Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Tucson Local Media announced today that the newspaper group was being acquired by Times Media Group of Phoenix. Terms were not disclosed.
Tucson Local Media, which has been owned by 13th Street Communications, will continue to publish its six Pima County newspapers: Tucson Weekly, Explorer, Marana News, Foothills News, Desert Times and Inside Tucson Business.
Times Media Group President and Publisher Steve Strickbine said he was excited by the opportunity to enter the Tucson market and “continue to provide community news.”
Strickbine first entered the newspaper business when he launched the Scottsdale Times in 1998 and has grown his company to include more than a dozen weekly newspapers in the Phoenix and Southern California markets.
Strickbine said he did not foresee big changes with the newspapers.
“I’d like to see the papers continue to do what they are doing and doing well,” Strickbine said. “I’m very excited about the future and the future of us together. I think we’re definitely stronger together.”
Times Media Group will assume ownership as of April 30.
With 702 new cases reported today, the total number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases rose past 855,000 as of Tuesday, April 20, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County, which reported 51 new cases today, has seen 114,345 of the state’s 855,155 confirmed cases.
With 40 new deaths reported this morning, a total of 17,193 Arizonans have died after contracting COVID-19, including 2,386 deaths in Pima County, according to the April 20 report.
A total of 562 coronavirus patients were in the hospital as of April 19. That’s roughly 11% of the number hospitalized at the peak of the winter surge, which reached 5,082 on Jan. 12. The summer peak was 3,517, which was set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent lowest number of hospitalized COVID patients was 468, set on Sept. 27, 2020.
A total of 969 people visited emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on April 19. That number represents 41% of the record high of 2,341 set on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. That number had peaked during the summer wave at 2,008 on July 7, 2020; it hit a subsequent low of 653 on Sept. 28, 2020.
A total of 155 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit beds on April 19, which roughly 13% of the record 1,183 ICU patients set on Jan. 11. The summer’s record number of patients in ICU beds was 970, set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent low was 114 on Sept. 22, 2020.
Ducey nixes ‘vaccine passports’
Gov. Doug Ducey yesterday banned state and local governments and some businesses from requiring vaccination status.
Monday, April 19, 2021
The University of Arizona POD has 539 unfilled appointments for Monday, according to university officials.
Last Friday, the UA POD opened 7,000 appointments for the following week, and has about 4,600 appointments still open for Tuesday through Sunday as of Monday afternoon, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
ADHS reported they have nearly 30,000 unfilled appointments for Tuesday through Sunday across all state sites. Throughout the week, they will make some additional appointments available due to cancellations and no-shows.
To register for an appointment visit podvaccine.azdhs.gov or call 1-844-542-8201. Hours of operation for the call center are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m, seven days a week.
Gov. Doug Ducey today banned state and local governments and some businesses from requiring vaccination status in his executive order released Monday.
“The residents of our state should not be required by the government to share their private medical information,” said Governor Ducey. “While we strongly recommend all Arizonans get the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s not mandated in our state—and it never will be. Vaccination is up to each individual, not the government.”
The executive order would prohibit state or local governments from requiring individuals to release their vaccination status in order to enter any building or receive a service, permit, license or work authorization.
Businesses receiving public funds from the state and under a state contract cannot require documentation to provide a service.
However, the order does not limit health institutions, state or local health departments, or even child care centers, schools or universities from requiring vaccination status. Long-term care, health care institutions and other entities that collect vaccination documents can still do so under the current state law. It also does not limit an individual from requesting the release of their own vaccination records.
While news of vaccination passports came from places across the globe, namely Israel, no city official had implemented or advocated for them.
"This executive order represents more divisive, political grandstanding from Governor Ducey against Arizona cities and is purely symbolic in nature," said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero. "The City of Tucson did not have any plans to implement any of the actions that the executive order purports to pre-empt. Had the governor asked, we would have happily shared this information with him."
The University of Arizona has not yet mandated vaccination passports or required students to provide documentation in order to attend, but President Robert C. Robbins continued to advocate for vaccine passports on campus before and after learning of the order during the Monday briefing.
“My hope is that at the universities and public schools will be able to not only trust that people have been vaccinated but verify,” said Robbins.
With 692 new cases reported today, the total number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases climbed toward 855,000 as of Monday, April 19, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County, which reported 115 new cases today, has seen 114,294 of the state’s 854,453 confirmed cases.
With no new deaths reported this morning, a total of 17,153 Arizonans have died after contracting COVID-19, including 2.381 deaths in Pima County, according to the April 19 report.
A total of 555 coronavirus patients were in the hospital as of April 18. That’s roughly 11% of the number hospitalized at the peak of the winter surge, which reached 5,082 on Jan. 12. The summer peak was 3,517, which was set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent lowest number of hospitalized COVID patients was 468, set on Sept. 27, 2020.
A total of 900 people visited emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on April 18. That number represents 38% of the record high of 2,341 set on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. That number had peaked during the summer wave at 2,008 on July 7, 2020; it hit a subsequent low of 653 on Sept. 28, 2020.
Pima County officials were scheduled to meet with Arizona Department of Health Services and FEMA to discuss contract terms of Pima County's federal POD today, according to an April 16 memo from County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.
“What the contract does is basically delegate all authority to Pima County, so Pima County would be responsible for the operations, the set up, the tear down of that and give them the authority to work directly with FEMA,” said ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ in a briefing Friday.
In the April 13 memo, Huckelberry said they are in the process of reviewing the requirements for the community vaccination center (CVC), but that “some terms and conditions appear to be particularly draconian.”
Under the agreement released by the county on April 13, the state makes clear “neither the State nor any agency thereof, shall have any responsibilities, obligations, or liability pertaining to any CVC to be developed, organized, and operated in Pima County.” The state also requires the county to provide FEMA with a plan for a registration system (which the county will be solely responsible for creating) before opening the federal POD for vaccine registrations and “that system shall not utilize any similar system created or utilized by the State.”
Christ said the state does not have the resources as they open two new sites in Arizona—the Westworld location in Scottsdale and the Northern Arizona University site—to allow the county to utilize their vaccination system.
“The onboarding and the deployment of that for a State POD site is a significant workload on the department,” said Christ. She also noted the onboarding and maintenance concerns were listed in their March 26 letter to FEMA, where the state announced they would allow the federal POD in Pima County, if their requirements were met.
The contract, like the March 26 letter, placed sole responsibility on Pima County for staffing, resources, and funding and indicated the county could not ask the State for help.
