Situational awareness - February 20, 2018

Situational awareness - February 20, 2018

Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Back to work after a cold and snowy Presidents Day weekend. There are just 13 working days until the end of the 2018 Utah Legislature.

Trump endorses Romney. Utah Republicans are floating a "purity test" for candidates. Americans say President Trump and Congress aren't doing enough to prevent gun violence.

Tick Tock:

• 16 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
• 17 days until the filing period for candidates in the 2018 election opens (3/9/2018)
• 23 days until the filing deadline for the 2018 elections (3/15/2018)
• 28 days until the statewide caucus meetings for Utah Republicans and Democrats (3/20/2018)
• 60 days until the Utah GOP State Convention (4/21/2018)
• 67 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention (4/28/2018)
• 126 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)
• 258 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 342 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
• 988 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

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Here's what's driving the day:

Burying the hatchet

President Donald Trump apparently lets bygones be bygones and tweeted out an endorsement of Mitt Romney's Senate run in Utah. Romney accepted the olive branch [Utah Policy].

Purity test?

Some hardliners on the Utah GOP Central Committee want to pass a rule that will allow them to decide which candidates can actually call themselves Republicans, and which cannot [Utah Policy].

The race for 113,000 signatures

Our "Political Insiders" say the "Count My Vote" and "Our Schools Now" ballot initiatives have the best chance to reach the 113,000 signature threshold to be included on the 2018 ballot [Utah Policy].

Other Utah headlines:

• A group of Utah students is planning a March rally at the capitol to push for more gun regulations in the aftermath of the latest school massacre in Florida [Tribune].
   
• An alcohol industry group says Rep. Norm Thurston's bill to carve out an exemption for gun owners in Utah's strictest-in-the-nation DUI law is hypocritical [Deseret News].
   
• Outdoor billboard companies, who are big donors to Utah politicians, are pushing a bill to allow them to replace existing signs with digital ones without the approval of local governments [Tribune].
   
• The Utah House is set to consider a bill allowing the production and sale of hemp products [Deseret News].
   
• Sen. Curt Bramble wants to facilitate the development of 5G wireless networks in Utah with a bill allowing cities to deploy small-scale antennas [Fox 13]. 
   
• Rep. Travis Seegmiller, who replaced Jon Stanard after he resigned suddenly due to a sex scandal, is trying to adjust to life on the Hill after joining the House mid-session [Fox 13].

National headlines:

• A new national poll finds most Americans say President Trump and Congress aren't doing enough to prevent mass shootings like last week's school shooting in Florida. 58% said stricter gun control laws could have prevented the shooting, while 77% say more effective mental health screenings and treatment would have helped [Washington Post].
   
• The army of Russian Twitter bots seized on the Florida school shooting, pushing out hashtags and topics on both sides of the argument to create discord and division [New York Times].
   
• The White House says President Trump is supportive of efforts to improve background checks for gun purchases [The Hill]. 
   
• Fascinating idea: If Congress doesn't impose gun control measures, credit card companies could set new rules for the sale of guns. Already PayPal, Stripe, and Apple Pay do not allow the use of their services for the sale of guns. Other companies could follow suit [New York Times]. 
   
• Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly interested in White House adviser Jared Kushner's efforts to secure financing for his real estate company during the presidential transition period [CNN].
   
• U.S. election officials aren't sure they're prepared to fend off likely Russian interference in the 2018 election [Reuters].
   
• A court in Pennsylvania has redrawn that state's congressional map because the old one was illegally gerrymandered to favor Republicans. The new map is much more hospitable to Democrats, boosting their chances of taking control of the House in 2018 [Politico].
   
• Good news for Fox News fans. The channel is launching a streaming service called "Fox Nation" for their "superfans" [New York Times].

On this day in history:

• 1792 - President George Washington signs the Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department.
   
• 1872 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.
   
• 1933 - Congress proposes the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution, which will end prohibition in the United States.
   
• 1935 - Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
   
• 1962 - John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.
   
• 1971 - The Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.

Today At Utah Policy

Trump endorses Romney
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
President Donald Trump has reversed course on Mitt Romney and offered a full-throated endorsement of the former Massachusetts governor's run for U.S. Senate in Utah....

U.S. presidential line-up not very diverse . . . like every other country
By Jared Whitley
During intermission at a high school musical last week, I walked past a display of patriotic documents and pictures in the hallway: Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Gettysburg Address, and so forth. Accompanying were lots of pictures of our Founding Fathers....

Utah Republicans are considering a 'purity test' for potential GOP candidates
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
The radical right wing of the Utah Republican Party's Central Committee is at it again....

