Ten Things You Need to Know for Thursday – May 7, 2015

Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the "National Day of Prayer," first designated by the White House in 1952.

Utah's summer water situation is not looking good. Utah Democrats can't afford to run an online presidential primary. Salt Lake City residents give the Utah Transit Authority mostly good marks.

Countdown:

• Days to the 2015 Utah municipal primary elections – 96
• Days to the 2015 election – 180
• Days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus (tentative) – 257
• Days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – 264
• Days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary – 265
• Days to the 2016 Utah primary election – 419
• Days until the 2016 presidential election – 552

Thursday's top-10 headlines:

1. Utah's summer water situation is looking bleak [Deseret News].
2. Proposed new middle-school science education standards are fueling controversy at the Utah Office of Education [Tribune].
3. Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker wants to hike the minimum wage for city employees to $10.10 an hour [ABC 4, KUTV].
4. Salt Lake City residents mostly like the job the Utah Transit Authority is doing [Utah Policy].
5. Rick Santorum is expected to announce his candidacy for president at the end of this month [U.S. News and World Report].
6. The Utah Democratic Party says they cannot afford to run an online presidential primary in 2016 [Utah Policy, Tribune].
7. Rep. Fred Cox is leading the charge to keep the Utah State Prison in Draper [Deseret News].
8. Republicans on the Salt Lake County Council reject a proposed financial incentive for employees to ride their bikes to work [Tribune].
9. A Utah State University professor is defending his decision to sign on to a friend of the court brief opposing same-sex marriage [Associated Press].
10. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders proposes legislation to break up the biggest banks in the U.S. [Bloomberg].

On this day in history:

• 1789 – The first U.S. presidential inaugural ball, celebrating the inauguration of George Washington, was conducted in New York City.
• 1915 – A German U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania off the coast of Ireland, killing nearly 1,200 people.
• 1945 – U.S. Army Gen. Dwight Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.
• 1992 – A 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise was ratified when Michigan became the 38th state to approve it.