Happy Tuesday!
Soon-to-resign Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter spent upwards of $45,000 from his campaign on personal expenditures — including $625 on flights for a pet rabbit, according to a House Ethics Committee report released Monday. The California congressman said last week he would resign after the holidays, following his guilty plea to federal corruption charges. [CNN]
Topping the news: After hours of testimony and long debate, a divided legislative task force recommended sweeping tax reform — which may be considered by the full Legislature in a special session later this week. [Trib] [DNews] [Fox13]
-> The Utah Supreme Court proposes a new rule to allow undocumented law school graduates to legally practice law in the state. [Trib] [DNews]
-> Utah County has become a powerhouse for growth in the last decade, adding more people than larger Salt Lake County. [Trib] [DNews]
Tweets of the day: From @RobertGehrke: “Rep. Quinn just nailed the point I was making earlier: If you raise $533M and pay $534M in Gen Fund money toward higher ed you haven’t solved the problem of needing money for everything else in the state. Fiscal analyst notes it’s one year. The future would be flexible. #utpol”
-> From @Bill_Tibbitts: “Utah’s anti-hunger champion, @GinaLouiseC, notes that a sales tax on food increase will mean some Utah families will buy less food every month. #utpol #utleg”
Also in the news: With a third of Utah high school students unable to take computer classes, Gov. Gary Herbert announced he will include a $10.2 million line item in his upcoming budget to address that. [Trib] [DNews]
-> The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is pulling back dozens of new Utah oil and gas leases because environmental reviews were inadequate. [Trib]
-> A transgender Utahn is still waiting after two years for the Utah Supreme Court’s decision on her request to overturn a lower court ruling rejecting the gender marker change she seeks. [Trib]
-> Prisoners who want to share their stories to help youth now have the chance through The New Visions Speech Club. [Trib]
-> Sen. Mike Lee says he made the case of “educational pluralism” after meeting with President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy Devos. [DNews]
-> The former president of Salt Lake Figure Skating was charged with attempting to solicit sex online from a 13-year-old girl, who turned out to be an undercover officer. [Trib] [DNews]
-> Tribune columnist Robert Gehrke writes on behalf of the borrowers that look to Utah loan sharks for help. [Trib]
Nationally: Following a divisive hearing, House Democrats plan to lay out articles of impeachment on Tuesday. [CNN] [WaPost]
-> The Justice Department’s inspector general says the FBI had major errors in how it conducted its investigation into Russian election interference, but rebuts claims that it illegally spied on the Trump campaign. [NYTimes] [CNN]
-> An extremely partisan impeachment hearing was held where Democrats said the facts are clear and demand action, while Republicans argued that impeachment has been an “unfair” process. [NYTimes]
-> Attorney General William Barr and federal prosecutor John H. Durham have publicly disagreed with a report by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz. [NYTimes]
-> According to thousands of pages obtained by the Washington Pose, the U.S. government across three White House administrations misled the public about failures of the Afghanistan war. [AP] [WaPost]
-> While President Donald Trump is stressing the Saudi Arabian response to an attack on a Navy base, Florida Republicans have adopted a more critical tone. [CNN]
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-- Lee Davidson and Clara Hatcher
Follow @sltribpolitics