Welcome to a chilly Tuesday. Today is Sexual Assault Awareness Month Day of Action. The Utah Department of Health explains that one in three women in Utah will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime and 1 in 6 men. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), only 230 out of every 1,000 cases of sexual assault get reported. This means 75% of victims never speak up. A recent in-depth story in USA Today details what can happen when women DO report sexual assault: they are punished for it. “Teresa James faced a colossal mission: evacuate 1,500 military workers while moving thousands of trucks and tents off an American air base in central Iraq. Working under occasional enemy fire, James orchestrated the move in 45 days — a task commanders called “Herculean,” awarding her the Bronze Star in 2010. It was just one of many accolades James had received as an officer in the National Guard. Her performance reviews year after year had been stellar. One in 2001 called her “exceptionally exemplary.” Another said: “Promote now!” But that all changed in 2012, when James reported being raped by a superior officer. Suddenly her performance reviews went from glowing to subpar. One supervisor wrote that James had “communication difficulties” and “made some decisions which caused me to question her judgment.” She was denied a promotion to colonel and reluctantly took an early medical retirement, ending her military career with the West Virginia National Guard. We must do better.
5 things you need to know
- A new research brief is out from USU’s Utah Women and Leadership Project on the impact of COVID-19 and Utah women that tracks with national data showing women have been hard hit by the pandemic.
- In rare testimony, Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo condemned the actions of Derek Chauvin from the witness stand, saying “To continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed behind their back — that in no way, shape or form is anything that is by policy. It is not part of our training. And it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values.”
- Russia’s Putin signed a new law that could keep him in power until 2036. The law would limit any future president to two terms in office, but “resets” the count for Putin, who has already served four terms.
- The Gonzaga Bulldogs’ basketball team only lost one game the entire season. It was last night’s championship. Baylor won 86-70.
- Amanda Dickson calls KSL’s Boyd Matheson this generation’s Walter Cronkite. Matheson’s show, “Inside Sources,” has expanded to 2 hours every weekday afternoon.
Countdown
8 days until the end of the Cox/Henderson administration’s first 100 days (04/14/2021)
18 days until the United Utah Party Organizing Convention (04/24/2021)
24 days until the Biden/Harris administration’s first 100 days are up (04/30/2021)
25 days until the in-person Utah GOP Organizing Convention (05/01/2021)
158 days until half-way through the Cox/Henderson’s administration’s 500-day plan (09/11/2021)
