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Situational Analysis | May 21, 2025

It's Wednesday and National Strawberries and Cream Day.

What you need to know

The wildfires that ravaged LA ‘could happen here,’ Gov. Cox warns as Utah heads into fire season. Southwestern Utah is mired in extreme drought, while most of the rest of the state is drier than usual for this time of year, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Basil Newmerzhycky, a meteorologist for Great Basin Predictive Services, said Utah is "definitely looking at a really good potential for a much busier fire season than we've had the last two or three years." “The piece of us getting lucky with Mother Nature isn’t going to continue, and we need people to really be careful this year,” warned Cox.

Rapid Relevance

Thousands of 'lead foot drivers' nabbed for hitting 100+ mph in Utah; ‘Sesame Street’ finds a new home on Netflix; and ‘Cheers’ star George Wendt dies at 76

On the Hill

8:30 am: Business and Labor; Education; Government Operations; Health and Human Services; Political Subdivisions; Public Utilities, Energy & Technology
1:15 pm: Economic Development and Workforce Services; Judiciary; Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice; Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment; Revenue and Taxation; Transportation
4:00 pm: Extraordinary Session

Utah Headlines

Political news

Rep. Burgess Owens’ proposed school choice bill in the House now has a companion in the Senate (Deseret News)
Marco Rubio says Church of Jesus Christ will ‘absolutely’ be part of conversations about rebuilding foreign aid (Deseret News)
House Speaker floats new idea to help deal with Great Salt Lake dust (Fox13)
Gov. Cox said Donald Trump could be a uniter. Here’s how the governor thinks the president has done so far. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Municipal news

How has Salt Lake City’s east-west divide affected you? The city wants your feedback (KSL TV)

Utah

Study: Utah a ‘middle of the pack’ state for military retirees (Deseret News)
Utah shop teacher graduates top of class in Utah Air National Guard (KSL)
The breathtaking Guardsman Pass scenic byway reopens for 2025 summer season (ABC4)
Special Olympics Torch Run unites athletes, law enforcement across Utah (KSL)

Biz/Tech

Nvidia’s chief says U.S. chip controls on China have backfired (New York Times)

Community/Culture

‘Lilo & Stitch’: Stitch chaos found everywhere while promoting the new Disney live-action (Deseret News)
‘The Voice’ reveals its newest winner (Deseret News)
Why declining trust is everyone’s problem (Deseret News)

Crime/Courts

‘We love her a lot’: Father of missing Utah girl speaks after 2 out-of-state men charged in connection to her disappearance (ABC4)
4 Roy police officers on leave pending sexual assault investigation (KSL TV)

Economy

U.S. economy is experiencing ‘death by a thousand cuts’, says Deutsche Bank (Fortune)

Education - K-12

Audit finds several safety code violations with new and renovated K-12 schools (KSL)
How AI security is keeping your child safe inside Utah schools (Fox13)
‘Eyes with Pride’: New film documents American Fork High marching band’s rise to historic heights (Daily Herald)
Washington County moms join forces to help erase $55K in school lunch debt (St. George News)

Environment

Utah: Up to $2 million in drought relief for farmers (Deseret News)
Opinion: The Wasatch earthquake is long overdue, and America isn’t ready (Deseret News)
Utah to offer loans to agricultural producers as drought lingers over the state (KSL)

Family

Utah advocates worry about potential Medicaid cuts' impact on kids (KSL)

Health

How a rural hospital’s Medicaid windfall could cost Utah millions (KUER)
Climate change increases heat risk during pregnancy in Mountain West (UPR)
Utah medical cannabis patient count reaches 100K ahead of prescription pop-up ban (St. George News)
Diseases are spreading. The CDC isn't warning the public like it was months ago (NPR)

Housing

The Mountain West is struggling with an ever-widening home insurance crisis (KUER)

National Headlines

General

Video: What is best for America? Tim Shriver’s ‘Hope for the future’ (Deseret News)
Biden’s last prostate cancer screening was in 2014, his office says (Washington Post)

Political news - Trump

Trump hammers on Republicans to get agenda passed, calling several lawmakers out by name (Deseret News)
Trump plans to press South African leader on ‘genocidal rhetoric’ (Washington Post)
Trump squeezes his party on domestic policy bill as G.O.P. hunts for votes (New York Times)
Trump drops f-bomb, pressures Republicans to get in line behind his legislation (The Hill)
Trump unveils $175B, 3-year price tag for Golden Dome (Politico)

Other federal political news

House GOP grinding ahead with Trump’s big tax cuts bill, but new report says it will add to deficit (AP)
U.S. debt is on pace to set a record high, going all the way back to 1790 (New York Times)

Immigration/deportation

How does voluntary deportation work under the Trump administration? (Deseret News)
Judge orders U.S. to maintain custody of migrants sent to South Sudan (Washington Post)

DOGE/Musk

Elon Musk says he will step back from politics and government (NBC News)
Elon Musk’s pullback from politics comes after his last big investment was a flop (AP)

Tariffs

US states mount court challenge to Trump's tariffs (Reuters)
Target cuts annual forecasts as tariff pressure mounts, demand slows further (Reuters)

Ukraine/Russia

Exclusive: Ukraine pitches tougher Russia sanctions plan to EU as US wavers (Reuters)

Middle East

'Our children are dying slowly' says father searching for food in Gaza (Reuters)
Iran insists it will never stop enriching uranium as US says it must if a new deal is to be reached (AP)

World news

China to donate $500 million to WHO, stepping into gap left by U.S. (Washington Post)

News Releases

Curtis, Rubio highlight US energy leadership

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-UT) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio engaged in a productive exchange on America’s global energy strategy, climate diplomacy, and the future of U.S. foreign aid. Senator Curtis emphasized the importance of a Republican voice at the Conference of the Parties (COP), praised the State Department’s efforts at realigning foreign aid with strategic initiatives, and called for greater coordination with faith-based humanitarian groups. Secretary Rubio echoed Curtis’ call for energy leadership and warned of China’s expanding influence through economic proxies like Hong Kong-based firms. (Read More)

On This Day In History

1881 - The American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton.
1932 - Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to complete a solo-transatlantic flight by flying 2,026 miles from Newfoundland to Ireland in just under 15 hours
1940 - A Nazi special unit kills over 1500 “unfit” people (mentally ill hospital patients) in East Prussia
1946 - Physicist Louis Slotin is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation while preparing a plutonium core experiment at the Los Alamos lab, he dies 9 days later and the accident ends all hands-on nuclear assembly work at Los Alamos.
1947 - Linda Jane Laubenstein is born. A physician and early HIV/AIDS researcher, she was among the first doctors in the United States to recognize the AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s.
1973 - Lynn Genesko, a swimmer, receives the first athletic scholarship awarded to a woman (University of Miami).
2005 - First Lady Laura Bush advocates for women’s rights at the World Economic Forum.

Quote of the Day

"A mother's ability to read and write is especially important. Our mothers are our first teachers, and children's success is linked closely to theirs."

—Laura Bush, 2005

On the Punny Side

Imagine how loud a centipede would be if they wore tiny little flip flops.