Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City. There are 28 days left in 2015.
Mass shooting in California. Utahns give mostly high marks to the state’s Congressional delegation. Voter turnout jumped by 52% this year.
The clock:
- 53 days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (1/25/2016)
- 60 days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus – (2/1/2016)
- 68 days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary (tentative) – (2/9/2016)
- 99 days to the final day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (3/10/2016)
- 110 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic caucus meetings (3/22/2016)
- 142 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic State Conventions (4/23/2016)
- 209 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
- 341 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
Thursday’s top-10 headlines:
- A mass shooting in San Bernadino, California leaves at least 14 dead [New York Times, CNN].
- The San Bernadino shooting is the 355th mass shooting in America in 2015 [Washington Post].
- Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy says offering “thoughts and prayers” for the victims of mass shootings is not enough anymore [The Hill].
- A new report details more security breaches around President Obama allowed by the Secret Service [Washington Post]. Rep. Jason Chaffetz says the Secret Service is endangering the president’s safety [Tribune].
- A new poll shows most of Utah’s members of Congress get high approval ratings from their constituents, except for Rep. Chris Stewart [Utah Policy].
- Vote-by-mail increased turnout in Utah by 52% this year according to a new report [Tribune, Deseret News].
- Rep. Mia Love defends the House investigation into Planned Parenthood after some Democrats call for disbanding the panel in the wake last week’s mass shooting in Colorado [Tribune].
- The Utah College of Applied Technology is looking for a new leader after Sen. Aaron Osmond withdraws his candidacy [Tribune].
- The number of Utahns who signed up for Obamacare jumped by 52% so far this year [Tribune].
- New Census numbers show nearly 40% of the single moms in Utah are below the poverty line [Deseret News].
On this day in history:
- 1818 – Illinois became the 21st state.
- 1967 – Surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa, performed the first human heart transplant.
- 1979 – Eleven people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum before a rock concert by The Who.
- 1984 – Poison gas leaked at a Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, in the world’s worst chemical disaster. More than 4,000 people died.
