Desert SOS: Save Our Saguaros month begins with day of buffelgrass removal https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/013024_buffelgrass_removal/desert-sos-save-our-saguaros-month-begins-with-day-buffelgrass-removal/
Uprooting non-native fire-prone buffelgrass will be the focus of a series of upcoming volunteering events hosted by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum at A Mountain.
#Tucson #Arizona
Hobbs pushes for Az school funding plan, GOP stands by its own proposal https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/013024_school_funding/hobbs-pushes-az-school-funding-plan-gop-stands-by-its-own-proposal/
Gov. Katie Hobbs and Arizona Democrats formally introduced legislation to expand funding for public education and teacher pay, even as Republicans insist they will continue to push their own plan.
#Tucson #Arizona
Minor League Baseball pushes for minimum wage exemption in Arizona https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/013024_mlb_minimum_wage/minor-league-baseball-pushes-minimum-wage-exemption-arizona/
A bill that would exempt Minor League Baseball from abiding by Arizona’s minimum wage requirements just took one step closer to becoming law, and while many players support the bill, activists say it would set a precedent to allow corporations to skirt minimum wage requirements.
#Tucson #Arizona
Holub: School vouchers aren't evil; they're actually good for public education https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/opinion/report/013024_holub_esas_op/holub-school-vouchers-arent-evil-theyre-actually-good-public-education/
Amid the noise surrounding how much ESAs are costing the state, and questions about oversight and accountability, the actual stories of the actual kids who benefit from the program can get lost. — Schoolteacher Annie Holub on Arizona's Empowerment Scholarship Account program
#Tucson #Arizona
Democrats want to nix Arizona’s early ballot collection prohibition https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/013024_early_ballots/democrats-want-nix-arizonas-early-ballot-collection-prohibition/
House Bill 2335 would get rid of ballot collection restrictions that say voted early ballots in Arizona can only be returned by the voter’s family member, a member of their household or their caregiver, legislation almost certainly dead on arrival with Republicans in control of the legislature.
#Tucson #Arizona
As immigration debate heats up, migrant encounters in December set record https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/013024_border_disorder/as-immigration-debate-heats-up-migrant-encounters-december-set-record/
Border officials said they encountered more than 300,000 migrants at the southern border in December, setting a one-month record that pushed the total for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 to 785,422, a continuing surge that comes as debate on immigration is heating up in Washington.
#Tucson #Arizona
There’s an affordable housing crisis in Arizona, but no consensus on how to solve it https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/013024_affordable_housing/theres-affordable-housing-crisis-arizona-but-no-consensus-how-solve-it/
Republicans and Democratic lawmakers have laid out their priorities to address Arizona’s affordable housing woes with wildly different plans, as GOP lawmakers announced their intention of “cutting red tape”, while Democrats are voicing support for creating capping rents.
#Tucson #Arizona
U.S. Supreme Court schedules March 26 oral arguments in abortion pill access case https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/013024_scotus_mifepristone/us-supreme-court-schedules-march-26-oral-arguments-abortion-pill-access-case/
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on March 26 in the case that could significantly curtail access to a prescription drug used for both abortions and miscarriage care, a pharmaceutical the U.S. Food and Drug Administration originally approved in 2000..
#Tucson #Arizona
In Tucson & other cities, neighbors are planting trees to provide shade — and food https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/013024_food_forests/in-tucson-other-cities-neighbors-are-planting-trees-provide-shade-and-food/
Tucson’s shadeless neighborhoods, which are predominantly low-income and Latino, soak up the heat, and a movement is underway to populate the city’s street corners and vacant lots with groves of trees - not just to keep sidewalks cool, but also to help feed people.
#Tucson #Arizona
Longtime UA Prof. N. Scott Momaday, first Native winner of Pulitzer Prize for fiction, dead at 89 https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/arts/report/012924_momaday_obit/longtime-ua-prof-n-scott-momaday-first-native-winner-pulitzer-prize-fiction-dead-89/
N. Scott Momaday, the much-lauded author of "House Made of Dawn" and for years a professor at the University of Arizona, has died at age 89.
