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The Utah Policy newsletter is your one-stop source for political and policy-minded news. We scour the news so you don't have to! Send news tips or feedback to Holly Richardson at editor@utahpolicy.com.

 

Situational Analysis | May 8, 2025

It's Thursday and Free Trade Day!

What you need to know

  • Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke in Utah yesterday and weighed in on President Trump's tariff policies. “He calls himself ‘Tariff Man’. He also said “The global economy is deeply interconnected. That’s important and creates enormous value for the United States of America ... we’re not going to make everything here.” 

Rapid Relevance

On the Hill

 

Tickets on sale now for Envision Utah’s Annual Spring Breakfast!

When all eyes are on us for the 2034 Olympic Games, what should Utah show the world? Join us for a conversation between Governor Mike Leavitt and 2034 Games CEO Brad Wilson to talk about lessons from 2002 and how we can prepare Utah for 2034. Tickets on sale at envisionutah.org.

 

Utah Headlines

Political news

  • ‘We have to make progress,’ Rep. Blake Moore says: Competing demands place uncertainty over Trump’s tax package (Deseret News)
  • Perspective: The politics of tariffs, T-shirts and dolls (Deseret News)
  • Gov. Cox: Real compassion requires a crackdown on homelessness, fentanyl and sports gambling (Deseret News)
  • Stuart Adams, Mike Schultz: 3 years at the top — because we never stop moving forward (Deseret News)
  • Utah’s Mike Lee wants clarity on critical minerals definitions (Deseret News)
  • Utah Democrats launch campaign to recruit more party candidates in local elections (Deseret News)

Municipal news

  • Legislative leaders say SLC’s new flags are ‘political theatrics’ — but no word on if they’ll amend pride flag ban (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Utah city leaders react after Republican leaders push public lands sale (ABC4)
  • Ogden mayor pitches draft of $289 million budget, suggests no tax increases (Standard-Examiner)
  • ‘You don’t speed’ here: These Utah towns count on traffic fine revenue the most (Salt Lake Tribune)

Utah

  • From ancient giants to modern sports: The mammoth’s place in Utah (Deseret News)
  • Editorial Board: The strength of the 'Utah Way' shines bright (Deseret News)
  • The pioneer ethic that helps companies and communities thrive: Service (Deseret News)
  • Rugby’s Pacific Nations Cup is headed to Utah this fall. Here’s why BYU’s Kalani Sitake is excited (Deseret News)
  • Man killed in fall at Arches National Park (KSL TV)

Crime/Courts

  • FBI-led operation rescues 115 child exploitation victims; Utah charter school director among those charged (Deseret News)
  • Ogden man faces 637 misdemeanor charges after 156 dogs removed from his home (KSL)

Economy

  • Federal Reserve leaves key rate unchanged as it sees risk of higher prices and higher unemployment (AP)
  • Economists warn Trump's research cuts could have dire consequences for GDP (NPR)

Education - Higher

  • Weber State pauses tuition and fee increases for associate-degree students (Fox13)

Environment

  • Congressional Republicans pave way to sell public lands in Utah (Deseret News)
  • Rep. Maloy proposes selling more than 10,000 acres of Utah’s public lands (KSL Newsradio)
  • House panel eyes boosting oil, gas drilling; most Utahns don't agree (UPR)
  • New nuclear power law takes effect, but first plant is years away (KUTV)
  • Multiple UT counties get 'F' in clean air report (UPR)

Family

  • Mother’s Day gifts for the mom that ‘doesn’t want anything’ (Deseret News)

Health

  • Intermountain American Fork Hospital now Level III trauma center (Deseret News
  • AARP recognizes Salt Lake County as age-friendly. What does that mean? (Deseret News)
  • Season has highest child mortality from flu in 15 years (Deseret News)
  • Gov. Cox declares May 7 as Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day (ABC4)
  • Utah quietly removes transgender kids’ mental health reports from DHHS website (Salt Lake Tribune)

Housing

  • There’s a new affordable apartment complex in SLC and it offers ... wait for it ... affordable child care (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Artificial intelligence could revolutionize homebuilding in Utah (KUTV)
 

National Headlines

General

  • More older Americans worry Social Security won’t be there for them, an AP-NORC poll finds (AP)
  • After an Arizona man was shot, an AI video of him addresses his killer in court (NPR)
  • Pro-Palestinian protesters take over Columbia library. NYC mayor asks parents to call their children and tell them to leave (Wall Street Journal)
  • The $200 billion gamble: Bill Gates’s plan to wind down his foundation (New York Times)
  • Bill Gates accuses Elon Musk of ‘killing’ children with USAID cuts (Financial Times)

