How to Sound Smart About Utah Politics – July 31, 2014
Bryan Schott
Swallow and Shurtleff make their first court appearance on criminal charges. Utah Republicans join the effort by Congress to sue President Obama. Some U.S. Senators want President Obama to create a new national monument in Utah.
Countdown:
96 days until the 2014 midterm elections
179 days to the opening day of the 2015 legislature
460 days until the 2015 elections
536 days to the 2016 Iowa Caucuses (tentative)
831 days until the 2016 presidential election
Thursday’s top news stories:
John Swallow and Mark Shurtleff make their first appearance in court as criminal defendants [Tribune, Deseret News].
Will the Swallow and Shurtleff scandal have an effect on voter turnout in November? [Deseret News]
Utah Republican members of the House join the effort to sue President Obama [Tribune].
The U.S. economy posts a robust growth rate of 4-percent in the last quarter [Washington Post].
14 U.S. Senators send a letter to President Obama urging him to create a new national monument in Utah [Tribune].
The South Jordan City Council approves a deal to prevent the city from splitting from the Jordan School District [Tribune, Deseret News].
A study says Utah women are twice as likely as men to work at low-wage jobs [Tribune].
Rural Utahns favor changes to the Endangered Species Act pushed by Rep. Rob Bishop [Deseret News].
A lawsuit alleges the state of Utah is illegally putting a claim on disputed rural roads in Tooele County [Deseret News].
On this day in history:
1498 – Columbus arrived at the island of Trinidad.
1875 – Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, died in Tennessee at the age of 66.
1972 – Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment.
1991 – President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.
2011 – President Barack Obama and congressional leaders announced an agreement on emergency legislation to avert the nation’s first-ever financial default.