Happy Thursday!
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for an investigation into whether the Trump administration is delaying putting abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill simply for political purposes. The change, initiated under President Barack Obama, was initially supposed to occur next year. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said last month he did not anticipate the bill coming before 2028. When Trump was a candidate, he called the move to replace Andrew Jackson with Tubman “pure political correctness. [CNN]
Topping the news: State Sen. Dan McCay says he is drafting legislation to end elective abortions in Utah based on the belief that life begins at conception. He is unsure whether the legislation will include exceptions for rape, incest or when the mother’s life is at stake. [Trib]
-> New U.S. Census Bureau data shows that while Utah’s Latino population is still booming, other minorities are growing even faster. [Trib]
-> Midvale passes new parade rules to block a Confederate group from marching again in its annual parade. [Trib]
Tweets of the day: From @timheidecker: "I hope I get to hear Joe Biden say "here's the deal" a lot more because frankly I wanna know what the deal is!."
->From @StephenAtHome: “Farewell, Acting SecDef Patrick Shanahan. We hardly knew ye... because ye never went through a confirmation process.”
-> From @redsteeze: “Barack Obama picking a VP who defended segregationists seems like a pretty newsy story around 2009. What happened guys?.”
Happy birthday: to former state Sen. Steve Urquhart.
Also in the news: Utah Gov. Gary Herbert met with Pope Francis at the Vatican during a trade mission in Rome. [Trib]
-> Environmental activists opposed to Utah’s inland port staged their third protest Wednesday, speaking out against a real estate developer involved in the project. [Trib]
-> Religious freedom does not truly exist for anyone if it does not exist equally for everyone, a senior leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Wednesday. [Trib]
-> Delta Air Lines expects continued growth for its hub operations in Salt Lake City, including adding nonstops to Asia when the new airport there is completed. [Trib]
-> After passing an anti-abortion resolution last month, the Riverton City Council voted unanimously Tuesday for a resolution expressing a desire to protect children from pornography. [Trib]
-> Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, told the Government Operations Interim Committee they should take more seriously the blank or incomplete disclosure forms that are filed by some city candidates. [Trib]
-> In an effort to “ensure the integrity of the Elections Office,” current Lt. Gov and gubernatorial candidate Spencer Cox said he will recuse himself from all campaign finance complaints in the 2020 governor’s race. [Trib]
-> To get closer to Navajos in remote areas, the now-Navajo majority San Juan County Commission decides to hold some of its meetings in tribal areas — away from the county seat in Blanding. [Trib]
-> Cartoonist Pat Bagley depicts Joe Biden’s campaign. [Trib]
TribTalk: In this week’s episode, Tribune reporter Bethany Rodgers, Bountiful Republican Rep. Ray Ward, and Clean the Darn Air co-founder Yoram Bauman join reporter Benjamin Wood to discuss different strategies in the state for addressing air quality and carbon emissions.[Trib]
Nationally: Iran shoots down a U.S. drone, ratcheting up tensions. [Politico]
-> A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the controversial citizenship question on the U.S. Census deserves another look because of new evidence, raising the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court may have to revisit it again after it is expected to rule on the issue this month. [WaPost]
-> The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday established new regulations that set only modest requirements on coal plants and provided no targets to reduce emissions. [NYTimes]
-> The White House blocked former Trump aide Hope Hicks from answering dozens of questions before a House committee Wednesday, angering Democrats. [WaPost]
-> Several Democratic candidates took aim at former Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday over his remarks about working with segregationists in the Senate. [NYTimes]
-> A former U.S. Senate staffer was sentenced to four years in prison for hacking electronic data and posting private information about senators on the internet after he was angered by a hearing on then-Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. [WaPost]
-> After receiving heavy pressure from Congress, The Trump administration withdrew plans to end a U.S. Forest Service plan that trains underprivileged youth. [Politico]
-> Congress considered a bill on compensation for slavery for the first time in over a decade on Wednesday. [NYTimes]
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-- Lee Davidson and Alison Berg
Follow @sltribpolitics