Tuesday, October 13, 2020
WASHINGTON – Native Americans in Arizona finally celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an official state holiday Monday – but it was a win with an asterisk.
After years of advocacy by tribal groups, Gov. Doug Ducey last month signed a proclamation making Oct. 12, 2020, a joint celebration of both Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day, but just for this year.
“I’ve been working on this for years now and so when the governor signed the proclamation, … we were all taken aback,” said state Sen. Jamescita Peshlakai, D-Cameron, who first introduced a bill to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2013.
“And so we’re surprised and we’re very thankful,” she said, calling it a “step towards making it an official state forever holiday.”
Peshlakai said she will use the momentum and reintroduce her bill in January to make the change permanent – and do away with Columbus Day. “We’re in it for the long haul,” she said.
Tags: columbus day , Indigenous Peoples’ Day , politics , Image
With 683 new cases reported today, the number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases closed in on 227,000 as of Tuesday, Oct. 13, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County had seen 26,516 of the state’s 226,734 confirmed cases.
A total of 5,767 Arizonans had died after contracting COVID-19, including 633 deaths in Pima County, according to the Oct. 13 report.
The number of hospitalized COVID cases continues to decline from July peaks. ADHS reported that as of Oct. 12, 667 COVID patients were hospitalized in the state. That number peaked with 3,517 hospitalized COVID patients on July 13.
A total of 710 people visited emergency rooms on Oct. 12 with COVID symptoms. That number peaked at 2,008 on July 7.
A total of 155 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit beds on Oct. 12. The number of COVID patients in ICUs peaked at 970 on July 13.
On a week-by-week basis in Pima County, the number of positive COVID tests peaked the week ending July 4 with 2,453 cases, according to an Oct. 7 report from the Pima County Health Department. For the week ending Sept. 5, a total of 863 cases were reported; for the week ending Sept. 12, 1,105 cases were reported; for the week ending Sept. 19, 1,219 cases were reported; for the week ending Sept. 26, 582 cases were reported; for the week ending Oct. 3, 472 cases were reported. (Recent weeks are subject to revision.)
Deaths in Pima County are down from a peak of 54 in the week ending July 4 to 10 in the week ending Sept. 5, one in the week ending Sept. 12, three in the week ending Sept. 19, two in the week ending Sept. 26 and one in the week ending Oct. 3. (Recent weeks are subject to revision.)
Hospitalization peaked the week ending July 18 with 221 COVID patients admitted to Pima County hospitals. In the week ending Aug. 29, 37 COVID patients were admitted to Pima County hospitals; in the week ending Sept. 5, 26 patients were admitted to Pima County hospitals; in the week ending Sept. 12, 23 patients were admitted; in the week ending Sept. 19, 14 patients were admitted; in the week ending Sept. 26, 11 people were admitted and in the week ending Oct. 3, 17 patients were admitted. (Recent weeks are subject to revision.)
Cases down near campus, more in-person classes this week
The University of Arizona will allow students to attend in-person classes of 30 students or fewer this week, UA President Robert C. Robbins said in a news conference Monday, Oct. 12.
The change will bring 1,500 more students to campus every week, and classes will continue “if and only if” public health data gauging the spread of coronavirus in the county permits, Robbins said.
PHOENIX – Arizona will experience more days of extreme heat in the coming decade, according to an Arizona State University study that comes on the heels of the state’s hottest summer on record. But researchers are looking for ways to mitigate a hotter, drier climate.
The study, “The motley drivers of heat and cold exposure in 21st century U.S. cities,” is one of the first looks at human exposure to extreme temperatures, and it involves three factors that haven’t previously been considered together: data on population growth, greenhouse gas emissions and temperature changes caused by human development.
Researchers at the School of Geographical Sciences & Urban Planning at ASU ran decadal-length climate simulations “to quantify potential changes in population-weighted heat and cold exposure” in metropolitan regions. When compared with conditions in 2000, Phoenix and other fast-growing Sunbelt cities will see the “largest relative changes in population heat exposure,” according to the paper, which was published in August in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tags: climate change , Image
With the election just days away, Cronkite News is taking a closer look at some of the measures on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Four years after Arizona voters rejected legalizing recreational marijuana, the issue is back, appearing on November’s ballot as Proposition 207.
