Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City.
Jenny Wilson touts her experience. Sam Granato passes. Trump’s lawyer plans to plead the fifth.
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TICK TOCK
- 2 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention (4/28/2018)
- 33 days until the last day to register to vote by mail for the 2018 primary election (5/29/2018)
- 34 days until the last day to change your party affiliation before the primary election (5/30/2018)
- 40 days until primary election mail-in ballots are sent to voters (6/5/2018)
- 47 days until in-person early primary voting begins (6/12/2018)
- 54 days until the final day to register to vote online or in person before the primary election (6/19/2018)
- 57 days until in-person early primary voting ends (6/22/2018)
- 61 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)
- 194 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 277 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
- 922 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
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HERE ARE THE STORIES DRIVING THURSDAY
Wilson talks up her experience
Democrat Jenny Wilson says her experience in government will give her a leg up in Washington if she’s elected to the U.S. Senate in November [Utah Policy].
Download the podcast of our conversation with Wilson [Utah Policy].
Count My Vote closes in
According to the latest figures from the Utah Elections Office, Count My Vote is less than 1,000 verified signatures away from meeting the requirements to get on the ballot in November [Utah Policy].
Sam Granato passes
Salt Lake County councilman and restauranteur Sam Granato passes away after a protracted battle with cancer [Utah Policy].
Debates set
The Utah Debate Commission sets their schedule for the 2018 midterm elections [Utah Policy].
Aggressive drivers
A new study shows Utah drivers are the 15th “most aggressive” in the nation. California is #1 [Utah Policy].
OTHER UTAH HEADLINES
- Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee say legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by President Trump is likely unconstitutional [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Hatch pens an op-ed saying Mueller’s investigation must be allowed to finish, but he will not vote for a measure to keep Trump from firing the special counsel [Wall Street Journal].
- Sherrie Hall Everett resigns as vice chair of the Utah Transit Authority board [Daily Herald].
NATIONAL HEADLINES
- Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal lawyer, plans to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the Stormy Daniels case [Washington Post].
- A report has surfaced that White House doctor Ronny Jackson crashed a government vehicle while drunk. Jackson is considering withdrawing his nomination to become VA Secretary [Washington Post].
- Conservative justices on the Supreme Court seem to be open to letting a modified version of President Trump’s travel ban stand [New York Times].
- Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined President Trump’s legal team, has reopened negotiations over Trump sitting down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller [Washington Post].
- A new poll finds most Americans think special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will find that President Trump committed criminal or impeachable offenses. Nearly 3/4ths believe Trump will fire Mueller before his investigation is finished [Fox News].
- French President Emmanuel Macron rips Trumpism during a speech to a joint session of Congress [The Hill].
- Embattled EPA director Scott Pruitt heads to Capitol Hill Thursday to answer questions about wasteful spending in his agency [Washington Post]. A leaked copy of Pruitt’s talking points shows he plans on blaming his staff for the spending decisions [New York Times].
- Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is proposing tripling the rent for the poorest Americans who are receiving housing assistance [Washington Post].
- Mick Mulvaney, interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, urged banking industry executives when he was in Congress, he would only meet with lobbyists if they donated to his campaign [New York Times].
- The overtime bill for Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies who help protect President Trump when he visits his Mar-a-Lago property has topped $3 million. The county hopes to be reimbursed for those costs by the feds [Palm Beach Post].
- Ick! Former newsman Charlie Rose is eyeing a comeback by hosting a show where he’ll interview other high-profile men who have been caught up in sexual harassment scandals [Page Six].
- President Trump and Kanye West sent Twitter into a tizzy on Wednesday by publicly praising each other on the social media platform [New York Times].
- A New York judge ruled a bar was within its rights to throw out a supporter of President Trump for wearing his “Make America Great Again” hat because there’s no law against political discrimination [New York Post].
TODAY IN HISTORY
- 1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of actual birth is unknown).
- 1607 – English colonists make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia.
- 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln, in Virginia.
- 1986 – A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
- 2007 – New Hampshire lawmakers approved a measure legalizing civil unions between same-sex couples.
