Kamala Harris has rocketed into the top tier of the Democratic presidential primary, while Joe Biden’s once double-digit lead has taken a hit, according to a national poll taken after last week’s debate. Harris’ surge places her firmly within the top tier, which now consists of former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. [POLITICO]
Happy Tuesday!
Topping the news: Utah lawmakers have created a board of seven physicians who will be able to prescribe medical cannabis to patients whose conditions do not meet those on the qualifying list. [Trib] [AP]
-> According to campaign finance reports released Monday night, the eight Salt Lake City mayoral candidates have raised a cumulative total of $735,000, with businessman David Ibarra and former state Sen. Jim Dabakis leading in funds. [Trib] [FOX13]
-> Members of the Pioneer Park Coalition, which advocates for Salt Lake City’s Rio Grande area and those experiencing homelessness in the area, say they are concerned about the delay in closing the downtown Road Home shelter. [Trib]
Tweets of the day: From @prisonculture: “What’s most helpful right now is actually not cynical and blasé takes. It’s you taking the action that you can from where you are. It’s you doing those things over and over and over again. There’s a lot happening. What are you doing?”
-> From @itsDanSheehan: “Baby Boomers did that thing where you leave a single square of toilet paper on the roll and pretend it’s not your turn to change it but with a whole society”
Happy Birthday: To Rep. Stewart Barlow, R-Fruit Heights; Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City; and Scott Baird, deputy director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.
Also in the news: The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art has quietly sold off “a substantial portion” of its permanent collection and spent restricted endowment money to pay off some of its debt — but it has continued to receive taxpayer dollars from a number of government agencies. [Trib]
-> Salt Lake City Democratic Senator Derek Kitchen requested $50,000 in legislative money for the museum, without disclosing that he sat on the organization’s board. The money was ultimately not appropriated. [Trib]
-> Clean air advocates have started gathering signatures for Clean the Darn Air, which is sponsoring a citizen referendum that would impose a carbon tax in Utah. [FOX13]
-> One of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the Utah Legislature’s replacement of the medical cannabis ballot initiative is now in hospice care. [FOX13]
-> Republican Sen. Mitt Romney criticized President Donald Trump for defending the Saudi Arabian prince allegedly responsible for a Washington Post journalist’s brutal murder. [DNews]
-> Cartoonist Pat Bagley offers fun facts about the nation’s Founding Fathers. [Trib]
Nationally: Tensions between Iran and the U.S. continue to escalate, as Iran exceeds the limit for how much nuclear fuel it may possess as outlined in a 2015 agreement. [NYTimes]
-> Nearly 10,000 members of the 20,000-member Customs and Border Protection agency belong to a private Facebook group where members joked about the deaths of migrants, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress and posted a vulgar illustration depicting New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a detained migrant. [ProPublica]
-> The Pentagon will put military tanks on display Thursday at Trump’s annual Fourth of July celebration. [NYTimes]
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-- Taylor Stevens and Alison Berg
Follow @sltribpolitics