Notices by Tucson Sentinel (tucsonsentinel@mastodon.tucsonsentinel.com), page 3

Saguaro National Park visitor center will be closed Mondays as Trump cuts NPS staff https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/022325_saguaro_visitor_center/saguaro-national-park-visitor-center-will-closed-mondays-as-trump-cuts-nps-staff/
The visitor centers of both the Tucson and Rincon districts of Saguaro National Park will now be closed on Mondays, starting this week.
#Tucson #Arizona

UA quietly drops diversity language from Indigenous land statement amid DEI rollback https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/022125_ua_diversity_statement/ua-quietly-drops-diversity-language-from-indigenous-land-statement-amid-dei-rollback/
The University of Arizona quietly changed language in its official land acknowledgment - without consulting tribes and students - and is assessing all programs, positions, and activities related to DEI and their potential impact on students as calls to terminate such initiatives grow.
#Tucson #Arizona

Trump fires 20 immigration judges amid mass dismissals of federal workers https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/021825_immigration_judges/trump-fires-20-immigration-judges-amid-mass-dismissals-federal-workers/
Despite a backlog of nearly 3.7 million cases in U.S. immigration court, the Trump administration has fired 20 immigration judges without an explanation, according to a union representing federal workers.
#Tucson #Arizona

State lawmakers embrace RFK Jr.’s health policies https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/021725_rfk_health/state-lawmakers-embrace-rfk-jrs-health-policies/
Republican state legislators across the country are filing a flurry of bills to advance the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda promoted by activist lawyer and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was confirmed as the next U.S. health secretary.
#Tucson #Arizona

Arizona judge says he’ll consider fake electors’ free speech defense https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/021025_slapp_electors/arizona-judge-says-hell-consider-fake-electors-free-speech-defense/
Two of Arizona’s “fake electors” won a victory in a courtroom Monday morning when a judge allowed their attempt to dismiss their criminal charges under an Arizona law designed to prevent political prosecutions to move forward.
#Tucson #Arizona

1 in 5 child care workers is an immigrant. Trump’s deportations & raids have many terrified. https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/021025_child_care/1-5-child-care-workers-immigrant-trumps-deportations-raids-have-many-terrified/
America has long turned to immigrants for caregiving jobs, including in child care and other hard-to-staff work, and 1 in 5 child care workers is an immigrant - but Trump’s executive orders threaten that workforce, and the situation feels more dire than in previous years.
#Tucson #Arizona

Pima Treasurer: Congress could hurt local school districts by blocking tax-exempt municipal bonds https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/opinion/report/020725_johnson_bonds_op/pima-treasurer-congress-could-hurt-local-school-districts-by-blocking-tax-exempt-municipal-bonds/
"These bonds provide a cost-effective means of financing infrastructure projects that benefit the public. Without the tax exemption, the cost of borrowing would increase, potentially leading to higher taxes or reduced funding for other essential services." — Pima County Treasurer Brian Johnson
#Tucson #Arizona

Lawmakers press Social Security on lag in paying expanded benefits to public employees https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/020725_social_security_lag/lawmakers-press-social-security-lag-paying-expanded-benefits-public-employees/
U.S. senators from both political parties wrote to the acting Social Security commissioner on Thursday, expressing concern it might take the agency more than a year to implement an expansion to benefits that Congress approved last year.
#Tucson #Arizona

Water is the other U.S.-Mexico border crisis & the supply crunch is getting worse https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/opinion/report/020625_water_crisis_op/water-other-us-mexico-border-crisis-supply-crunch-getting-worse/
Border security will be the likely focus of U.S.-Mexico relations under the new administration, but there also is a growing water crisis along the U.S.–Mexico border that affects tens of millions of people on both sides, and it can only be managed if the two governments work together.
#Tucson #Arizona

GOP lawmaker wants to repeal Az’s ban on machine guns, pipe bombs & more https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/020525_gop_firearms/gop-lawmaker-wants-repeal-azs-ban-machine-guns-pipe-bombs-more/
Republican lawmaker Alexander Kolodin wants to repeal the Arizona law banning people from owning machine guns, silencers, sawed-off shotguns and even pipe bombs and other homemade explosive devices.
#Tucson #Arizona

