Good Monday morning. Welcome to the first full week of August. Here’s hoping the smoky skies clear soon. This weather pattern can’t continue forever.
TICK TOCK
64 days until the last day to register to vote by mail (10/9/2018)
- 71 days until mail-in ballots are sent to voters (10/16/2018)
- 78 days until in-person early voting begins (10/23/2018)
- 85 days until the last day to register to vote in person or by mail (10/30/2018)
- 88 days until in-person early voting ends (11/2/2018)
- 92 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 175 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
- 220 days until the final day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (3/14/2019)
- 820 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
HERE ARE THE STORIES YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO TODAY
Trump and the news media. The Trump/news media feud is getting nastier. Publisher LaVarr Webb says it’s not going to end well and both sides are at fault (Utah Policy).
GOP fights to hold conservative seat in Ohio special election. The entire national GOP machinery is in Ohio to try to protect a reliably red seat in Tuesday’s special election, the last before the midterm elections. But polls show Democratic candidate Danny O’Connor surging. Trump stumped for Republican Troy Balderson in a rally Saturday evening (Politico)
OTHER UTAH HEADLINES
- Pignanelli & Webb examine the politics of the inland port (Deseret News).
- Trump’s proposed ‘space force’ is worth thoughtful consideration, says Congressman Chris Stewart. Other members of the delegation are awaiting more information (SL Tribune).
- Opinion: A culture of permissive abortion is antithetical to the equality women deserve, says Jenet Jacob Erickson (Deseret News).
- Is Utah growing too fast? Thoughts on a few topics by LaVarr Webb (Utah Policy).
- Girls in in polygamous group continue to marry as young as age 15 (SL Tribune).
- Woman who was kicked out of BYU-Idaho by her bishop for getting drunk was also sexually assaulted and says she should not have been suspended (SL Tribune).
NATIONAL HEADLINES
- Democratic presidential hopefuls engage in early 2020 presidential dress rehearsal at Netroots Nation conference (Politico). Early polls favor Joe Biden, but plenty of skeptics exist (The Hill).
- Trump reimposes first batch of sanctions against Iran today (Washington Post).
- No one in the Trump administration is “starry-eyed” about North Korea giving up its nuclear stockpile, says John Bolton (Politico).
- Trump says Don Jr. was simply interested in dirt on Hillary Clinton when he met with Russian lawyer (Wall Street Journal,Politico).
- Powerful quake rocks Indonesian tourist island, 82 dead; 20,000 homeless (Associated Press).
- Venezuelan President Maduro claims he was targeted in a drone attack (NY Times).
- Stockton, Calif., is soliciting wealthy philanthropists to help solve its budget crisis (The Atlantic via Route Fifty).
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
- 1815 – A peace treaty with Tripoli–which follows treaties with Algeria and Tunis–brings an end to the Barbary Wars.
- 1861 – Congress adopts the nation’s first income tax to finance the Civil War.
- 1892 – Harriet Tubman receives a pension from Congress for her work as a nurse, spy and scout during the Civil War.
- 1930 – Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is born.
- 1962 – Actress Marilyn Monroe dies under mysterious circumstances.
- 1981 – Pres. Ronald Reagan fires 11,500 striking air traffic controllers.
