Good Wednesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 335th day of the year. There are 31 days remaining in 2016.
Donald Trump will bring his victory tour to Utah. Trump tweets he will step down from his business empire to focus on running the country. Trump and Mitt Romney meet again in New York City.
The clock:
- 19 days until the Electoral College meets to cast their votes for president and vice president (12/19/2016)
- 51 days until Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President (1/20/2017)
- 54 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature (1/23/2017)
- 99 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature (3/9/2017)
- 342 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)
- 706 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
Ten talking points for Wednesday:
- Republican sources confirm Donald Trump will be bringing his “victory tour” to Utah prior to his inauguration [Utah Policy].
- Rep. Brian King wins another term as the House Minority Leader [Utah Policy]. In a podcast interview, King says Republicans will have to “get over” his sometimes infuriating style of legislating [Utah Policy].
- Donald Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning that he will be “leaving my great business in total” once he takes office and will provide more details in December [Wall Street Journal].
- Donald Trump announces he’s made a deal with Carrier to keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana instead of moving to Mexico [Wall Street Journal].
- Donald Trump and Mitt Romney meet again over a dinner of frogs legs to discuss the Secretary of State post [CBS News, Huffington Post, Politico, CNN, Tribune, Deseret News].
- Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Chair of the House Oversight Committee, says he’s not too bothered by Donald Trump‘s alleged conflicts of interest, despite calls from Democrats to launch an investigation. Says Chaffetz, “It’s sort of ridiculous to go after him when his financial disclosure is already online.” [Huffington Post].
- Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman confirms what we reported in October, that he was interested in running for Senate in 2018 [Utah Policy, Wall Street Journal, Tribune, Deseret News].
- A group of Utah business leaders plan to launch a signature-gathering effort to put an income tax increase to boost school funding on the 2018 ballot [Utah Policy, Tribune, Deseret News].
- State attorneys say government immunity laws invalidate a lawsuit against Utah school districts over a law that prohibits any sort of positive discussion of homosexuality [Tribune].
- A new study shows Utah needs to build more state liquor stores to keep up with demand [Deseret News, Tribune].
On this day in history:
- 1782 – Preliminary peace articles formally ending the American Revolutionary War were signed in Paris.
- 1982 – Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” the best-selling album of all time, was released by Epic Records.
- 1993 – President Bill Clinton signed into law the Brady bill, which requires a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers.
- 2004 – Ken Jennings lost on the game show “Jeopardy!” after winning 74 games and $2.5 million.
- 2010 – Pentagon leaders called for scrapping the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban after releasing a survey about the prospect of openly gay troops.