Which initiatives will get on the 2018 ballot? Our 'Political Insiders' make their predictions
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
The 2018 ballot in Utah could be one of the most policy-heavy choices for voters in years. There are six citizen ballot initiatives vying for a spot in November....

Romney Announces Candidacy: Did you hear a heavenly host of angels?
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
Well, Mitt Romney made it official Friday: He's running for the United States Senate from Utah this year.Here is his announcement video (which is also embedded at right).But maybe you don't have to view it.Didn't you hear a loud Heavenly Host of Angels singing the announceme...

Local Headlines

Salt Lake Tribune

Bishop Solis: Dreamers bring diversity and hope to our nation

Op-ed: Utah should delay enforcement of lower BAC limits

Editorial: The Utah Legislature should re-evaluate its principles

Utah lawmakers, water experts put the brakes on proposals some fear would destabilize Utah's water supply

As elderly homeless numbers grow, lawmakers want to know if living center bills, discharges are driving the problem

Looking for a place to smoke? Try the Utah State Capitol, where tobacco bills have floundered this session.

A bill to spread halfway houses throughout Utah - at a cost of $27 million - is on its way to the Senate floor

Mitt Romney: On school shootings, immigration and when he'll challenge Trump. A Q&A with Utah's new Senate candidate.

Rep. Mike Noel says he'll seek a presidential pardon to clear the criminal record of San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman

Want to find out who are Utah's biggest corporate donors to politicians? Lawmakers quietly changed the law in 2015 to make that more difficult.

First he called them 'character assassins,' now Orrin Hatch is apologizing to the ex-wives of a White House aide accused of domestic violence

Utahns like the sound of voting to change the way voter boundaries are drawn - if they've formed any opinion on the topic

Cities say big-donor billboard firms push sneaky bill to allow bigger, lighted displays without local OK

Deseret News

Frank R. Pignanelli and LaVarr Webb: Attacks on Romney and sugar - which is worse?

Greg Bell: Is Utah still a low-wage state?

Op-ed: Utah legislative efforts might erase the gains from tax reform

Op-ed: Education to address the alarming rate of opioid deaths in Utah

Editorial: New infrastructure plan might benefit Utah, but it also will lead to huge deficits

Romney calls for states, not feds, to find solutions to school violence

Utah House passes bill commemorating the 50th anniversary of Fair Housing Act

Lawmaker mulls bill to address Utah ballot initiative 'concerns'

Salt Lake County GOP chairman resigns unexpectedly

Utah lawmaker brings back bill to end auto registration requirements

Utah House passes bill to import cost-saving pharmaceutical drugs from Canada

Utah House speaker: 'I'm not going to take my foot off the gas'

Committee recommends bill legalizing sale of hemp products for qualifying licensees

Trump endorses Romney's Senate run

National group's ad calls gun exceptions in .05 percent DUI legislation hypocritical

Other

Editorial: Romney's run for U.S. Senate will either elevate or eliminate the playing field (Daily Herald)

After Senate announcement, Romney campaigns in Orem, Lehi on Friday (Daily Herald)

At Republican fundraiser, Romney encourages local action to prevent school shootings (Daily Herald)

By the time it's built out, BDO employee population will grow by 70 percent (Standard-Examiner)

2019 defense budget calls for F-35 uptick; Hill expects more work (Standard-Examiner)

Some Cache residents concerned about Utah homemade food bill (Logan Herald Journal)

Film industry leaders meet at Utah State Capitol to show support for tax incentive (Park Record)

National Headlines

CNN and MSNBC Helped Russia Sow Discord by Promoting Fake Anti-Trump Rally (NewsBusters)

Will Anthony Kennedy retire? (New York Times)

Florida school shooting: Trump 'supportive' of better gun background checks (BBC News)

Pennsylvania Gets a New District Map (Wall Street Journal)

Trump endorses Mitt Romney for Senate (CNN)

Trump to break bread with reporters at tony Gridiron Dinner (CNN)

Union Power, Email Privacy In The Balance At New Supreme Court Sitting (Daily Caller)

'Spin the bottle' and a kegerator: #MeToo movement lawmaker faces new sexual misconduct allegations (Politico)

John Kelly, Chinese officials caused commotion over nuclear football in Beijing, report says (FOX News)

N.Y. employee's job in limbo after seen berating Delta flight attendant in viral video (New York Daily News)

Washington DC has given Elon Musk a permit for his Hyperloop (BGR)

Wise Words

Simplify

"Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify." Henry David Thoreau
 

Lighter Side

LIncoln

"Lincoln was known as honest, the great emancipator, the rail splitter, tight coop he had a lot of nicknames he was like the Diddy of 1863. Even had his own vodka." Jimmy Kimmel