Good Friday morning from Salt Lake City.
Is a veto override session coming? Trump ramps up the trade dispute with China. The House will take up a balanced budget amendment next week.
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Tick Tock
- 10 days until the signature-gathering deadline for statewide ballot initiatives (4/16/2018)
- 15 days until the Utah GOP State Convention (4/21/2018)
- 22 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention (4/28/2018)
- 31 days until the final day a veto override session may begin (5/7/2018)
- 81 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)
- 215 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 298 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
- 944 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
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Here are the news stories driving Friday
What a week!
Utah GOP craziness, Dave Bateman vs. Todd Weiler, get ready for a convention circus and don’t call it a trade war. Bob Bernick and Bryan Schott break the week’s political news into bite-sized chunks for you [Utah Policy].
You can also download the podcast version of our week-in-review to listen on the go [Utah Policy].
Veto override?
Bob Bernick says he expects lawmakers to have a veto override session this year, but the politics are not a simple situation [Utah Policy].
Other Utah headlines
- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mitt Romney does not think President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods will result in a trade war [Deseret News].
- The race to replace Rep. Greg Hughes in the Utah House could be a bruising affair between two members of the Draper City Council [Tribune].
- Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jenny Wilson campaigns in Moab [Moab Times-Independent].
- Elder Jack Gerrard, a new general authority for the LDS Church, is a longtime lobbyist for oil and gas interests [Tribune].
- On average, male faculty members at the University of Utah earn 48% more than their female counterparts [Daily Utah Chronicle].
- Utah’s gun background check database was missing records detailing mental incompetence for months because of a database glitch. The same information was missing from the federal background check system for more than a year [Tribune].
- Mayors in Salt Lake County will hold a public hearing for comment on projects that will be funded by federal dollars [Deseret News].
- There are 13 other Republicans running for U.S. Senate in Utah who are not Mitt Romney. This profile of them is hilarious [The Outline].
National headlines
- President Trump says he’s considering slapping another $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods [New York Times].
- President Trump’s brewing trade war with China could hit Trump supporters in rural areas hard [Associated Press].
- Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse says Trump has no actual plan to win a trade war with China and his current strategy is “the dumbest possible way to do this.” Sasse added that Trump’s trade moves against China threaten “to light American agriculture on fire” [The Hill].
- President Trump says he wants to send 2,000 to 4,000 troops to guard the Mexican border [Washington Post].
- The problems for EPA head Scott Pruitt continue to mount:
- Several EPA officials were either reassigned or demoted after raising questions about Pruitt’s lavish spending [New York Times].
- The EPA’s inspector general is considering an investigation into Pruitt’s $50-a-night condo lease. The EPA’s IG has already opened 3 investigations into Pruitt [Politico].
- President Donald Trump says he did not know about the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about her affair with Trump [CNN].
- No one is really sure what U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber has been tasked with doing in his investigation into alleged abuse at the FBI and DOJ [The Hill].
- The House will take up a balanced budget amendment when they return from recess next week [The Hill].
- A record number of women are running for the U.S. House this year [Associated Press].
- The Oklahoma Senate is debating a tax hike package to boost education funding in an attempt to end a week-long teachers’ strike [Reuters].
On this day in history
- 1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.
- 1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company that would eventually make him America’s first millionaire.
- 1830 – Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.
- 1841 – President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become President upon William Henry Harrison’s death.
- 1862 – The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
- 1893 – The Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
- 1896 – The first modern Olympics formally opened in Athens, Greece.
- 1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach the North Pole.
- 1917 – The United States declares war on Germany in World War I.
- 1968 – Federal troops and National Guardsmen were deployed in Washington, Chicago, and Detroit as rioting continued over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.