Morning News Fix: Is the Gaetz open or shut?

⏰ Tick Tock

28 days until the Electoral College meets. (12/17/2024)
48 days until Congress certifies the presidential election. (1/6/2025)
62 days until Donald Trump is inaugurated. (1/20/2024)
63 days to the start of the 2025 Utah Legislature. (1/21/2025)

👀 Here are some stories that caught my attention this morning:

1. Ukraine fires first barrage of US-made long-range missiles into Russia, Kremlin says. [Fox News]
2. "A woman testified to the House Ethics Committee that former congressman Matt Gaetz paid her for sex and that she witnessed President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general having sex with a 17-year-old at a party, her lawyer said over the weekend." [Washington Post]
3. "He clearly wants Matt Gaetz." President-elect Donald Trump is personally calling senators to press them to confirm Gaetz as Attorney General. [Axios]
4. "In his private conversations over the past few days, President-elect Donald J. Trump has admitted that his besieged choice for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, has less than even odds of being confirmed by the Senate." [New York Times]
5. "Trump advisers and important congressional players are already discussing the contours of a bill that would use tariffs as a way to partially fund tax cuts. That would be a particularly notable victory for protectionists responding to globalization, which has lowered consumer prices but also hurt domestic manufacturing workers." [Politico]
6. Effort to repeal ranked choice voting and open primaries in Alaska on track to narrowly fail after latest ballot count. [Anchorage Daily News]
7. 56% of Americans support stricter laws covering the sale of firearms, but they oppose an outright ban on handguns. 52% favor a ban on assault weapons. [Gallup]
8. "State Medicaid programs for low-income families are the single biggest source of coverage, giving 31.6 million people access to Novo Nordisk's Wegovy or Eli Lilly's Zepbound, according to the AXIACI Obesity Coverage Nexus." [Reuters]
9. A Wyoming judge ruled two anti-abortion laws violate the state constitution which says every person has the right to personal autonomy when making medical decisions. [NBC News]

📰 Tuesday's headlines

House Speaker Schultz says higher ed funding, election oversight will be focuses in 2025. [KSL]

USU seeks to intervene in lawsuit over transgender athlete in Mountain West Conference. [Fox 13]

Salt Lake County audit finds gaps in oversight, potential violations of purchasing policy. [Deseret News]

Salt Lake County votes down $507M jail bond, but here's why the issue isn't settled. [Tribune]