!!! WINNER !!!
Boner Candidate #1: THEY AUCTIONED OFF OUR WHOLE LIFE
A Weber County family had all of their belongings and keepsakes auctioned off due to an “accident”. Mandy Lee said she got a letter from Storage City in Ogden, where she rents a large unit for furniture, appliances, and special memories. The letter was a notice that there had been a mistake when trying to auction off another unit, that lead to her lock being cut, and all of her belongings being given to the highest bidder. The accident has cost the family financially and emotionally. “Memorabilia stuff from my husband’s mission, stuff from my kids when they were born and throughout their young lives,” all things Lee says she lost. Lee goes on to say that material things can be replaced, but the loss of old photos and diaries is tragic because she had planned to give them to their adopted son to help him learn more about the family. Now, their whole unit is empty, and they can’t get onto the property anymore either. Lee says her family is. “distraught, upset, not sure where to go from here.”
Boner Candidate #2: I’LL GO TO A J.D. VANCE RALLY…IF YOU PAY ME.
Vice President, JD Vance, visited Des Moines, Iowa for a rally ahead of midterm elections. Just hour before Vance was supposed to take stage, an “ethanol lobbyist” offered to pay people to attend the rally. “Gentlemen, Jake Swanson here, I wanted to invite you to join me in seeing Vice President JD Vance this afternoon…I do some work for an ethanol company and so if you’re able to join, I will give you $100, and for anyone that you recruit, an additional $25. No limit on referrals.” Swanson said in a text. Swanson is a registered lobbyist in Iowa and the founder of High Yield Strategies. When questioned about his recruitment efforts, Swanson declined to answer but gave this statement, “I love ethanol and what it does for our state. So I was happy to bring some Iowa State kids to the rally to celebrate all the things Trump-Vance have done for biofuels… This is what I like to do in my own personal spare time.” Great Plains Institute says that Swanson was under contract, but not for ethanol advocacy. He was instead working on legislation related to authorizing electric transmission lines. “Our folks that work with (Swanson) don’t have any knowledge about his involvement or activities related to the event with the Vice President,” Great Plains explained. If the funds originated with a corporate or nonprofit client and were directed toward boosting attendance at an event headlined by a sitting vice president, the arrangement could break finance law or federal election rules.
Boner Candidate #3: DRY WINTER, EARLY SNOWMELT RAISE CONCERNS AT UTAH RESERVOIRS…. DUH
After several years of drought relief and healthy reservoirs in northern Utah, a dry winter has caused water levels to drop significantly. The Utah Division of State Parks say that current reservoir levels are concerning and conditions will worsen later this summer. State Park says the lower levels will impact recreation, including boating access and safety concerns. But water officials say that concern extends beyond recreation. “Because the runoff was so much earlier, because temperatures have gone up so much sooner than normal, we’re going to be using that water a lot longer, which is not good,” meaning Utah may need to stretch its water supply further into the summer months. Utahns are being encouraged to conserve water at home, especially outdoors, where more than half of residential water use occurs during the warmer months. “We use over 50% of our water for the entire year in our yards and landscaping during the summer months… just be really intentional.” State officials say reservoir levels and drought conditions will continue to be closely monitored throughout the summer as Utah enters another challenging year.
