Good Wednesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 179th day of the year. There are 186 days remaining in 2017. Today is the 159th day of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Utahns would consider voting for a candidate from the new United Utah Party. Salt Lake County will investigate whether Gary Ott lives in the county. Senate Republicans hit a roadblock in their effort to repeal Obamacare.
The clock:
- 48 days until the 2017 Utah primary election (8/15/2017)
- 132 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)
- 208 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
- 253 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
- 496 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 1,225 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
Today’s political TL; DR –
- NEW POLL: Nearly 2/3 of Utahns said they would be open to voting for a qualified candidate who ran under the banner of the new United Utah Party. Most of those who would consider voting for the UUP are Democrats and independents [Utah Policy].
- An analysis says nearly 200,000 Utahns would lose their healthcare coverage in the next decade if the current Senate plan passes as is [Utah Policy].
- Rep. Jason Chaffetz says members of Congress need a $2,500 per month housing allowance to help ease the financial burden on those who serve in Washington [Utah Policy].
- LaVarr Webb says passing health care reform is difficult for Congress because it’s easier to be generous with benefits than to pay heed to what those benefits will cost taxpayers down the line [Utah Policy].
- A group of Native American tribes and environmental groups are readying a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump‘s ability to reduce or rescind the Bears Ears National Monument [Associated Press].
- The Salt Lake County Council forms a committee to investigate whether troubled County Recorder Gary Ott actually lives inside the county [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Protesters gather in downtown Salt Lake City to oppose the Senate version of the Obamacare repeal bill [Deseret News, Tribune].
- A lawsuit says a plan to make Utah’s school board elections partisan affairs is unconstitutional because it violates the Utah Constitution’s ban on a partisan requirement to work in Utah’s public schools [Deseret News, Tribune].
- The state is investigating $37,000 in public funds that went missing from a state-contracted liquor-package agency in Payson. That agency was shut down about two months ago [Tribune].
National headlines:
- You don’t have the votes! Senate GOP leaders yank their version of the Obamacare repeal bill after it looked like the measure was headed toward failure in a planned vote before the July 4th recess. Now, Republicans will try to regroup and figure out what to do next [Washington Post].
- The failure of the Senate to pass the health care measure underscores one thing. Not enough members of the Senate are afraid of Trump for him to push unpopular legislation through [Washington Post].
- Fake news? A framed Time Magazine with Donald Trump on the cover hangs in at least five of Trump’s golf clubs. The problem is the magazine is a fake [Washington Post].
- Some would-be refugees are trapped in legal limbo because of the Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate a soft version of President Trump’s travel ban [Reuters].
- Another massive cyber attack on Tuesday hit a number of banks and companies in Ukraine [Huffington Post].
- French President Emmanuel Macron invites President Donald Trump to visit Paris on Bastille Day [New York Times].
- This summer some prototypes for President Donald Trump‘s promised border wall will be going up in San Diego [Los Angeles Times].
- U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she does not foresee another financial crisis in her lifetime [Reuters].
- Americans will hit the road this summer with the cheapest gasoline prices since 2005 [Bloomberg].
- Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook now has 2 billion users. That’s 27% of the world’s population [Facebook].
On this day in history:
- 1894 – Labor Day was established as a holiday for federal employees.
- 1914 – Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sofia, were assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist. The event triggered World War I.
- 1919 – The Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, ending World War I.
- 2000 – The Supreme Court ruled the Boy Scouts can bar homosexuals from serving as troop leaders.
