Good Monday morning from Salt Lake City.
Jeb Bush is set to join officially the 2016 race. Utah Democrats vote to comply with SB54. Becker defends his decision to fire Burbank.
Countdown:
- Days to the 2015 Utah municipal primary elections – 57
- Days to the 2015 election – 141
- Days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus (tentative) – 218
- Days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – 225
- Days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary – 226
- Days to the 2016 Utah primary election – 380
- Days until the 2016 presidential election – 513
Monday's top-10 headlines:
- The race for the White House: Jeb Bush makes it official today as he announces his bid for president [Time]. Donald Trump will make some sort of announcement about his 2016 plans on Tuesday [Twitter].
- Utah Democrats vote to become a "qualified political party" and comply with SB54 [Tribune, Deseret News, KUER].
- Legislative Democrats plan to address the charges against Rep. Justin Miller at a press conference Monday morning [Utah Policy].
- Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker defends his decision to fire Police Chief Chris Burbank [Deseret News].
- How much does Becker's ouster of Burbank change the 2015 mayoral race? [Tribune]
- Former Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is due in court Monday [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Nearly 70% of Utahns agree with Rep. Paul Ray's proposal to make child sex trafficking punishable by the death penalty [Utah Policy].
- Board of Education member Mark Openshaw and three other members of his family were killed in a plane crash in Missouri [Tribune, Deseret News].
- Millard County law enforcement is investigating a series of anti-gay hate crimes [Tribune, Deseret News].
- Doug Owens says he's considering a rematch against Mia Love in 2016 [Fox 13].
On this day in history:
- 1215 – England's King John signed the Magna Carta.
- 1752 – Benjamin Franklin, in a dangerous experiment, demonstrated the relationship between lightning and electricity by flying a kite during a storm in Philadelphia. An iron key suspended from the kite string attracted a lightning bolt.
- 1775 – George Washington was appointed the head of the Continental Army.
- 1992 – Vice President Dan Quayle erroneously instructed a Trenton, N.J. elementary school student to spell potato as "potatoe" during a spelling bee.
- 1995 – During his murder trial, O.J. Simpson struggled to don a pair of gloves that prosecutors said were worn by the killer of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
