Good Tuesday morning, Utah! Thanks for reading “The Rundown”.
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Happening today
Gov. Spencer Cox is one of six governors who will chat with President Joe Biden today about getting more Americans vaccinated against the coronavirus. Utah is in the bottom half of states for vaccination rates.
The meeting is part of the White House’s goal of getting at least 70% of adults in America at least partially vaccinated by July 4.
Romney’s warning to Republicans
Congressional Republicans are poised to run Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney out of leadership for not curbing her criticism of former President Donald Trump continuing to push the lie that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
Sen. Mitt Romney had a stark warning for his colleagues, cautioning them that the move will appease Trump but won’t help the party politically.
Romney was booed at the Utah GOP convention and censured by two county Republican parties for twice voting to remove Trump from office in his impeachment trials.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is teeing up a vote on Cheney’s leadership position for Wednesday.
John Oliver rips Utah lawmaker during segment on Black hairstyles
Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver took on the issue of hair discrimination, and Utah Sen. Derren Owens, R-Fountain Green, made a cameo appearance for a cringe-worthy moment during the 2021 Utah Legislature.
During a committee debate on a bill to ban employment discrimination because of hairstyles like braids, locks, or Afros, Owens told several Black women, “You people are beautiful.” He then attempted to show other members of the committee a recent photo he had taken of two Black children.
“I don’t normally take pictures of children, but they were adorable two Black children,” said Owens at the time. “They’re just the cutest kids in the world. One has cornrows, and the other has dreadlocks. I wish you could see that.”
You can read the original reporting about the incident from The Tribune’s Bethany Rodgers here.
Oliver did not hold back while criticizing Owens’ behavior.
“What are you doing, you exceptionally weird man?!” exclaimed Oliver.
“Just to recap, he started off by telling a group of Black women, ‘You people are beautiful,’ then proceeded to say, ‘I don’t normally take pictures of children, but…’, a perfectly acceptable sentence until the ‘but’ part, then launches into a story about how he keeps photos of strangers children on his phone,” mocked Oliver.
“All of this which evokes a response perhaps best summed up by this expression,” continued Oliver while zooming in on the face of one of the women participating in the hearing via zoom, “which is an absolute masterclass in how to say ‘the f***!’ using only your eyebrows.”
Owens ultimately voted against the bill, rationalizing, “It almost looks like we’re trying to do something that doesn’t exist.”
Oliver shot back, “It’s not something that exists...for white men who have never had to think about it before.”
The segment with Owens starts at the 18:10 mark in this YouTube video.
Here’s what you need to know for Tuesday morning
Tuesday’s Utah news roundup
COVID
Utah
Economy
Development
Local government
On the opinion pages
Ron Molen: A well-funded cartel is behind America’s gun deaths [Tribune].
Here’s how Republican Utah can lead out on clean energy and bring change [Deseret News].
Utah’s redistricting needs to keep representation front of mind [Deseret News].
You say it’s your birthday?!
Happy birthday to Democratic state Rep. Sandra Hollins.