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Ten Things You Need to Know for Wednesday – March 25, 2015

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Utahns don't want surpluses used for tax cuts. Google Fiber is coming to Salt Lake City. College tuition hike on the table.

Countdown:

  • Days to the 2015 Utah municipal primary elections – 139
  • Days to the 2015 election – 223
  • Days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus (tentative) – 299
  • Days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – 306
  • Days to the 2016 Utah presidential primary – 461
  • Days until the 2016 presidential election – 594

Wednesday's top-10 headlines:

  1. Poll: Utahns want budget surpluses spent on state needs instead of tax cuts [Utah Policy].
  2. Gov. Gary Herbert signs a number of bills from the 2015 session including regulations on e-cigarettes and the creation of a white-collar crime registry [Deseret News, Tribune].
  3. Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking," says Utah's reinstating of the firing squad in executions will hasten the demise of the death penalty in America [Tribune, Deseret News].
  4. Salt Lake City announces Google's super-fast fiber optic network is coming to the city [Tribune, Deseret News].
  5. Stericycle wants to double how much medical waste they incinerate once their new site opens in Tooele County [Deseret News, Tribune].
  6. The Supreme Court takes up a challenge to an EPA rule limiting the amount of mercury, arsenic and other toxic emissions allowed in the air [U.S. News and World Report].
  7. The Utah Board of Regents is considering a 3-percent tuition hike for next year, which would be the lowest in the past 15 years [Deseret News].
  8. The number of Utahns diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease is expected to jump 45% by the year 2025 [KSL].
  9. A bill awaiting Gov. Herbert's signature could kill Salt Lake City's efforts to regulate taxicabs as well as rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft [Tribune].
  10. Boston Olympic organizers want a public referendum on the city hosting the 2024 games, which could leave the U.S. without a bid city for that year [Chicago Tribune].

On this day in history:

  • 1807 – The English Parliament abolished the slave trade.
  • 1911 – A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. factory in New York City killed 146 workers. The tragedy led to the establishment of many workplace safety laws.
  • 1994 – U.S. forces completed a withdrawal from Mogadishu, Somalia except for a small number of soldiers left behind to provide support for U.N. peacekeepers.
  • 1996 – An 81-day standoff by the antigovernment Freemen began at a ranch in Montana.