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Utah Headlines

Political news

• Megan Rawlins Woods: Why Gov. Cox says we don’t need to disagree less — we need to disagree better. Gov. Spencer Cox is a great example of being respectful, showing civility and finding common ground (Deseret News)
• Utah's attorney general hunts the paranormal on 'Secret of Skinwalker Ranch' (KSL)
• Why you should care about the interim meetings of the Utah legislature (KSL Newsradio)

General Utah news

• Investigation finds father killed 16-year-old son in office complex murder-suicide (KUTV)
• A contingent recently gathered to help inventory the Japanese section of the Ogden City Cemetery, where immigrants from Japan and their descendants are buried (Standard-Examiner)
• Provo Canyon School staffer died after campus assault — one of several recent police calls to Springville facility, records show (Salt Lake Tribune)
• FOX 13 Investigates: Police quotas are illegal, but Ogden says it has a ‘point system’ instead (Fox13)

Business

• Coastal cities priced out low-wage workers. Now college graduates are leaving too and SLC is one of their destinations (New York Times)

Education

• USU will now provide full tuition and student body fee scholarships for all resident Native American students who qualify. (USU)
• How a Utah high schooler turned 'a lot of self-destruction' into 'a lot of self-discipline' (KSL)

Environment

• Willard Bay releases water to help the Great Salt Lake this spring (Deseret News)
• ‘It is a lot of balls in the air that we are juggling’: Inside Utah’s battle with record runoff (Deseret News)
• Utah slips out of severe drought; state issues new watering guide (KSL)
• Utah’s snowy winter cost a lot of overtime, then came the spring flooding (KUER)
• Steve Handy: Western hydrogen hub shows the way forward on energy — and politics too (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Flood warnings continue in Utah — and it’s going to get hot (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Biden plan to sell land leases for conservation gets pushback. The idea is to make conservation “equal” in priority to other uses of public lands such as drilling and livestock grazing. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Plans for new fire station in St. George move forward ahead of ‘busy’ fire season (St. George News)

Family

• Stamp Out Hunger food drive comes at a critical time for Utah families in need (KSL TV)

Health

• Utah to pay some health care providers' student loan debt if they work in underserved communities (Fox13)
• Nutrition security goes beyond having enough food to eat. Here’s what you should know. (St. George News)

National Headlines

General

• Black taxpayers have been far more likely to be audited than others, the IRS said on Monday. (New York Times)
• US jets intercept six Russian warplanes near Alaska (The Hill)
• ‘It definitely hit different’: Brittney Griner says she has a newfound appreciation for the national anthem (Deseret News)
• Shawn Teigen: Is our inflation too high? The math, explained (Deseret News)
• A lonely nation: Has the notion of the ‘American way’ promoted isolation across history? (AP)
• At 81, Martha Stewart becomes oldest Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model (AP)
• A Michigan boy fended off a would-be kidnapper by wounding him with a slingshot (NPR)
• A high-schooler filmed her teacher using the n-word, then got suspended (Washington Post)

Politics

• Two congressional staffers (including an intern on her first day) were attacked with a metal baseball bat at the district office of Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia (New York Times)
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill into law Monday that would bar the state’s colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and limit how race can be discussed in many courses (Washington Post)
• Biden thinks he can reach an agreement with Republicans over the debt ceiling (Deseret News)
• ‘A serious lack of analytical rigor’ and other findings from the Durham Report into the FBI (Deseret News)
• Pence looks toward 2024 run using Reagan's playbook, not Trump's (New York Times)

Ukraine 🇺🇦

• Russian customs data showed that millions of dollars of U.S.-made aircraft parts were sent to Russia last year. (New York Times)
• Ukraine shoots down 18 Russian missiles overnight, including 6 Kinzhals (Kyiv Independent)
• Where is Zelenskyy now? Ukrainian president meets with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak (Deseret News)
• Russia launches ‘exceptional’ air attack on Kyiv as Europe, China look to exert influence (AP)

World

• Skeletons found in Pompeii ruins reveal deaths by earthquake, not just Vesuvius’ ancient eruption (AP)
• Prominent foe of female circumcision wins prestigious $1.4 million Templeton Prize (AP)

News Releases

Gov. Cox appoints Brian Steed as new Great Salt Lake commissioner

Gov. Spencer Cox has named Brian Steed as the state’s new Great Salt Lake commissioner. This appointment is subject to approval by the Utah Senate. Steed is currently executive director of the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air at Utah State University, a position that he will retain in addition to his duties as Great Salt Lake commissioner. Previously, Steed has served as executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, deputy director of policy and programs and the official exercising of the director of the Bureau of Land Management, and chief of staff to Congressman Chris Stewart. (Read More)

Mountainland Technical College celebrates over 2,100 graduate students in its historic 2023 Commencement Ceremony

Mountainland Technical College (MTECH) is thrilled to recognize Utah’s largest-ever graduating technical education class. On Tuesday, May 16, 2023 at 7:00 pm, over 2,100 graduates will be recognized in the UCCU center at Utah Valley University. (Read More)

Three Utah students named 2023 U.S. Presidential Scholars

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced the 59^th class of U.S. Presidential Scholars today, recognizing 161 high school seniors for their accomplishments in academics, the arts, and career and technical education fields. The announcement includes three Utah students who are recognized for their excellence. Those students are: Michael Ogden Chen and Priyanka Matthews, from Hillcrest High and Aaron Wang from Skyline High. (Read More)

Moore, colleagues, reintroduce legislation to better support activated military reservists and National Guard servicemembers

Today, Representatives Blake Moore (UT-01), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), Brad Wenstrup (OH-02), and Don Beyer (VA-08) reintroduced the bipartisan Reservist Pay Equity Act to better incentivize employers to continue to pay members of the National Guard and Reserves while activated. (Read More)

Romney joins colleagues in demanding BLM withdraw proposed public lands rule

U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today joined a group of colleagues, led by Senators John Hoeven (R-ND) and Steve Daines (R-MT), in pressing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to withdraw its proposed Public Lands Rule. The senators stressed the negative impact the proposal would have on western states, as the rule would undermine the multiple use requirements established by Congress and lock away taxpayer-owned lands from activities that are essential to local economies, including grazing, energy development, and tourism. (Read More)

Salt Lake County launches new Runoff Ready site with flood prep tips

In preparation for the coming weeks of warmer weather and higher spring runoff, Mayor Wilson has launched a new Runoff Ready website. The information has been available at this site for some time but this week, Salt Lake County moved the content into a new design that makes information easier to access and to translate. (Read More)

Number of the Day

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

• 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 Days — June 13-14, Utah State Capitol, le.utah.gov

On This Day In History 

• 1918 - US Congress passes the Sedition Act
• 1943 - The Warsaw Ghetto uprising ends. 13,000 Jews have died, about half burnt alive or suffocated, German casualties were less than 300. The surviving residents were deported to Treblinka, where virtually all of them were dead by the end of the war.
• 1975 - Junko Tabei, Japanese mountaineer, becomes the first woman to summit Mount Everest. 
• 1990 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer, artist, screenwriter and filmmaker, and creator of 'the Muppets" (Sesame Street; The Muppet Show), dies of toxic shock syndrome at 53
• 2014 - Barbara Walters signs off, after some 50 years on the air.

Quote of the Day

"When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there."
—Jim Henson

On the Punny Side

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