Deseret News

• Jay Evensen: Think Sweden is a good example for health care? Think again
• Editorial: Increasing fire prevention funding is a step in the right direction, but commonsense is another
• Democrat Ben McAdams, rest of Utah delegation, vote against $15 federal minimum wage
• Utah Rep. Rob Bishop now says he may run again
• Highland joins other local Utah governments taking stance against abortion
• Utah Sen. Mitt Romney proposes more legislation against Chinese tech giant
• Utah gives $1 million in education grants to help fill workforce jobs
• A new freight train route for Utah? Uinta Basin hopes so
• Salt Lake police seek man accused of assaulting TV photojournalist during Inland Port protest

Salt Lake Tribune

• The state believes a now shuttered Utah charter school has no plan to repay $400,000 it owes
• Sen. Mike Lee strikes deal to get a final vote on 9/11 compensation bill
• Salt Lake City International Airport may see passengers increase by 65% in 20 years
• Rep. Ben McAdams votes with House Republicans against minimum wage bill

Other

• U.S. Rep. Bishop now said to be mulling another House bid in 2020 (Standard-Examiner)
• Ogden's 4 mayoral candidates debate issues ahead of primary election (Standard-Examiner)

• Rupert Murdoch's son drops $20 million investment on Utah virtual reality company The Void (Deseret News)
• Here’s the new proposal for the Cottonwood Mall site. It includes a theater, hotel and $2.5 million penthouse condos. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• A. Scott Anderson: Chambers of commerce are a vital part of the fabric of Utah (Deseret News)

• Off the record, House Dems tell CNN's Tapper that Trump was 'brilliant' snookering Dems into letting The Squad become their symbol (American Thinker)
• Axelrod: Trump 'Forcing' Democrats To Embrace AOC's Squad, Accept They Run The Party (RealClearPolitics)
• The Sordid History of Liberals Calling Republicans Racists (PJ Media)
• 'Racism': It's not what it used to be (Powerline)
• The unexpected effectiveness of US President Donald Trump Read (Channel News Asia)
• New generations of Chinese immigrants hate affirmative action — and some are beginning to love Trump (National Review)
• Surge in voters who say race card used against Trump 'for political gain' (Washington Examiner)
• Ilhan Omar Happened Because Media Chose to Lie to You (PJ Media)
• Trump Averaged Highest Approval Last Quarter (Political Wire)
• Democrats can't take their own medicine (Powerline)
• The Outrage Economy (Commentary)

Making Mistakes
Trump believes Iranian leaders made a mistake in shooting down the drone and is not yet on board with going to war. “Yes, Trump understands that people make mistakes. After all, he’s had three wives and Eric.” Stephen Colbert 

Political Will

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." John F. Kennedy

"Send her back"

• National Republicans pushed President Donald Trump to disavow the ugly "send her back" chant directed at Somali-born Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar at a campaign rally [NYT].
• President Trump falsely claimed he tried to stop the "send her back" chant at his campaign rally [AP].
• Anthony Scaramucci was disinvited from a Florida GOP fundraiser for criticizing Trump's "racially charged" tweets [Politico].
• How Trump's racist tweet attacking four Democratic women of color became a campaign rally chant in just three days [WaPo].

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Omar pushes back. Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar told reporters on Thursday she believes President Trump is a "fascist" [Daily Beast].

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Good news. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says the Trump administration and congressional leaders have "reached an agreement" on spending and raising budget caps [Politico].

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Minimum wage. Democrats in the House voted to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. All of Utah's representatives, including Democrat Ben McAdams, voted no. The bill has little chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate [NYT].

• Staffers on Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign are demanding he pay them the $15 per hour minimum wage he has been pushing for in Congress [WaPo].

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Iran. President Trump said Thursday the American military shot down an Iranian drone that was threatening a Navy warship [NYT].

• Iran denied Trump's claim [AP].

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2020

• The lineups for next week's Democratic debates are set. Night one features Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, while Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will take the stage on night two [WaPo].
• Staffers for Democratic hopeful John Delaney have urged him to drop out of the presidential race. He's spent $19 million, including $11 million of his own money, on his long-shot bid so far [Axios].
• Many Democratic candidates have vowed to not take campaign cash from lobbyists. That ban may not be as strict as it appears [Politico].

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Hmmm. William Barr dramatically increased his political donations to Republican Senators in the months leading up to his confirmation hearings [Quartz].

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Michael Cohen

• Newly released search warrants show President Donald Trump's direct involvement in a hush-money scheme to silence an alleged affair with an adult film actress that threatened his 2016 presidential bid [CNN].
• Following the release of those documents, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are demanding that longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks return to clarify her testimony because of "inconsistent" remarks she gave about Trump's hush-money payments [Politico].

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Immigration. The Trump administration is considering cutting the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. next year to nearly zero [Politico].

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Democratic governors warn presidential candidates. Some state leaders are worried the 2020 Democratic presidential field will push the party too far to the left in the race for the nomination [NYT].

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Labor secretary. President Trump announced he plans to nominate Eugene Scalia, the son of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, as his next secretary of labor [NYT].

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Climate change. The Agriculture Department blocked the release of a plan to help American farmers deal with the effects of climate change [Politico].

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Conspiracy time. An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act instructs the government to investigate whether Lyme disease was developed by American bioweapons researchers during the Cold War [Defense One].