President Donald Trump said Monday that he is planning to sign an executive order that would end the practice of bestowing American citizenship to babies born in the United States to non-citizen parents. Such an order would seek to override the 14th Amendment and is almost certain to draw legal challenges on constitutional grounds. The push to end birthright citizenship comes amid a larger push by the White House in the closing days of midterm campaign season to highlight immigration issues and drive the president’s conservative base to the polls. [Politico]
Happy Tuesday.
Topping the news: A new poll conducted by KUTV and Dixie Strategies found Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams has the support of 6 percent more voters than U.S. Rep. Mia Love — a lead outside the survey’s margin of error that could indicate a turn in the tide for Utah’s 4th Congressional District. [Trib] [KUTV]
-> Members of the Salt Lake Valley’s Jewish community and government leaders held a vigil for victims of the shooting Saturday at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and they considered the possibility of anti-Semitic violence in Utah. [Trib]
-> A Utah insurer that covers 160,000 public employees and family members is offering to pay patients to go to Mexico to get expensive drugs — a cost its clinical operations director said is “small in comparison” to the difference in prices between the two countries. [Trib]
Tweet of the Day: From @timkmak: “Daylight Savings Time ends this Sunday -- so we all get to enjoy a glorious additional hour of this midterm election campaign.”
Happy Birthday: To Jill “Whiskey Mittens” Poe.
In other news: As the midterm elections loom just a week away, a Washington D.C. based Tea Party group has added Love as a beneficiary of a $270,000 funding pool. Simultaneously, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is expected to spend $250,000 on McAdams. [DNews]
-> At a meeting on the Utah Medical Cannabis Act, which has been presented as a bridge-building alternative to Proposition 2, not everyone seemed convinced that those who helped craft the proposed bill are acting in good faith. [Trib]
-> All 44 Utah judges seeking to remain in their posts meet the criteria for retention, according to a panel. But one advocate is campaigning to oust a Provo judge she says is too lenient on abusers. [DNews]
-> Utah’s Attorney General wants the state to be included as a defendant in a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration over the shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in an effort to provide the state’s perspective on the restructuring of the monuments. [Fox13]
-> Former Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and his wife have started a new nonprofit dedicated to fighting the visual blight of billboards. But opponents, foremost among them the billboard company Reagan Outdoor Advertising, are critiquing his mission. [Trib]
-> The founder of JetBlue Airways, David Neeleman, plans to start a new high-tech airline he’s currently referring to as “Moxy” in 2021, and he’s eyeing Salt Lake City for its technology and customer service hub. [Trib]
-> Utahns are responding with frustration as more than 700,000 immigrants wait to become United States citizens — a process that historically took around six months but has now stretched up to two years under the Trump administration. [ABC4]
-> Gov. Gary Herbert ordered the American and Utah state flags be lowered Monday to honor victims of a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. [KUTV]
-> Pat Bagley illustrates the “best health care system in the world!” [Trib]
Nationally: In the wake of the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, many have alleged that Trump’s rhetoric may have been partially responsible. But the Trump administration has lashed back against that suggestion, arguing it is “outrageous” to blame the president for the tragedy. [BBC][CNN][Fox]
-> The Trump administration announced it will arm the U.S.-Mexico border with 5,000 active military troops, in addition to those already there, as of Nov. 5 to to prevent migrants from illegally entering the United States. [CNN] [Fox] [WSJ]
-> Democrats in battleground districts are emphasizing health care and efforts to save the Affordable Care Act in the final push to the midterm elections in a last attempt to win voters. [NYTimes] [WSJ]
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-- Taylor Stevens and Cara MacDonald