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Daily Briefing 10-30-17

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Good Monday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 303rd day of the year. There are 62 days remaining in 2017.

The clock:

  • 8 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)
  • 84 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
  • 129 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
  • 372 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
  • 1,100 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today’s political TL; DR –

  • POLL: Most Utahns say they expect to have adequate health insurance at this time next year, which means they don’t expect Congress to make changes to the Affordable Care Act [Utah Policy].
  • Sen. Orrin Hatch‘s office says President Donald Trump has indicated he will reduce the size of the Bears Ears National Monument. President Trump will travel to Utah in December to officially announce his decision on Bears Ears [Utah Policy].
  • Most of our “Political Insiders” say Rep. Mia Love should win another term in Congress in 2018, despite a strong challenge from Ben McAdams [Utah Policy].
  • Former House Speaker John Boehner blisters former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, calling Chaffetz an “a**hole” [Utah Policy]. The entire interview with Boehner is worth a read [Politico].
  • Here’s another report that Sen. Orrin Hatch plans to retire when his term is up and that Mitt Romney plans to run for his seat [Utah Policy].
  • PODCAST: On this week’s “Beg to Differ,” Bryan Schott and Mike Winder take an early look at the 2020 Utah gubernatorial race and speak with Salt Lake County GOP Chairman Jake Parkinson [Utah Policy].
  • Utah County is working to avoid the kinds of ballot snafus that hit the 3rd CD primary election in August [Daily Herald].
  • The fledgling United Utah Party held their first Salt Lake County convention. Just 35 people showed up [Tribune].
  • Backers of the Count My Vote ballot initiative hold public hearings on their proposal around the state [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • Residents in the polygamist enclave of Hilldale are preparing for elections next week, but many wonder if the vote will be fair [Tribune].
  • The “safe space” for homeless Utahns on Rio Grande Street closes to those without a special ID [Tribune].
  • A new study estimates the cost of upgrading roads to create a direct route between Tooele and Herriman at more than $300 million [Tribune].

National headlines:

  • Boom goes the dynamite! Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort have been told to surrender to federal authorities as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian involvement in the 2016 election [New York Times].
  • Here’s how to game out what might happen from the charges stemming from Mueller’s investigation [Wired].
  • Republicans are desperate to change the focus away from the Russia investigation, so they’re turning to a familiar boogeyman, Hillary Clinton [New York Times].
  • Former intelligence chief James Clapper says Russia “succeeded beyond their wildest expectations” in meddling with the 2016 election, and he warns they’re going to do it again [Politico].
  • Republicans are already facing a setback on tax reform as a powerful industry lobby is already opposing the plan before it is made public [Washington Post].
  • Authorities in Puerto Rico are canceling a sketchy contract to rebuild the country’s electric infrastructure that was given to a small Montana company [Washington Post].
  • Iranian President Hassan Rouhani turned down a request to meet with President Donald Trump following his speech at the United Nations in September [Bloomberg].
  • Groups that run afoul of the FEC are simply not paying the fines that are levied against them [Politico].
  • Facebook is taking a stronger stance on identifying who paid for political ads ahead of their appearance before Congress this week to answer questions about Russian meddling in the 2016 election [Recode].
  • The Navy is investigating whether two members of SEAL Team Six killed an Army Green Beret in Mali over the summer [ABC News].
  • Twitter permanently booted Trump supporter Roger Stone for a profanity-laced tirade against CNN’s Don Lemon [Recode].

On this day in history:

  • 1831 – Escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in U.S. history.
  • 1864 – Helena, Montana is founded after prospectors discover gold at “Last Chance Gulch.”
  • 1938 – Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H.G. Wells’s “The War of the Worlds.”
  • 1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations.
  • 1944 – Anne and Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they die from disease the following year.
  • 1974 – The “Rumble in the Jungle” boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Forman takes place in Kinshasha, Zaire.