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A big victory in a small Arizona city

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A big victory in a small Arizona city


South Tucson’s latest slate of progressive council members: Roxanna Valenzuela, Cesar Aguirre, and Brian Flagg. | by way of Defend Nuestro Barrio

SOUTH TUCSON, Ariz.—In a landslide victory, largely ignored by the company owned media, a slate of three neighborhood activists was elected to the town council in certainly one of Arizona’s most impoverished municipalities.

Town of South Tucson’s new Council members, Cesar Aguirre, Roxanna Valenzuela, and Brian Flagg, defeated three incumbents by such an overwhelmingly massive margin within the August major that they won’t have to compete within the November Normal election.

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South Tucson is a separate municipality, one and 1 / 4 sq. miles in dimension, surrounded on all sides by the town of Tucson. At one time it was a working-class suburb, however as Tucson has mushroomed into a big ‘trendy’ metropolis South Tucson has devolved right into a poor inner-city principally Chicano and immigrant barrio of about 5,000 people.

Because it’s tax base eroded, it has change into increasingly tough for the city to supply the essential providers its residents want. Half of the city’s workers positions stay unfilled for lack of funds inflicting residents to concern that even police and firefighting safety won’t at all times be accessible.

The three winners are related to the Casa Maria Catholic Employee collective that operates a soup kitchen within the barrio and has been organizing homeless and poor individuals for many years. Casa Maria has been a serious participant in Tucson progressive politics and struggles from immigrant rights, to elevating minimal wages, opposing U.S. navy aggression, and the anti-Apartheid motion within the Eighties.

Arizona’s very energetic ‘Jobs with Justice’ group is an outgrowth of the labor Solidarity Committee of the Casa Maria led Tucson Coalition for the Homeless.

The choice to hunt public workplace got here from the rising housing disaster and the specter of gentrification to native residents. Rich builders have begun South Tucson as their subsequent prey. Landlords are elevating rents to unaffordable quantities; homelessness is rising visibly, not solely in South Tucson, but additionally within the bigger metropolis of Tucson which is without doubt one of the nation’s poorest cities.

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At a presentation the three gave at Tucson’s Salt of the Earth Labor Faculty final Saturday they defined that certainly one of inheritor goals is to tackle Arizona’s regulation that forestalls municipalities from enacting lease management.  That regulation must be challenged for the sake of all Arizonans and one of the best ways to try this is by altering the state legislature the place the Republicans have very slim majorities in each homes and by electing a good governor.

by way of Defend Nuestro Barrio

With all legislative seats and the governorship up for election this November, there’s an excellent probability it may be completed and campaigning on the necessity for lease management might assist end up voters. Additionally they really feel they’ll have sufficient help from the opposite 4 members of the town council who weren’t up for reelection this 12 months.

Brian Flagg, who has lived at Casa Maria for 39 years, defined that “individuals have to be political,” and except for attempting to straighten out a fiscally broke city, they’ll now have a bully pulpit to advocate for poor and dealing individuals.

Cesar Aguirre, a single father, stated he doesn’t need to be a politician, however to stay an organizer.

Roxanna Valenzuela, who grew up in an adjoining Tucson Barrio, added that organizing with Casa Maria has taught her what she by no means realized in class, and he or she additionally sees herself as a neighborhood organizer and never a politician.

Clearly, there may be a lot work that wants doing.

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Joe Bernick






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Arizona

Twins 8, Diamondbacks 3: Powered up

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Twins 8, Diamondbacks 3: Powered up


(Had a bit of an adventure in covering the game tonight…)

.

Out in New England, a town we’ll call “Bristol,”

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I was at home with the game on TV.

Nighttime had found me at home on the sofa

Ready to write what Monitto would see.

.

Top of the first saw a dozing Monitto,

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Larnach reached third but the lumber went slack.

During commercials it fast began raining;

Lightning soon flashed and the telly went black.

.

Thunder was rumbling; no light would turn on,

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Branches blew strong in the wind;

Losing the Wi-Fi with thunderstorms ride I

Sought fast a solution, my humor chagrined.

.

As it rained there, I

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Went for a light from my room up in “Bristol,”

Unplugged my laptop in case of a surge.

I switched to my cell phone in hope for a signal;

To cover this game was my singular urge.

.

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Then to my fortune, my phone caught the signal;

Quickly I flipped to the game as it aired.

Only had missed barely half of an inning;

Back to the site where more comments were shared.

.

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Top of the second, the bases were full,

Not a sole batter had gone.

Up came Miranda: a swing mighty grand, a

Shot clearing the bases – the rout it was on.

.

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Innings passed, and

The Twins, they all hit with the crack of a pistol;

Soon we had six runs with none for our foe.

