Utah Governor Spencer Cox offered to use the executive order to allow schools to introduce masking requirements, thereby circumventing state law.

Good Thursday morning Utah! Thanks for reading “The Rundown”.

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What you need to know for Thursday morning:

😷 During a closed-door meeting, Governor Spencer Cox told health officials and school principals he was considering an executive order that would allow schools to introduce a mask mandate. [Tribune]

Chaos in Afghanistan. The US embassy issued an alarming security warning on Wednesday warning US citizens not to travel to the airport in Kabul because of a specific threat posed by an IS subsidiary. [CNN]

• The US says 1,500 Americans remain in Afghanistan with only a few days to evacuate them from the country. [WSJ]

• At least 250,000 Afghans who have worked with US forces have not yet been evacuated. [NYT]

👀 The House of Representatives special committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol has requested a large number of documents from numerous government agencies. Former President Donald Trump threatened to invoke executive privilege to block the publication of some documents. [CNN]

💉 U.S. military service personnel hired by the Pentagon will receive the COVID-19 vaccine immediately. [CNN]

💉 Biden’s government will likely approve COVID booster shots 6 months after previous dose. [WSJ]

💉 Texas Governor Greg Abbott banned mandates for COVID-19 vaccines. [Texas Tribune]

🦠 COVID cases in South Dakota have quintupled after the Sturgis motorcycle rally. [NBC News]

🦠 Mississippi has quarantined 15% of all K-12 students in the state due to exposure to COVID-19. [Mississippi Free Press]

🦠Delta Airlines will force some unvaccinated employees to pay more health insurance bills. [Tribune]

💵 Only 11% of the billion dollars allocated for federal rental subsidies was distributed locally. [AP]

🔥 Massive forest fires near Lake Tahoe have lowered the air quality there to toxic levels. [SF Gate]

💻 OnlyFans has given up plans to ban sexually explicit content on its platform. [Variety]

🏛 Natalie Cline, a member of the Utah State School Board, could be criticized for posting a social media post criticizing LGBTQ students at Layton High School. The Post resulted in some threats of violence. [Tribune]

Dinah the dinosaur competition

Yesterday we asked our readers to identify four mistakes in this social media post by GOP US Senate candidate Becky Edwards.

The Rundown reached out to the Edwards campaign to see if they had a comment on the unfortunate social media post. They replied by email.

Dear Dinah, the pinkest dinosaur in Utah,

We deeply regret that we moved you to Duchesne County and made a typo. We hope this hasn’t ruined our relationship forever. We love you and so many things about Uintah County. Next time we’re in town, Antica Forma is on us.

PS #utpol #utleg for Twitter, where Bryan Schott spends most of his time.

– Team Becky

Image by @beckyforutah on Instagram

The first three bugs were pretty easy to identify.

• Duchesne County is misspelled.

• Vernal is Uintah County, not Duchesne.

• It should be “one for the books”.

The last one was a dull one. Some suspected that the truck on the sidewalk was the fault. Others said the picture had been edited with Photoshop or was an old photo.

Only one person guessed the obvious flaw: dinosaurs are not pink.

Congratulations to Becky LaDuca! We’ll send you a copy of I Alone Can Fix It.

Thanks everyone for reading and sending emails. We’ll have another competition soon.

Thursday morning recap of Utah news

Utah

• The Salt Lake City Ballpark Detox Center could become a crowded homeless shelter. [Tribune]

• “We Export Our Children” – Why This Quaint Utah District Is Getting Old Fast. [Tribune]

• A family of two found dead in Moab mourns the loss of a young couple. [Tribune]

• Scofield is running out of drinking water. [Fox 13]

Weather and the environment

• Expect more smoke – and maybe some rain – on Wednesday and Thursday. [Tribune]

• Study: The smoke exposure from forest fires increases the risk of premature birth. [Deseret News]

• Long-term projections show that the drought in Utah may worsen. [Fox 13]

COVID-19

• East and Lone Peak High Schools are canceling soccer games on COVID-19 concerns. [Tribune]

• Less “bang for the money” with COVID-19 booster vaccinations, say experts from the University of Utah. [Deseret News]

• Salt Lake City Mayor Mendenhall ordered masks from K-12 schools. Did the families stick to it? [Deseret News]

On the opinion pages

• Opinion: Would you rather take equine medicine or a COVID-19 vaccine? [Deseret News]

• Opinion: Don’t leave anyone behind in Afghanistan. [Deseret News]

– Jordan Miller of the Tribune contributed to this report.