Herbert says Utah has a duty to defend its same-sex marriage ban. Most Utahns favor Medicaid expansion. Prison relocation committee could start narrowing down list of sites by the end of the year.
Countdown:
- 32 days until Utah’s 2014 primary elections
- 165 days to the 2014 midterm elections
- 248 days to the start of the 2015 Utah Legislature
- 529 days until the 2015 elections
- 605 days to the 2016 Iowa Caucuses (tentative)
- 900 days to the 2016 presidential election
Friday’s  top Utah political news stories:
- Gov. Gary Herbert says Utah has a duty to defend its same-sex marriage ban [Tribune, Daily Herald].
- Herbert says he’s sure he will be able to convince lawmakers to approve his Medicaid expansion alternative [Utah Policy].
- More than two-thirds of Utahns favor full expansion of Medicaid, while just 43-percent say they like Herbert’s “Healthy Utah” alternative [Tribune].
- The committee tasked with finding a new site for the prison could narrow down the list by the end of the year [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Gov. Herbert says he does not expect President Obama to declare any new national monuments in Utah [Tribune].
- Utah officials say Utah is already in wildfire season because of the drought gripping the state [Tribune].
- A member of the Utah County GOP is suing the party vice-chairman for defamation and asking for $1 in damages [Deseret News].
On this day in history:
- 1430 – Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English
- 1533 – The marriage of England’s King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void
- 1788 – South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution
- 1915 – Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in World War I
- 1934 – Bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in Louisiana
- 1937 – Industrialist John D. Rockefeller died at age 97
- 1949 – The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was established
- 1969 – The Who’s rock-opera album “Tommy” was released
