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Ten Things You Need to Know for Tuesday – November 18, 2014

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Vote on Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday. Hughes has a "big idea" to improve Utah's air quality. Business and civic leaders launch effort to increase transportation funding.

Countdown:

  • Days until the opening day of the 2015 Utah Legislature – 69
  • Days to the final day of the 2015 Utah Legislature – 114
  • Days to the 2015 Utah municipal primary elections – 266
  • Days to the 2015 election – 350
  • Days to the 2016 Iowa Caucuses (tentative) – 426
  • Days until the 2016 presidential election – 721

Tuesday's top-10 headlines:

  1. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the Keystone XL pipeline Tuesday [Yahoo News].
  2. House Republicans will choose new committee chairs for the next Congress Tuesday. Rep. Jason Chaffetz is in the running to head the Oversight Committee [ABC News].
  3. Sen. Mike Lee is the lone no vote on a program revamping the government's top child care program [Associated Press].
  4. New House Speaker Greg Hughes has a "big idea" to help Utah improve air quality [Utah Policy].
  5. A coalition of business and civic leaders launch an effort to convince lawmakers to increase transportation funding [Tribune].
  6. A panel proposes lengthening the legislative session in order to reduce the flood of bills that come up at the end [Deseret News, Tribune].
  7. The Utah Highway Patrol drops their opposition to a plan raising speed limits on freeways around the Wasatch Front [Tribune, Deseret News].
  8. A same-sex couple from Michigan takes their case to the Supreme Court after a lower court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage in four states [Associated Press].
  9. Rideshare companies Uber, Lyft and Sidecar threaten to cease operations in Salt Lake City if the City Council passes ordinances to regulate the companies [Tribune].
  10. Sen. Aaron Osmond proposed naming the golden retriever Utah's official state domestic animal [Tribune].

On this day in history:

  • 1883 – The United States and Canada adopted a system of standard time zones.
  • 1978 – More than 900 people died in Jonestown, Guyana after Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones urged them to commit suicide by drinking cyanide-laced punch.
  • 1987 – The congressional Iran-Contra committees issued their final report, saying President Ronald Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides.
  • 2003 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the state constitution guarantees gay couples the right to marry.