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Ten Things You Need to Know Today – Thursday, October 8, 2015

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Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City. There are 84 days left in 2015.

Hatch says Chaffetz is not experienced enough to be Speaker. Rubio set to visit Utah for a fundraiser. Utahns still favor a proposed tax hike to pay for transportation.

The clock:

  • 26 days to the 2015 election – (11/3/2015)
  • 102 days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus (tentative) – (1/18/2016)
  • 109 days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (1/25/2016)
  • 110 days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary – (1/26/2016)
  • 154 days to the final day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (3/10/2016)
  • 264 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
  • 397 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)

Thursday's top-10 headlines:

  1. House Republicans vote Thursday to pick their preferred candidate to replace John Boehner as Speaker of the House. That candidate is expected to be California Republican Kevin McCarthey [Washington Post, The Atlantic].
  2. Sen. Orrin Hatch says Rep. Jason Chaffetz's inexperience in Congress may work against him in his quest to become Speaker [Utah Policy, Tribune, Deseret News].
  3. President Barack Obama apologizes to Doctors Without Borders for an airstrike in Afghanistan that killed staffers and patients [CNN].
  4. Sen. Marco Rubio is set to visit Utah later this month for a fundraiser in Davis County [Tribune].
  5. Saratoga Springs officials want to force the mother of Darien Hunt to take a proposed $900,000 settlement in the case where police officers shot and killed Hunt following an altercation [Deseret News, Tribune].
  6. Marc Sessions Jenson, who is accusing former attorneys general Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow of shaking him down for money and favors, has been released from prison [Deseret News, Tribune, Fox 13].
  7. Utah is still facing drought conditions despite heavy rains in the spring and summer [Tribune].
  8. The Salt Lake County Council is considering allowing residents to call in during the first part of their afternoon meetings to discuss council business [Tribune].
  9. A new poll shows Utahns still favor a proposed sales tax hike to fund transportation [Utah Policy].
  10. People Magazine publishes the phone numbers of all 535 members of Congress, urging readers to contact them to do something about "routine" gun violence [People].

On this day in history:

  • 1871 – A massive Chicago fire destroyed more than 17,000 buildings, killed more than 300 people and left 100,000 homeless.
  • 1918 – American Army Sgt. Alvin York almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 in the Argonne Forest in France.
  • 1959 – Margaret Thatcher was first elected to the British Parliament as a Conservative representing the North London suburb of Finchley.
  • 1969 – The Days of Rage demonstrations, organized by the Weather Underground, kick off in Chicago.
  • 1991 – A federal judge in Anchorage, Alaska approved a $1 billion settlement against Exxon for the Valdez oil spill.