While all eyes in Tucson are on the Arizona Wildcats getting their football season underway, basketball is slowly starting to get things in motion.

Two scrimmage dates have been announced for fans to get their first look at this year’s team, with one being held on their home floor and the other being played in Glendale.

Expectations are high for the Wildcats to hit the ground running during their first season in the Big 12 Conference, and with the way this program has performed under head coach Tommy Lloyd, that should be of little surprise to anyone.

In the three years since he’s taken over, Arizona has won two Pac-12 regular season titles and two Pac-12 tournaments, earning a top two seed in the NCAA Tournament every year.

But despite that success, they have topped out on the national stage by being unable to advance past the Sweet 16 round.

Solving that riddle will be the key for Lloyd during his time in Tucson, and by being inserted into a more competitive conference, it will be more difficult for them to maintain a stranglehold on the regular season.

So how can Arizona emerge as true national powers again?

They need to start recruiting at a much higher level than they have under Lloyd.

His first full cycle in charge was the 2022 class, and since that time, the Wildcats have failed to secure a ranking in the top 15.

There are signs this is changing since they finished with the 16th overall class last year, but only landing two four-star recruits makes it tough to maintain long-term success when they have to rely on the transfer portal.

Seemingly knowing that, Lloyd and his staff are attacking the recruiting trail by trying to land some of the best players in the 2025 class.

With visits set up for the fall, the Wildcats are poised to make a huge splash this year.

However, there is at least one recruit in this cycle Arizona had interest in who they are moving on from.

When referencing Tounde Yessoufou, Joe Tipton of On3 reports, “Arizona has moved on from his recruitment and will look to fill the small forward position elsewhere.”

The California native is ranked as the No. 19 player in this class and has garned national interest from some of the top programs around the country like Kentucky, Baylor, UCLA, Tennessee, Kansas, and UConn.

The 6-foot-5, four-star forward has taken two trips to see Arizona, including an official visit back on June 16.

But clearly they feel like their attention is better served elsewhere, whether that’s because the interest has waned from a singular party, or if both are more interest in other options.

Still, this cycle will be one to closely monitor for the Lloyd and the Wildcats as they look to secure their best recruiting class in this era.

California public schools could soon be banned from serving certain artificial dyes in food over concerns about developmental harm in children.

Dubbed a “first-in-the-nation” measure, state lawmakers this week passed Assembly Bill 2316 to prohibit six additives that are permitted by federal regulators to make food more colorful. California’s AB 2316, known as the California School Food Safety Act, is now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

The bill says state research suggests such synthetic dyes can result in hyperactivity and other behavioral problems. Similar previous research prompted the European Union to restrict food coloring. Nearly all of the products that the California bill would ban in schools require warning labels in E.U. products.

The bill would ban commercial dyes of Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6, in public schools in the nation’s largest state.

“California has a responsibility to protect our students from chemicals that harm children and interfere with their ability to learn,” state Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat who authored the bill, said in a statement. He said that he struggled with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, and he is now a parent.

On Saturday, a spokesperson said Newsom’s office didn’t comment on pending legislation. The deadline for Newsom to sign or veto legislation is Sept. 30, the spokesperson said.

The nonprofit Environmental Working Group and the California Medical Association, which represents doctors, supported the bill.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approvals for the dyes banned under AB 2316 date back decades, the environmental nonprofit said. Those approvals were based on old studies not designed to detect behavioral effects in children, the medical association had said in its support of AB 2316.

The Consumer Brands Association, a dye industry representative, opposed the bill because it overrode existing food safety rules, and the group disputed findings about adverse health effects. John Hewlitt, the association’s senior vice president of packaging, sustainability and state affairs, said the bill was “advancing a political agenda.”

“The passage of this bill could cost schools and families money, limit choice and access, and create consumer confusion,” he said in a statement provided to USA TODAY. “The approach taken by California politicians flies in the face of our science and risk-based process and is not the precedent we should be setting when it comes to feeding our families.”

A 2021 state Environmental Protection Agency assessment found American youth diagnosed with ADHD increased in the last 20 years, which prompted the state to look at food dyes. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has similarly tracked increases in ADHD diagnoses in children in recent years.

Focusing on seven food dyes, including those that would be banned under AB 2316, state researchers reviewed prior studies on the effects of these dyes in humans and laboratory animals. Findings indicated they were linked to adverse neurobehavioral outcomes in children, and children varied in sensitivity.

On Friday, an FDA spokesperson told NBC News they had reviewed literature cited in California’s legislation. While saying most children have no “adverse effects” when they eat foods with color additives, the spokesperson reportedly said some evidence suggests certain children may be sensitive.

If signed into law, California’s ban would take effect in schools beginning in 2027.

As panic over Venezuelan gangs in the community continues to spread, Aurora police visited an apartment complex Friday to reassure neighbors that officers are there for them. Meanwhile, the mayor is taking a much tougher approach.

On Friday, the City of Aurora released video of Interim Police Chief Heather Morris and a cadre of officers meeting with residents at an apartment complex that has been at the center of media and online discussions about Venezuelan gang activity.

“We’re out here because we care,” Morris said. “We want to reassure the people who live in this community that we are actively investigating criminal activity and listening to them.”

Earlier in the week, a former resident came forward with security video showing men with large guns and said she doesn’t feel the police are taking the issue seriously.

“There have been so many occasions that I’ve called the police while I’m sitting in my window watching the crime take place, and they will call me and say, ‘I’m sorry, but we’re not coming,’” Cindy Romero said.

Her car was even shot before Aurora City Council Member Danielle Jurinsky helped her find a new place to live. Jurinsky, who has been insisting for weeks that apartments in the city are being overrun by dangerous Venezuelan gangs, says the police and city need to act before someone gets hurt or killed.

“I have had city leaders give interviews, essentially trying to make it seem like I’ve made this entire thing up,” Jurinsky said. “I think that politics is being played here with people’s lives.”

On Friday, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman posted online that the Aurora City Attorney’s Office will request an emergency court order to clear the apartment buildings.

Coffman also noted that while he is ready to take action, the apartment complexes that have experienced the most trouble are owned by the same out-of-state owner and have a history of crime that predates the trouble with the Venezuelan gangs.

Aurora police say it never denied that Venezuelan gangs exist in the city and have a task force to handle the situation, but the department believe the problem is being overstated.

“I’m not saying there are no gang members living in this community, but what we’re learning is that gang members have not taken over this complex,” Morris said.