Good Friday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 141st day of the year. There are 225 days left in 2016.
Republicans want their party leaders to line up behind Trump. Bob Bennett spent his final moments apologizing to Muslims for Donald Trump. Herbert has high favorability ratings.
The clock:
- 39 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
- 59 days to the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland (7/18/2016)
- 66 days to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia (7/25/2016)
- 172 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
- 248 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (1/23/2017)
- 293 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (3/9/2017)
Ten talking points for Friday:
- A new poll shows Republicans want the party to unify behind Donald Trump [New York Times].
- Sen. Bob Bennett spent his final moments before dying apologizing to members of the Muslim faith for Donald Trump [Daily Beast].
- Hillary Clinton says there is “no way” she won’t be the Democratic nominee. She also continued her assault on Donald Trump, saying he is unqualified to be president [Bloomberg, The Hill].
- The Oklahoma legislature passed a bill that criminalizes any abortion procedure. Opponents say the measure is clearly unconstitutional and promise a court fight against the law [Reuters].
- Utahns give Gov. Gary Herbert high favorability ratings while his two election challengers, Jonathan Johnson and Michael Weinholtz, are struggling to build name recognition [Utah Policy].
- Gov. Gary Herbert says the directive from the Obama Administration to public schools on accommodating transgender students in bathrooms and locker rooms could end up hurting those students it’s aimed at helping [Tribune].
- The Utah Transit Authority says they are taking a threat from Salt Lake County seriously to block funding to the agency for closing some of their meetings to the public [Deseret News].
- Democratic Party Chairman Peter Corroon says some county clerks are essentially running a voter registration drive for Republicans by reminding unaffiliated voters they cannot vote in the GOP primary unless they are registered Republicans [Tribune, Deseret News].
- The now defunct Arches Health Plan left behind a $15 million shortfall [Tribune].
- New Census numbers say several Utah communities are among the fastest growing in the nation [Deseret News].
On this day in history:
- 1873 – Levis Strauss and Jacob Davis were granted for blue jeans with copper rivets.
- 1927 – Charles Lindbergh took off from New York in his single-engine monoplane “The Spirit of St. Louis,” bound for Paris.
- 1974 – Judge John Sirica ordered U.S. President Richard Nixon to turn over tapes and other records of 64 White House conversations on the Watergate affair.
- 1993 – The final first-run episode of “Cheers” aired on NBC.
