President Donald Trump averages about 16 tweets per weekend but was recently unusually active on the platform, posting more than 50 times from Friday morning to Sunday evening. He took on “Saturday Night Live” and the late Sen. John McCain and defended Fox News opinion hosts who have recently come under fire for bigoted statements. It was unclear what had provoked his flurry of activity, and even advisers were searching for the normal cues that set him off: White House officials performing poorly on the Sunday show circuit or his delayed distillation of negative coverage from the week before. [NYTimes]
Happy Tuesday.
Topping the news: Utah Gov. Gary Herbert quietly let a controversial bill that could open the door for the storage of depleted uranium in the state to take effect without his signature or veto. [Trib] [DNews]
-> Federal authorities are seeking larger monthly restitution payments from Utah Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, who was ordered in 2015 to pay $95,955.61 in damages to the Bureau of Land Management following an ATV protest ride on closed public land. They say his appointment to the state Legislature has increased his ability and moral responsibility to pay up. [Trib]
-> In an unexpected move, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski announced Monday that she will not run for reelection in 2019 due to a “serious and complex family situation.” [Trib] [DNews] [Fox13]
Tweets of the day: From @jjmccluskey: “Thanks to the Utah Legislature for passing the campus safety bill. It’s a step in the right direction. Now @GovHerbert needs to sign it."
-> From @JimDabakis: “Jackie out for Mayor. Everyone remember how much grace and aplomb she acted with as first lesbian LGBTQ legislator. Some pompous lawmakers refused to shake her hand. Thanks trailblazer Jackie."
-> From @iversonSLC: “Regardless of your thoughts on the mayor, it’s a bit of a shame there are now no women in the race."
In other news: Members of the Utah Republican Party’s State Central Committee on Saturday censured Chairman Rob Anderson for alleged abuse of authority and neglect of duty. [Trib] [DNews]
-> Clean air activists derided the state Legislature’s passage of a controversial gravel-mining bill that they say puts business interests over the health of Utahns; lawmakers defended the bill as protecting private property rights. [Trib]
-> Utah’s Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, which has yielded thousands of dinosaur bones, is now Jurassic National Monument under a sweeping public lands bill Trump signed recently. [Trib]
-> State officials are taking steps to solidify the implementation of newly legalized medical marijuana facilities in the state, which will include tracking each plant to make sure nothing goes missing. [Fox13] [DNews]
-> A federal judge upheld the constitutionality of a bump stock ban after a challenge by Utah gun advocate Clark Aposhian, the chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council. Aposhian has since filed a notice of appeal to the 10th Circuit Court. [Trib]
-> A series of small housing projects popping up in Salt Lake City’s east side reflect a generational shift in Utahns’ home buying preferences and are part of a business strategy of catering to renters and buyers that want to live in up-and-coming urban locations. [Trib]
-> Two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been in detention in Russia for nearly three weeks, despite reports that a Russian court had ordered they be deported for teaching English without a license. [Trib]
-> Tribune columnist Robert Gehrke criticizes the way lawmakers have distributed funds, which he says benefits businesses at the expense of Utah taxpayers. [Trib]
-> Pat Bagley imagines a presidential bathroom gaffe. [Trib]
Nationally: Although United States intelligence agencies often share information about international terrorist groups with global allies, the same system doesn’t exist for domestic terrorist groups like white nationalists, which often share similar models or international networks via the internet. [WaPost]
-> Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke announced Monday that he has raised $6.1 million in campaign funds thus far, a record-setting haul that outpaces everyone else in the 2020 field. [WaPost] [NYTimes] [Politico]
-> Democrats remain split on Medicare for all, as freshmen push for it and more senior representatives throw their support behind smaller, incremental moves, like shoring up the Affordable Care Act or decreasing out-of-pocket costs for care and prescription drugs. [NYTimes]
-> The U.S. Supreme Court appears divided over a lower court’s determination that a Republican-drawn districting map of Virginia discriminated against black voters. [WaPost]
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-- Taylor Stevens and Christina Giardinelli