Az Republicans follow lead of RFK Jr. with effort to ban SNAP users from buying soda, candy https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/020525_snap_nutrition/az-republicans-follow-lead-rfk-jr-with-effort-ban-snap-users-from-buying-soda-candy/
Arizona Republicans want to ban the use of federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds to purchase candy and soda, but critics say their overly-broad proposal would bar low-income families from buying things like flavored water and granola bars.
#Tucson #Arizona

Conover: ICE should 'come with a warrant' if they raid Pima County facilities https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/020425_conover_ice_memo/conover-ice-should-come-with-warrant-if-they-raid-pima-county-facilities/
Pima County officials should protect employees from "unauthorized interference" and "fraudulent actors" as the Trump administration makes a show of force with immigration arrests, County Attorney Laura Conover advised in a newly released legal memo.
#Tucson #Arizona

2nd federal judge issues temporary order blocking Trump's spending freeze https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/020325_trump_freeze/2nd-federal-judge-issues-temporary-order-blocking-trumps-spending-freeze/
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the Trump administration from implementing a spending freeze on grant and loan programs that was outlined in a memo released last week, but has since been rescinded.
#Tucson #Arizona

Arizona officials struggle to straighten out voter rolls after proof-of-citizenship mixup https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/020325_voter_rolls/arizona-officials-struggle-straighten-out-voter-rolls-after-proof-of-citizenship-mixup/
Because of a 20-year-old government foul-up, about 200,000 Arizona voters will need to come up with proof of their citizenship soon in order to protect their full voting rights, and they might not even know about it yet.
#Tucson #Arizona

Finchem revives election conspiracies in Arizona Senate committee https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/013025_finchem_conspiracies/finchem-revives-election-conspiracies-arizona-senate-committee/
Arizona’s Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee advanced three bills Republican state Senator Mark Finchem says will improve election security, though his reasoning for the bills includes unproven and widely debunked theories of mass voter fraud.
#Tucson #Arizona

Native writer Kimberly Blaeser to give Thursday reading at UA Poetry Center https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/arts/report/012825_blaeser_poetry/native-writer-kimberly-blaeser-give-thursday-reading-ua-poetry-center/
Kimberly Blaeser, an Ojibwe writer and photographer, will give a poetry reading at the University of Arizona this week. The former Wisconsin poet laureate's latest book, "Ancient Light," was published by the UA Press.
#Tucson #Arizona

Trump orders ban foreign aid, rescind federal funds guidance for abortion https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/012825_foreign_aid_ban/trump-orders-ban-foreign-aid-rescind-federal-funds-guidance-abortion/
President Donald Trump has reinstated a policy that bans foreign aid workers from offering information about abortion, and doubled down on an existing domestic policy that bans federal funding for abortion.
#Tucson #Arizona

Judge rebuffs effort to postpone Mexico's lawsuit vs. Arizona gun dealers https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/012725_mx_gun_lawsuit/judge-rebuffs-effort-postpone-mexicos-lawsuit-vs-arizona-gun-dealers/
A federal judge rejected a motion to stay a lawsuit against five Arizona gun stores, allowing the suit filed by the Mexican government to move forward while a similar action waits on a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
#Tucson #Arizona

Judge grants Az’s request to temporarily block Trump’s birthright citizenship order https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/012325_birthright_block/judge-grants-azs-request-temporarily-block-trumps-birthright-citizenship-order/
A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship in a case brought by Arizona and three other states.
#Tucson #Arizona

Native activist Leonard Peltier granted clemency as Biden leaves office, to serve rest of sentence at home https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/012025_peltier_commuted/native-activist-leonard-peltier-granted-clemency-as-biden-leaves-office-serve-rest-sentence-home/
In one of his final acts while in office, outgoing President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence for activist Leonard Peltier, who has already served 49 years in prison in the shooting deaths of two federal agents during a standoff at Pine Ridge in 1975.
#Tucson #Arizona