This is your daily news rundown for Tuesday, June 2. In this edition:
- Cache County dairies have to undergo weekly testing for avian influenza
- Gov. Spencer Cox appointed two new judges to a now-expanded Utah Supreme Court
- Sen. Nate Blouin wants his primary rivals to drop out. They aren't budging
Highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected at a Logan dairy
A dairy in Logan tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza.
It's the first detection of the dairy strain of the virus since January of last year, and about two years since the start of a nationwide spread that quarantined several northern Utah farms.
Dairies in Cache County will now have mandatory weekly testing for the virus. If any test positive, they will be placed under quarantine, which means lactating cattle can’t move on or off dairies except for cows going right to slaughter.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recent detection doesn’t present an immediate threat to public health or the food supply chain.
The Utah Supreme Court is officially expanded with Cox’s new picks
Gov. Spencer Cox appointed two new judges to the Utah Supreme Court.
The openings came after lawmakers passed a bill this year to expand the state’s top court from five justices to seven.
After interviewing a dozen candidates for the positions, Cox decided on Jay Jorgensen and Stephen Dent.
Jorgensen is currently senior counsel for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dent serves as an assistant United States attorney for the District of Utah.
Cox still needs to fill two other Utah Supreme Court seats this year because of resignations. That means over half of the court will be compromised of new faces.
Sen. Blouin wants his progressive rivals to drop out. They aren’t budging
State Sen. Nate Blouin is calling for his progressive rivals to drop out of the District 1 race, citing a poll by his campaign.
Last week, Blouin said there needed to be one progressive candidate for voters to rally behind against current Democratic frontrunner Ben McAdams. To decide who that would be, he proposed surveying voters and picking who polled highest.
Blouin’s campaign surveyed about 400 likely voters in the Democratic primary. Blouin polled higher than opponents Liban Mohamed and Michael Farrell, but behind McAdams.
Farrell and Mohamed both rejected Blouin’s calls to drop out, however. Mohamed pointed out the poll’s small sample size and his own win at the Utah Democratic Convention.
Even if either candidate did pull out, ballots are already being sent out to voters, which means their names would still appear.
