Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City and welcome to May.
Biskupski unveils her budget proposal. 24 candidates file to run for the Utah GOP’s open vice-chair position. Robert Mueller’s questions for President Trump leak.
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TICK TOCK
- 28 days until the last day to register to vote by mail for the 2018 primary election (5/29/2018)
- 29 days until the last day to change your party affiliation before the primary election (5/30/2018)
- 35 days until primary election mail-in ballots are sent to voters (6/5/2018)
- 42 days until in-person early primary voting begins (6/12/2018)
- 49 days until the final day to register to vote online or in person before the primary election (6/19/2018)
- 52 days until in-person early primary voting ends (6/22/2018)
- 56 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)
- 189 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 272 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
- 917 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
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HERE ARE THE STORIES DRIVING TUESDAY
Biskupski’s budget
Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski unveiled her budget proposal, which details how the city would spend money from a proposed sales tax increase [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune].
GOP candidate glut
Two dozen candidates have filed to run for the Utah GOP’s open vice-chair office. The candidates include former Utah GOP chairman James Evans [Utah Policy].
Romney’s opportunity
If Republicans narrowly hang on to control of the Senate in November, Mitt Romney could become a major power broker in Washington [Utah Policy].
OTHER UTAH HEADLINES
- The planned Orrin Hatch center will partner with the University of Utah. The facility will be on South Temple across the street from the Thomas S. Monson Center [Tribune].
- No incumbent Utah legislators were ousted at this year’s party conventions, but 24 incumbents decided not to run for re-election this year [Tribune].
- The Jordan School District raises starting salaries for teachers to $42,800 [Deseret News].
- A federal lawsuit alleges the Trump administration is favoring oil and gas drilling over habitat for the endangered sage grouse [Tribune].
NATIONAL HEADLINES
- Here are at least four dozen questions special counsel Robert Mueller wants to ask President Trump as part of his ongoing investigation [New York Times].
- Some conservatives in the House who support President Trump have drafted articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel investigation [Washington Post].
- President Trump’s campaign has paid nearly $228,000 to cover legal fees for Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen [ABC News].
- White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is denying a news report that he called President Trump an “idiot” [Washington Post]. Here’s the original news report alleging worsening morale among White House staffers because of growing conflicts between Kelly and Trump [NBC News].
- President Trump is reportedly considering Kelly as a possible candidate to head the VA [Wall Street Journal].
- Sen. John McCain torches President Trump in a new book saying he cares more about “the appearance of toughness” than upholding American values [The Hill].
- President Trump suggests a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the Korean border [CNN].
- Consumer prices are rising at their fastest clip in nearly a decade which has economists warning that the good economic times for America may be ending [Washington Post].
- The U.S. borrowed $488 billion during the first quarter, which is a record amount [Bloomberg].
- President Trump is granting some U.S. allies another month-long temporary exemption from steel and aluminum tariffs [Politico].
- Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country has evidence Iranian officials were lying when they said they were not seeking to develop nuclear weapons [CNN].
- President Trump’s approval ratings rise to 42%, which is the highest point in nearly a year [Bloomberg].
- Adult film actress Stormy Daniels is suing President Trump for defamation [Reuters].
- Very few corporations are using the financial boost from the Trump tax cuts to invest in their operations. Instead, companies are using the money to return cash to shareholders [New York Times].
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
- 1846 – The few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicate the Nauvoo Temple.
- 1862 – American Civil War: The Union Army completes its capture of New Orleans.
- 1866 – The Memphis Race Riots begin. Reports of the riots influenced the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment.
- 1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States.
- 1886 – Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour workday, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Worker’s Day.
- 1900 – The Scofield Mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in U.S. history.
- 1931 – The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.
- 1950 – Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.
- 1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
- 1960 – Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spy plane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
- 1999 – SpongeBob SquarePants premieres on Nickelodeon.
- 2003 – In what became known as the “Mission Accomplished” speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, President George W. Bush declares that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”
- 2011 – President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. commando raid on his compound near the Pakistani capital.
