Ten Things You Need to Know Today – Monday, December 28, 2015

Good Monday morning from Salt Lake City. There are three days left in 2015.

How professional wrestling prepared Donald Trump’s run for president. Bernie Sanders makes a pitch to Trump’s supporters. Chaffetz discusses the 2016 election.

The clock:

• 28 days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (1/25/2016)
• 35 days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus – (2/1/2016)
• 43 days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary – (2/9/2016)
• 73 days to the final day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (3/10/2016)
• 85 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic caucus meetings (3/22/2016)
• 117 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic State Conventions (4/23/2016)
• 183 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
• 316 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)

Monday’s top-10 headlines:

1. Here’s how Donald Trump‘s venture into professional wrestling helped get him ready to run for president [Washington Post].
2. Bernie Sanders says Donald Trump’s supporters should back him instead [The Hill, CBS News].
3. Barack Obama‘s supporters say the rise of Donald Trump is poetic justice for a Republican Party that tapped into voters anger to take control of Congress [Politico].
4. It seems that former consumer watchdog Bill Gephardt may not be doing his research before endorsing some of the companies that bear his stamp of approval [Tribune].
5. Planned Parenthood says they will appeal a judge’s ruling that Utah can block federal funding to the organization [Deseret News].
6. Rep. Jason Chaffetz discusses the 2016 presidential race and his plans for the next year [Utah Policy].
7. The Utah Education Association files suit against the state over new teacher licensing rules [Tribune].
8. Rocky Mountain Power officials worry renewable energy development in Utah may be in a bubble [Tribune].
9. One out of every ten workers in Utah is employed by the government [Tribune].
10. Skiing pioneer Stein Ericksen passes away at the age of 88 [Deseret News].

On this day in history:

• 1065 – Westminster Abbey was consecrated.
• 1832 – John Calhoun, at odds with President Andrew Jackson, became the first U.S. vice president to resign.
• 1846 – Iowa was admitted to the United States as the 29th state.
• 1945 – Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States.
• 1973 – Alexander Solzhenitsyn published “Gulag Archipelago,” an expose of the Soviet prison system.