Ten Things You Need to Know Today - Tuesday, November 24, 2015

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Tuesday, November 24, 2015 - 10:00am

Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. There are 37 days left in 2015.

Utahns aren't sure who is likely to win the 2016 presidential race. Osmond withdraws from consideration to head up UCAT. The fight over SB54 may be heading back to court.

The clock:

62 days to the opening day of the 2016 Utah Legislature - (1/25/2016)
69 days to the 2016 Iowa Caucus - (2/1/2016)
77 days to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary (tentative) - (2/9/2016)
108 days to the final day of the 2016 Utah Legislature - (3/10/2016)
119 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic caucus meetings (3/22/2016)
151 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic State Conventions (4/23/2016)
218 days to the 2016 Utah primary election - (6/28/2016)
350 days until the 2016 presidential election - (11/8/2016)

Tuesday's top-10 headlines:

Turkey shoots down a Russian jet after military officials say it violated its airspace near the border with Syria [Washington Post, CNN].
Utah Republicans and independents aren't sure who will win the 2016 election while Democrats say Hillary Clinton is most likely to win next year according to a new poll [Utah Policy].
Sen. Aaron Osmond withdraws his candidacy to head up the Utah College of Applied Technology [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune].
It looks more and more likely that the fight over SB54 is heading back to court [Deseret News, Tribune, KUER].
A legislative task force votes against a bill to put charter school funding on tax notices and approves a bill that boosts charter school funding by $9 million [Tribune].
Salt Lake County is set to pass a small tax hike as part of next year's budget [Tribune].
Salt Lake County and Salt Lake City are teaming up to construct a series of smaller homeless shelters at a cost of $27 million [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Fox 13, Tribune, KUER].
Utah officials may not have much say on whether Syrian refugees eventually make their way to the state [2 News].
Donald Trump defends his claim that "thousands of people" in Arab and Muslim communities in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks, claiming he has "the world's greatest memory." [The Hill]. Meanwhile, Ben Carson is walking back his support for Trump's controversial claim [The Hill, New York Times].
Ted Cruz is starting to surge in polls in Iowa [New York Times].

On this day in history:

1859 - Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" was published.
1869 - Women from 21 states met in Cleveland to organize the American Women Suffrage Association.
1963 - Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, was fatally shot by Jack Ruby in the Dallas police headquarters basement two days after Kennedy was slain.
1971 - A passenger who became known as "D.B. Cooper" hijacked a Northwest Airlines flight from Portland Oregon, parachuted south of Seattle with a $200,000 ransom collected from the airline - and disappeared.

Today At Utah Policy

Poll: Who Will Win the White House in 2016?
By Bob Bernick
Utah Democrats think Hillary Clinton will win the presidency in 2016, a new UtahPolicy poll shows....

Osmond Withdraws Candidacy to Head Up UCAT; Will Resign from Utah Senate
By Bryan Schott
Less than two weeks after being tapped to head up the Utah College of Applied Technology, Sen. Aaron Osmond (R-South Jordan) announced he was no longer seeking the position, but would still step down from the Utah Legislature....

Salt Lake City and County Join Forces on Homelessness Plan
By Bryan Schott
Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker announced a plan and a strategy to minimize homelessness has unanimous support from stakeholders on two working groups that have been meeting for the past year. ...

Mormons, Gays and Religious Freedom
By Golden Webb
A blogger at The Economist looks at the Mormon Church's idiosyncratic, almost libertarian approach to negotiating the tension between gay rights and religious freedom....

FreedomWorks for America Launches TV Ad Praising Mike Lee in Utah
By Press Release
FreedomWorks for America, a political arm of FreedomWorks, launched a $48,000 TV ad buy in Utah praising Senator Mike Lee’s conservative record. The ad will run for ten days in across the state....

Policy News

U Law Professor and Students Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Take on Case of Robert Cameron Houston
A team of students from the S.J. Quinney College of Law and their professor are petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to take on the case of Robert Cameron Houston, who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2006 for killing a youth counselor when ...

'Grinch Proof' Holiday Shopping by Adding Consumer Protection to Your List
Francine A. Giani, Executive Director of the Department of Commerce, announced that the Utah Division of Consumer Protection is releasing its annual list of shopping tips ahead of Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail events to keep consumers safe and inform...

In Sixth Speech in Series, Hatch Speaks on Threats to Religious Liberty Abroad
Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, took to the Senate floor to deliver the sixth in a series of speeches on religious liberty Thursday afternoon....

Hatch Sponsors Resolution to Increase Adoption Awareness
The United States Senate has unanimously adopted a resolution recognizing November as National Adoption Month and November 21 as National Adoption Day. Senator Hatch, an original co-sponsor of this resolution, issued the following statement:...