Happy Tuesday!
Mitt Romney’s approval ratings in Utah aren’t great (38% thumbs up, 40% thumbs down) but nationally they’re much worse. Just 18 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Romney, compared to 38 percent who have an unfavorable view, according to a new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll. That leaves a big chunk of the populace — 37% — who describe their view of him as neutral. [NBC/WSJ]
Topping the news: Operation Rio Grande has inflicted “long-term damage” on Salt Lake City’s unsheltered population, according to a report by the ACLU. [Trib] [DNews]
-> It’s Election Day and here’s what voters should know about how, when and where to vote if they haven’t already mailed their ballots. [Trib]
-> In a massive donation to the University of Utah, the Huntsman family is committing $150 million to the establishment of a mental health institute. [Fox13] [DNews]
Tweets of the day: From @BicycleLobby: “We announce that we are now THE ALL-POWERFUL BICYCLE LOBBY.”
-> From @dechristopher: “Dear friends, I've been thinking this over for a long time, and I've got big news. I'm going to delete my twitter account. I've definitely gotten value from twitter over the years, but the negative impacts on my time, loneliness, and mental freedom outweigh the benefits. 1/7”
-> From @mattvbrady: “can’t wait for the ok boomer meme to reach the natural end of its life cycle by having hillary clinton reply “ok boomer” to a trump tweet.”
Also in the news: It’s Salt Lake Valley residents’ least favorite time of the year: inversion season. [Trib]
-> The Salt Lake Tribune has made history by becoming the first legacy newspaper to be granted nonprofit status by the IRS. [Trib] [StandEx] [Fox13]
-> Ed Smart, father of Elizabeth Smart, will speak on coming out as gay at an LGBTQ summit in Lehi next month. [KUTV] [TribviaAP]
-> In San Juan County, residents are questioning what Prop 10 means and whether the county should explore changing its current three-member commission form of government. [KUER]
-> The latest pre-election poll shows that Salt Lake City voters think of City Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall as a slightly more liberal mayoral candidate than Sen. Luz Escamilla. [UtahPolicy]
-> Tribune columnist Robert Gehrke points out how Utah’s new beer standards differ from free market principles. [Trib]
-> Pat Bagley’s latest cartoon illustrates the dichotomy of Tribune readers’ interests since the switch to 501(c)(3). [Trib]
-> Sen. Mike Lee wants the Senate to end its preferred role in the confirmation process following his statement that the American Bar Association has “severely abused” the place it holds to evaluate federal judicial nominees. [DNews]
-> Gov. Gary Herbert has appointed Kristine Johnson, a shareholder at Parsons Behle & Latimer, as a judge for the 3rd District Court. [DNews]
-> Utah’s Department of Human Services has published a new survey on what children in the state think of every topic from substance abuse to screen time. [Fox13]
Nationally: As promised by the Trump administration, the United States has started to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. [AP] [Politico] [NYTimes]
-> In concert with the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, the Trump administration has sped up the pace of environmental rollbacks for the nation’s coal-fired power plants. [AP] [NYTimes]
-> A unanimous ruling from a federal appeals court says that President Donald Trump’s tax returns must be turned over to a local grand jury in Manhatten. [Politico] [CNN] [WaPost]
-> CNN gives 11 “wild” details from transcripts of previous closed-door testimony, released by the Democrats after White House officials refused to testify privately. [CNN]
-> A new poll shows Trump would lead Warren, trail Biden and just about match Sanders in the battlegrounds of a general election. [NYTimes] [CNN]
-> Los Angeles has suspended Uber’s permit for renting e-scooters and bikes because of its refusal to share real time point-to-point trip data. [LATimes]
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-- Dan Harrie and Clara Hatcher
Follow @sltribpolitics