Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City. There are 77 days left in 2015.
Obama to announce a plan to halt troop withdrawals from Afghanistan. Doug Owens posts a good fundraising quarter. Lawmakers may have a special session this year to address election laws.
The clock:
- 19 days to the 2015 election – (11/3/2015)
- 95 days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus (tentative) – (1/18/2016)
- 102 days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (1/25/2016)
- 103 days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary – (1/26/2016)
- 147 days to the final day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (3/10/2016)
- 257 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
- 390 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
Thursday's top-10 headlines:
- President Barack Obama is expected to announce a plan to keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan until 2017 [Washington Post].
- Presidential candidates should start releasing their fundraising totals for the most recent quarter [New York Times].
- The Congressional Budget Office says the nation's debt limit must be raised within the next 30 days to avoid a default [Politico].
- Democrat Doug Owens posts a solid fundraising quarter, racking up more than $300,000 in donations [Tribune].
- Utah lawmakers are considering a push for a special session to alter the state's election laws [Utah Policy].
- Legislators may consider yet another plan to address Medicaid expansion, but that may not happen until the 2016 Session [Deseret News, Fox 13].
- The Utah Health Department warned Gov. Gary Herbert against cutting off federal funding to Planned Parenthood [Deseret News].
- Ralph Becker and Jackie Biskupski get testy during a televised debate [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune].
- Three female police officers who filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Salt Lake City have agreed to a settlement [Deseret News, Tribune, Fox 13].
- Utah Transit Authority executives agree to forego any bonuses next year. Instead, that money will go toward services [Tribune].
On this day in history:
- 1917 – The most famous spy of World War I, Gertrude Zelle, better known as Mata Hari, is executed outside of Paris.
- 1946 – Nazi Reichmarschall Hermann Goering, sentenced to death as a war criminal, committed suicide in his prison cell on the eve of his scheduled execution.
- 1966 – Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party.
- 1991 – The Senate confirmed Clarence Thomas as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
- 2009 – A false report that a 6-year-old boy was aboard a runaway balloon in Colorado captivated a global TV audience. The boy's parents later pleaded guilty to charges they made up the story.
