FROM OUR SPONSOR AARP

Thank you to Utah’s leaders for tax relief on Social Security benefits.

For too long, state taxes have reduced the hard-earned Social Security benefits Utah seniors count on. But now, Governor Cox and Utah legislators have passed tax relief that will reduce state taxes on Social Security. AARP Utah fought hard for this new law to make sure our seniors keep more of what they’ve earned. Click here to learn more & thank our leaders.

Utah Headlines

Political news

• President Adams previews special session of Utah legislature (KSL Newsradio)
• While others sign off on state Indian Child Welfare Acts, Utah is waiting on SCOTUS (KUER)
• Mitt Romney, other GOP senators want Biden to ‘finish the border wall’ (Deseret News)
• Mitt Romney says Trump ‘not fit’ to be president after Trump found liable for sexual assault, defamation (Deseret News)
• Poll: Trump pulls ahead, now neck-and-neck with DeSantis in Utah, Cheney comes in third (Deseret News)
• Environmental, social, governance investing an 'undemocratic tax' on economy, Reyes says (KSL)

General Utah news

• Former Utah postal worker found guilty of destroying immigration mail (KSL)
• Checks on the way for Utahns after $141M TurboTax settlement (Daily Herald)

Business

• World Trade Center Utah is looking for a new CEO, president (Deseret News)
• ‘It seems they’re on hyperdrive’ — at least 9 Utah communities have opened the door to inland port projects (Salt Lake Tribune)
• St. George service businesses struggle to fill jobs as employees can’t find rentals. Service workers’ hourly wages often do not cover the cost of housing. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Culture

• How Eric Dowdle built a puzzle empire, piece by piece (Deseret News)
• Utah dairy farm struggling to stay afloat after long, difficult winter (Fox13)
• ‘This could only happen in Utah’ — Jewish congregation celebrates 50 years of an unlikely union (Salt Lake Tribune)
• 'Sesame Street' introduces TJ, the show's first Filipino American muppet (NPR)

Education

• The 3 Utah students just named U.S. Presidential Scholars include Deseret News/KSL’s top Sterling Scholar (Deseret News)
• Schools are experimenting with later start times (Deseret News)
• Students at Copper Hills High School hope to break blood donation record (KSL)
• School in Park City introduces new resource to excite kids about coding (KSL TV)
• Utah State University’s 3D printing center aims to create solutions for disabilities (KSL TV)
• Donate now to help erase student lunch debt in Utah (Fox13)
• School district walks back graduation changes (Salt Lake Tribune)

Environment

• Devastating flooding submerges Utah farmer's crops along Bear River (KUTV)
• Popular Lake Powell ramp open to houseboats, large vessels for 1st time in months (KSL)
• Lake Powell expected to rise 50 feet this summer (Fox13)
• How much would a toll through Big and Little Cottonwood cost you? Here’s the latest estimate. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Landslide prompts evacuations in Weber County while crews work to divert water (KUTV)
• An EPA proposal to (almost) eliminate climate pollution from power plants (NPR)

Family

• This NFL kicker says his wedding ring matters more than his 2 Super Bowl rings (Deseret News)
• How technology can help your child’s screen obsession (Deseret News)
• Survey finds many parents dip into retirement, emergency funds to help adult children (KUTV)
• Highland woman charged for taking $275k of dad’s retirement money (ABC4)
• Living with a baby in a makeshift dwelling isn’t ideal. This couple changed everything to get into a home. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Health

• BYU study shows family history can improve psychological well-being of young adults (Deseret News)
• Utah opioid task force voices concerns over increased overdoses, new substances (KSL)
• A plastic sheet with a pouch could be a 'game changer' for maternal mortality (NPR)
• Millions of people have long COVID brain fog — and there's a shortage of answers (NPR)
• A new, more diverse human genome offers hope for rare genetic diseases (Washington Post)

Housing

• Right now, Utah’s housing market favors owners looking to upgrade, not first-timers (KUER)

National Headlines

General

• Havasupai Tribe in Arizona marks a spiritual homecoming: ‘We are still the Grand Canyon’ (AP)
• Oprah teams with Arthur C. Brooks on book about happiness (AP)
• To meet EV demand, industry turns to technology long deemed hazardous (Washington Post)
• Why do some people help strangers? The mystery of sacrifice (The Atlantic)
• Arthur Brooks: Choose the activism that won't make you miserable. The best way of trying to change the world is the one that will offer you happiness too. (The Atlantic)

Politics

• Title 42 and its impacts on immigration in the U.S., explained (Deseret News)
• ‘Now or never’: Migrants rush to US border ahead of Title 42 expiration (AP)
• Trump digs in on election lies, insults accuser during CNN town hall event (AP)
• Trump mocks sexual abuse case, repeats false 2020 election claims, says he could resolve war in Ukraine in 24 hours (Wall Street Journal)
• Trump snaps at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins: ‘You’re a nasty person’ (The Hill)
• Yellen: Different system needed to end repeated standoffs over US debt ceiling (AP)

