Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. It’s tax day! Here are some tips on reducing your chances of an audit.
Ballot initiative organizers declare victory. Veto override session set. Sean Hannity is revealed as a client of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.
Thanks for subscribing to Utah’s must-read daily political news roundup. If you know someone who would benefit from our newsletter, please have them sign up for our newsletter here.
Got a tip or story idea? You can send me a secure email at [email protected].
Tick Tock
- 4 days until the Utah GOP State Convention (4/21/2018)
- 11 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention (4/28/2018)
- 20 days until the final day a veto override session may begin (5/7/2018)
- 70 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)
- 204 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 287 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
- 934 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
Take a minute and subscribe to the “Bernick and Schott on politics” podcast. Listen to Utah’s best political analysis while you’re on the go. Hosts Bryan Schott and Bob Bernick have more than 60 years combined experience covering Utah politics, so they bring you knowledge and insight that’s unprecedented. You can subscribe using iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.
Here are the news stories driving Tuesday
Which citizens initiatives will make the ballot?
Backers of all four proposals say they have enough signatures to qualify for November’s ballot. Could the LDS Church’s opposition to the medical marijuana initiative damage its broad base of support? [Utah Policy].
How many verified signatures does each proposal have right now? We’ve got the latest numbers showing how close each is to making the ballot [Utah Policy].
Veto override session set
Lawmakers will attempt to override two of Gov. Gary Herbert’s vetoes on Wednesday afternoon [Utah Policy].
Our Schools Now deal official
Our Schools Now dropped their signature-gathering efforts to get an income and sales tax hike on the ballot in November as part of the deal they reached with lawmakers for more school funding [Utah Policy].
Primary and general election candidates
Which candidates are left standing following the political conventions? Check out who remains with our 2018 Candidate Trackers.
Other Utah headlines
- The Salt Lake City Council is postponing their vote on a proposed sales tax hike to work out how to spend the new funds [Deseret News, Tribune].
- The Utah State Board of Education updates their anti-bullying policies to include LGBTQ children [Fox 13].
- A study says a toll road is the best way to deal with increasing traffic in Little Cottonwood Canyon [Deseret News].
- Gas prices in Utah are the 8th highest in the country and could be heading upwards [Deseret News].
National headlines
- Stunner! President Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen reveals in court that one of his clients is Fox News host Sean Hannity. Hannity disputes that claim [ABC News].
- A federal judge may appoint a special master to review records seized from Michael Cohen’s office and hotel room [Washington Post].
- The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on whether online retailers should be required to collect sales taxes [CNN].
- President Trump backs off new sanctions on Russia that U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced on Sunday [Washington Post].
- The Trump 2020 re-election campaign is targeting small donors to boost their campaign coffers [New York Times].
- Russian hackers are targeting wireless internet routers in the U.S. and other western countries [ABC News].
On this day in history
- 1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer tells The Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.
- 1512 – The Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Martin Luther after he refused to admit to charges of heresy.
- 1524 – Italian navigator Giovanni Verrazano discovered what is now New York Harbor.
- 1861 – Virginia’s secession convention votes to secede from the United States, becoming the 8th state to join the Confederate States of America.
- 1905 – The Supreme Court decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the “right to free contract” is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
- 1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
- 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
- 1993 – A federal jury convicted two Los Angeles police officers and acquitted two others of violating the civil rights of Rodney King during his 1991 arrest and beating.
