Obama to call for tax hikes/cuts during Tuesday's SOTU. Former Speaker Becky Lockhart dies. Less than 1/5 of Utahns want to keep the caucus system.
Countdown:
- Days until the opening day of the 2015 Utah Legislature – 6
- Days to the final day of the 2015 Utah Legislature – 51
- Days to the 2015 Utah municipal primary elections – 203
- Days to the 2015 election – 287
- Days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus (tentative) – 363
- Days until the 2016 presidential election – 658
Tuesday's top-10 headlines:
- President Obama delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday night. He is expected to call for a tax hike on the wealthy and a tax cut for the middle class [New York Times, Washington Post].
- Former Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart passes away at the age of 46 [Utah Policy, Tribune, Deseret News]. A public memorial for Lockhart is scheduled for Thursday [Tribune].
- A survey finds very little support for returning to Utah's caucus and convention system…even among Republicans [Utah Policy].
- Former Rep. Jim Matheson blasts the caucus system as a "joke" [Utah Policy].
- A proposed bill would turn public schools into state-run charter schools if they have three consecutive years of low performance on standardized testing [Tribune].
- Rep. Brian King wants Utah to recognize Religious Freedom Day as a holiday in the state [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Sen. Allen Christensen says he will push his own proposal for dealing with Medicaid expansion during the 2015 session [Standard Examiner].
- Mitt Romney will headline an event at Abravanel Hall on Wednesday night [Tribune].
- A new poll shows most Utahns want the BYU and the University of Utah football game to be an annual event again [Utah Policy].
- Standard Examiner political reporter Antone Clark passes away from cancer at the age of 60 [Standard Examiner].
On this day in history:
- 1801 – John Marshall was appointed chief justice of the United States.
- 1981 – Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president of the United States.
- 1981 – Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days.
- 2009 – Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African-American president of the United States.
