Good Monday morning and happy Eclipse Day from Salt Lake City. Today is the 233rd day of the year. There are 132 days remaining in 2017.
The clock:
- 78 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)
- 154 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
- 199 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
- 442 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 1,170 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
Today’s political TL; DR –
- Our “Political Insiders” say Provo Mayor John Curtis is the clear favorite to win the special congressional election in November [Utah Policy].
- Jared Whitley profiles Jennifer Nielson Scott, former Rep. Jason Chaffetz‘s right-hand woman [Utah Policy].
- On this week’s “Beg to Differ” podcast, Bryan Schott and Mike Winder speak with Danny Laub, John Curtis‘s campaign manager about how they were able to shrug off nearly a million dollars of outside advertising to win the GOP nomination in Utah’s 3rd CD [Utah Policy].
- John Curtis wrapped up the CD3 GOP nomination on Friday after Utah County released updated vote totals [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Mitt Romney calls out President Donald Trump for his response to the domestic terrorist attack in Charlottesville [Deseret News, Tribune].
- The candidates for Provo mayor are waiting to see who will take second place in the primary election and advance to November’s general election [Deseret News].
- State leaders say phase one of Operation Rio Grande was successful in cracking down on crime in downtown Salt Lake City. Phase two will focus on getting treatment for substance abusers among the homeless population downtown [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Owners of a privately owned landfill just 500 feet from the shore of the Great Salt Lake want to accept industrial waste from around the country raising contamination fears [Utah Investigative Journalism Project].
- Rep. Mia Love says she supports the ouster of White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and welcomes the shake up of the West Wing [Tribune].
- Utah’s unemployment rate is up slightly, hitting 3.5 percent in the last month [Associated Press].
National headlines:
- President Donald Trump will speak to the nation in primetime Monday about his plans to win the war in Afghanistan [Bloomberg]. Trump is expected to raise troop levels in Afghanistan by several thousand [New York Times].
- Here’s a great tick-tock of Steve Bannon‘s final days in the White House before his ouster on Friday [New York Times].
- Now that Bannon is out of the White House, he’s expected to use Breitbart.com to “go nuclear” on those still in the Trump administration he considers enemies [Vanity Fair].
- Ten U.S. sailors are missing following a collision involving a U.S. warship and a petroleum tanker near Singapore [Bloomberg].
- Here’s why a bunch of prominent CEOs distanced themselves from President Donald Trump following his response to the violence in Charlottesville [Wall Street Journal].
- Uh oh! President Donald Trump‘s job approval rating in three key states, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, has fallen below 40 percent [NBC News].
- Labor leaders are growing frustrated with President Trump’s inability to deliver on his campaign promises about trade and jobs, and they want him to stop undoing Obama-era regulations [Washington Post].
- The Secret Service is unable to pay the extra agents they brought on to protect the Trump family and secure his numerous properties along the East Coast. The budget shortfall has been exacerbated by Trump’s near-constant traveling away from Washington on the weekends [USA Today].
- President Trump will hold a campaign-style rally in Phoenix this week. Officials there are expecting a furious reception from protesters [New York Times].
- President Trump is already ramping up his 2020 reelection campaign [Politico].
- Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will recommend this week whether to eliminate or shrink nearly two-dozen national monuments, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah [Reuters].
- California Rep. Brad Sherman says it’s more likely President Trump gets impeached than removed from office by using the 25th Amendment, but he acknowledges it will take “a few more shocking things to happen” [Los Angeles Times].
- The first total solar eclipse over the U.S. since 1979 takes place today. Here’s how to get that all-important eclipse selfie with your smartphone [Washington Post]. NASA will live stream the event on their Facebook page [NASA].
On this day in history:
- 1831 – Nat Turner launched a short-lived, violent slave rebellion in Virginia.
- 1858 – The first of seven debates between U.S. Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place in Ottowa, Ill.
- 1878 – The American Bar Association was founded in Saratoga, N.Y.
- 1940 – Exiled Russian Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died in Mexico City from wounds inflicted by an assassin.
- 1991 – A hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian federation President Boris Yeltsin.
- 1992 – An 11-day siege began at the cabin of white separatist Randy Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as government agents tried to arrest him for failing to appear in court on charges of selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns.
