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Situational Analysis | September 22, 2026

It’s Tuesday and Hobbit Day! It’s also the first day of fall. 🍁

What you need to know

  • Sen. Curtis pushes to subpoena Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden over family connections in business dealings. The request comes after reports last week that Trump Jr. accepted a lavish wedding after-party as a gift from a Russian oligarch, raising concerns about foreign influence. Last week, the senator said “it just stinks. It’s corruption.” Today, Curtis posted on X that “A toaster is a wedding gift. A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else.”

Rapid relevance

Utah Headlines

Politics

  • Utah becomes first state to adopt Trump administration’s faith-based recovery model (Deseret News)

  • Park City visitors will pay about 60% more to use community spaces (KPCW)

  • Voices: I fought for undocumented students’ access to college. Utah must keep its promise. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Utah

  • 'Kind of scary': Pineview visitors discover grenade on previously submerged reservoir shore (KSL)

  • Utah Wildlife Board approves changes for fishing in the state (Cache Valley Daily)

  • The Utah Michelin Bib Gourmands can feed a family without breaking the bank (Deseret News)

  • Hiker dies after lightning strike near Mount Timpanogos summit (KSL)

  • Guatemala creates honorary consulate in Utah; full-service consulate may be coming (KSL)

  • Utah national parks have a $350M maintenance backlog (KUER 90.1)

Biz/Tech/AI

  • Their restaurant sits near two national parks and has ‘the most beautiful patio’ in Utah. War and wildfires are causing it to close. (Salt Lake Tribune)

  • How a Millcreek barber turned a shipping container into his dream business (Fox13)

  • Congress in the dark on Trump’s AI Force announcement (Politico)

Crime/Courts

  • Man sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to 1993 murder in Salt Lake (KUTV)

  • Body of second missing woman recovered at Sand Hollow (KSL)

  • Idaho man sentenced to prison for assaulting 2 U.S. park rangers in Southern Utah (St George News)

  • Father jailed for strangling two young children in Santaquin (ABC4)

  • Driver arrested after critically injuring pedestrian, had BAC nearly three times the legal limit (ABC4)

  • 1 injured in crash between school bus, semi-truck in Wasatch County (FOX13)

Culture/Community

  • How Sydney Benally became a shooting star for the Navajo Nation and BYU fans (Deseret News)

  • 'Get to the River Festival' brings families to Jordan River (KUTV)

  • Your guide to spooky season in Salt Lake (Axios Salt Lake City)

  • Utah kindergartener DJ LeeLee breaks world record (ABC4)

  • ‘Harry Potter’ is coming to the stage in Utah for the first time. Here’s what to know about ‘The Cursed Child’ (Deseret News)

Education

  • A national education survey ranks Utah dead last — and that’s a good thing (Deseret News)

  • Jimmer Fredette, Steve Young, 6 apostles to speak at Latter-day Saint college devotionals (Deseret News)

  • Here's how Utah's higher education system can grapple with a declining college-age population (KSL)

  • San Juan School District sees reading gains as Utah invests $16M in early literacy (KUTV)

Environment/Energy

  • 2026 Utah wildfire season: 1211 fires, 560,810 acres burned, 492 human-caused (Utah Fire Info)

  • Amazon will spend millions to help save Colorado River water (KUER)

  • Drought grips all of Utah; reservoirs at 50% of capacity (The Park Record)

  • Great Salt Lake's health tied to national security, legislative commission is told (FOX13)

Faith

  • Church of Jesus Christ opposes abortion measure in a second state (Deseret News)

  • Sister Yee invites Utah Valley Institute students to be the Lord’s hands in caring for those in need (Church News)

Family

  • The school day ends before the workday. Utah parents are feeling the gap (KSL)

  • How a children’s book teaches us what we owe one another (Deseret News)

  • Opinion: Sen. Lee’s adoptee citizenship bill isn’t the one we asked for (Deseret News)

  • Jana Riess: When DNA tests find skeletons in your family’s closet, these LDS researchers want to know about it (Salt Lake Tribune)

  • Taking care of grandchildren may help slow cognitive decline (Washington Post)

  • You’ll do anything for your baby. Algorithms know how to exploit that. (Washington Post)

  • Family meals matter: strengthening connections one meal at a time (Cache Valley Daily)

Health

  • This bionic arm sounds like science fiction — but it’s not (Deseret News)

  • Swig's 'Save the Cups' campaign aims to raise $650K for women battling breast cancer (KSL)

  • Is produce from a home garden safer than store bought? 'It depends' (NPR)

  • Voices: No single organization can address Utah’s mental health crisis alone. We need a new response. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Housing

  • Here are the best states for saving up to make a down payment on a home (Deseret News)

  • Rising rates push Utah homeownership further out of reach (KSL)

  • Utah saw the country’s highest home insurance nonrenewal rate in 2025 (KUER)

