Wednesday, June 18, 2025
⏰ Tick Tock
Days to Utah's 2025 municipal primary elections (8/12/2025) - 55
Days until Election Day (11/4/2025) - 139
Days until the 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026) - 503
Days until the 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028) - 1,238
👀 Here's what you need to know for Wednesday morning:
UTAH AND THE WEST
What actually happened at the Salt Lake City "No Kings" shooting? [Utah Political Watch]
Sen. Lee deletes tweets mocking murder of Minnesota Democrat. [Utah Political Watch]
Changes to Senate Republicans' budget proposal means even more Utah public land could be sold. [Utah News Dispatch]
Proposed minimum wage hike would increase pay for hundreds of thousands of Utahns. [KUTV]
The battle over Utah's collective bargaining ban: How Utahns say they would vote. [Deseret News]
Free speech group demands Utah allow students to have personal copies of banned books at school. [Salt Lake Tribune]
Utahns weigh in on Trump's job as president so far. [Deseret News]
ICE detained University of Utah student after gaining secret access to Colorado deputy's communications, sheriff's office says. [Salt Lake Tribune]
Audit criticizes Utah's child support payment agency for outdated technology. [Fox 13]
Rocky Mountain Power issues advisory as 100-degree heat returns to Wasatch Front. [KSL]
Investigation reveals Salt Lake City police have been taking electricty for years without paying. [Fox 13]
Utah to receive EPA funding to reduce lead in drinking water. [KSL]
NATIONAL
A federal appeals court appears ready to side with President Donald Trump's over the deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles. [Politico]
Senate Republican leaders want to cut more from Medicaid to offset tax cuts in the massive reconciliation bill, but the plan has triggered a backlash within their own party. [Wall Street Journal]
FBI Director Kash Patel fed conspiracy theories about fraud in the 2020 election by sharing unsubstantiated claims about Chinese interference. [NBC News]
At least five elected officials have been arrested or confronted by police while protesting Trump's immigration policies. [CNN]
Tucker Carlson embarrassed Sen. Ted Cruz in an exchange about Iran in a wild clip posted to social media. [X]
INTERNATIONAL
Israel made the case for war with Iran by providing the U.S. intelligence that Tehran was ramping up research to build a nuclear weapon. U.S. officials were not convinced. [Wall Street Journal]
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defiantly rejected President Trump's demand for unconditional surrender. [Reuters]
President Trump's national security advisors have given him a range of options related to Iran. [ABC News]
President Trump said on social media that "We have complete and total control of the skies over Iran." [CBS News]
ECONOMY
The dollar has lost more than 10% of its value against the euro, pound and Swiss franc since President Trump took office. It's also down against every single major currency in the world. [Bloomberg]
