Here’s a look at the news for March 17, also known as St. Patrick's Day.
Utah’s ongoing housing shortage problem
From 1970 to 2010, Utah had too many homes, according to the Deseret News. In fact, there was an 11 percent separation between the number of homes and housing needs.
But in the past seven years, it’s flipped, and Utah may not have enough homes to match its growing population, the Deseret News reported.
According to the Deseret News, “now tens of thousands of Utahns are searching for homes, condos or townhouses that simply don't exist — and may not be built anytime soon."
The situation may be getting worse, too. Local experts told the Deseret News that the demands are hard to meet.
"What we're seeing now is couples and families doubling up with friends or their families while house hunting," said Jaren Davis, executive officer of the Salt Lake Home Builders Association. "They're kind of invisible, but when you start asking around, you find out everyone knows somebody in this situation."
Read more at the Deseret News.
BYU professor says 2017 Legislature was bipartisan
Brigham Young University professor Adam Brown told the Deseret News that the 2017 Legislature session was "almost a bipartisan love fest.”
He said the Republicans, who own the supermajority in Congress, and Democrats, who are the minority, nearly always vote the same, according to the Deseret News.
Brown said it’s bewildering that the two parties got along because of their disparity. Democrats have 13 of the Beehive State’s 75 House seats and just five of 29 Senate seats, according to the Deseret News.
"That makes it all the more interesting that somehow they do find a way to vote together," Brown said.
Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, said the majority of Republicans want to work with the Democrats, despite the divide in numbers.
"We could as a Republican Party make the Democrats pretty much irrelevant by our numbers. But we don't do that," he said. "I don't know if it's cultural, but it is an attitude we've tried to foster."
Read more at the Deseret News.
Secretary of state talks military action with North Korea
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said there's "an option on the table" for the U.S. to take military action against North Korea, according to USA Today.
Tillerson spoke at a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, this week, highlighting that the time for diplomacy is over between North and South Korea. He said the country is exploring a number of options on how to make North Korea end its nuclear weapon plans, USA Today reported.
And involving the military is one of those options, he said.
"Certainly we do not want to, for things to get to military conflict," Tillerson said. "(But if North Korea) elevates the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action, then that option's on the table."
Read more at USA Today.
Can’t find a Nintendo Switch? More are coming
Americans may have noticed a shortage in Nintendo Switch devices, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). But that could soon end, as Nintendo plans to ramp up production of its latest console so it can bring more to American stores.
About 16 million more consoles will be built, starting on April 1, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Nintendo may increase production again once more games are released, since it launched without many of Nintendo’s popular franchise titles, the Journal reported.
“Even after accounting for inventory, that suggests Nintendo believes it can sell significantly more than 10 million units during the 12-month period, they said, beating expectations of many analysts,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal.
Train blasts through snow at station
A video of a train blasting through snow at a train station has received nationwide attention on Friday morning.
There are two versions of the video, according to Digg: slow-motion and real-time.