Good Thursday morning from Utah's capital city. Today is "National Hamburger Day." Let's go grab a patty for lunch!
A poll shows Utahns support Bishop's public lands initiative. The Dugway lab accidentally sent live anthrax samples through the mail to 9 states. All the rain in the last month hasn't done much to cure Utah's drought blues.
Countdown:
- Days to the 2015 Utah municipal primary elections – 75
- Days to the 2015 election – 159
- Days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus (tentative) – 236
- Days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – 243
- Days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary – 244
- Days to the 2016 Utah primary election – 398
- Days until the 2016 presidential election – 531
Thursday's top-10 headlines:
- A new poll shows Utahns support Rep. Rob Bishop's public lands initiative [Utah Policy].
- Whoops! The defense lab in Dugway accidentally sent live Anthrax samples to labs in nine states and South Korea [Wall Street Journal, Deseret News, 2 News, ABC 4, Fox 13].
- It's rained a lot in Utah during the last month, but all that water hasn't made much of a dent in the state's looming drought problem [2 News].
- The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is taking public comment on water management strategies in the Colorado River Basin [KUER].
- Utah taxpayers could be on the hook for the cost of San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman's defense against charges he illegally rode an ATV into Recapture Canyon last year [Tribune].
- The fallout from the stunning arrests of FIFA officials continues as soccer's governing body is bracing for the loss of sponsorships in the wake of the corruption scandal [Time].
- The bribery scandal surrounding the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics set the stage for the U.S. bringing down the legal hammer on FIFA for corruption and bribery [Deseret News].
- Salt Lake City leaders announce $500,000 in grants to fight homelessness [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Nebraska became the first conservative state to abolish the death penalty in 40 years [CNN].
- Former New York Governor George Pataki is set to announce his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination Thursday [Washington Post].
On this day in history:
- 1798 – The U.S. Congress empowered President John Adams to recruit an American army of 10,000 volunteers.
- 1892 – The Sierra Club was founded by naturalist John Muir.
- 1987 – West German teenager Mathias Rust flew a single-engine plane from Finland and landed beside the Kremlin in Moscow.
- 2002 – NASA said the Mars Odyssey found evidence of ice on Mars.
- 2003 – President George W. Bush signed a $350 billion package of tax cuts.