Political news

  • VP Vance outlines Trump’s foreign policy vision at Munich Security Conference (Deseret News)
  • 5 takeaways from Biden’s first post-presidency interview (Deseret News)
  • Donald Trump taps wellness influencer close to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for surgeon general (AP)
  • House GOP backing off some Medicaid cuts as report shows millions of people would lose health care (AP)
  • Republicans fall further apart on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ (The Hill)
  • GOP senators hope to avoid Trump agenda becoming a ‘trainwreck’ (The Hill)
  • ‘Funny way to treat your friends:’ Republicans miffed with Trump’s threats to ignore funding (Politico)
  • Danish foreign minister summoning US ambassador after Greenland spying report (The Hill)
  • Chief Justice Roberts says courts must be free to check ‘excesses’ of Congress, White House (Washington Post)

Immigration/Deportation

  • Federal court rules Rümeysa Öztürk must be transferred to detention in Vermont (NPR)

Tariffs/Trade

  • US and UK expected to announce a trade deal that Trump says will cement their relationship (AP)

DOGE/Musk

  • U.S. pushes nations facing tariffs to approve Musk’s Starlink, cables show (Washington Post)
  • DOGE aide Gavin Kliger was warned by ethics lawyers about his investments and advised to not take any actions that could benefit him personally. He fired them. (ProPublica

Ukraine/Russia

  • Exclusive: Ukraine considers shift from dollar to euro amid geopolitical realignments (Reuters)
  • Russia building major new explosives facility as Ukraine war drags on (Reuters)
  • Russia attacks Ukraine on the first day of self-declared ceasefire, killing 1 person (AP)
  • In wartime Russia, schools prepare the next generation of fighters (Washington Post)

Israel, Gaza, Syria

  • Dozens of Gaza communal kitchens shut as supply runs out, worsening hunger (Reuters)
  • The huge, under-the-radar shift happening in the West Bank (New York Times)

World news

  • Pakistan says shot down 25 drones, India says it pushed back Pakistani retaliation (Reuters)
  • No new pope elected yet after black smoke pours out of Sistine Chapel’s chimney (AP)
  • A miniature dachshund is reunited with its owner after 18 months lost on an Australian island (AP)
 

Number of the Day 

Number of the Day, May 8, 2025  (1200 x 1000 px)

 

News Releases

Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation releases its third annual Impact Report

This year’s report centers on the theme of bridge-building in philanthropy—how connections between people, ideas, and resources create stronger, more resilient communities. From neighborhood initiatives to statewide efforts, the report offers a glimpse into how the foundation approaches giving and the meaningful collaborations with the nonprofit partners it supports.

A key theme of this year’s report is stewardship. From family-led giving such as the Miller Legacy Project and trustee-directed initiatives, to larger grant programs that allow the Miller Family Foundation to serve as stewards of community resources, the Miller family remains deeply committed to thoughtful, values-driven philanthropy. (Read More)

 

Tweet of the Day

Screenshot 2025-05-08 at 6.56.30 AM
 

Upcoming

  • May 12 — Utah Taxes Now Conference with the Utah Taxpayers Association, Grand America Hotel, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm, Register here
  • May 17 — Utah GOP Organizing Convention, at UVU’s UCCU Center.
  • May 20-22 — Interim Days
  • May 31 — Utah Democratic Party Organizing Convention, Ogden High School
  • Aug 7  Titan of Public Service gala with Sen. Tom Cotton hosted by the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation at the Grand America Hotel. More Information Here
 

On This Day In History

  • 1348 - A ship from Bordeaux carrying the plague, lands in Melcombe Regis (now Weymouth), Dorset and begins spreading in England.
  • 1541 - Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto lands in Florida.
  • 1792 - Militia Act establishes conscription under federal law.
  • 1819 - Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (1782-1819), dies at 81
  • 1884 - Harry S. Truman born. He became the 33rd president of the United States.
  • 1886 - The first serving of Coca-Cola, which contained cocaine, was sold at a pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia.
  • 1958 - President Eisenhower federalizes National Guard troops and orders them removed from Central High School in Little Rock. They were there on the orders of Arkansas governor Orval Faubus to keep the school segregated.
  • 1980 - The World Health Organization declares smallpox eradicated. There is evidence of the disease going back 3500 years, causing widespread death, disfigurement and blindness. It is the only human disease to be completely eradicated.
  • 1984 - Soviets announce boycott of 1984 Olympics.
  • 2018 - President Donald Trump pulls the US out of the multilateral Iran nuclear deal.
  • 2020 - U.S. unemployment surged to 14.7%, a level last seen when the country was in the throes of the Great Depression

Quote of the Day

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"
—Vincent Van Gogh


On the Punny Side

You know you're over 40 when you have "upstairs ibuprofen" and "downstairs ibuprofen".

 

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