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Morning must reads for Friday, June 2, 2016

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Good Friday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 153rd day of the year. There are 212 days remaining in 2017. Today is the 134th day of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Utah Republicans want to charge delegates to vote. President Trump abandons the Paris climate pact. James Comey will testify next week.

The clock:

  • 15 days until the Utah Republican 3rd District nominating convention at Timpview High School (6/17/2017).

  • 15 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention at Weber State University (6/17/2017)

  • 74 days until the 2017 Utah primary election (8/15/2017)

  • 158 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)

  • 234 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)

  • 279 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)

  • 522 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)

  • 1,250 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today’s political TL; DR –

  • Bob Bernick argues that new Utah GOP Chairman Rob Anderson will have a difficult time fixing the party’s debt problem as long as rabid anti-SB54 members are calling the shots [Utah Policy].
  • The smartest 15 minutes of your day. Understand what happened in Utah politics and why with our week-in-review [Utah Policy]. On the go? Check out the podcast version of our week-in-review [Utah Policy].
  • President Donald Trump announces his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, leaving the U.S. as one of three countries not complying with the agreement [Washington Post].
  • President Donald Trump‘s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate pact is bringing mixed reaction from Utahns, with Republicans mostly praising the move and Democrats panning it [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • A number of states and cities around the U.S. say they will continue to comply with their own climate policies despite President Trump’s decision [Wall Street Journal].
  • The governors of New York, California, and Washington have formed a coalition to fight climate change in defiance of President Trump’s decision to scrap the Paris accord [Bloomberg].
  • Bombshell! Former Obama administration officials and State Department employees fought efforts by the incoming Trump administration to ease sanctions placed on Russia for interfering with the 2016 election. The efforts by the Trump team to remove the sanctions started almost immediately after they took office [Yahoo].
  • Get yer popcorn! Former FBI Director James Comey will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee next Thursday [Wall Street Journal].
  • The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to reinstitute their travel ban which was blocked by a lower federal court [Politico].
  • Rusian President Vladimir Putin suggested that “patriotically minded” private Russian hackers may be behind the cyber attacks during the 2016 presidential election [New York Times].
  • Republican Sen. Richard Burr says the Senate probably won’t reach a deal to repeal and replace Obamacare this year [Wall Street Journal].
  • The White House has ordered federal agencies to ignore oversight requests from Democratic lawmakers because they’re worried the information could be used against President Trump [Politico].
  • The Utah Republican Party is strongly urging delegates to pay $25 to participate in the special nominating convention at Timpview High School later this month. The fee would help alleviate the party’s debt crisis [Daily Herald].
  • Our Schools Now, the group pushing for a sales and income tax hike to better fund Utah’s public schools plans to kick off their ballot initiative next week [Deseret News].
  • The filing period for this year’s municipal elections opened on Thursday with a few surprises, including Salt Lake County Councilman Richard Snelgrove launching a bid for Murray mayor [Tribune].
  • The process to pick a replacement for Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder will begin as soon as the County Council notifies the Salt Lake County Democratic Party that there’s an official vacancy [Deseret News].
  • We finally know why former Provo Police Chief John King was ousted by Provo Mayor John Curtis. A woman who volunteered to work with the Department alleged she was forced into a non-consensual sexual relationship with King [Deseret News, Daily Herald, Tribune].
  • A new study from the Utah Foundation finds the seven Utah counties that depend on coal may have to find alternatives to replace those high-paying jobs in the future [Utah Policy, Deseret News].
  • A former National Security Agency official alleges the agency conducted “blanket” surveillance on Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympics [Tribune].

On this day in history:

  • 1851 – Maine became the first state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol
    .
  • 1924 – Congress granted U.S. citizenship to all American Indians.
  • 1953 – Queen Elizabeth II of Britain was crowned in Westminster Abbey, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI.
  • 1981 – The Japanese video arcade game “Donkey Kong” made its U.S. debut.
  • 1997 – Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
  • 2011 – Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.