Ukraine 🇺🇦

• Zelenskyy: Ukraine counteroffensive needs more time, launching now would cost too many lives (AP)
• Tributes pour in for AFP journalist killed in Ukraine (AP)
• Wagner says Ukraine makes gains; Kyiv says counteroffensive yet to begin (Reuters)

World

• War, natural disasters left record 71 million people internally displaced in 2022, report says (AP)
• Italy calls crisis meeting as pasta prices jump almost 20 percent (Washington Post)
• Turkey election: Erdogan’s challenger vows to end ‘authoritarian rule’ (Washington Post)

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Utah had an incredible snow season, but we’re still one of the driest states in the nation — and one of the fastest-growing. Join Envision Utah for a breakfast and an expert panel discussion on the future of water.  Thursday, May 18, 2023, 8 AM – 9:30 AM at The Grand America Hotel. Purchase Here!

News Releases

Gov. Cox issues executive order to require water conservation at state facilities and increase Utah’s drought resiliency

Gov. Spencer Cox has issued an executive order requiring water conservation at state facilities with the goal of increasing Utah’s drought resiliency. Under Executive Order 2023-07, each state agency will assess its compliance with water conservation requirements for state facilities, coordinate with the Division of Facilities Construction and Management and the Division of Water Resources to implement and follow those requirements, and follow the Division of Water Resources’ weekly watering guide. (Read More)

A “Bolder Way Forward” launching June 9, 2023

This event is the formal launch of Utah’s “A Bolder Way Forward” (BWF), which focuses on making Utah a place where more girls and women can thrive in any setting (e.g., home, workplace, congregation, and community). This initiative focuses on creating change in Utah faster, better, and more effectively. (Read More)

Reps. Curtis, Pappas & Senator Rubio reintroduce the bipartisan Taiwan Representative Office Act

Today, Congressman Curtis (R-UT), Congressman Pappas (D-NH), and Senator Rubio (R-FL) reintroduced the Taiwan Representative Office Act to rename Taiwan’s diplomatic outpost currently named the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to the Taiwan Representative Office. (Read More)

Owens, Johnson introduce bill to modernize DCA air travel

Today, Reps. Burgess Owens (UT-04) and Hank Johnson (GA-04) introduced The Direct Capital Access (DCA) Act, legislation to add 28 additional in- and beyond-perimeter flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in the 2023 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization bill. (Read More)

Republicans release report on Biden campaign/intelligence community

Today, House Republicans on the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees released a joint interim staff report titled, “The Hunter Biden Statement: How Senior Intelligence Community Officials and the Biden Campaign Worked to Mislead American Voters.” Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) is a member of both the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. (Read More)

Number of the Day

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

• YWCA Leader Luncheon featuring Dr. Bernice A. King — May 12, 11:30-2:00, Grand America. Register here
• Interim Days — May 16-17, Utah State Capitol, le.utah.gov
• Utah Democratic Convention — May 19-20, SUU (More information here)
• Northern Utah Conference to End Sexual Violence — May 31, USU Eccles Center, 8:30 am-4:00 pm, Register here
• Intellectual Property Rights webinar with the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation — June 1, 10:00 am, Register here
• Bolder Way Forward Launch — June 9, 9 am-1 pm, Zions Technology Campus, Register here
• Interim Day — June 13-14, Utah State Capitol, le.utah.gov

On This Day In History 

• 1875 - Harriet Quimby is born. She became the first American woman to become a licensed airplane pilot and the first woman to fly across the English Channel
• 1888 - Irving Berlin is born in Tyuman, Russian Empire.
• 1906 - Jacqueline Cochran is born. She became the first female pilot to break the sound barrier in 1953. At the time of her death in 1980, she held more records than any other pilot - male or female - in history. 
• 1934 - A massive dust storm sweeps millions of tons of topsoil from the Great Plains across the Eastern states.
• 1960 - Israeli soldiers capture Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires
• 1981 - Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae musician, dies of brain and lung cancer at age 36.
• 1987 - "Butcher of Lyon,” former Nazi Gestapo chief, Klaus Barbie, is finally charged with war crimes
• 1989 - US President George H.W. Bush orders nearly 2000 troops to Panama
• 2022 - First US government report into Native American boarding school deaths released; documents more than 500 deaths across 400 schools and 50 gravesites over 150 years. Research is ongoing.

Quote of the Day

"Santos has a lot going on. I think he has other things to focus on in his life other than running for re-election.”

—Speaker Kevin McCarthy

On the Punny Side

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