Morning must reads for Friday, July 7, 2017

Good Friday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 188th day of the year. There are 177 days remaining in 2017. Today is the 168th day of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The clock:

  • 18 days until ballots for the August primary are mailed to voters (7/25/2017)
  • 39 days until the 2017 Utah primary election (8/15/2017)
  • 123 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)
  • 199 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
  • 244 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
  • 487 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
  • 1,215 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today’s political TL; DR –

  • NEW POLL: Utahns are evenly split over whether journalists who publish leaked information should be prosecuted [Utah Policy].
  • Bob Bernick argues that Tanner Ainge might face some trouble at the polling booth because his father, Danny Ainge, signed Gordon Hayward away from the Utah Jazz [Utah Policy],
  • Bryan Schott says Gordon Hayward won’t sink Danny Ainge‘s political career. Rather, it’s his lack of experience that will make voters turn elsewhere [Utah Policy].
  • Rep. Jason Chaffetz uses his first appearance as a paid Fox News contributor to rip the Congressional GOP over health care [Utah Policy].
  • Sen. Orrin Hatch is raising campaign cash hand over fist right now, even though he hasn’t officially said whether he’ll run for another term in office [Utah Policy].
  • Speaker Greg Hughes’ call for a “homeless czar” to oversee efforts in downtown Salt Lake City got state and local officials talking about a solution [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • The last refugees arrive in Utah ahead of President Donald Trump’s travel ban going into effect [Deseret News].

On this day in history:

  • 1846 – U.S. annexation of California was proclaimed at Monterey after the surrender of a Mexican garrison.

  • 1865 – Four people were hanged in Washington, D.C., after being convicted of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.

  • 1898 – The United States annexed Hawaii.

  • 1930 – Construction began on Boulder Dam on the Colorado River.

  • 1981 – President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • 1987 – Lt. Col. Oliver North began his public testimony at the Iran-Contra hearing, telling Congress that he had “never carried out a single act, not one” without authorization.