Hello Thursday! Today is National Zoo Lovers Day. Did you know that the Vienna Zoo is the oldest existing zoo and was opened to the public in 1765. The United State’s first public zoo, Central Park Zoo, opened in 1874 in New York, more than a century later. If you head off to Hogle Zoo today, remember that they still require masks.
News you need to know
- There was ANOTHER mass shooting, this time in South Carolina. A local doctor, his wife and two of their grandchildren are among the victims.
- Ryan Gabriel, a Black sociology professor at BYU, asked students at a Tuesday devotional to help “end the sin of racism” – and to stop trying to not see race. “To pretend that race is unimportant by saying, ‘I don’t see race’ — or to falsely diminish the impacts of racism on the lives of Heavenly Father’s children — does nothing to stop racism.”
- The seven female Cabinet heads in the Cox-Henderson administration weigh in on why having women in leadership matters. “We are here because our governor believes that improving outcomes across this great state requires inclusion and diversity of all voices. We are respected for our skills and talents first.” When women are “purposefully at the table,…performance improves.”
- Thom Carter, the governor’s energy advisor, writes that “keeping it in the ground” isn’t really an option. “All power, whether traditional or renewable, is impacted by what comes out of the ground. Advocating for renewable energy sources also means maintaining, if not expanding, our mining infrastructure.”
- Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that it was “quite stupid” for corporations to weigh in on the Georgia voting law, but clarified “I’m not talking about political contributions…That’s fine. It’s legal. It’s appropriate. I support that.”
- US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is in Utah, meeting with tribal members and elected officials as she tours Bears Ears and Escalante Grand Staircase to discuss the potential restoration of two national monuments. It seems like there has to be a better way to deal with national monuments than the whiplash of conflicting executive orders.
- In a new video, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore thanks Latter-day Saint Charities for its $20 million donation. The grant contributes to UNICEF’s historic efforts in leading the procurement and supply of 2 billion COVID-19 vaccines for nearly 200 participating COVAX countries and economies by the end of 2021.
Countdown
6 days until the end of the Cox/Henderson administration’s first 100 days (04/14/2021)
16 days until the United Utah Party Organizing Convention (04/24/2021)
22 days until the Biden/Harris administration’s first 100 days are up (04/30/2021)
23 days until the in-person Utah GOP Organizing Convention (05/01/2021)
156 days until half-way through the Cox/Henderson’s administration’s 500-day plan (09/11/2021)
