Greg Hughes is the new Speaker of the House. Out-of-state group launches campaign against Herbert's "Healthy Utah" plan. Hatch starts to make noise about running for another term.
Countdown:
- Days until the opening day of the 2015 Utah Legislature – 80
- Days to the final day of the 2015 Utah Legislature – 125
- Days to the 2015 Utah municipal primary elections – 277
- Days to the 2015 election – 361
- Days to the 2016 Iowa Caucuses (tentative) – 437
- Days until the 2016 presidential election – 732
Friday's top-10 headlines:
- Utah Republicans pick Greg Hughes as the new Speaker of the House; Wayne Niederhauser wins another term as Senate President [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune].
- A Florida-based group is launching a campaign against Gov. Gary Herbert's "Healthy Utah" alternative to Medicaid expansion [Utah Policy].
- Despite promising this would be his last term in Washington, Sen. Orrin Hatch is leaving the door open to another run in 2018 [Deseret News].
- Mia Love lands on another list of "rising stars" in the Republican party [New York Times].
- Rep. Jason Chaffetz warns his fellow Republicans that Americans want results from them now that they control both houses of Congress [Associated Press].
- Rep. Chris Stewart says he expects the Republican-controlled Congress to get things done next year [Utah Policy].
- The Cedar Hills Recorder wants the city to move to vote by mail to save money [Daily Herald].
- Utah state attorneys plan to look at a federal court ruling upholding same-sex marriage bans in four states to see if it has any bearing on Utah's own ban [Tribune].
- A group of clergy and advocates are pushing officials to provide more low-income housing [Deseret News].
- Pleasant Grove voters reject a $12.7 bond to build a new public safety building by a scant 322 votes [KSL].
On this day in history:
- 1893 – Passage of a referendum made Colorado the first state to grant women the right to vote.
- 1916 – Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress.
- 1917 – Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.
- 2009 – The Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation to expand coverage to tens of millions who lacked it and placed tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.
