Good Wednesday morning from Salt Lake City. There are eight days left in 2015.
Trump is struggling to explain what “schlonged” means. Sanders’ support is falling in Utah. A judge rules for Gov. Gary Herbert’s move to block federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
The clock:
- 33 days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (1/25/2016)
- 40 days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus – (2/1/2016)
- 48 days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary – (2/9/2016)
- 78 days to the final day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (3/10/2016)
- 90 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic caucus meetings (3/22/2016)
- 122 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic State Conventions (4/23/2016)
- 188 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
- 321 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
Wednesday’s top-10 headlines:
- Donald Trump is struggling mightily to explain what he meant when he said Hillary Clinton got “schlonged” by Barack Obama in the 2008 election. Trump insists it’s not a vulgar term [The Hill, Washington Post].
- Good news for Trump as a new national poll shows he leads his closest GOP rival, Ted Cruz, by 21 points [CNN].
- The next GOP debate in January could feature just six candidates on the primary stage [The Hill].
- Cruz is blasting a Washington Post editorial cartoon depicting his two young daughters as monkeys [NBC News].
- Bernie Sanders‘ support in Utah is falling according to a new poll [Utah Policy].
- A judge rules Gov. Gary Herbert‘s actions to stop federal funding to Planned Parenthood [2 News, Fox 13, ABC 4, Deseret News, Tribune].
- A coalition of media outlets in Utah claim Utah Legislative Republicans are breaking the law by holding closed caucus meetings [Deseret News, Fox 13, Tribune].
- Rep. Rob Bishop throws his support behind Marco Rubio‘s presidential campaign [Tribune, Deseret News].
- The DABC grants a beer and wine license to a Washington County restaurant despite opposition from the LDS Church [Tribune].
- Utah’s population is nearly 3 million according to new Census numbers [Tribune].
On this day in history:
- 1620 – Construction began on the first permanent European settlement in New England, one week after the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Harbor in present-day Massachusetts.
- 1783 – Gen. George Washington resigned his commission with the U.S. Army and retired to Mount Vernon, Va. (He became the new nation’s first president in 1789.)
- 1788 – Maryland passed an act to cede a parcel of land for the seat of the national government, part of which later became the District of Columbia.
- 1913 – The U.S. Federal Reserve System was established.
- 1968 – Eighty-two crew members of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.
