Morning Must Reads for Monday, September 19, 2016

Two days to the Utah Attorney General debate at Dixie State University (9/21/2016)
Seven days to the Utah Gubernatorial debate at Utah State University (9/26/2016)
Seven days to the first presidential debate at Hofstra University (9/26/2016)
15 days to the 2nd Congressional District debate at the University of Utah (10/4/2016)
15 days to the vice presidential debate at Longwood University (10/4/2016)
21 days to the 4th Congressional District debate at Salt Lake Community College (10/10/2016)
23 days to the U.S. Senate debate at Brigham Young University (10/12/2016)
20 days to the second presidential debate at Washington University (10/9/2016)
28 days to the 1st Congressional District debate at Weber State University (10/17/2016)
30 days to the 3rd Congressional District debate at Utah Valley University (10/19/2016)
30 days to the third presidential debate at UNLV (10/19/2016)
50 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
126 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (1/23/2017)
171 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (3/9/2017)

Gov. Gary Herbert still has a massive 38-point lead over Democrat Mike Weinholtz according to our latest poll [Utah Policy].

The situation surrounding an explosion on Saturday in Manhattan has escalated. Authorities Monday discovered “multiple improvised explosive devices” at a train station in New Jersey. Five people have been taken into custody in a possible connection to the events [Washington Post]. Officials named 28-year-old Ahmad Khan as a suspect in connection with the Saturday bombing in Chelsea [CNN].

A man dressed as a security officer stabbed nine people at a shopping mall in Minnesota before he was shot and killed. The Islamic State claimed the attacker as one of their own [Associated Press].

Donald Trump must win Florida if he wants to win the White House in November. A new poll shows the contest in that state is tied because white voters support the GOP nominee in large numbers [New York Times].

Donald Trump suggests that, because of Hillary Clinton’s opposition to gun ownership, her bodyguards should disarm and “see what happens to her” [Bloomberg]. Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren lit into Trump, calling him a “nasty little bully” with a “dark and ugly soul” [NBC News].

Gov. Gary Herbert and Mike Weinholtz faced off in their first debate on Friday [Deseret News, Tribune]. Herbert won the contest, but not before he made a huge unforced error that Weinholtz did not take advantage of [Utah Policy].

Here’s a deep-dive into how Utah eventually lost a proposed Facebook data center to New Mexico [Tribune].

Democrat on Democrat violence! Senate nominee Misty Snow blasts 4th District House nominee Doug Owens for not standing up for the working class [Tribune].

A judge has denied former Attorney General John Swallow‘s request for a do-over for a preliminary hearing in his public corruption trial [Deseret News, Tribune].

St. George Republicans officially select Rep. Don Ipson to replace Sen. Steve Urquhart in the Utah Legislature. Ipson was already running to fill Urquhart’s seat after Urquhart announced his retirement earlier this year. Walt Brooks was selected to fill Ipson’s seat [Deseret News].

1777 – American soldiers won the first Battle of Saratoga in the Revolutionary War.
1881 – President James Garfield, who had been shot by an assassin, died of his wounds. Vice President Chester Arthur was sworn in as his successor.
1957 – The United States conducted its first underground nuclear test, in the Nevada desert.
1982 – Emoticons were born when Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott Fahlman proposed using a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis – 🙂 – to depict a horizontal smiley face.
2008 – Struggling to stave off financial catastrophe, the Bush administration asked Congress for $700 billion to buy up troubled mortgage-related assets from U.S. financial institutions.

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