Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 101st day of the year. There are 264 days remaining in 2017.
Chaffetz’s favorability ratings take a hit. Hatch says he’s running again in 2018…maybe. The Trump administration is ready to take a tougher stance on Syria.
The clock:
- 39 days until the Utah Republican State Convention (5/20/2017)
- 67 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention at Weber State University (6/17/2017)
- 210 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)
- 286 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
- 331 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
- 574 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 1,302 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
Today’s political TL; DR –
- NEW POLL: Rep. Jason Chaffetz‘s favorability ratings have dipped a bit in the wake of some high-profile political gaffes. Chaffetz won re-election with 73% of the vote in November, but right now only 52% of 3rd District voters view him favorably [Utah Policy].
- Congratulations to the Salt Lake Tribune for winning a 2017 Pulitzer Prize for their series of stories about rapes at Utah colleges [Tribune, Deseret News].
- Bob Bernick says he hopes the Pulitzer will bring financial prosperity to the Tribune, but that hasn’t always been the case [Utah Policy].
- Sen. Orrin Hatch says he’s planning on running for another term in 2018 unless his health fails [Utah Policy, KUTV, Deseret News, Tribune].
- LaVarr Webb says Hatch is waiting to make a final decision about the Senate to keep other challengers from jumping into the race and to keep donors on the sidelines [Utah Policy].
- A state committee approves Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams‘ proposal to place a new homeless shelter in South Salt Lake [Deseret News].
- A federal judge has recused himself in the case against former Utah Transit Authority board member Terry Diehl [Deseret News].
- Alabama Governor Robert Bentley resigns due to a sex scandal in which he used public resources to hide an affair with a former staffer [Washington Post].
- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signals that the U.S. is ready to take a tougher stance to end the civil war in Syria ahead of a planned meeting with Russian officials in Moscow [Associated Press].
- The next big fight for the Trump administration? Trump’s $1 million infrastructure spending plan [Politico].
- Republicans are freaking out about a much closer than expected special congressional election in Kansas. President Donald Trump and other high-profile Republicans have jumped in to help the Republican candidate who was supposed to have an easy path to victory [Roll Call].
- President Donald Trump and his allies are slowly taking over state GOP parties, installing loyalists in high-profile positions to position Republicans ahead of the 2018 and 2020 elections [Politico].
- President Donald Trump tells his top advisers to stop the infighting and focus on moving the administration forward [Wall Street Journal].
- Why are there so many vacant jobs in the Trump administration? [Politico]
- President Trump is on pace to spend more on travel this year than the previous eight years under President Obama [Huffington Post].
- Rep. Justin Amash suggests Speaker Paul Ryan is a big part of the dysfunction in Washington and may need to be replaced [The Hill].
On this day in history:
- 1814 – Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as emperor of France and was banished to the island of Elba.
- 1898 – President William McKinley asked Congress for a declaration of war against Spain.
- 1899 – The treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.
- 1970 – Apollo 13 blasted off on a mission to the moon that was cut short when an explosion crippled the spacecraft.
