Wednesday, April 14, 2021
The Arizona Supreme Court today said state lawmakers overreached when they passed a law requiring Tucson elections to move to presidential and midterm election years if not enough voters turned out to cast ballots.
In a 5-1 decision with Justice Clint Bolick dissenting, the court held that the timing of elections in a charter city such as Tucson was not a matter of statewide concerns, no matter the level of participation.
"Whether to align municipal elections with state and national elections or hold them in different years is purely a matter of municipal interest and not a statewide concern," Vice Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer wrote for the majority. "Consequently, we hold that (the statute) cannot apply to require a city to consolidate local elections with state and national elections if its charter provides otherwise."
The 2018 law would have triggered a change in the schedule if turnout in a city election fell by 25% or more from the previous year's gubernatorial election. The Tucson City Council asked voters to amend the charter in 2018, but the proposition was rejected and the City Council does not have the power to override charter provisions without voter approval.
Attorney general Mark Brnovich then petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to resolved the issue.
As a result of the ruling, this year's city election will continue as scheduled, with elections in Wards 3, 5 and 6.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero cheered the decision.
“I am pleased that the Arizona Supreme Court agreed with the City of Tucson that our local elections are a matter of local concern,” Romero said. “Phoenix state legislators have once again failed to override the will of Tucsonans in disrupting our local elections. Tucsonans have repeatedly affirmed that our local elections belong on odd years, which allows for city-focused campaigns and robust public discourse on local issues that would otherwise be overshadowed by federal and state elections on even years. I hope that this ruling finally puts the issue to rest, and that our State Legislators can return their focus to the pressing issues facing Arizonans instead of meddling with our local elections.”
State lawmakers already forced smaller towns without protected charter rights to move their elections in sync with the presidential and midterm elections as of 2014. But the Arizona Supreme ruled that law did not apply to Tucson for similar reasons.
Monday, April 12, 2021
The University of Arizona is encouraging students to get vaccinated before they travel outside of Pima County and, ideally, students should receive their first dose by Friday to be fully vaccinated come summer vacation, UA President Robert C. Robbins said on Monday morning.
“We want to vaccinate as many of our students as we can, prior to the end of the semester, with many students traveling out of state to return home for the summer, or to do programs outside of Pima County,” said Robbins. “We have a very limited window to administer the first dose for them to reach full vaccination before traveling, due to the wait time between doses.”
Last week, the university announced students could register for same-day vaccination appointments at either the student registration tent at the UA POD on Cherry Avenue open from 10 a.m to 8 p.m., or the CAT Ambassador Team Tent on the Mall in front of the Student Union.
Robbins said when speaking to students on campus, they found many are hesitant to receive the vaccine or want to talk to their family or friends before making an appointment.
Faced with hundreds of unfilled appointments daily, the UA POD is looking to tackle the barriers faced due to vaccination hesitancy.
Thursday, April 8, 2021
The UA POD will open 8,900 first-dose COVID-19 vaccination appointments on Friday, with additional same-day appointments available every day.
The university advises checking for appointments frequently as appointments will be updated online throughout the day, based on operational capacity.
In order to encourage UA student vaccination, the university is offering students the ability to register onsite for a same-day appointment at either the student registration tent on Cherry Avenue open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., the CAT Ambassador Team Tent on the Mall in front of the Student Union, or by registering online.
Anyone 16 and older is eligible for vaccination at the UA POD. To register for an appointment visit podvaccine.azdhs.gov. For further assistance email [email protected] or call 602-542-1000 for help in English or Spanish.
The UA POD is open for walk-in or drive-thru appointments from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.
Pima County will also open registration tomorrow for appointments at a new indoor vaccine site at the Kino Event Center, where the county had earlier been doing COVID testing. That site opens Monday and will be open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Register at azdhs.gov.
Tucson Water has received several complaints of individuals coming to homes and asking to be let inside to collect water samples.
Individuals arrive unannounced, show a badge, claiming to be Water Department employees and say they need to check the water in the house, including in the bedrooms. One resident discovered that personal items were missing after one individual was allowed to enter the home.
Incidents have been reported near Sunrise and Swan and Speedway and Camino Seco.
