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Ten Things You Need to Know Today – Tuesday, January 26, 2016

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Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. There are 340 days left in 2016.

Public lands and infrastructure are the focus of day one at the Utah Legislature. Redistricting proposals make their debut at the legislature. Utahns want better early childhood education.

The clock:

  • Six days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus – (2/1/2016)
  • 14 days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary – (2/9/2016)
  • 44 days to the final day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (3/10/2016)
  • 56 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic caucus meetings (3/22/2016)
  • 88 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic State Conventions (4/23/2016)
  • 154 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
  • 287 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)

Tuesday’s top-10 headlines:

  1. The 2016 Legislature roars to life with talk about federal lands and planning for Utah’s expected explosive growth [Utah Policy, 2 News, Fox 13, ABC 4, Deseret News, Tribune, KUER].
  2. Chief Justice Matthew Durrant warns legislators that the sweeping criminal justice reform passed in 2015 will not work unless lawmakers provide funds for mental health and drug treatment for offenders [Deseret News, Tribune].
  3. A pair of redistricting proposals would change the way lawmakers redraw political maps in Utah every ten years [Utah Policy]. 
  4. Speaker Greg Hughes sets up some of the big issues for this session, including economic development and technology in Utah’s schools [Utah Policy]. Hughes has ended his daily media availability, opting for one-on-one interviews [Deseret News].
  5. The House, wasting no time, approves a measure allowing clerks to provide daily updated election tallies [Tribune].
  6. A significant majority of Utahns want lawmakers to boost early childhood education, but they’re split on the idea of all-day kindergarten [Utah Policy].
  7. Lawmakers want to spend $600,000 to study how best to develop the Draper site once the prison moves to Salt Lake City [Tribune].
  8. Game on! Democrat Doug Owens has already raised $500,000 for his second race against Rep. Mia Love [Tribune].
  9. Jackie Biskupski has ousted another long-time city employee, this time, it’s public services director Rick Graham, who held the position for 19 years [Tribune, Deseret News].
  10. A grand jury investigating alleged wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood flips and indicts two anti-abortion activists who produced widely discredited undercover videotapes of the organization [New York Times]. 

On this day in history:

  • 1788 – The first shipload of British convicts arrived in Australia. The establishment of an Australian prison colony was aimed at relieving overcrowding in British jails.
  • 1802 – Congress passed an act calling for a library to be established within the U.S. Capitol.
  • 1837 – Michigan joined the United States as the 26th state.
  • 1861 – Louisiana seceded from the United States.
  • 1988 – In response to allegations he had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, President Bill Clinton declared, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”