Protesters ride ATV’s into Recapture Canyon. Chaffetz left off Benghazi committee. New laws to take effect on Tuesday.
 Countdown:
- 43 days until Utah’s 2014 primary elections
- 176 days to the 2014 midterm elections
- 259 days to the start of the 2015 Utah Legislature
- 540 days to the 2015 elections
- 616 days until the 2016 Iowa Caucuses (tentative)
- 911 days to the 2016 presidential election
Monday’s Utah political news highlights:
- Protesters illegally drive their off-road vehicles into Recapture Canyon, which is closed to motorized vehicles [Tribune].
- Rep. Jason Chaffetz is not named to the special committee investigating the attack on Benghazi [Deseret News].
- EnergySolutions has donated nearly half-a-million dollars to Utah politicians from 2011 to now [Fox 13].
- Audio recordings of accused fraudster Jeremy Johnson reveal he offered to help the investigation into former Attorney General John Swallow [Tribune].
- More than 350 new laws take effect in Utah on Tuesday [Tribune].
- While Utah waits for a ruling, many other states are now defending their own bans on same-sex marriage [Tribune].
- Utah Councy Commission candidate Greg Graves, who has several bankruptcies in his past, expects a write-in candidate to challenge him in November [Daily Herald].
- The Salt Lake City Council is moving ahead with plans to build taller buildings along the streetcar line in Sugar House [Tribune].
- The state school board may hire a headhunter to help them find a new state superintendent [Tribune].
- The Salt Lake City School District is considering ways to reduce class sizes [Tribune].
On this day in history:
- 1820 – Florence Nightingale was born in Italy.
- 1932 – The body of the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindberg was found in New Jersey.
- 1937 – King George VI ascended to the British throne.
- 1943 – Axis forces in North Africa surrendered during World War II.
- 1949 – The Soviet Union ended the Berlin blockade.
- 1970 – The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice.
- 2002 – President Jimmy Carter became the first present or former U.S. president to visit Cuba since Fidel Castro took power in 1959.
