Thursday, June 5, 2025

⏰ Tick Tock

Days to Utah's 2025 municipal primary elections (8/12/2025) - 68
Days until Election Day (11/4/2025) - 152
Days until the 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026) - 516
Days until the 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028) - 1,251

👀 Here's what you need to know for Thursday morning:

UTAH AND THE WEST

Utah lawmaker threatens Pride ban for organizations receiving public funds. Experts say that would violate the Constitution. [Utah Political Watch]

Bill Gates is backing this Utah geothermal company. Will Trump's Republicans? [Wall Street Journal]

Utah lawmaker pushes for short-term staffing boost to reduce teacher misconduct backlog. [KUTV]

The Utah Fits All voucher program wants families to reapply for scholarships that were already supposed to be awarded. Why? [Salt Lake Tribune]

Report: Utah higher education students received $1.6B in federal student aid awards. [KSL]

"The power belongs to the parents": Rep. Owens, Education chief back school choice and parental rights. [Deseret News]

Utah lawmakers discuss a way to prevent cavities: Give school kids gum. [Salt Lake Tribune]

Utah communities should prepare now for catastrophic wildfires, report warns. [Fox 13]

Trump signs resolution allowing for expanded motorized recreation around Lake Powell. [Utah News Dispatch]

NATIONAL

The Congressional Budget Office says President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill, will add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. [Associated Press]

  • Republican senators are considering deep cuts to federal spending, up to $2 trillion, to make the tax cuts passed in 2017 permanent. [Axios]
  • 10.9 million people would lose health insurance under Trump's tax cut bill, CBO projects. [STAT]
  • Billionaire Elon Musk is continuing his social media attacks on Trump's tax and spending bill, urging lawmakers to "KILL the BILL." [CNBC]

The Trump administration is spending $2.1 million to study whether DEI policies played any part in recent plane crashes. [Atlantic]

President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into whether some of the policies enacted by his predecessor, Joe Biden, were invalid because aide enacted them without his knowledge. [New York Times]

  • Former President Biden called Trump's investigation announcement "ridiculous." [Axios]

INTERNATIONAL

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark will not yield to President Trump's "unacceptable" pressure over Greenland. [Reuters]

ECONOMY

Under President Biden, the Internal Revenue Service doubled the number of audits of wealthy Americans. [New York Times]

Private-sector firms added 37,000 jobs in May, falling significantly short of what economists' projections of 130,000 jobs. That's the lowest in more than two years. [CNN]

The U.S. trade deficit fell by more than half in April as imports plunged after President Trump announced his tariff policy. [ABC News]

EDUCATION

President Trump suspended entry into the United States of foreign nationals seeking to study at Harvard University. [CNBC]

The Department of Education is going after Columbia University's accreditation, saying the school is violating federal anti-discrimination laws by allowing harassment of Jewish students. [Politico]

Big budget cuts at the Department of Education have brought investigations of civil-rights violations to a standstill. [Wall Street Journal]