Eleven states have legalized recreational marijuana. Arizona joins three others – Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota – with the question on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The Marijuana Legalization Initiative, also known as the Smart and Safe Arizona Act, would legally allow people 21 and older to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, although smoking it in public places and open spaces would be prohibited. Arizonans would be allowed to grow up to six plants in their personal residences, and anyone arrested for, charged with or convicted of less serious marijuana-related offenses would be allowed to petition to have their criminal records expunged beginning July 21, 2021. Those offenses include possession of 2.5 ounces of marijuana or less and possessing paraphernalia used to smoke marijuana.
Monday, October 12, 2020
As the end of the global pandemic continues to lag into the distant future, local businesses are gaming out on how to reach customers effectively yet safely. Startup Tucson, a nonprofit broadly focused on enhancing the Southern Arizona economy through increasing entrepreneur quality, quantity and diversity, has established digital programming to mentor experienced entrepreneurs as well as first-time founders. Startup Tucson’s classes cover online commerce as well as help for entrepreneurs navigating the first steps and risks associated with starting a business.
A new five-part Startup Tucson series starting on Oct. 13, Startup Fundamentals, encompasses these key points. From the start of the program, participants will learn the difference between what it means to an “intentional entrepreneur” and “accidental entrepreneur,” according to Liz Pocock, CEO of Startup Tucson.
“A lot of things are changing in terms of customer behavior," Pocock said. "You’re seeing people interact differently with products online, you’re seeing people interact differently with products in person, so I think now more than ever, it is really important to understand who your customer is and what problem you’re solving for them.”
Pocock explained that entrepreneurs will also learn about the “Lean Business Model Canvas,” which consists of developing a detailed but concise one-page business plan. The business plan is meant to help entrepreneurs understand what risks may arise in launching their business, who their target customers are and what issues they are looking to solve for those customers. Then, modifications can be made to the one-page business plan as the entrepreneur engages in more market research and analysis of competitors.
Additionally, Pocock said that entrepreneurs will learn about customer customer communication skills, figure out the needs of customers and choose the most cost-effective ways to provide the most suitable products.
A customer discovery tool that will be integrated into the lessons is a process Pocock simply calls “experimentation.” This process is meant to help entrepreneurs find the least expensive and least resource-intensive tool possible to reach customers and validate that a product is of interest to them. For example, a business may post a webpage about a product and attach a poll asking what customers think about it, which would be a cheap way to quickly discover how much of a need there is for the product.
“One of the things we try to help founders understand is that sometimes you can validate your market before you spend all of this funding into it,” Pocock said.
Lastly, Startup Fundamentals will cover some entrepreneurial finance basics as well as business basics such as an overview of possible registrations needed, deciding between being a corporation, LLC, or sole proprietorship and dealing with business law and accounting.
At the end, entrepreneurs will compose short presentations to give to the Startup Tucson team and other mentors to help develop a solid pitch of what their business is.
This program is open to any type of business. Pocock explained that even though it will be especially beneficial to first-time founders, it is also meant to assist entrepreneurs who may have had to start their businesses quickly in the past without having all of the foundational knowledge needed. Another type of entrepreneur Pocock referred to, is the type that has been in operation for a while but is now looking to pivot. This could be for example, somebody who has only sold products in-person, and now must shift to fully online.
Pocock believes that this program is especially beneficial during times of COVID-19 because of the rate that the business world is changing. She also explained that despite some of the negative effects of COVID on the economy and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, now actually is a great time to start a business and propel it into the local economy.
“Entrepreneurs are very very important to our local economy,” Pocock said. “I think we’re going to see a return to localism and we’re going to see a return to wanting to shop in our community, so if you’ve ever thought about launching a business for Tucsonans, now is the time to explore that.”
With three seats up for grabs on the Tucson Unified School District’s school board, seven new candidates are vying for a chance to govern Tucson’s largest school district.
A local watchdog group that critically monitors the district, CARE 4 TUSD, hosted an online forum Thursday night for each candidate to outline their views on issues including reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic, dwindling enrollment numbers and what they would cut from the district’s budget.
Although the current TUSD board has approved a new hybrid learning model, they have yet to vote on a date to return to in-person instruction.
The candidates running for three board positions include Ravi Grivois-Shah, Natalie Luna Rose, Nicolas Pierson, Adam Ragan, Sadie Shaw, Cindy Winston and write-in candidate Cristina Mennella.
