Situational awareness – August 28, 2018

Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City.

Utah may seek a “waiver” for medical marijuana. Trump relents on honoring McCain. Manafort sought a plea deal ahead of his second trial.


  TICK TOCK   

  • 42 days until the last day to register to vote by mail (10/9/2018)
  • 49 days until mail-in ballots are sent to voters (10/16/2018)
  • 56 days until in-person early voting begins (10/23/2018)
  • 63 days until the last day to register to vote in person or by mail (10/30/2018)
  • 65 days until in-person early voting ends (11/2/2018)
  • 70 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
  • 153 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
  • 198 days until the final day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (3/14/2019)
  • 798 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

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  HERE ARE THE STORIES YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO TODAY  

Medical marijuana “waiver”

Utah officials could seek a sort of “waiver” from the feds to allow pharmacies to dispense medical marijuana instead of dispensaries, which would assuage concerns from the LDS Church – http://bit.ly/2Pauopm

Deihl Deal

Developer Terry Diehl won a financial settlement from the feds under the little-used Hyde Amendment, which allows those wrongly accused by the government to recover attorney’s fees –  http://bit.ly/2P7ChvC


  OTHER UTAH HEADLINES   

Salt Lake Tribune

A Utah principal apologizes after ‘inappropriate’ classroom survey asked students if they are Mormon or had ever had suicidal thoughts

Gehrke: Why’s the governor raising big money if he’s not running again? And what do donors get out of it?

Hatch, Lee favor renaming Senate office building after the late Sen. John McCain

Utah developer Terry Diehl, a former UTA board member, gets settlement from feds for failed prosecution

Utah’s state government website ranked No. 1 for security, and 17th overall, by D.C. think tank

Deseret News

Amended lawsuit aimed at stopping medical marijuana initiative removes religious references

Only 1 Utah city is among the safest for free-range parenting

Aside from his father, Huntsman Jr. had ‘no greater mentor’ than McCain

Human case of West Nile Virus confirmed in Box Elder County

Former UTA board member settles request of attorney fees in abandoned criminal case

Other

Weber Co. commissioners eye end to cash perk for departing elected officials (Standard-Examiner)


  NATIONAL HEADLINES  

  • The Trump White House turned the death of Sen. John McCain into another self-inflicted PR blunder. the White House returned the American flag to full staff on Monday, then ordered it back to half-staff following public pressure – https://nyti.ms/2PeLLW5
  • A panel of three federal judges ruled North Carolina’s congressional districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to favor Republicans over Democrats. The court may require the state to draw new districts ahead of November’s election, which is less than ten weeks away – https://wapo.st/2PhY8AX

  • President Trump says he’s negotiated a deal with Mexico to revise key portions of NAFTA. The revised deal could leave Canada out in the cold – https://nyti.ms/2NpDDl9

  • Gun control and teacher groups are threatening legal action against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos if she moves forward with a plan to allow schools to purchase firearms for teachers with federal funds – https://nbcnews.to/2Pe4xN9
  • A new poll shows Sen. Ted Cruz leads his Democratic opponent Beto O’Rourke by just one point in the Texas U.S. Senate race – http://bit.ly/2Pf2YPn

  • Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, reportedly sought to make a deal with federal prosecutors ahead of his second trial in federal court next month – https://cnn.it/2PdBYj7
  • President Trump’s lawyers are reportedly advising him against pardoning Paul Manafort – http://bit.ly/2NlZ8Dk
  • The federal government will spend up to $1.2 billion to buy products from American farmers hurt by the trade war with China and other countries. The government will also provide nearly $5 billion in cash assistance – https://abcn.ws/2PaSwbC
  • Bloomberg News reassigned a reporter who covered Wells Fargo after the bank’s CEO called the news organization’s editor in chief to complain about a story – https://cnnmon.ie/2NnFkPP

  • A new study says prolonged exposure to air pollution has a significant impact on cognitive abilities – https://cnn.it/2PfSI9x

  ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY  

  • 1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Delaware Bay.
  • 1862 – Second Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Second Manassas begins. The battle ends on August 30.
  • 1898 – Caleb Bradham’s beverage “Brad’s Drink” is renamed “Pepsi-Cola.”
  • 1955 – Black teenager Emmett Till is brutally murdered in Mississippi for supposedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. His alleged killers were acquitted.
  • 1957 – Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator.
  • 1963 – The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
  • 1968 – Rioting takes place in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention, triggering a brutal police crackdown.

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