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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 | September 2, 2025

It's Tuesday and World Coconut Day 🥥

What you need to know

  • The Utah Supreme Court has halted Ralph Menzies' execution scheduled for Friday and has ordered a new competency hearing after his attorneys argued that his dementia has progressed, making him ineligible to be executed. In a 5-0 vote, the state's high court announced that 3rd District Judge Matthew Bates erred by not allowing Menzies a new competency hearing. Following Friday's Supreme Court decision, a statement was issued on behalf of the Hunsaker family: "Maureen Hunsaker's family members are obviously very distraught and disappointed at the Supreme Court's decision. They would ask for privacy and time for the family to process and meet with their representatives about next steps."

Rapid Relevance

 

Utah Headlines

Political news

  • Opinion: Why the Founders would have supported Utah redistricting ruling (Deseret News)
  • Opinion: Why the Utah redistricting ruling oversteps judicial bounds (Deseret News)
  • Amelia Powers Gardner: The case for moms and mail-in voting (Deseret News)

Municipal

  • More changes coming to Salt Lake City's oldest park (KSL)
  • Bridal Veil Falls $7M reconstruction project begins, limiting public access for 2 years (KUTV)
  • UDOT plans construction of flex lanes to reduce Pioneer Crossing rush-hour traffic (KUTV)
  • Hundreds petition against proposed connector road in newly built West Haven neighborhood (KUTV)
  • Provo homeowners, others in Utah County may owe more in property tax than previously believed (Fox13)

Utah

  • 1 dead, 1 critically injured in plane crash in Little Cottonwood Canyon (KSL)
  • ‘Way too much’: Utah violinist’s detention by immigration officials sparks backlash from backers (KSL)
  • 18-year-old dies after fall from balcony at Utah Tech University (KSL)
  • This northern Utah nonprofit is ramping up efforts to protect domestic violence survivors after Tremonton tragedy (Salt Lake Tribune)

Biz/Tech/AI

  • AI can't start a nuclear war — or can it? (Politico)

Crime/Courts

  • Riverton man arrested after detectives find child sex abuse material during stalking investigation (KSL TV)

Culture/Community

  • Editorial Board: Labor Day and the value of work (Deseret News)
  • Provo couple writes about seeing America — and themselves — a step at a time (KSL)
  • Don't let a selfie be the end of you (NPR)

Economy

  • ECB's Lagarde warns of risk to world economy via Trump interference on Fed (Reuters)

Education

  • How faith-based colleges are saving a generation in crisis (Deseret News)
  • What happened to the promise of college? (Deseret News)
  • Higher education’s enduring strength is its willingness to change (Deseret News)
  • How to move past the college-at-any-cost paradigm (Deseret News)
  • Seeking true understanding in a cynical world (Deseret News)
  • Confusion, questions arise after University of Utah reduction of courses during peak hours (Fox13)

Environment/Energy

  • As drought spreads, Utahns might be getting water conservation fatigue (KUER)
  • Utah national parks and their gateway towns are feeling a summer tourism slump (KUER)

Faith

  • Bishop Gérald Caussé’s message to young adults begins as a concert — with the presiding bishop at the piano (Deseret News)
  • President Holland shares his youth’s most ‘pivotal moments,’ urges young adults to build on ‘spiritual momentum’ (Deseret News)
  • “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me”: African American spiritual included among new Latter-day Saint hymns (ABC4)

Family

  • Move over summer camp — Grandma's got this (Deseret News)
  • Who’s cheating? 5 findings on infidelity (Deseret News)
  • The ‘world’s oldest baby’ is challenging what we think we know about IVF (Deseret News)

Health

  • Former CDC heads warn Kennedy is endangering Americans (Reuters)

Housing

  • Affordable housing project in southern Utah nears 100 homes as it continues to expand (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Starter homes are scarce, so Utah set a target to build more. Here's how it's going (NPR)
 

National Headlines

General

  • How women in 2 small towns keep their hometown newspapers thriving (Deseret News)
  • Rudy Giuliani injured in New Hampshire car crash (AP)
  • Trump says Rudy Giuliani will receive top US civilian honor (Reuters)
  • 11-year-old boy fatally shot in Houston after ‘ding dong ditch’ doorbell-ringing prank, police say (AP)

