Deseret News
- King of the know-it-alls – “Like other trivia nerds and game show superfans, I regarded my oddball command of facts a useless, superfluous skill. Then we all met Ken Jennings.”
- Did renewable energy cause Texas grid failure? Could it happen in Utah? – Wind turbines did freeze in Texas, but the unprecedented deep freeze also led to the failure of natural gas plants, associated infrastructure such as pipelines, as well as nuclear power units. It’s much more unlikely that a widespread grid failure could happen in Utah because Utah’s grid structure is so different than that of Texas.
- Lifting the American family: Here are 3 potential solutions to give a financial boost – Baby bonds, the Family Security Act and looking to the north.
- Should transgender girls play on girls sports teams? Utahns share opinions in new poll – 61% say no, but only 5% of Utahns said they feel government officials should determine which athletes should compete in women’s sports.
- Should Senate have convicted Donald Trump? Utahns voice opinion in new poll – 51% say no; Sen. Mitt Romney’s, Sen. Mike Lee’s votes in Trump trial have no impact on approval ratings.
- Mitt Romney says Trump’s ‘big lie’ put country in ‘dark and dangerous’ place – “Like you, I hear many calls for unity. It is apparent that calling for unity while at the same time appeasing the big lie of a stolen election is a fraud. It is the lie that caused the division. It is in the service of that lie that a mob invaded the Capitol on January 6th.”
- Dancing on the grave of Rush Limbaugh? Time to confront America’s culture of contempt – “I marveled at how comfortable society has become with contempt — even toward someone who had just died. I confess it truly saddened me.”
- Latter-day Saints (not Mormons!) know what’s in a name. ‘Dixie’ is no different – Opponents to a name change at Dixie State University are now weaponizing religion. They should know better.
Salt Lake Tribune
- Provo-Orem, Salt Lake City, Ogden, Logan, St. George all rank among best-performing cities – Tech-focused index gives lofty economic marks to all five Utah metro areas.
- New cannabis bill would give Utah a 15th marijuana pharmacy – The proposal would also force existing pharmacy operators to get up and running or give up their licenses.
- Controversial Utah school board member draws fire for posts accusing teacher of promoting communism – Utah’s state school board distanced itself Thursday from a member after she attacked a teacher on social media — publicly posting the teacher’s name, the school where she works and accusing her, without offering evidence, of instructing students that “communism is better than our form of government.”
- Spencer Cox vs. the Legislature, astronomical payday loan interest rates, and Mike Lee’s battle on this week’s ‘Behind the Headlines’ – Join Salt Lake Tribune journalists on KCPW’s news roundup.
- House taps brakes on bill to hit electric and hybrid vehicles with a steep hike in state fees – After fierce opposition in debate, sponsor pulls the bill to rework it.
- Will this be the year for a Utahraptor State Park? – A state bill would preserve historical and paleontological treasures in Grand County.
- Gov. Spencer Cox suggests he wants some changes in Legislature’s plan to rein in his emergency powers – The new governor says he recognizes the power of the legislative branch to make changes but has urged leaders ‘to not overreact to something that happens every 100 years.’
Other
- Utah man proposes bill to change custody law to 50-50 (FOX 13) – The current law focuses on the children, rather than the parents.
- DACA recipient, Owens react to new immigration reform bill (FOX 13) – Utah Rep. Burgess Owens tells FOX 13 he supports a legal pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients but does not agree with other key pieces of the legislation.
- Salt Lake County Health Department talks Covid-19 vaccinations (ABC 4) – Utah has administered over 551,000 vaccines to eligible residents, and they continue to ramp up vaccine efforts.
COVID Corner
- Utahns 65 and older can now get COVID-19 vaccine, governor says (Deseret News) – Utahns 65 and older can go to the state’s COVID-19 website, coronavirus.utah.gov, for information on signing up for shots that are available through the state’s 13 local health departments as well as some Smith’s, Walmart, Harmons, Dan’s, Maceys, Dick’s and Fresh Market pharmacies throughout the state.
- Vitamin C, zinc can’t fight off COVID-19 symptoms, new study suggests (Deseret News) – Researchers stopped the study early because “the findings were so unimpressive.”
- Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine produces a much weaker immune response against the variant found in South Africa, a new study suggests (Business Insider) – The vaccine produced two-thirds less neutralizing antibodies against a lab-made virus designed to mimic the variant.
- A mass-casualty event every day (Washington Post) – An average of 3100 people in the US died of COVID-19 every day in January. One every 28 seconds.
- Israeli study finds Pfizer vaccine 85% effective after first shot (Reuters) -The Sheba Medical Center’s findings compare with overall efficacy of around 95% in a two dose regimen 21 days apart for the shot developed with Germany’s BioNTech.
- California hospital sees staff COVID-19 infections drop to “single digits” after achieving herd immunity (CBS News) – In December, when the pandemic was at its peak in the state, UC Davis Medical Center had 231 employees out because of COVID-19. On Wednesday, that number was just 10.
- Young Florida women dressed as grannies to get coronavirus vaccine — and it may have worked (Click Orlando) – Women were outed when they showed up for second doses.
- CDC director worries over ‘pandemic fatigue’ come spring: ‘This could go bad so fast’ (Fox News) – Walensky’s comments come as more states confirm cases of COVID-19 variants.
- Severe weather puts freeze on O.C. vaccine supply, forcing closure of Disneyland vaccination center (Los Angeles Times)
