Situational awareness – August 27, 2018

Good Monday morning from Salt Lake City.

Count My Vote fails. Medical marijuana debated online. Sen. John McCain passes.


  TICK TOCK   

  • 43 days until the last day to register to vote by mail (10/9/2018)
  • 50 days until mail-in ballots are sent to voters (10/16/2018)
  • 57 days until in-person early voting begins (10/23/2018)
  • 64 days until the last day to register to vote in person or by mail (10/30/2018)
  • 66 days until in-person early voting ends (11/2/2018)
  • 71 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
  • 154 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
  • 199 days until the final day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (3/14/2019)
  • 799 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

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  HERE ARE THE STORIES YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO TODAY  

CMV falls short

The Utah Supreme Court denied Count My Vote’s appeal for inclusion on November’s ballot late last week – http://bit.ly/2Lpkb64

Medical Marijuana social media debate

Former Utah Sen. Steve Urquhart and Marty Stephens, the lobbyist for the LDS Chuch, had a lengthy exchange on Facebook over the weekend about the Church’s opposition to the medical cannabis ballot initiative – http://bit.ly/2PbMac1

Initiative changes

Will the Utah Legislature make wholesale changes to any of the proposed ballot initiatives if they’re approved by voters in November? –  http://bit.ly/2NmieJB

Redistricting impact

Our “Political Insiders” are split along party lines on what kind of impact the “Better Boundaries” ballot initiative will have if it passes – http://bit.ly/2PaZvRx


  OTHER UTAH HEADLINES   

Deseret News

Pignanelli and Webb: Will ‘blue wave’ roll over Utah?

Op-ed: Is free enterprise worth the risks?

Op-ed: Utah needs medical cannabis, but Proposition 2 isn’t the way

Editorial: Straight-talking naval captain John McCain put service over self

Stars, pizza snacks, video games: Hatch throws it all at Dems trying to block Supreme Court nominee

New agreement will foster export of Utah’s coal, natural gas

Utah Supreme Court denies Count My Vote initiative spot on November ballot

Utah school district apologizes after students given ‘inappropriate’ survey on religious beliefs, economic status

Utah has a ‘housing crisis’ in a lack of affordable homes

Utah candidates must ‘walk fine line’ given legal drama surrounding Trump

Mia Love campaign commercial touts her role in freeing Josh Holt

‘The very pinnacle of American virtue’: Utahns react to John McCain’s death at 81

Utah County wants $22M tax hike on ballot with UTA caveat

Salt Lake Tribune

Op-ed: Utah’s medical marijuana vote is no threat to religious liberty

Here are 3 things Salt Lake Valley schools are doing this year to improve safety

Is Utah coal bound for Baja California? Officials strike a deal with the Mexican state, where a port could ship it overseas.

Utah Supreme Court deals a blow to Count My Vote: Election reform initiative won’t be on November’s ballot

Group suing Utah over medical marijuana initiative no longer says it would violate Mormon religious beliefs

Utah’s attorney general defends his backing of a federal case seeking to roll back LGBTQ job protections

‘A lifetime of selfless service’: Utahns mourn the loss of Sen. John McCain

The LDS Church’s opposition to Proposition 2 pits it against a tough foe: faithful members who already use medical marijuana

Other

Editorial: UTA should approve Utah County’s November tax question (Daily Herald)

Quarter-cent sales tax option will be on Utah County ballot, despite UTA missing deadline on agreement (Daily Herald)

With U.S. Interior official coming, boosters to promote BLM relocation to Ogden (Standard-Examiner)

Cache town hall meeting: Water huge issue in dry, fast growing state (Logan Herald Journal)


  NATIONAL HEADLINES  

  • Sen. John McCain will lie in state in Arizona and then the U.S. Capitol building prior to his memorial service on Saturday – https://cnn.it/2Njt17d
  • President Trump, who frequently clashed with McCain, nixed a planned statement about McCain’s passing that praised his life and heroism. Instead, Trump posted a short Tweet online – https://wapo.st/2NpiE1I
  • McCain asked former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush to eulogize him during his funeral. He made it known that he did not want President Donald Trump to attend his memorial service – https://cnn.it/2Nl3oD2
  • Three people were killed and nine others wounded, including the gunman, during a mass shooting at a video game tournament in Florida on Sunday – https://cnn.it/2Niub2S

  • Michael Cohen’s attorney is backing down from his previous assertions that Cohen has information showing President Trump knew of Russian efforts to undermine Democrat Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election – https://wapo.st/2PaZQUu

  • Republicans in Congress are circulating a document of the investigations into the Trump administration Democrats will launch if they win control of one or both houses following the 2018 midterms – http://bit.ly/2NkkS2A
  • Longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone predicts Donald Trump, Jr. will be indicted for lying to the FBI – http://bit.ly/2NkRqJH
  • The U.S. and Mexico are closing in on a deal to revamp NAFTA – https://reut.rs/2NsJwOg

  • Despite a week full of damaging news, President Trump’s approval rating remained remarkably stable – https://nbcnews.to/2P9iaNO
  • President Trump hosted one of the leading proponents of the QAnon conspiracy theory at the White House – https://thebea.st/2Pb079Y

  • U.S. tech companies say it may be too late for them to fully prevent foreign influence operations on social media during the 2018 midterms – http://bit.ly/2NpWMDH

  ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY  

  • 1776 – Battle of Long Island: In what is now Brooklyn, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.
  • 1859 – The first successful oil well in the U.S. was drilled near Titusville, Pennsylvania.
  • 1883 – The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history destroyed the island of Krakatoa, a small, uninhabited island west of Sumatra in Indonesia.
  • 1928 – The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by fifteen nations. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.

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