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Out here in “Bristol,” the weather was mirthless;

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Not so the offense alive in the West.

Five of our batters had hits in the plural;

All are the STUDS tonight, each is the best.

.

(I’d better name them or else you’d get mad;

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Two each for Willi and Trev;

Three for Santana, Correa, Miranda:

Clearly a night for their motors to rev.

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And the last of

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The studs is the starter who shined like a crystal,

Gunning down batters with masterly ease.)

Only one DUD, and that’s Eversource Power:

Guys, fix the damn electricity, please!

.

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(Yes, I’m aware there are too many line breaks;

Can’t get it right when you type in your phone.

Give it a day and I’ll clean up the format;

Meanwhile we’re still in the powerless zone.)

.

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Oh, and the Comment, the Top of the Game:

It has to be Fillmore’s, I think.

Feeling so arty, he parodied Marty;

When I’ve got power, I’ll add in the link.

.

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But concluding

The game came as fast as a midsummer mist’ll:

Four bullpen arms not allowing a hit.

No need to score, not a bit or a trifle,

Leading by five when your pitching won’t quit.

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.

Now it is over, Monitto is sleepy.

(Call this a guide for pronouncing my name.)

Surely tomorrow’s another to rise for;

Meanwhile tonight, get some rest, and…

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…good game.



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Arizona

Opioid settlement money to be used to fund Arizona prisons

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Opioid settlement money to be used to fund Arizona prisons


PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes worries that the governor’s decision to use opioid settlement money to fund the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry will cause problems in the future.

Mayes sued the state last week after the Arizona Legislature passed the budget and Gov. Katie Hobbs signed it into law. She wanted to block leaders from using $115 million in opioid settlement funds to remedy the budget deficits.

She received a temporary restraining order. However, a judge overturned it on Monday night.

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“We obviously still disagree with the judge and his decision,” Mayes told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Wednesday. “It’s a sad day, I think, for Arizonans, especially in rural Arizona.”

Furthermore, she called the decision to sweep the opioid settlement funds into the Department of Corrections to backfill its budget an “absolute travesty.”

That spending was supposed to go throughout the state to prevent and treat opioid addiction, she said.

“They should not be allowed to do this,” Mayes added.

She said Hobbs and the Legislature could have used a $1.4 billion rainy day fund to plug the budget deficit.

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“Instead, they swept these opioids funds, contrary to the consent decrees, which, by the way, were signed by six or seven different judges in Arizona,” Mayes said.

Opioid settlement money to be used to fund Arizona’s prisons

Mayes is worried that allocating opioid settlement funds to support the Arizona prison system will cause issues in the future.

After all, the millions of dollars from the opioid settlements come from pharmaceutical companies that agreed to pay to settle allegations that they perpetuated drug addiction across the U.S.

These Big Pharma powerhouses may see the Arizona budget’s use of these funds as a violation of their settlement agreements, Mayes said.

“You could see some of these pharmaceutical companies coming in to Arizona and trying to claw back their money because they believe it’s been misused,” Mayes said.

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She said she plans to watch the Department of Corrections like a hawk. She wants to make sure it’s using the money to pay for services related to addiction treatment and prevention.

“I think that’s a danger,” Mayes said. “I think the Department of Corrections had better be ready to prove to me and to everybody else that they actually are spending this money on opioid addiction purposes.”

We want to hear from you.

Have a story idea or tip? Pass it along to the KTAR News team here.



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Arizona

Republicans face off for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District

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Republicans face off for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District


PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Republicans seeking their party’s nomination in Arizona’s 8th congressional district faced off for the last time Tuesday night before early voting begins in next month’s primary election.

The seat is currently held by Debbie Lesko, who is not running for re-election.

There is a lot on the line for the five candidates. Trent Franks, who resigned from it in 2017 after sexual harassment allegations, did not participate in the debate.

Candidates mostly agreed on policy, but there was a difference on the major issue of abortion. All candidates except Hamadeh agreed that Congress should step in and pass some sort of abortion ban. Hamadeh’s position is in line with Former President Donald Trump’s, who has said abortion should be left up to the states; it’s a position that has angered anti-abortion organizations.

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“I applaud President Trump for what he did. … Appreciate it’s back at the state level, now it’s going to be up to each individual state,” Hamadeh said.

Abe Hamadeh lost the attorney general’s race and still has not conceded. Current state lawmaker Anthony Kern was recently indicted on felony charges for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that Donald Trump lost.

Also seeking to represent the West Valley is Blake Masters, who lost his run for the US Senate in 2022. House Speaker Ben Toma is the author of a tough immigration measure the legislature just sent to the November ballot. Political newcomer Patrick Briody bragged about not having an endorsement.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

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Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.



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