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Support for secession is growing
A recent poll finds nearly half of Republicans in the Mountain West want to secede from the United States.
Democracy watchdog group Bright Line Watch in conjunction with YouGov asked Americans if they would support their state seceding from the United States to join a new union. The group broke the United States into five separate regions for the poll.
They found Republicans in the South (66%) and Democrats in the West (47%) were most in favor of breaking away from the United States.
Graphic via The Why Axis/Christopher Ingraham
Via Christoper Ingraham at The Why Axis:
It sure is a good thing there aren’t any troubling historic precedents for what happens when large numbers of Southern conservatives, motivated in large part by a sense of grievance and victimhood, want to break away from the Union.
Those findings come from Bright Line Watch, a group that conducts regular polls of political scientists and the American public to monitor attitudes toward democracy. They’ve started polling this question because “it taps into respondents’ commitments to the American political system at the highest level and with reference to a concrete alternative (regional unions).”
While Southern Republicans are the group most in favor of succession, they’re not the only ones. Across the country, Bright Line Watch finds, people have more favorable views toward secession when their political party is dominant in their region.
While some people may favor secession, they might be a little unclear on the concept.
Image via Facebook
Here’s what you need to know for Friday morning
💉 The Biden administration is considering withholding federal funds and using regulatory powers to push more Americans to get vaccinated through COVID-19. [WaPo]
💉 Utah’s ban on government COVID-19 vaccine mandates could end next month as the vaccines are given full FDA approval. [Tribune]
💰 The $1 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill would add $256 billion to the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Proponents said the measure would pay for itself. [WSJ]
🏛 Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall announced her support for a move to add 300 additional emergency shelter beds for homeless people. [Tribune]
📚 The Utah State Board of Education approved new rules for teaching about race in the classroom. [Tribune]
😷 The Salt Lake County Board of Health urges local leaders to require masks for K-6 students when they return to school this fall. [Tribune]
🎓 SLCC is holding graduation indoors without any COVID-19 precautions. [Tribune]
💉 Westminster College is requiring staff and students to be vaccinated against COVID-19. [Tribune]
💉 CNN fired three staffers who went into the office unvaccinated. [NYT]
🪖 A potential mandate for military members to get the COVID-19 vaccine is causing anger and mistrust. [AP]
🦠 The CDC says fully vaccinated people can transmit COVID-19 to others. [CNN]
😷 Republican Rep. Ralph Norman, who is suing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the House mask mandate, has tested positive for the coronavirus. [WaPo]
⚡️ President Joe Biden issued an executive order to have half of new cars sold in the U.S. by 2030 to be hybrid or all-electric. [The Verge]
🚨 Drought caused a northern California hydroelectric dam to shut down for the first time. [Mercury News]
👀 My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell loses it during an interview when challenged on his fantastical claims that the 2020 election was stolen. “I’ve spent millions! You need to trust me!” Lindell yelled at an interviewer. [CNN]
🇨🇳 Business groups are calling on President Biden to restart trade talks with China. [WSJ]
🌎 Scientists say human-caused climate change is slowing down a vital ocean current that regulates weather patterns around the globe. [Huffington Post]
📱 Apple plans to scan iPhones in the U.S. for images of child sexual abuse. The move is raising concerns about privacy from some experts. [AP]
⚽️ The soccer world is in an uproar after FC Barcelona announced captain Lionel Messi would not sign a new contract with the club. [ESPN]
“Utah Politics” podcast
This week my guest is Philip Rucker, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Washington Post. He, along with co-author Carol Leonnig, is the author of the new book “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.”
We discuss the dozens of hair-raising revelations contained in the new book, including how Sen. Mitt Romney was warned of possible violence ahead of the January 6 insurrection and just how close Romney came to being harmed by Trump supporters when they attacked the U.S. Capitol.
Listen and subscribe to the podcast here.
Friday’s Utah news roundup
Utah
Utah couple say internal police interview contradicts Cottonwood Heights on shooting death of son. [Tribune]
A Millcreek neighborhood has a sinkhole and no water after wildfire battle causes pipes to burst. [Tribune]
Family presses for answers in the case of missing master weaver Ella Mae Begay. [Tribune]
Utah Lake can be saved without massive dredging sought by developers, experts say. [Tribune]
Glenn Beck and Mike Lee faced off in Utah’s most patriotic ice cream eating contest. [Deseret News]
Northern Utah water supplier picks early date to turn off secondary water as drought lingers. [Standard Examiner]
COVID-19
Utah has more than 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 again. [Tribune]
As cases rise with the delta variant, here’s how healthcare workers, hospitals and researchers are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. [Tribune]
13-year-old Utah boy becomes gravely ill weeks after contracting COVID. [FOX13]
FEMA provides additional $3.1 million to Utah for COVID-19 response as Delta variant surges. [FOX13]
Education
University of Utah gets a new president with ‘big aspirations’ for the school. [Tribune]
Do female-only scholarships violate federal rules? Utah colleges draw scrutiny. [Tribune]
University of Utah officers now equipped with body cameras. [KSL]
Independence University/Stevens-Henager College in West Haven has abruptly closed. [Daily Herald]
Weber School Board votes to hold bond election. [Standard Examiner]
Local government
Park City mayoral candidates amass campaign war chests topping $30,000 each. [Park Record]
Business
Utah Muslim sues his ex-employer, alleges a boss said he’d be ‘cast into outer darkness’. [Tribune]
Are bosses ready to assess penalties on their remote workers? [Deseret News]
On the opinion pages
Too many Utah leaders would rather send kids to the hospital than make them wear masks, Robert Gehrke says. [Tribune]
Deborah Gatrell: Anti-mask activists are consorting with the enemy. [Tribune]
Sky Chaney: Gov. Cox should stop development of a new golf course in drought-stricken Kane County. [Tribune]
Molly Davis: Utah allows some lower-level crimes to be cleared from the record. [Tribune]
John Pudner: Utah shows other red states how to run elections. [Tribune]
Kate Brown: The West is on fire. It’s past time to act on climate change. [Tribune]
— The Tribune’s Connor Sanders contributed to this report.