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Ten Things You Need to Know Today – Tuesday, February 9, 2016

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Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. There are 326 days left in 2016.

The New Hampshire Primary gets underway. Sen. Mike Lee blames Congress for overreach by the executive branch. King calls a bill to change the makeup of two committees a “power grab” by legislative Republicans.

The clock:

  • The 2016 New Hampshire Primary is today – (2/9/2016)
  • 11 days to the Nevada Democratic Caucuses and South Carolina Republican Primary (2/20/2016)
  • 14 days to the Nevada Republican Caucuses (2/23/2016)
  • 18 days to the South Carolina Democratic Primary (2/27/2016)
  • 33 days to the final day of the 2016 Utah Legislature – (3/10/2016)
  • 45 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic caucus meetings (3/22/2016)
  • 77 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic State Conventions (4/23/2016)
  • 143 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
  • 160 days to the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland (7/18/2016)
  • 167 days to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia (7/25/2016)
  • 276 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)

Tuesday’s top-10 headlines:

  1. Voters are already casting ballots in the New Hampshire Primary. Dixville Notch cast its nine votes for Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders [Politico, New York Times, Washington Post].
  2. Sen. Mike Lee says Congress is to blame for allowing overreach by the executive branch during the Obama administration [New York Times].
  3. House Minority Leader Brian King calls an attempt to change the partisan makeup of two legislative committees a “power grab” by Republicans [Utah Policy].
  4. The LDS Church’s opposition to Sen. Mark Madsen‘s medical marijuana bill is a crippling blow to the legislation, but advocates say they will still fight on [2 News, Fox 13, Deseret News, Tribune].
  5. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Lee are both enjoying solid approval ratings according to our latest poll [Utah Policy].
  6. Sen. Jim Dabakis introduces his bill to eliminate the so-called “Zion Curtain” in Utah restaurants [Fox 13].
  7. Conservative groups and lawmakers are battling over a proposal allowing Utah to collect sales taxes for online sales [Tribune].
  8. Carolyn Tuft, who survived the Trolley Square shooting in 2007, urges lawmakers to pass Medicaid expansion [Deseret News, Tribune].
  9. Former Gov. Mike Leavitt warns lawmakers they may be making a mistake by not adequately funding the Utah Foster Care Foundation [Tribune].
  10. Clean air advocates say a proposal allowing Rocky Mountain Power to move toward cleaner energy production would give ratepayers the shaft [Tribune].

On this day in history:

  • 1825 – After no presidential candidate had won the necessary majority, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States.
  • 1861 – The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America elected Jefferson Davis president and Alexander H. Stephens vice president.
  • 1950 – Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charged the U.S. State Department was infested with communists, touching off the infamous “McCarthy era.”
  • 1964 – The Beatles appeared on television’s The Ed Sullivan Show. An estimated 73 million people watched.