Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Tags: comics , cartoons , Claytoonz , politics , Feliz Navidad , Santa , Image
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
“All her life, Martha has put service first — leading in the toughest of fights and at the toughest of times,” said Gov. Ducey, in a release. “She served 26 years in the military; deployed six times to the Middle East and Afghanistan; was the first woman to fly in combat and command a fighter squadron in combat; and she’s represented Southern Arizona in Congress for the past four years.
With her experience and long record of service, Martha is uniquely qualified to step up and fight for Arizona’s interests in the U.S. Senate. I thank her for taking on this significant responsibility and look forward to working with her and Senator-Elect Sinema to get positive things done.”
McSally represents Arizona’s Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she serves on the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees and chairs the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee.
A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, McSally is a veteran of 26 years, retiring as a full Colonel in 2010. During her military career, she deployed to the Middle East and Afghanistan six times and was the first woman in U.S. history to fly a fighter jet in combat and the first woman to command a fighter squadron.
“Over the last year, I’ve traveled across this great state, meeting with countless Arizonans, and listening to them,” McSally said, in a release. “I’ve heard about the challenges they face and the hopes they have for the future – and I’ve learned a lot. I am humbled and grateful to have this opportunity to serve and be a voice for all Arizonans. I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Kyrsten Sinema and getting to work from day one.”
Governor Ducey appointed Senator Kyl to the Senate in September of 2018, filling the seat vacated by the late Senator John McCain. Senator Kyl’s resignation from the Senate will be effective Dec. 31.
Tags: Governor Doug Ducey , Representative Martha McSally , Senate , senator , Senator Jon Kyl , Kyrsten Sinema , Image
Tags: comics , politics , cartoons , Claytoonz , interim , investigations , sharks , Image
Monday, December 17, 2018
The two biggest names we’re hearing: Tucson City Councilwoman Regina Romero, who is up for reelection to her Ward 1 seat in 2019; and state Sen. Steve Farley, who is on his way out of the Legislature after an unsuccessful run in this year’s gubernatorial primary.
Both Romero and Farley told The Range today that they are giving the race some serious thoughts but aren’t likely to make final decisions until after the holidays.
Ward 2 Councilman Paul Cunningham, who is up for reelection next year, tells the Range he hasn’t decided whether to run for mayor and will spend the holidays talking it over with his family. “I can say without question I will be running for office in 2019,” Cunningham told The Range. “I cannot specify on whether it will be for Ward 2 or mayor at this time.”
Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik has already told the press he’s not going to run. In a prepared statement, Kozachik said he’d have to resign from his Ward 6 seat to run for mayor; since he’s shepherding several major projects—including the upcoming Broadway widening and the redevelopment of the Benedictine Monastery property on Country Club Road—he doesn’t want to step away from the table.
We also hear that developer Randi Dorman has expressed interest in the job. She tells The Range that she's been encouraged to run in the past and she "would love to serve the city that way" but she's waiting to see whether Romero decides to get into the race.
We’re sure some political gadflies will be exploring runs as well as well. (We’re looking your way, Felicia Chew.)
Democrats still have a huge voter-registration advantage in the city of Tucson and GOP candidates got clobbered across the board in Pima County in this year’s election, so it’s gonna be an uphill battle for any GOP candidate who steps into the ring.
Tags: local politics , mayor , Tucson , elections , Image
Tags: comics , politics , cartoons , Claytoonz , Stephen Miller , spray-on hair , hatred , Image
Friday, December 14, 2018
In the end, it wasn’t even close. When the time came for the TUSD Board to discuss the Freedom Center-created textbook for the high school course, Ethics, Economy, and Entrepreneurship, not a single board member had a kind word to say about it. And since the textbook and the course are inextricably linked, the board’s consensus opinion was the course will not return to TUSD.
[A Personal Note: For this post, I'm once again donning the blogging hat I took off recently. I'll most likely return to The Range in January, though I'll be writing less frequently. Stay tuned.]
A bit of history: Ethics, Economy, and Entrepreneurship somehow managed to sneak into the TUSD curriculum in 2016 as a yearlong course which fulfilled the state's economics requirement and could also be taken for dual credit at the University of Arizona. No one at the district knows how it got there (or at least no one is saying).
The Board is supposed to approve new courses, but they were kept in the dark on this one. Most of them first learned of the course's existence when I wrote an article about it in the print edition of the Weekly in October, 2017. Since the school year had begun and students were already enrolled, the board decided to let the course stay until the end of the school year, then discontinue it. Possibly, they said, they would take a closer look at the course at a later date.
That later date was Tuesday, December 11. After the textbook was opened to the public for inspection and evaluation, and a citizens' committee was created to make a formal assessment of the book, it was time for the board to decide on the fate of the textbook and the course.
Tags: Ethics , Economy , and Entrepreneurship , TUSD , University of Arizona , Freedom Center , Kochs Off Campus , Image
Tags: comics , cartoons , politics , Claytoonz , Nancy , Nancy's wall , Image
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
The New York Times reported Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader of the Senate, made an unusual move and promised to push the bill to the floor quickly so Congress could vote on it before the end of the year.
The First Step Act, pushed heavily by criminal justice advocates on both sides of the political spectrum, calls for investments in drug treatment and mental health programs to reduce recidivism, an expansion of early release credits, rolling back 90s-era minimum sentencing laws and changing laws that disproportionately impacted Black communities.
It was written by Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and Sen. Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois. The Times reported that the bill is being expedited now because of a fear that "the deal would have fallen apart in the new Congress because Democrats would demand more liberal changes to sentencing laws."
There are more than two million people incarcerated in the United States, which is the highest amount out of any other country, according to a study from the World Prison Brief. The second largest number comes from China, where roughly 1.6 million people are incarcerated.
Within the U.S., Arizona has the sixth highest rate for imprisoning people out of all 50 states. The Sentencing Project's data states Arizona incarcerates 593 out of every 100,000 individuals. It is likely that the state legislature will see some criminal justice reform bills in the upcoming legislative session.
Tags: criminal justice , prison , reform , vote , bill , congress , legislature , incarceration , Image
Tags: comics , politics , cartoons , Claytoonz , number one , Trump , felonies , Image
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