Political news

  • We ran the CDC: Kennedy is endangering every American's health (New York Times)
  • Government shutdown looms as Congress returns after monthlong August recess (AP)
  • A House committee investigating the Jeffrey Epstein case has withdrawn a subpoena to Robert Mueller (AP)
  • Want to work for National Weather Service? Be ready to explain how you agree with Trump (AP)
  • After court defeats on tariffs, Trump directs fury at judges (New York Times)
  • Key Starbucks supplier in Switzerland tastes bitter harvest of Trump tariffs (Reuters)
  • GOP lawmakers to be confronted by Jeffrey Epstein saga as they return to Congress (The Hill)

Immigration/deportation

  • A judge blocks the deportation of Guatemalan children already waiting on the tarmac to be sent back (AP)
  • 1.2 million immigrants are gone from the US labor force under Trump, preliminary data shows (AP)

Ukraine/Russia

  • Russia is suspected of jamming navigation on EU leader's plane above Bulgaria, official says (AP)
  • Sidelining Trump, China's Xi rolls out carpet for Ukraine war aggressors (Reuters)
  • Ukrainian police say Russia linked to murder of former parliament speaker (Politico)

Middle East

  • Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, scholars' association says (Reuters)

World news

  • Afghanistan earthquake death toll passes 1,400, says Taliban government spokesman (AP)
  • Sudan landslide kills more than 1,000 people after wiping out village in Darfur (AP)
  • Thousands attend funeral of Houthi leaders killed by Israeli strike, vow revenge (Reuters)
  • 139 days: 3 Scottish brothers set a record for fastest row across the Pacific (NPR)
 

Number of the Day

Number of the Day, September 2, 2025 (1200 x 1000 px)

 

News Releases

Statement from Death Penalty Action on Menzies’ stay

“The Utah Supreme Court ruling is powerful in that it exhibits how the State is willing to move forward when there are serious questions about whether we are following our own laws and Constitution. Meanwhile, its been 39 years of waiting and yet again the rug is pulled out from under the victims families who have been told that an execution will help them feel better. If the sentence had been life without parole, nobody would remember Ralph Menzies. Today his is the most famous name in the state.”

Bipartisan push to boost USFS firefighting capacity amid Utah wildfires

U.S. Senators John Curtis (R-UT) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) urged U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins this week to address staffing shortages at the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) by expanding firefighting capacity. The request comes as Utah battles nearly ten major fires and other Western states face heightened threats during the ongoing wildfire season. (Read More)

 

Tweet of the Day

Screenshot 2025-09-02 at 5.21.43 AM

 

Upcoming

  • Sept 11-12 — Women in the Money Conference, Sheraton Hotel and online, Register here
  • Sept 15-17 — Interim Days
  • Oct 6-8 — One Utah Summit, Cedar City, More information here
  • Oct 13-15 — Interim Days
  • Nov 4 — General election
  • Nov 17-19 — Interim Days
  • February 4-7, 2026 — Summit, with Silicon Slopes and Visit Salt Lake
 

On This Day In History

  • 1666 - The Great Fire of London begins. By the end, 80% of London had been destroyed.
  • 1789 - Congress founds the US Treasury, with Alexander Hamilton at its head
  • 1883 - Rudolf Weigl is born. He was a Polish biologist, physician and inventor, known for creating the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus.
  • 1885 - Chinese miners are massacred in Wyoming Territory by a mob of 150 white miners. No effective legal action was ever taken against any of the mobsters.
  • 1901 - Theodore Roosevelt advises "Speak softly & carry a big stick"
  • 1945 - Japan surrenders, ending WWII
  • 1948 - Christa McAuliffe is born. The New Hampshire teacher, selected in 1985 to be the first teacher in space, died in 1986 when the space shuttle Challenger exploded.
  • 1973 - J.R.R Tolkien dies.
  • 1974 - President Gerald Ford signs the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The law guarantees pension rights and creates tax rules for employee benefits and contributions.
  • 2013 - Diana Nyad, 64, makes record swim from Cuba to Florida, the first person to swim the 110 miles without a shark cage

Quote of the Day

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

On the Punny Side

Why was the broom late to class?

It over-swept.

 

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