Thursday, June 26, 2025

⏰ Tick Tock

Days to Utah's 2025 municipal primary elections (8/12/2025) - 47
Days until Election Day (11/4/2025) - 131
Days until the 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026) - 495
Days until the 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028) - 1,230

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

UTAH AND THE WEST

Mike Lee's scaled back plan would sell up to 1.2 million acres of public lands. [Utah Political Watch]

Republican Sen. Mike Lee has introduced a bill to withdraw the U.S. from NATO. [Newsweek]

Utah's gun laws and the factors at play as prosecutors mull charges after "No Kings" shooting. [Utah News Dispatch]

As Utah sees immigration raid protests, 4 local companies make money from ICE – and one is lobbying for more. [Salt Lake Tribune]

Sen. John Curtis wants to hasten nuclear energy in Utah. [Deseret News]

Signs posted at Utah's national parks, monuments urge visitors to report anti-American views. [Fox 13]

How much water are Utah's agriculture optimization projects saving? [KSL]

Pluralsight, once a Utah "unicorn," is leaving the state after another round of layoffs. [Salt Lake Tribune]

Judge stops closure of Utah Job corps. [KUTV]

NATIONAL

Senate Republicans are struggling to find enough votes to pass President Donald Trump's "one big beautiful bill." [Politico]

  • The Senate parliamentarian rejected a proposal to change the Medicaid provider tax, which makes the math on the reconciliation bill much harder. [Axios]
  • The Senate parliamentarian also ruled out a provision to prohibit federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act going to health plans that cover abortion services. [The Hill]
  • Sen. Susan Collins is floating a tax hike on Americans making more than $100 million a year as part of the reconciliation bill currently in the Senate. [Bloomberg]
  • Capitol Police arrested more than 30 protesters, including some in wheelchairs, who were demonstrating against the proposed Medicaid cuts in the budget bill. [CNBC]

Wall Street is reportedly panicking over the prospect of Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, becoming Mayor of New York City. [Wall Street Journal]

Edward "Big Balls" Coristine, part of Elon Musk's DOGE effort, no longer works for the federal government. [Wired]

INTERNATIONAL

The CIA says Iran's Nuclear Program was "severely damaged" by U.S. airstrikes. [CNN]

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei says the U.S. "failed to achieve anything significant" in the attack. [BBC]

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he no longer believes President Trump is interested in annexing the country. [CNN]

President Trump called for the corruption trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be "cancelled immediately." [Axios]

ECONOMY

President Trump is considering naming a successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell this summer, even though Powell's term runs for another 11 months. [Wall Street Journal]

HEALTHCARE

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the U.S. will withdraw funding from Gavi, the leading international vaccine organization, accusing the group of having "ignored the science" in immunizing children. [New York Times]

EDUCATION

The Education Department says California is violating Title IX by allowing transgender athletes on girls sports teams. They've given California officials 10 days to ban transgender athletes and strip them of any prizes they've won. [San Francisco Chronicle]

BUSINESS

The Trump Organization is no longer claiming that the recently announced "Trump Phone" was made in America. [CNBC]

A massive cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles capsized and sank in international waters. [USA Today]