Tucson Water employees will only come to your home after an appointment has been made. Employees always have an identification badge, wear a Tucson Water uniform, and drive a marked City of Tucson/Tucson Water vehicle. They very rarely need to enter the home to collect water samples, as that can usually be done outside.
Residents who suspect they might be targeted by an imposter should refuse them entry and contact the Police Department at 911 as soon as possible.
WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court Monday backed the asylum claim of an undocumented immigrant in Phoenix who said her feminist political beliefs would put her in danger if she was returned to Mexico.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the abuse that woman suffered at the hands of her mother, her ex-husband and her former partner was not solely the result of dysfunctional relationships. It also stemmed from her “feminist political opinion.”
“Indeed, some of the worst acts of violence came ‘immediately after’ Petitioner asserted her rights as a woman,” said the opinion by Circuit Judge Susan Graber.
“Petitioner does not claim that she was persecuted for being a feminist merely because she, a woman, was mistreated by men,” Graber wrote. “Rather, she claims that she was persecuted when those men mistreated her because she expressly asserted to them her political opinion that she was their equal.”
The ruling reverses a Board of Immigration Appeals decision that said “dysfunctional relationships” were not sufficient cause to grant asylum. The circuit court sent the case back to the board with directions to grant asylum to the woman or to defer her deportation.
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
The University of Arizona is giving men's basketball head coach Sean Miller his walking papers after 12 seasons with the program and an overall record of 302-109.
The team's associate head coach, Jack Murphy, will take over as interim head coach as the university searches for candidates.
"We appreciate Sean's commitment to our basketball program and to the university," UA Vice President and Director of Athletics Dave Heeke said. "After taking the many factors involved into account, we simply believe that we need a fresh start, and now is the time. I want to thank Sean, Amy and their sons for their service to the university and wish them the very best in the future."
UA will continue to honor the terms of Miller's existing contract, according to the University.
Miller took over as head coach of the Wildcat's men's basketball program on April 6, 2009, to replace retiring Hall of Fame head coach Lute Olson. During his 12 years, the coach took the men's basketball team to seven NCAA tournaments, three Elite Eight appearances, five regular-season conference titles and three Pac-12 Tournament titles.
Miller was also investigated for his involvement in the 2017 NCAA basketball corruption scandal in which players were offered illegal pay to play for the Wildcats. While his assistant coach, Book Richardson, served prison time for his involvement in the scandal, Miller denied being a part of the scheme. Last October, the program and Miller were charged with five Level 1 NCAA violations due to a lack of control over the situation.
"Since the season's end, it has become clear that our men's basketball program—and our university—needs to write a new chapter in our history, and that begins with a change of leadership," UA President Robert C. Robbins said in the release. "Arizona basketball means so much to so many and, as stewards of the program, we must always act in the best interests of the university. I believe our future is bright, and I look forward to welcoming a new head coach to the Wildcat family."
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
The University of Arizona vaccine point of distribution is opening appointments daily, based on cancellations and capacity, university officials announced Tuesday morning.
“The real limitation was we couldn't get enough vaccines. So we didn't want to have a lot of people standing around, so we only increased our volunteers and our staffing commensurate with the amount of vaccines we could get,” said UA Task Force Director Dr. Richard Carmona. “If we can get more vaccines we can still search even more, hence the 1,000 or so appointments that are out there that are not filled.”
The state vaccination PODs, including the UA POD, expanded eligibility to anyone 16 and older two weeks ago, as they were seeing hundreds of appointments go unfilled. As they release appointments daily, the hope is that no appointments go unfilled, said Carmona.
“We're doing everything we can to use every single one of those vaccinations,” said Carmona. “We don't want to end the day with any vaccinations still in the freezer and not being used.”
The site is averaging about 400 to 500 appointments per day, but last Friday afternoon opened 1,500 appointments.
“That's because we could ramp up our capacity. Our capacity varies daily by the number of vaccinators and pharmacists we can get that actually show up and our number of volunteers,” said UA Vice President of Communications Holly Jensen. “The number of volunteers that it takes to get one person through is about 27 per person that comes through our POD. So all of these things play a huge role in the numbers we can push through every single day.”