#Tucson #Arizona
Sahuarita Town Council to discuss pretty much whatever they want during retreat https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/opinion/report/012924_agenda_sahuarita/sahuarita-town-council-discuss-pretty-much-whatever-they-want-during-retreat/
These retreats are typically ways to do what the kids 10 years ago called "Big Think" to guide future policies. Rather than just responding to work the staff has done, governing bodies use these events as an opportunity to say "Hey, do this over there!"
#Tucson #Arizona
‘It will revolutionize travel’: Gila River Indian Community cheers $95M to widen Interstate 10 https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/012924_i10_widening/it-will-revolutionize-travel-gila-river-indian-community-cheers-95m-widen-interstate-10/
A $95 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation will help support the widening of the 26-mile stretch of I-10 that passes through the the Gila River Indian Community, with the project’s total cost estimated at just over $1 billion.
#Tucson #Arizona
Az Democrats rally behind race-based hair discrimination protections https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/012924_hair_discrimination/az-democrats-rally-behind-race-based-hair-discrimination-protections/
HB 2396 would prohibit discrimination against Arizona employees and students based on their ancestry, skin color, ethnic identity or background, and would also protect them from discrimination based on traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and protective styles.
#Tucson #Arizona
Kozachik: UA's Robbins needs to go https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/opinion/report/012824_kozachik_robbins_op/kozachik-uas-robbins-needs-go/
If the Board of Regents is to retain any public credibility, University of Arizona President Robert Robbins should be removed. — Councilman Steve Kozachik
#Tucson #Arizona
Arizona GOP chairman contender asked county supervisors not to certify 2022 election https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/012924_oconnor_election/arizona-gop-chairman-contender-asked-county-supervisors-not-certify-2022-election/
Jim O’Connor, chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission and candidate to chair the Arizona Republican Party called on Maricopa County supervisors in 2022 to delay certifying the state’s midterm election, which would have violated state law.
#Tucson #Arizona
Overdraft fees, late fees could be slashed as White House continues attack on junk fees https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/012924_bank_fees/overdraft-fees-late-fees-could-slashed-as-white-house-continues-attack-junk-fees/
The cost of overdrawing your bank account could ease considerably under a rule - in line with a larger effort that the Biden administration has championed the past few years to crack down on “junk fees” - proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
#Tucson #Arizona
1 in 10 U.S. workers belong to unions − a share that’s stabilized after a steep decline https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/opinion/report/012924_union_membership_op/1-10-us-workers-belong-unions-8722-share-thats-stabilized-after-steep-decline/
The share of U.S. workers who belong to a union fell slightly to 10% in 2023, from 10.1% a year earlier, and a number of factors account for the failure of successful labor organizing throughout the year to boost growth in the percentage of workers who belong to a union.
#Tucson #Arizona
Líderes comunitarios alarmados por el aumento de la tasa de suicidios en hispanos https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/012924_hispanic_suicide_rates_esp/lideres-comunitarios-alarmados-por-el-aumento-de-la-tasa-de-suicidios-en-hispanos/
La tasa de suicidio entre los hispanos ha aumentado significativamente durante la última década, y la tendencia tiene a los líderes comunitarios preocupados: incluso los niños hispanos en edad de escuela primaria han tratado de hacerse daño o han expresado pensamientos suicidas.
#Tucson #Arizona
Rising suicide rate among Hispanics worries community leaders https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/012924_hispanic_suicide_rates/rising-suicide-rate-among-hispanics-worries-community-leaders/
The suicide rate for Hispanic people in the United States has increased significantly over the past decade, and the trend has community leaders worried: Even elementary school-aged Hispanic children have tried to harm themselves or expressed suicidal thoughts.
#Tucson #Arizona
DeWit quits, Trump bails, rally’s cut: It’s been a week for Arizona’s GOP https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/012724_party_crashers/dewit-quits-trump-bails-rallys-cut-its-been-week-arizonas-gop/
One day after its chairman was forced out over the leak of an embarrassing audio tape, the Arizona Republican Party got more bad news Thursday when former President Donald Trump backed out of a planned Friday fundraiser on the eve of the party’s annual meeting.
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