Morning must reads for Monday, April 3, 2017

Local News Highlights: Daily Briefing

Morning must reads for Monday, April 3, 2017

Good Monday morning and Happy Opening Day from Salt Lake City. Today is the 93rd day of the year. There are 272 days remaining in 2017.

Most Utahns say homelessness is an urgent problem facing the state. Senate Republicans consider going "nuclear" to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. President Trump says he's willing to take unilateral action against North Korea.

The clock:

• 47 days until the Utah Republican State Convention (5/20/2017)
• 75 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention at Weber State University (6/17/2017)
• 218 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)
• 294 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
• 339 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
• 582 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 1,310 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR - 

• NEW POLL: 62% of Utahns say homelessness in Utah is a severe problem [Utah Policy].
   
• Our "Political Insiders" weigh in on whether Senate Republicans should use the "nuclear option" to break a filibuster to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court [Utah Policy].
   
• LaVarr Webb says there's no reason to fear an Article V convention to reduce the power of the federal government [Utah Policy].
   
• Robert Spendlove looks at how a growing population can lead to significant policy changes [Utah Policy].
   
• The LDS Church announces new temples in Saratoga Springs, Idaho, Kenya, Philippines and Brazil [Deseret News].
   
• Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams picks a site in South Salt Lake for a new homeless shelter. Elected officials and residents in that city vow to fight against the new facility [Washington Post].
   
• Rep. Chris Stewart holds a town hall meeting in Salt Lake City where a rowdy crowd booed him and chanted "do your job" in regards to investigating President Donald Trump [Deseret News].
   
• Former Senate President Miles "Cap" Ferry passes away [Senate Site].
   
• Utah transportation officials start making their list of how they intend to spend the $1 billion lawmakers set aside for transit projects [Tribune].
   
• Google Fiber installations in Salt Lake City are moving slower than the search engine giant initially promised [Deseret News].
   
• The U.S. Senate braces for a fight this week over the vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch as the next Supreme Court justice [Washington Post].
  • Democrats are closing in on the 41 votes they need to filibuster, and effectively block, Gorsuch's confirmation [Politico].
     
  • If Democrats do employ the filibuster, Republicans are threatening to change the rules to require a simple majority to confirm Gorsuch, also known as the "nuclear option." That move could fundamentally change Washington going forward [The Hill].
     
• Donald Trump's son-in-law, and White House adviser, Jared Kushner, made a trip to Iraq over the weekend. It's worth noting that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has not yet visited Iraq [New York Times]. In another sign of Kushner's growing clout, Chinese officials have figured out that the way to get to Trump is through Kushner [New York Times].
   
• President Donald Trump says he's willing to take unilateral action against North Korea if China doesn't do more to reign in the rogue nation [Wall Street Journal].
   
• After their humiliating failure to repeal Obamacare, don't expect Republicans in Congress to move quickly on overhauling the tax code [Associated Press].
   
• President Donald Trump is still pressing the thoroughly debunked claim that the Obama administration spied on him during the 2016 election [Wall Street Journal]. 

On this day in history:

• 1865 - Union forces occupied the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.
   
• 1882 - Outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in St. Joseph, Mo., by Robert Ford, a member of his gang.
   
• 1948 - President Harry S. Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5 billion in aid to help 16 European countries recover from World War II.
   
• 1996 - Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested.

Today At Utah Policy

Poll: Utahns say homelessness is an urgent problem
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
More than 60 percent of Utahns say the state’s homeless problem is “severe,” and must be addressed now according to a new UtahPolicy.com poll....

Don't be afraid of Article V amendments convention
By LaVarr Webb, Publisher
With Republicans in control of two-thirds of state legislatures and governorships, more and more states are calling for a national convention under Article V of the Constitution to discuss and propose various constitutional amendments, most of which would reduce the power of...

Growing population: Understanding and preparing for big things to come
By Robert Spendlove, Zions Bank Economic and Public Policy Officer
The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, famously said, “the only constant is change.”  ...

