Good Friday morning from Salt Lake City.
Donald Trump fever seems to be waning. The fight over Planned Parenthood funding begins in Congress. Utah lawmakers finish their visit to rural Utah.
The clock:
- 46 days to the 2015 election – (11/3/2015)
- 122 days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus (tentative) – (1/18/2016)
- 129 days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (1/25/2016)
- 130 days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary – (1/26/2016)
- 174 days to the final day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (3/10/2016)
- 284 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
- 417 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
Friday's top-10 headlines:
- Following a tepid performance in the second debate, the enthusiasm among voters for Donald Trump seems to be waning [Politico].
- The Fed decides not to raise interest rates even though the economy has improved [CNBC].
- The U.S. House of Representatives takes up the fight to kill funding for Planned Parenthood [New York Times]. Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats are united behind a plan to avert another government shutdown [The Hill].
- Kate Kelly, the former leader of Ordain Women, joins the staff of Planned Parenthood in Utah [Tribune, Deseret News].
- Utah government is taking the first steps to terminate funding for Planned Parenthood [Tribune].
- Utah lawmakers finish up their visit to rural Utah [Deseret News, Associated Press].
- Glen Mills talks about his new political chat show that debuts on ABC 4 this coming Sunday [Utah Policy].
- Rep. Rob Bishop unloads on the EPA over the spill of toxic waste into the Animas River [Utah Policy, Tribune].
- Bob Bernick says worries the "Count My Vote" compromise could result in nominees winning with less than 50-percent of the vote are unfounded [Utah Policy].
- The head of the Utah Highway Patrol's DUI squad retired after he was threatened with demotion following an audit and internal investigation [Deseret News].
On this day in history:
- 1793 – President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.
- 1850 – Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, allowing slave owners to reclaim slaves who escaped into another state.
- 1851 – The first edition of the New York Times was published.
- 1961 – U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold died when his plane crashed under mysterious circumstances near Ndola in Northern Rhodesia.
- 1975 – FBI agents in San Francisco captured former hostage Patricia Hearst along with two members of a group called the Symbionese Liberation Army. Hearst was convicted of an SLA bank robbery and served 22 months in prison before her sentence was commuted. She later was granted a full pardon by President Bill Clinton.
