Good Friday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 211th day of the year. There are 155 days left in 2016.
Hillary Clinton embraces history. Bernie Sanders meets with Utah Democrats. Mark Shurtleff speaks out about the dropped corruption charges against him.
The clock:
- 102 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
- 178 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (1/23/2017)
- 223 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (3/9/2017)
Ten talking points for Friday:
- What happened this week in Utah politics? Watch our analysis of the big stories from the past seven days [Utah Policy].
- Hillary Clinton stepped up to history and accepted the Democratic nomination for President. In her acceptance speech, Clinton says America is facing a “moment of reckoning” [USA Today, CNN].
- In one of the most stunning moments of the Democratic convention, Khizr Khan, the father of a slain Muslim-American soldier delivered a brutal takedown of Donald Trump, asking if the real estate mogul has ever read the Constitution and offered to loan him his dog-eared copy of the founding document [Washington Post].
- The general election matchup between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is expected to be one of the most divisive in American history [Politico].
- Mitt Romney is reportedly considering endorsing Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson…according to Gary Johnson [Boston.com]. If Romney does endorse Johnson, it could put Utah in play as a swing state [Deseret News]. Polling numbers suggest Johnson could play a major spoiler role in November [Utah Policy].
- Bernie Sanders meets with Utah Democratic delegates and urges them to vote for Hillary Clinton [Tribune, Deseret News].
- Donald Trump Jr. says President Barack Obama lifted a phrase from his Republican convention speech, but the accusation may be nothing more than feigned outrage [NBC News].
- Former Attorney General Mark Shurtleff speaks out about the dropping of corruption charges against him. He also suggests he would testify against John Swallow and blames the media for pushing a false narrative about him. Shurtleff is also on the hook for his multi-million dollar legal fees since the state dropped the charges against him [Tribune, Deseret News].
- West Jordan City Councilman Jeff Haaga is in some hot water after being cited by South Jordan police for backing his car into a parked vehicle. Haaga was allegedly intoxicated at the time, but is not facing DUI charges. He also reportedly told police officers he was exempt from any violations because he was a government official [Tribune, Deseret News].
- Local TV stations are adding more live programming in an effort to grab more political campaign advertising money [Bloomberg].
On this day in history:
- 1588 – Spain’s “Invincible Armada” was defeated by an English naval force under the command of Charles Howard and Francis Drake.
- 1914 – The first transcontinental telephone linkup was completed between San Francisco and New York City.
- 1981 – Britain’s Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
