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Situational Analysis | June 24th, 2026

It’s Wednesday and International Fairy Day! 🧚🏼‍♀️

What you need to know

Rapid relevance

Utah Headlines

Political News

  • Republican leaders tangle with Utah Sen. Mike Lee over election bill (Deseret News)

  • Sen. Curtis renews vow not to fund Iran military operations without formal declaration of war (Deseret News)

  • As Republican Party looks to future without Trump in office, Utah could be a road map (UPR)

  • Cache County GOP primary voters opt for change in troubled county attorney's office (Cache Valley Daily)

  • Commissioners, sheriff unseated in Box Elder County primary (Cache Valley Daily)

America 250

  • Opinion: How can American education encourage good citizenship (Deseret News)

  • How Americans are feeling about the country’s 250th anniversary, according to new polls (AP)

Wildfires

  • Firefighters say 'at least 48 hours' longer for evacuees from Iron Fire (KSL)

  • Here’s why the wildfire smoke in Salt Lake City likely won’t clear anytime soon, forecasters say (The Salt Lake Tribune)

  • Humans cause most of Utah’s wildfires. Here’s how. (The Salt Lake Tribune)

  • Human-caused Cottonwood Fire explodes to 30,100 acres, 0% contained (ABC4)

Utah

  • What’s updated in Utah’s 2034 Winter Games plan (Deseret News)

  • Celebration of IOC’s Olympic Day includes a workout for Salt Lake kids (Deseret News)

  • Doulas of Utah organize diaper drive to support families in need (ABC4)

Biz/Tech/AI

  • Kids are talking to AI more than ever. Sen. John Curtis wants rules to ensure their safety (Deseret News)

  • AI cybersecurity flaw: How hackers can fool AI chatbots into handing over sensitive info (KSL)

Crime/Courts

  • ‘There are criminal consequences’: Man accused of starting Memory Grove fire charged with reckless burning (The Salt Lake Tribune)

  • Former youth pastor charged with murder for wife's death at Zion National Park in 2006 (KSL)

  • 455 people charged for alleged $6.5B health care fraud (Deseret News)

  • Co-owners of drug treatment facility accused of defrauding Utah Medicaid (KSL)

  • Utah mother charged with international kidnapping claims she was saving kids from 'end of times' (KSL)

  • Tyler Robinson isn't first high profile case to allow cameras, media argues (KSL)

Culture/Community

  • ‘The show must go on,’ 81-year-old rocker Rod Stewart says after pausing Utah show for oxygen (Deseret News)

  • Does the Vesper Amphitheater follow Provo's hillsides and canyons preservation guidelines? (KSL)

  • Utah explorer who died on Mt. McKinley remembered as a caring lover of the outdoors (UPR)

Economy

Education

  • University of Utah trustees greenlight creation of state's first AI bachelor's degree (KSL)

  • Is Utah actually helping its youngest kids learn how to read? A new state report found ‘mixed’ results. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Environment/Energy

  • Environmentalists call for investigation after birds found dead near reflecting pool (Fox 13)

  • Utah farmers face devastating loss after major hailstorm hits onion crop (ABC4)

  • Appeals court says presidents aren’t beyond review in monument disputes (Deseret News)

Faith

  • Workers reinstall Salt Lake Temple’s legendary east doors as renovation reaches homestretch (Deseret News)

Health

  • Supplement company asks questions despite its ‘no questions asked’ return policy (KSLNR)

  • CDC’s chief blocked a covid vaccine study. Now it’s in a top medical journal. (Washington Post)

National Headlines

General

  • Savannah Guthrie renews plea for information on ‘Today’ show (Deseret News)

  • Camp Mystic, Where 28 Died in Texas Floods, Files for Bankruptcy (New York Times)

Political News

  • Supreme Court rules along ideological lines in case involving religious rights in prison (Deseret News)

  • Supreme Court says green card holders can be treated differently at border if accused of a crime (Deseret News)

  • US Senate joins House in rebuke of Trump over his war in Iran (Utah News Dispatch)

  • Trump set to mark nation's 250th birthday with campaign-style rally (Reuters)

  • Mamdani proves his power with New York endorsements (AP)

Immigration

  • Judge vacates Trump policy allowing arrests at immigration courts (Politico)

  • 8 protesters accused by feds of antifa ties get up to 100 years in Texas immigration center shooting (CNN)

Ukraine/Russia

  • Moscow oil refinery hit by drone attacks is unlikely to resume production this year, sources say (Reuters)

US/Iran/Middle East

  • Mixed messages: US and Iran still disagree over nuclear inspections and shipping through Hormuz (Fox 13)

  • Few in US say Iran war was worth it; Trump approval ties lowest of term, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds (Reuters)

World

  • Archaeologists find huge Viking textile production site in Denmark (AP)

Number of the Day

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

  • July 4 — 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence

  • Aug 4-6 — One Utah Summit, SUU America First Event Center, Register here

  • Aug 13 — Titan of Public Service Gala with the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, Grand America

  • Aug 18-20 — August Interim

  • Nov 3 — General election

On This Day in History

  • 1896 - Harvard University issues its first honorary degree to an African American – author, educator and orator, Booker T. Washington.

  • 1918 - Mildred Ladner Thompson is born. In 1945, she became one of the Wall Street Journal’s first female reporters.

  • 1929 - Carolyn Spellmann Shoemaker is born. When she was 51, and her children were grown, she began looking at the stars. She discovered 32 comets and more than 800 asteroids. In 1993, her most notable discovery was a team effort. Along with her husband and astrogeologist, Gene Shoemaker and astronomer David Levy, they discovered the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. She retired in 2019 at age 90.

  • 1947 - While flying near Mt. Rainer, pilot Kenneth Arnold witnessed what is considered the first widely reported sighting of an unidentified flying object – UFO.

  • 1992 - The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, strengthened its 30-year ban on officially sponsored worship in public schools, prohibiting prayer as a part of graduation ceremonies.

  • 1995 - Esther Rome, American health advocate, dies from breast cancer at age 49. She belonged to the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. She and other group members began writing articles on women’s health which became the book Our Bodies, Ourselves.

  • 2021 - A 12-story condo collapses in Florida, killing 98

  • 2022 - US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade

Quote of the Day

❝

We should not permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities.

Booker T. Washington

On the Punny Side

What do you call an apology written in dots and dashes?

Re-morse Code!

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