Three volunteer, nonpartisan positions on the school board are opening when the terms of current board members Bruce Burke, Kristel Foster and Rachael Sedgwick expire in November.
While the candidates answered questions on a variety of topics at CARE 4 TUSD’s candidate forum, here are the highlights on what they had to say at the virtual gathering.
Meet the candidates
The University of Arizona will allow students to attend in-person classes of 30 students or fewer this week, UA President Robert C. Robbins said in a news conference Monday, Oct. 12.
The change will bring 1,500 more students to campus every week, and classes will continue “if and only if” public health data gauging the spread of coronavirus in the county permits, Robbins said.
The university first predicted 2,500 students would return to class as it moves into Phase 2 of its reopening plan, but fewer students wanted to return than expected.
“Students and their instructors had the opportunity to evaluate what they wanted, and in the spirit of shared governance, make collective decisions about how to proceed at this point,” Robbins said. “There are many, many students who want that in-person interaction . . . but obviously, there are people who don’t want it.”
From Oct. 1-10, UA found 42 positive coronavirus cases after administering 6,963 tests for a positivity rate of 0.6%, down from 2.3% in the previous 10-day period.
“What we’ve been able to show over the last two, four weeks . . . is an ability of how we respond,” Pima County Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Cullen said at the press conference. “We’ve developed this deep collaboration, transparency, sharing of data, sharing resources and a recognition that working together is required for us to combat this pandemic.”
During the past week, the university’s CART team, a collaboration with the UA and Tucson police departments that looks for incidents of noncompliance to COVID-19 precautions, issued five university-related red tags, seven citations and eight code-of-conduct referrals.
Robbins said nine parties CART responded to had more than 10 people, while three parties had about 50.
“It’s important that more and more, we see less and less of these large gatherings, which really are events that you might even term super spreader events when they become too large,” said Richard Carmona, UA Reentry Task Force Director.
Robbins said the university has no recorded cases of COVID-19 transmission within a classroom or laboratory setting.
With six weeks left in UA’s fall semester, the administration is looking ahead to potential coronavirus-spreading events. Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and many students have traveling plans during fall break.
“We’re working hard to prevent an uptick in positive cases, in part because it could impact positive rates as students are preparing to travel home for the fall break,” Robbins said.
Robbins outlined steps the university is asking students to take to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which include requiring all main campus students to complete a survey with their fall break traveling plans.
UA will also conduct a “testing blitz” from Nov. 9-15, and those who test positive will be required to quarantine for 10 days. Students are also “strongly encouraged” to complete the semester remotely if they travel.
Robbins said a “small number” will be allowed to travel and return to campus in-person, and students will be able to stay on campus during the fall break to access the university’s WiFi.
“We are all happy that all the processes we’ve put in place have resulted in these changes,” Carmona said. “But we still aren’t happy enough to not be very aggressive and continue these processes to keep those numbers down.”
With the election just days away, Cronkite News is profiling candidates who will be on the Nov. 3 ballot. Read Martha McSally's interview here.
How would you rate Arizona’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and why?At first, the state responded well to the pandemic, said Kelly, who’s seeking public office for the first time.
“The governor was clearly looking at the data, and I think that’s incredibly important,” he said, adding that shutting down the economy was a hard decision but also the right decision.
However, the state stopped listening to the advice of public health officials and reopened too early, he said, calling the decision political rather than one rooted in facts, science and data. Kelly said politics need to be kept out of such decisions in the future.
“We’ve got a public health crisis that spurred an economic crisis, and I really feel that these things have been made worse by a crisis in leadership,” Kelly said.
If elected, what steps would you take to mitigate the impact of this disease?
With the election just days away, Cronkite News is profiling candidates who will be on the Nov. 3 ballot. Read Mark Kelly's interview here.
McSally touted the Senate measures she has supported, including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The act’s Paycheck Protection Program, she said, has reinforced Arizona’s economy, saving 1 million jobs and aiding 86,000 businesses.
“We’ve not dealt with something like this in an entire century,” McSally said. “We pray we won’t have to for another century.”
She praised the government’s urgency in reacting to the pandemic.
“My approach in the CARES Act was to get relief out there as quickly as possible to frontline health care heroes,” McSally said, “to get them everything they needed: PPE (personal protective equipment) and investments and treatments and cures and vaccines.”
If elected, what steps would you take to mitigate the impact of this disease?
