President Donald Trump has gone 362 days without holding a news conference. State Rep. Mike Noel owned land inside Grand Staircase-Escalante before Trump redrew the monument’s boundaries. Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams touts success of Operation Rio Grande.
Happy Wednesday. In July 2016, while he was running for office, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump attacked his opponent Hillary Clinton for not holding a news conference in 235 days. As of today, it has been 362 days since Trump, as president, gave his last solo news conference. [WaPost]
Topping the news: Property records show that state Rep. Mike Noel owned land inside Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that was cut out when President Donald Trump redrew the boundaries. [Trib]
-> Attorney Travis Seegmiller will replace the ousted Rep. Jon Stanard, who resigned amid allegations that he paid for sex with a prostitute. [APviaTrib] [DNews] [KSL]
-> Mayor Ben McAdams praised Operation Rio Grande in his State of the County address and promised that new homeless resource centers would not move forward until research about their impact on host cities was conducted. [Trib] [DNews] [ABC4]
Tweets of the day: From @nickconfessore: “The new Trump food delivery boxes will start out really good, like with steak, and then more and more of the recipes will just be pasta, and by March you will have eaten every piece of squash you will ever want to eat.”
-> From @dantelfer: “I bet Blue Apron is thrilled to have their name associated with Orwellian Victory Beans.”
In other news: State lawmakers borrowed $1.5 billion in bonds last year for transportation projects and the new state prison. They are now considering whether to borrow an additional $10.5 million. [Trib]
-> Newly declared United Utah Party candidate Jan Garbett announced she will challenge Rep. Chris Stewart. [Trib]
-> Lawmakers are revisiting capital punishment as a new bill seeks to prohibit it. [Trib]
-> The House Government Operations Standing Committee approved a new bill that would allow 17-year-olds to register and vote in primary elections if they would be 18 by the general election. [ABC4] [Fox13]
-> Lawmakers are reviewing a bill that would remove many powers the Utah Transit Authority has when it comes to spending new sales tax money for transportation in individual cities. [Trib] [DNews]
-> The Senate voted in favor of a new bill that would stiffen penalties for those who kill police dogs and sent it over to the House. [Trib] [DNews]
-> A new bill would allow small farmers to bypass some state regulations if they properly label their products and sell directly to Utahns for home consumption. [Trib]
-> Utah transportation officials are warning of expected delays and congestion at Zion National Park over the holiday weekend. [Trib]
-> The House unanimously passed a bill that would allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs and red lights as stop signs. [Trib] [DNews] [KUTV]
-> Pat Bagley depicts the ”strange attraction” Utah legislators think they have. [Trib]
-> Paul Rolly jokingly calls for new rules that would allow Salt Lake City residents to vote against state Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab. [Trib]
-> Robert Gehrke provides a 15-year history of all the fatal accidents for drivers with a blood alcohol content level between 0.05 and 0.08. [Trib] He then argues that Utah’s crackdown on 0.05 DUI crashes may not be the best way to solve anything. [Trib]
Nationally: The FBI reports that it informed the White House of Rob Porter’s background months before the White House claims to have known of Porter’s alleged domestic abuse. [NYTimes]
-> Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats warned that Russia will employ different strategies in an attempt to undermine the 2018 midterm elections. [WaPost]
-> The Trump administration has proposed a “Harvest Box” — full of preselected food — as part of its plan to overhaul the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The idea was met with immediate backlash. [NYTimes]
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— Courtney Tanner and Eric Baker
Follow @sltribpolitics