UA President Robert C. Robbins said the university is in need of non-medical volunteers as the days grow hotter and volunteers tire out. To volunteer visit covid19.arizona.edu/vaccine and scroll down to “volunteer opportunities.”
In order to encourage vaccination amongst students, the university is offering students the opportunity to earn a $5 star reward at the Arizona Student Union or University of Arizona Bookstores. In order to claim the reward, a student would need to upload their vaccination card to Campus Health. After their final vaccine dose, they will see a green “vx” in their Wildcat OneStop. This also exempts students from weekly testing, which is currently required by the university.
The landscape for this year’s Tucson City Council came into focus yesterday as the deadline to turn in nominating petitions arrived and eight candidates filed to run for office in the three wards up for grabs.
No Republican candidates filed to run this year, but two independent candidates did turn in their petitions ahead of yesterday’s deadline.
There are three seats up for grabs in Wards 3, 5 and 6. Barring successful legal challenges to nominating petitions or write-in campaigns in the primary, here’s how the ballot is shaping up:
Ward 3: This north-central seat is wide open as Paul Durham, who won the seat four years ago, stepped down last month for personal reasons. Democrat Karin Uhlich, a former Ward 3 council member, was appointed the seat but won’t be seeking election this year.
Two Democrats filed to run: Kevin Dahl and Juan Padres.
Dahl turned in his signatures last week.
“We hit the ground running with strong support from friends, neighbors, and Tucson’s environmental leaders," said Dahl, a resident of Ward's Samos neighborhood near Campbell and Grant for more than three decades. "Our message of addressing climate change, with its record-breaking heat and drought, has really resonated with Tucson voters."
Dahl, who has led the Tucson Audubon Society and Native Seeds/SEARCH and now works for the National Parks Conservation Association, has gathered a strong team of environmentalists behind him, including Congressman Raul Grijalva, who said that Dahl "has had a strong career as an advocate for the environment. He is strategic, passionate and inclusive.”
Monday, April 5, 2021
In 2020, Lea Márquez Peterson and Anna Tovar became the first Latinas elected to statewide office in Arizona. They serve on the Arizona Corporation Commission.
PHOENIX – Esme Franco Ruiz is passionate about her work in politics – even though she despises politics.
“I don’t like politics because it tends to be very, very shady,” she said. “I don’t appreciate how it’s a popularity contest of sorts. There’s not really an importance put into actually informing people; it’s more like people are just trying to get your vote with any means possible.”
Ruiz, a sophomore at Arizona State University who’s double majoring in transborder studies and Spanish, also is the board secretary for Aliento @ ASU, a youth-led organization that advocates for undocumented immigrants.
She spends many afternoons in Phoenix neighborhoods, walking door-to-door putting up flyers about upcoming elections.
Ruiz hopes to put more effort into local elections and candidates who “might not have the spotlight in ways that they should,” including Hispanic politicians.
“One of the reasons that change is so slow is not because we don’t want (Hispanics) in office, but we don’t inform people enough in the Latino community,” she said.
Latina leaders in Arizona
Latinos are a growing force in the nation’s political landscape, even as they lag in election to public office in Arizona and elsewhere. Hispanics account for the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority and more than half of the total U.S. population growth since 2010, with most of the increases in the Southwest.
Hispanics make up nearly one-third of Arizona’s 7.3 million residents, although their last statewide representative was Raúl Castro, who was elected governor in 1974.
That 46-year drought ended Jan. 4, when Anna Tovar and Lea Márquez Peterson were sworn in as Arizona Corporation Commissioners – Márquez Peterson as the chair – and became the first Latinas elected to statewide office in Arizona. They also were the only identified Latinas in the country to win a position in statewide elected executive office in 2020.
Friday, April 2, 2021
If you're free this afternoon and haven't had luck scheduling an appointment for your COVID vaccine, the University of Arizona's state COVID-19 vaccination POD has about 1,500 appointments open today between 2-6 p.m.
People must register for an appointment online at podvaccine.azdhs.gov or call 602-542-1000 or 844-542-8201 for help in both Spanish and English.
