Republican Women Eye Open Seats
All nine Republican women in the Utah Legislature are launching a political action committee. Their goal is to raise money to help other Republican women run for office at all levels of government, targeting open seats and districts that are traditionally held by Democrats.
About a quarter of lawmakers in the entire Utah Legislature are women.
Emily Means
YWCA Leads Second Equity And Social Justice Challenge
YWCA Utah announced it will hold its second annual 21-Day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge. In a news release, the organization said the online challenge will take people through three weeks of core concepts on race equity. It said the event is being held after a year that saw the nation grappling with race and racism. That includes the trial of the police officer who murdered George Floyd as well as anti-Asian violence like the mass shooting in Atlanta. The challenge starts June 21. Over 6,000 people from 540 zip codes reportedl
USDA.gov The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing the lesser prairie-chicken as “endangered” in eastern New Mexico and “threatened” in its northern habitat that includes parts of southeastern Colorado. This story and more in the Friday morning news brief.
Friday morning, May 28, 2021
State
State Weighs Incentivizing Vaccines
Gov. Spencer Cox said Thursday that Utah is still waiting to see if it makes sense to offer incentives for people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Cox said he and top lawmakers want to analyze data from other states offering things like cash lotteries or scholarships to see how much they actually convinced people. So far, 57% of Utahns over the age of 12 have gotten at least one vaccine dose. Over the past week, there’s been an average of 245 new cases each day.
KUER
Rep. John Curtis, R-UT, took some heat from constituents Monday night during his town hall in Sandy. Many people who spoke asked about the Jan. 6 insurrection and why Republicans still support former President Donald Trump. This story and more in Tuesday evening s news brief.
Tuesday evening, May 25, 2021
State
The Key To Containing Wildfires Will Be Human Behavior
Utah fire and elected officials are asking residents to change their outdoor behavior to cut down on human-caused wildfires. The request comes after a spike in the number of events started by people. So far this year there have been 227 fires in Utah that have burned 8,400 acres. All but eight of them have been human-caused. This year is already well above average in the number of starts and acres burned compared to the last five years. Officials are asking people to be careful near dry vegetation when dealing with things like campfires, debris burning and fireworks.