  • Seniors, disabled persons struggling most to find housing in Iron County (KUTV)

National Headlines

General

  • Airport operations resume after aging circuit and backup system failure caused travel meltdown at major Northeast travel hubs (CNN)

  • Paramount makes concessions to salvage $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal (NPR)

  • Fat Bear Week is back. The annual competition to determine this year’s Ursa Major returns (Deseret News)

  • Philly woman was ‘petrified’ of ex-husband before she vanished. Now her case is part of a mystery involving 6 other women. (NBC)

  • Airlines cutting flights as jet fuel costs soar (ABC)

Political News

  • Trump move to ban news outlets blows up at White House (The Hill)

  • Why the White House press pool matters as news outlets fight Trump’s restrictions (The Associated Press)

  • Trump's White House media ban faces long odds in court, legal experts say (Reuters)

  • OpenAI president and MAGA Inc. donor to attend Trump-Xi state dinner (Politico)

  • GOP nominees call for end to Iran war while on campaign trail (The Hill)

  • Majority of voters say Trump’s policies worsened the economy: Poll (The Hill)

  • Trump ‘definitely backed into a corner’: Former press secretary (The Hill)

  • Republicans were bullish about the Senate. Now they’re playing defense in red states. (Politico)

  • Could a piece of Yosemite National Park go to a private developer? (Deseret News)

  • Jay Evensen: Does America need a GoFundMe account? The day of reckoning is coming (Deseret News)

  • What conservatives can learn from a liberal at Fox News (Deseret News)

  • Trump approval falls to record low (Reuters)

Immigration

  • Man shot by ICE in Austin says he has a bullet lodged in his back and was denied medical care (Houston Public Media)

  • A new federal ‘public charge’ policy takes effect. What it means for Utah immigrants (Deseret News)

US/Iran/Middle East

  • Yemenis flee across Red Sea as Houthis and Saudi-backed forces escalate war (BBC)

  • UK to offer Saudi Arabia aerial refueling to counter Houthi attacks (The Associated Press)

  • A flashlight and unseen settlers: Photographer conveys West Bank family’s nightly watch in 1 photo (The Associated Press)

World

  • Messy, troubled, unpredictable: Diplomats describe a world in turmoil as UN opens annual meeting (AP)

  • What role does the United Nations play now? (NPR)

  • Cuba hit with another blackout as millions across the island are left without electricity (The Associated Press)

  • Chancellor Merz calls Germany state elections results a ‘disaster,’ as far-right surges again (CNN)

  • Trump to meet with Zelensky as Russia-Ukraine attacks intensify (Axios)

Number of the Day

News Releases

Curtis calls for investigation into presidential families’ business dealings

U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-UT) sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL) calling for an investigation into the use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit, preferential treatment, or access by domestic and foreign interests. (Read More)

Sutherland Institute announces 2026 Congressional Series

Sutherland Institute is pleased to announce its 2026 Congressional Series, sponsored by Zions Bank and presented in partnership with the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah. The series provides students and voters with an opportunity to hear directly from members of Utah’s congressional delegation about policy issues affecting Utah and the nation, in a way that goes deeper than what they may see on social media. (Read More)

Gov. Cox launches Recovery Utah Initiative

Gov. Spencer J. Cox signed an executive order today establishing the Recovery Utah Initiative, a statewide effort to coordinate Utah’s response to addiction, homelessness and serious mental illness.

The initiative will help carry out key goals in Gov. Cox’s Built Here second-term roadmap, including reducing drug deaths by 25%, reducing the share of people leaving state custody who enter homelessness by 25%, increasing inpatient beds for serious mental illness by 10% and building 150,000 new housing units by 2029. The Utah Legislature appropriated more than $40 million in 2026 to support this work. (Read More)

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

  • Sept 29 - Hatch Center symposium with Fox News Sunday’s Shannon Bream in Washington, DC, 12:00 pm EDT, RSVP here.

  • Oct 20-22 — October interim

  • Oct 29 — Sutherland Institute Awards Dinner, 6:00 pm, Grand America Hotel

  • Nov 3 — General election

  • Nov 11 — 2026 Women & Business Conference and ATHENA Awards, 8:00 am - 3:30 pm, Grand America Hotel, Register here

On This Day in History

  • 1792 - The French First Republic is formed by the National Convention, stripping the French king of his powers and abolishing the monarchy.

  • 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million enslaved in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

  • 1888 - National Geographic publishes its first issue.

  • 1937 - First International Hobbit Day and the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins

  • 1906 - Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 begins, kills 21

  • 1970 - US President Richard Nixon requests 1,000 new FBI agents for college campuses

  • 1975 - President Ford survives second assassination attempt

  • 1989 - Irving Berlin dies at 101

❝

When I'm worried and I can't sleep I count my blessings instead of sheep.

Irving Berlin

On the Punny Side

Why does Humpty Dumpty love autumn so much? Because he had a great fall.

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