'Political Insiders' split over using 'nuclear option' to confirm Gorsuch
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
The showdown over Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court should come to a head this week....

Policy News

Hatch urges support for rollback of harmful Obama regulation
In a speech on the Senate floor, Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) called on his Senate colleagues to support H.J. Res. 67, a resolution that would repeal an Obama-era regulation that encourages municipalities to impose burdensome mandates on private ...

Sens. Lee, Booker introduce commodity check off reform bill
Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act of 2017 (OFF Act), a measure intended to bring much-needed transparency and accountability to the federal government’s commodity check off programs....

Local Headlines

Salt Lake Tribune

Holly Richardson: To kill this beast, we must be willing to talk

Op-ed: Reprocessing nuclear waste and Yucca Mountain worth another look

Op-ed: Drive innovation with a national laboratory at Point of the Mountain

Op-ed: Utah Democrats can effect real change if they'll vote in GOP primaries

Editorial: Utah and the ACLU on the same side, the right side, vs DEA

Editorial: Homeless site selection is a big step, but only the first one.

South Salt Lake mayor vows to fight county to uphold its promises about new homeless center site

Riverton: Pulling out of police service area will enable better control of service levels, costs

Fewer Utahns going without health insurance, though obstacles persist

Crews tackle cleanup of trash, waste, needles around homeless shelter

'Do your job': Crowd boos border wall, health overhaul at Rep. Stewart town hall

UDOT outlines its wish list for spending $1 billion

Alcohol: Blanding putting beer and wine sales on the ballot

Poll: Many Utahns know people who seek treatment for opioid addiction, but barriers remain

Documents: Safety problems worse in other TRAX locales than where fence will go up near homeless shelter

Deseret News

Frank Pignanelli & LaVarr Webb: Watching federal train wrecks from local perspective

Op-ed: Utah's public education system needs improvement

Op-ed: Transparency efforts during the 2017 legislative session bring more light to government

Editorial: Finding new shelter locations only part of the process

Editorial: Utah deserves notice for its online privacy laws

Mayor calls plan for homeless shelter a 'lethal blow' for South Salt Lake

South Salt Lake residents not ready to accept new homeless shelter site

Utah wildlife managers lament prairie dog ruling

Federal judge dismisses lawsuit over natural gas leases

Rowdy crowd greets Rep. Stewart at first town hall since infamous Chaffetz meeting

More than 100 turn out for rally and march to show support for homeless

Other

Editorial: Initiative puts Pleasant Grove on rocky road (Daily Herald)

Editorial: Telecoms got what they wanted from the Utah congressional delegation (Standard-Examiner)

State of emergency declared in Box Elder, Cache counties for February flooding (Standard-Examiner)

Jail's new role doesn't signal local immigrant crackdown (Logan Herald Journal)

New Summit County sales tax rate goes into effect April 1 (Park Record)

Park City housing efforts will take decades, mayor says (Park Record)

National Headlines

Putin seeking meeting with Trump (Washington Examiner)

Trump summit will be only US stop for Xi, says Secret Service source (South China Morning Post)

McConnell vows Gorsuch will be confirmed this week, Schumer predicts he won't get 60 votes (FOX News)

Gorsuch Supreme Court Nomination Gains More Democratic Support (New York Times)

Trump hits the links with Rand Paul, talks health care, WH says (CNN)

I'm a Woman Who Benefitted Greatly from Working for Mike Pence (National Review)

Trump says health-care bill not dead, touts Republican unity (Wall Street Journal)

Obamacare Choices Could Go From One to Zero in Some Areas (New York Times)

A Pentagon Test for Boeing's Mr. Fix-It (New York Times)

New EPA documents reveal even deeper proposed cuts to staff and programs (Washington Post)

Schumer rips bill allowing internet providers to sell user data (New York Daily News)

Wise Words

Spring Fever
"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!" ~Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, Detective

Lighter Side

Snow Globes
"Ivanka Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visited the National Air and Space museum. Ivanka spoke to employees while Betsy played with the snow globes in the gift shop." Jimmy Fallon