UPDATE: I guess it’s all part of the debacle that is 2020: I just learned that because of a paperwork SNAFU, I won’t be able to attend the VP debates after all. I have heard other local media have encountered problems as well, but that is just hearsay.

I’m once again feeling the futile, helpless anger that has been the main emotion of this awful year. 

I’ve never attended or covered a vice-presidential debate before. Have you? Honestly, I’ve not usually even watched them on TV and when asked this weekend who Hillary Clinton’s running mate was, I didn’t remember. (It was Tim Kaine)

(I can’t imagine a more boring political event than Tim Kaine debating Mike Pence.)

Anyway, I’m attending the 2020 Vice Presidential debate tomorrow evening at Kingsbury Hall on the University of Utah campus.

And tomorrow night’s event promises to keep me awake.

I’m not expecting another cluster, like the chaotic yelling match many of us watched nearly a week ago, when President Trump and Joe Biden made a mess out of the very idea of debate. Really, no one but Trump could instigate that kind of debacle.

But the Veep contest is, more than the usual political debate, inherently interesting. Because Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris personify the split in American society, the culture canyon that is dividing us so deeply and violently.

Pence is the classic American politician—an old, white, male conservative who is determined to keep his kind in power. He doesn’t shout out his positions on women’s rights, gay marriage, racial equality, income equality or universal healthcare but they’re there, a fundamental part of him and his history. A history Harris and others are trying to change. Harris’ parents are Black and Indian, she’s a woman—that goes without saying—and she comes from a state that, despite internal conflict, has the most progressive culture in the country. Her attitude is fierce; his is staid. He is protecting his kind’s hegemony; Harris’ life has been a series of “firsts.”

It’s almost ridiculous to sum up the attitudes of these two into simple “right” and “left,” Republican and Democrat.

Just like it’s ridiculous to sum up this country’s division so simply.

I’ll be interested to see how this pair characterize their positions, their beliefs, their hopes and plans for our future.

I’ll be trying to report the whole scene as it happens and I’ll certainly post my not-necessarily-unbiased observations on Thursday.

7pm-8:30 MDT (Salt Lake City, Utah)

9pm EST to 10:30 EST (New York, New York)

6pm-7:30 PDT (LA California)

All the major news channels, including NBC, ABC, C-SPAN, CBS and Fox News will show the debate without commercial interruption. YouTube, Apple TV and Amazon Prime are among the online services expected to stream the debate.

Hideout’s ongoing annexation attempt of land in Summit County won’t relent. What began with a hastily-signed, clandestine bill—H.B. 359—from a July special legislative session has become an ongoing saga exposing deep rifts in visions for the future of the Wasatch back. On one side are supporters of development being imperative to meet inevitable growth goals for the area. On the other are those who demand transparency and clear public benefit behind building. In the middle is Hideout, a municipality of approximately 1,000 people in Wasatch County which has doubled down on its unpopular effort to annex land from neighboring Summit County.

A quick recap for those who haven’t been paying attention. The aforementioned H.B. 359 was amended with language allowing a municipality to annex unincorporated land across county lines without outside approval. The amendment passed with little to no discussion, allowing Hideout to pursue annexation of land near Richardson Flat. Developers Nate Brockbank and Josh Romney—Mitt’s son, who has since been bought out of development rights by Brockbank—secured a pre-annexation agreement with Hideout to build a Kimball Junction sized development on the land. After intense public outcry and resistance from Summit County and Park City officials, lawmakers who initially supported the bill subsequently repealed it during an August special session, claiming the bill had been misrepresented to them. After a lawsuit by Summit County and an injunction from a district judge, it appeared the Hideout annexation was dead, a special interest project gone awry and exposed to the light of day. But Hideout wasn’t finished.

On September 10, Hideout began a new process to annex land in Summit County during the 60-day window before the repeal of H.B. 359 goes into effect. The revised annexation plan includes about 350 acres straddling Richardson Flat Road, reduced from the 650 sought in the initial annexation agreement. Hideout now has 30 days from September 10 to hold a public hearing, after which it can officially annex the land and determine how it’s developed.

The Hideout Council contends the town requires commercial amenities like grocery stores, gas stations, retail spaces, mixed cost housing and even a school. Hideout councilors and Brockbank insist everything has been done above board, according the letter of the law, arguing the town’s expansion is essential to gaining political legitimacy. Outside observers, however, find the unilateral process unseemly. H.B. 359 was quickly repealed by state legislators upon the public discovering its implications, showing there’s very little appetite for the move from anyone outside of Hideout.

Hideout itself was incorporated under a short-live state law, H.B. 446 in 2008. The town announced a public hearing about the proposed annexation will be held on October 12 and 6:00 p.m. If you have input on the issue of Hideout’s annexation or the way it’s been pursued, make sure to attend. It will most likely be virtual event due to public health restrictions.

Read more of our community coverage here.