Thursday, July 3, 2025
Programming note: We'll be off Friday for Independence Day. This newsletter will return to your inboxes on Monday morning.
⏰ Tick Tock
Days to Utah's 2025 municipal primary elections (8/12/2025) - 40
Days until Election Day (11/4/2025) - 124
Days until the 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026) - 488
Days until the 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028) - 1,223
Trouble in paradise?
👀 Here's what you need to know for Thursday morning:
UTAH AND THE WEST
A woman accused former Utah higher education commissioner Dave Woolstenhulme of inappropriately touching her during an event at Utah State University. Wolstenhulme abruptly resigned from his post in 2023. [Salt Lake Tribune]
Utah Sen. John Curtis plays key role in preserving green energy policies in massive tax bill. [KSL]
Utah after-school and summer programs blindsided by federal funding freeze. [Utah News Dispatch]
A solution to the Great Salt Lake's blowing dust might lie deep beneath its surface. [Salt Lake Tribune]
NATIONAL
House leaders held a procedural vote on the $3.4 trillion reconciliation bill for more than a dozen hours while they worked to convince members of their own party to support the bill. In the end, all but one of the holdouts caved. [Washington Post]
President Donald Trump appears not to know what's in the "big, beautiful bill." Per NOTUS:
But Trump still doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp about what his signature legislative achievement does. According to three sources with direct knowledge of the comments, the president told Republicans at this meeting that there are three things Congress shouldn’t touch if they want to win elections: Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
“But we’re touching Medicaid in this bill,” one member responded to Trump, according to the three sources.
The Justice Department is exploring filing criminal charges against state or local election officials if the Trump administration determines they have not taken steps to safeguard their computer systems. [New York Times]
In a new court filing, Kilmar Abrego Garcia details that he was beaten and tortured in the high-security prison in El Salvador after he was deported by the Trump administration. [USA Today]
ECONOMY
The U.S. economy added 147,000 jobs in June, which was much higher than analysts predicted. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%. [CNN]
