News roundup: Pollster: Ted Cruz would hurt House GOP more than Trump

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Pollster: Ted Cruz would hurt House GOP more than Trump. Hatch was a 'designated survivor.' DA Gill: No charges in Barker shooting.

Happy Wednesday. Establishment Republicans have said they fear the down-ballot impacts of Donald Trump as the party's nominee but a GOP pollster says the candidate that will have the most disastrous effect on House Republican candidates is Sen. Ted Cruz. The pollster said Cruz's "starkly ideological positions" were not going to make it easy for House GOP candidates and incumbents. [Politico]

Topping the news: Utah's Republican members of Congress criticized President Barack Obama for saying he wanted to unite Washington while simultaneously taking jabs at the GOP. [Trib] [DNews] [KUTV] [Fox13] [ABC4]

-> Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch skipped out on the State of the Union Address event last night, as a "designated survivor," a position set up in the post-9/11 era which ensures continuity of the federal government should an attack occur. [Trib]

-> SL Co. District Attorney Sam Gill said a new video released this week isn't enough to change his previous ruling that an officer was "justified" in the shooting of James Barker a year ago. [Trib] [KUTV] [DNews] [Fox13] [ABC4] [KUER] He said also he has access to a third video of the shooting. [DNews]

-> Utahns are split on whether they fear a terrorist attack in the state, but most say they're not changing their habits if they are concerned, a new poll  shows. [UtahPolicy]

Tweets of the day: From @swiftsvinyl: "when will someone look at me the way Biden looks at Obama."

From @RexHuppke: "Obama didn't even mention the Powerball jackpot. He's up to something."

From @donnabrazile: "The only thing slower than the pace of change in Washington is how long it takes a President to get down the aisle and to the podium."

Tune in: Medical refugee Enedina Stanger and psychiatrist Dr. Sue Sisely join Jennifer Napier-Pearce to talk about medical cannabis and two bills Utah legislators soon will consider to legalize marijuana as medicine. Watch Trib Talk live at 12:15 p.m. MT on sltrib.com.

In other news: GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz's campaign announced its Utah team for this year's election. [Trib]

-> DA Sim Gill plans on attending an event today in support of a bill advocating for medical marijuana. [Fox13]

-> SLC Mayor Jackie Biskupski has announced her support of a bill proposing that the city's airport go smoke free. [Trib]

-> State Rep. Paul Ray has unveiled a new bill to make child trafficking a capital offense if the victim dies. [Fox13]

-> Another lawmaker is working on a bill that would scrap a sales tax hike connected with consoling SLC for the upcoming prison move. [KUER]

-> SL Co. Mayor Ben McAdams appeared before the Salt Lake City Council last night to encourage it to advocate for funding and policy changes from the Utah Legislature for better homeless services. [DNews] [Fox13]

-> A 45-star flag has found its way to Utah, the nation's 45th state, and was presented yesterday to Gov. Gary Herbert. [DNews] [ABC4]

-> San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman says he will appeal his conviction in the case of his 2014 ATV protest ride and act as his own attorney in court. [Trib] [DNews] [KUTV] [Fox13]

-> Former Utah Attorney General John Swallow has requested that a state judge order the SL Co. district attorney's office to pursue FBI evidence gathered in a previous investigation in hopes it will clear his name. [Trib]

-> The Monticello City Council voted unanimously to fire its police chief, whose behavior was called into question after he allegedly mishandled a 911 call. [KUTV]

-> Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes represented University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell on Tuesday in the deposition of Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, after the two of them have fired defamation lawsuits back and forth. [Trib]

-> After Lyle Jeffs requested last week to be excused from testifying at a trial accusing two polygamous towns on the Utah-Arizona border of discrimination, Department of Justice says he should be forced to attend and testify. [Trib]

-> The attorney for Hildale, one of the towns in question, said the city is willing to settle out of court to avoid a trial next week. [Fox13]

-> Utah residents are flocking to Idaho and Wyoming to purchase Powerball tickets as the jackpot grows to $1.5 billion, [Trib] while the Beehive State and five others opt out. [KUTV]

