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Ten Things You Need to Know for Wednesday – April 22, 2015

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Good Wednesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is Earth Day. The Utah GOP is considering a way to vet candidates and charging them a fee as a way to get around SB54. Most Utahns say they would vote for a local sales tax increase to fund transportation. Josh Romney says he won't challenge Sen. Mike Lee in 2016.

Countdown:

  • Days to the 2015 Utah municipal primary elections – 111
  • Days to the 2015 election – 195
  • Days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus (tentative) – 272
  • Days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – 279
  • Days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary – 280
  • Days to the 2016 Utah presidential primary – 434
  • Days until the 2016 presidential election – 567

Wednesday's top-10 headlines:

  1. The Utah GOP is considering screening candidates and a charging them a fee before they can call themselves Republicans as a way to circumvent the "Count My Vote" compromise [Utah Policy, Tribune].
  2. Most Utahns would vote for a local sales tax increase to pay for transportation according to a new survey [Utah Policy].
  3. Josh Romney says he has no plans to challenge Sen. Mike Lee in 2016, but he says he would like to see someone else step up and run against the freshman Senator [KSL].
  4. Salt Lake City International Airport is increasing the number of TSA employees to help speed passengers through security lines following a complaint from Rep. Jason Chaffetz [Tribune].
  5. Sen. Mark Madsen releases a video appealing for his plan to legalize medicinal marijuana by invoking the memory of his grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson [Tribune].
  6. If Sophia Hawes-Tingey wins her race for the Midvale City Council, she will become the first open, transgender office holder in the state [ABC 4].
  7. Utah County officials are proposing a number of transportation projects, including a bridge over Utah Lake, to deal with exploding population growth [Tribune].
  8. Herriman officials are prepping for a wildfire season that's expected to be difficult [Deseret News].
  9. Here's why Utah's weddings are so much cheaper than those in other parts of the country [Tribune].
  10. Salt Lake City announces the lineup for this year's Twilight Concert Series [Tribune, Deseret News].

On this day in history:

  • 1864 – Congress authorized the use of the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins.
  • 1889 – The Oklahoma Land Rush began as 20,000 homesteaders massed along the border of the Oklahoma Territory.
  • 1994 – Richard Nixon, the 37th U.S. President, died four days after suffering a stroke at the age of 81.
  • 2004 – Former NFL star Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. The U.S. military said later he was a victim of friendly fire.