part of Provo’s East Bay Golf Course [Tribune].

National headlines:

  • The House narrowly passed a budget blueprint that will allow Republicans to move forward on tax reform [New York Times].
  • Republicans in the House and Senate are hoping to pass tax reform legislation by Thanksgiving, which gives them just 22 working days to accomplish that Herculean task [Washington Post].
  • President Donald Trump declares the opioid crisis a national health emergency but stops short of allocating any funds to fight the epidemic [New York Times].
  • Republicans in Congress are aiming to hamper special counsel Robert Muller‘s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election by limiting his budget [Politico].
  • Congressional Republicans are winding down their investigations into Russian involvement in last year’s election without addressing allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign [Politico].
  • John Podesta, Hillary Clinton‘s campaign manager, and former DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told congressional Russian investigators they did not have any knowledge about an arrangement to fund opposition research on Donald Trump which resulted in a salacious dossier alleging ties between the Trump campaign and Russia [CNN].
  • The Trump administration releases most of the remaining JFK assassination files, but some are still being withheld because of national security concerns [ABC News]. Some of the wildest information contained in the newly public files show Cuban exiles tried to put a bounty on Fidel Castro’s head, a probe into alleged sex parties held by JFK and prominent Hollywood actors and the effort to find a stripper named “Kitty” [Washington Post].
  • Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson says she is getting threats because she criticized President Donald Trump’s remarks made to the widow of a soldier killed in Niger [ABC News].
  • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is setting up a voting blitz to confirm several of Donald Trump’s judicial nominees [Politico].
  • This is fishy. A computer server that is part of a lawsuit against Georgia election officials was wiped shortly after the suit was filed. The lawsuit targeted the server which was known to have a gaping security hole, and the plaintiffs are hoping to force Georgia to upgrade their antiquated election system [Associated Press].
  • More women step forward to level sexual harassment allegations against journalist Mark Halperin [Washington Post].
  • The National Weather Service is “teetering on the brink of failure” because they don’t have enough staff to accomplish their mission [Washington Post].

On this day in history:

  • 1787 – A New York newspaper published the first of 77 essays explaining the new Constitution and urging its ratification. The essays were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, and later combined as “The Federalist Papers.”
  • 1838 – Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated.
  • 1904 – The first underground New York City Subway line opens.
  • 1964 – Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launches his political career and comes to be known as “A Time for Choosing.”
  • 1988 – President Ronald Reagan suspends construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow due to Soviet listening devices in the building structure.