-> SLC's urban-renewal agency approved an agreement Tuesday that will give two developers 90 days free of outside competition to negotiate a purchase price for a new project that would bring 168 new residential units to the city's center. [Trib]

-> Residents of the Daybreak community expressed frustration at a Planning Commission meeting toward a developer who they say gave them false expectations. [Fox13]

-> After two auto-pedestrian crashes on Monday, the Utah Department of Transportation is prioritizing education of their Zero Fatalities project. [Fox13]

-> The U. drafted a new motto after the old one received criticism for being too wordy. [Trib]

-> Despite closing one of Utah's coal power plants in an effort to clean up the air, Utah's Department of Air Quality is on its way to approving a coal-to-liquids plant. [ABC4]

-> Several Utah cities have agreed to make financial restitution for polluting waterways with thousands of gallons of sewage. [Trib]

-> A special recreation permit for the Hole-in-the-Rock Foundation was approved by the Bureau of Land Management's Monticello field office, which authorizes some year-round guided group hiking. [DNews]

-> Older aircraft maintenance practices at Hill Air Force Base have caused environmental damage, and officials there are seeking help to clean it up. [APviaTrib] [APviaKUTV]

-> Utah has seen smaller drops in fuel prices compared to other states. [DNews]

-> Dinosaur National Monument drew 16 percent more visits in 2015 than the previous year. [DNews]

-> Boeing was overcome in 2015 by rival company Airbus, winning hundreds more plane orders, but both organizations are threatened by China's slowing economy. [APviaDNews]

-> The billboard advertising a site "Where White People Meet" has been pulled after receiving widespread criticism and complaints. [Trib] [Fox13]

-> Pat Bagley shares his take on the case of the disappearing bees. [Trib]

-> Paul Rolly discusses a Republican activist's stint as a substitute teacher in a LDS seminary class. [Trib]

Nationally: In President Barack Obama's final State of the Union Address, he discredited GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump without using his name. [TIME] [CNN] [Vox] [Politico] He urged Americans not to be afraid and highlighted achievements during his presidency. [WaPost] [USAToday]

-> Obama was criticized by Arizona Sen. John McCain for failing to mention 1o U.S. sailors who are being held in Iran, a story which came to light earlier Tuesday. [CNN] Pentagon officials said the two U.S. Navy boats taken by Iran will be returned "promptly" with the crew intact. [APviaTrib] [Yahoo!]

-> In the GOP's response to Obama's address, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley defended immigrants, saying that no hard-working and law-abiding person "should ever feel unwelcome in this country." [AlJazeera]

-> After recently bringing up Bill Clinton's past infidelity, Republican candidate Trump took another jab at the former president by blaming him for 9/11. [TheHill]

-> Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has surpassed rival Hillary Clinton in some new early state polls. [Politico]

Where are they?

  • Rep. Jason Chaffetz casts votes and joins fellow Republicans for a strategy session.
  • Rep. Chris Stewart  heads to a House Intelligence Committee hearing, meets with Delta Airlines, votes and travels to the House Republican Legislative Conference.
  • Gov. Gary Herbert flies to Baltimore for the House Republican Conference.
  • Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox eats at the United Way Legislative Preview Breakfast and sits down for a Constituent Services Directors meeting at the State Capitol. Later he trains Legislative interns and joins Young Lawyers and the J. Reuben Clark Law Society for a meeting. He also goes to a State Building Ownership Authority meeting and the Governor's Science & Technology Awards event at Rio Tinto Stadium.
  • SL Co. Mayor Ben McAdams attends a County Council meeting where he discusses criminal justice.
  • President Barack Obama receives his daily briefing and departs for Omaha, Neb. where he holds a living room discussion with a family at a private residence and delivers remarks at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Later he continues his trip en route to Baton Rouge, La., where he remains overnight.

Got a tip? A birthday, wedding or anniversary to announce? Email us at cornflakes@sltrib.com. If you haven't already, sign up for our weekday email and get this sent directly to your inbox. [Trib]

— Thomas Burr, Mariah Noble and Michael Anderson Kruse

Twitter.com/thomaswburr, Twitter.com/mnoblenews and Twitter.com/mkrusenews