Tuesday was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s birthday. What may have been her favorite gift came from President Donald Trump by way of a court filing where the administration backed the complete elimination of the Affordable Care Act. Pelosi and Democratic leaders had been looking for a way to shift the political conversation away from the Mueller report and its finding of no collusion. And health care could be the perfect segue. “The Republicans did say during the campaign that they weren’t there to undermine the pre-existing condition benefit, and here they are, right now, saying they’re going to strip the whole Affordable Care Act as the law of the land,” Pelosi told reporters Tuesday. “This is actually an opportunity for us to speak to the American people with clarity.” [NYTimes] [Politico] [CNN]
Happy Wednesday.
Topping the news: Sen. Mike Lee ridiculed Democrats’ Green New Deal Tuesday afternoon on the Senate floor by displaying a poster depicting Ronald Reagan riding a velociraptor and firing a machine gun. His solution to climate change? Having babies. [Trib] [DNews]
-> Gov. Gary Hebert signed off on loosening Utah law to allow 4.0 beer in grocery stores. The law expected to usher in the end of 3.2 Utah’s 3.2 will kick in Nov. 1. [Trib] [DNews] [Fox13]
-> Jenny Wilson delivered her first State of the County address on Tuesday in which she highlighted the county’s AAA bond rating, her response to the affordable housing crunch, future transportation options and how she plans to address booming population growth. [Trib] [DNews] [KUTV]
Tweets of the day: @SenMikeLee: “The solution to climate change is not this unserious resolution, but the serious business of human flourishing – the solution to so many of our problems, at all times and in all places: fall in love, get married, and have some kids.”
-> @AOC: “Like many other women + working people, I occasionally suffer from impostor syndrome: those small moments, especially on hard days, where you wonder if the haters are right. But then they do things like this to clear it right up. If this guy can be Senator, you can do anything.”
-> @pollARB: “Uh oh. Looks like somebody hacked Mike Lee’s Twitter and is posting weird stuff in his name.”
-> @thomaswburr: “20 years in journalism and I finally get to write a story about an image of Ronald Reagan riding a dinosaur and firing a machine gun”
Happy Birthday: to Nathaniel Johnson, former executive assistant to Rep. Chris Stewart; to Donald Dunn, senior director of development for the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University; and state Rep. Logan Wilde.
In other news: Some parents attending a hearing on Utah’s proposed school science standards opposed them for having too much science and not enough references to God and the Bible. [Trib]
-> A Salt Lake City company that rents rooms for karaoke needs to convince the state liquor commission it is a recreational business in order to get a beer license. [Trib]
-> The federal government is suing United Park City Mines Co. for repayment of past cleanup and responsibility for future cleanup of a tailings-contaminated Superfund site. [Trib]
-> Salt Lake City police officers stationed within schools will start going through another level of training to learn how to build trust and better relationships with students and knowing when to intervene and how. [Trib] [DNews] [KUTV]
-> The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that Utahns’ personal income increased 6.3 percent between the years 2017 and 2018, the second fastest growing in the nation. But Utah is still far from reaching the national average of per person income. [Trib]
-> Phil Lyman, a state representative who in 2015 was convicted of leading an illegal ATV protest ride, wrote a 10-page court filing objecting to raising his monthly restitution payment, claiming government abuse and collusion between prosecutors and news media. [Trib]
-> Sen. Luz Escamilla, the Senate Democratic whip, launched her campaign for Salt Lake City mayor on Tuesday. Supporters touted her bipartisan track record and her dedication to underserved communities. [Trib] [DNews]
-> Tribune cartoonist Pat Bagley has fun with Sen. Mike Lee’s anti-Green New Deal poster. [Trib]
Nationally: The U.S. House failed to override President Donald Trump’s veto of legislation blocking his emergency declaration to fund construction of border wall. Fourteen Republicans crossed the political aisle to join Democrats but it wasn’t enough. [Politico] [NYTimes]
-> The U.S. Senate voted against considering the Green New Deal in a vote intended to put Democrats on the spot going into the 2020 election. Most Democrats voted present and denounced what they called a “sham” vote. [NYTimes] [Politico] [WaPost].
-> Education Secretary Betsy Devos came under fire from House Democrats and even some Republicans for her proposal for deep cuts in the Education Department. [WaPost]
-> A federal judge in North Carolina struck down that state’s ban on abortion after 20 weeks of gestation, saying the exemptions allowed were too narrow to preserve women’s constitutional rights. [WaPostviaTrib]
-> Chicago prosecutors dropped the charges against actor Jussie Smollett, who had been accused of fabricating and staging a hate crime attack several months ago. The lead prosecutor said Smollett will do community service instead of jail time. [NYTimes] [WaPost]
-> President Trump reportedly complained to Senate Republicans that the government is providing too much disaster aide to Puerto Rico, which is still attempting to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria. [WaPost]
-> Vice President Mike Pence says the administration wants and plans to see Americans back on the moon within five years. [CNN]
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-- Dan Harrie and Sahalie Donaldson
https://twitter.com/danattrib, https://twitter.com/SahalieD