Ten Things You Need to Know Today – Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Good Wednesday morning from Salt Lake City. There are 43 days left in 2015.

Biskupski wins. Prop. 1 falls in Salt Lake County. Orem voter turnout jumps by a whopping 100 percent.

The clock:

  • 68 days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (1/25/2016)
  • 75 days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus – (2/1/2016)
  • 83 days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary (tentative) – (2/9/2016)
  • 114 days to the final day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (3/10/2016)
  • 125 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic caucus meetings (3/22/2016)
  • 157 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic State Conventions (4/23/2016)
  • 224 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
  • 356 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)

Wednesday’s top-10 headlines:

  1. More than 100 French police raid an apartment in northern Paris where some people suspected of having a role in Friday’s deadly terrorist attacks were holed up. Two people died after a woman blew herself up during the siege [Washington Post, New York Times, Associated Press].
  2. It’s official. Jackie Biskupski beats Ralph Becker to become the next mayor of Salt Lake City [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune, KUTVABC 4].
  3. Prop. 1, which would have slightly raised sales taxes to fund transportation, fails in a number of counties, including Salt Lake and Utah [Tribune, Deseret News, KUTV, Fox 13].
  4. Vote by mail caused Orem voter turnout to jump by 100-percent [Daily Herald].
  5. An Air France plane en route to Paris from Los Angeles makes an emergency landing in Salt Lake City due to a bomb threat [KUTV, KSL, ABC 4, Fox 13Deseret News, Tribune].
  6. Utah’s congressional members want to keep Syrian refugees from entering the country until security measures can be tightened up [Tribune].
  7. Utah Transit Authority officials say they knew nothing about a trip to Switzerland even though it included two board members and lawmakers [Tribune, Deseret News].
  8. Lawmakers expect nearly 10,000 new students in Utah’s schools next year, which will carry a price tag of $90 million [Utah Policy, Deseret News].
  9. Gov. Gary Herbert reverses himself and says he would not support a new national monument designation in Utah [Tribune].
  10. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ends his presidential campaign [Washington Post].

On this day in history:

  • 1883 – The United States adopted Standard Time and set up four time zones.
  • 1928 – Mickey Mouse appeared for the first time in “Steamboat Willie.”
  • 1978 – More than 900 people died in a mass suicide-murder led by the Rev. Jim Jones at the People’s Temple commune in Guyana following the slaying of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan of California.
  • 1987 – The congressional Iran-Contra committees issued their final report, saying President Ronald Reagan bore “ultimate responsibility” for wrongdoing by his aides.
  • 2003 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, declared the state’s ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional.