- Slug: BC-CNS-Transparency-Bills,630
- With: BC-CNS-Transparency-Bills-Box
- File photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By RICHARD TACKETT
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Tuesday, Feb. 9) _ Requiring local governments to post records of all financial transactions online would make officials better stewards of the public’s money, a state lawmaker contends.
“There’s large sums of money and taxes being collected, and much of the time we don’t know exactly how it’s spent,” said Rep. Steve Montenegro, R-Litchfield Park. “Being that it is public money, people should be informed as to where it goes.”
Montenegro has introduced legislation that would force each city, town, county and school district to create a Web site with a comprehensive database of all receipts and expenditures. He said that such a site would allow taxpayers to learn whether a private contract went to the lowest bidder, for example.
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Tuesday, February 9 – 17:56
- Slug: BC-CNS-Transparency-Bills-Box,150
- With: BC-CNS-Transparency-Bills
By Cronkite News Service
Here are some other bills involving access to government information and proceedings:
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Tuesday, February 9 – 17:45
- Slug: BC-CNS-Metric Interstate,760
- Note: A Cronkite News Service Weekend Special
- With: BC-CNS-Metric Interstate-Box
- Photos available (thumbnails, captions below)
By YVONNE GONZALEZ
Cronkite News Service
GREEN VALLEY _ Don Herk sees no problem with an interstate sign about 200 meters outside his Arizona Family Restaurant telling motorists that Continental Road is 2 kilometers south.
“The kilometers make it a little unique to this part of the country,” he said as cars whizzed by on Interstate 19. “It’s something that’s become part of my life.”
Carolyn Rose, a retiree who lunched at Herk’s restaurant on a recent weekday, said visitors from her native Wisconsin find the interstate’s metric signs fascinating.
“We like the uniqueness of it,” she said.
Decades after efforts stalled to convert the U.S. to centimeters, liters and celsius, signs lining the interstate’s 100-odd kilometers are reminders of those days. Built in the 1970s between Tucson and the border, I-19 was the Federal Highway Administration’s testing ground for kilometer markings and remains the nation’s only highway marked completely in metric.
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Tuesday, February 9 – 17:24
- Slug: BC-CNS-Metric Interstate-Box,150
- With: BC-CNS-Metric Interstate
By Cronkite News Service
Here is a timeline of the United States’ move toward and away from using the metric system:
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Tuesday, February 9 – 14:02
Here is the Cronkite News Service lineup for Tuesday, Feb. 9. Video and other multimedia with these packages is available at http://cronkitenews.asu.edu/video, and clients are welcome to link to or embed individual videos on that site. In addition, clients may download the QuickTime movie file for their players here with a free Vimeo account. If you have questions or would like to receive an e-mailed version of this digest, please contact Steve Elliott at 602-496-0686 or steve.elliott@asu.edu. You can monitor Cronkite News Service via Twitter (@cronkitenews) and a Web feed optimized for iPhone (http://cronkitenews.asu.edu/mobile).
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Tuesday, February 9 – 12:52
- Slug: BC-CNS-Bald Eagle,465
- With: BC-CNS-Bald Eagle-Box
- File photos available (thumbnails, captions below)
By CHRISTINE HARVEY
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Monday, Feb. 8) _ Bald eagles need additional protection, especially preservation of their habitat, to survive in Arizona, a state lawmaker contends.
“If we don’t do something to protect their habitat, they will face extinction,” said Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe.
For the third straight year, Ableser is sponsoring a sweeping bill that would require additional state-level management of bald eagles along with other endangered and threatened species.
And for the third straight year, he said, the measure is going nowhere despite what he said is a clear need to protect bald eagles from threats such as drying rivers, the loss of cottonwood trees and human encroachment.
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Monday, February 8 – 19:03
- Slug: BC-CNS-Bald Eagle-Box,095
- With: BC-CNS-Bald Eagle
By Cronkite News Service
Here are key provisions of HB 2264, sponsored by Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe:
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Monday, February 8 – 19:00
- Slug: BC-CNS-Memorials-Resolutions,575
- With: BC-CNS-Memorials-Resolutions-List
By MELANIE KISER
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Monday, Feb. 8) _ Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, wants Congress to urge the NCAA to adopt a college football playoff system.
Sen. Jack W. Harper, R-Surprise, wants to proclaim that Arizona has no intention of providing assistance to the controversial community-organizing group ACORN.
Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, wants federal laws aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Undeterred by the budget crisis, state lawmakers are continuing to propose types of legislation that often amount to little more than postcards or press releases. Amid words such as “whereas” and “wherefore,” messages intended for Capitol Hill, the Chicago Cubs and elsewhere proclaim legislators’ positions or preferences, often on matters beyond their control.
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Monday, February 8 – 18:09
Slug: BC-CNS-Memorials-Resolutions-List,175
With: BC-CNS-Memorials-Resolutions
By Cronkite News Service
Here are some examples of memorials and resolutions intended to send messages from Arizona:
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Monday, February 8 – 18:00
- Slug: BC-CNS-Arizona Lottery,450
- Photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By KRISTENA HANSEN
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Thursday, Feb. 4)_ State lawmakers are on the verge of renewing the Arizona Lottery without putting the issue to voters.
Part of a special session to address the state’s budget woes, SB 1004, sponsored by Senate President Robert “Bob” Burns, R-Peoria, would continue the lottery through 2035. The reason for renewing it now: a plan to borrow up to $450 million before year’s end against future lottery proceeds.
The bill has won Senate approval and on Thursday gained an endorsement from the House Appropriations Committee, which also approved a companion bill, SB 1003, containing the provisions for borrowing against lottery proceeds.
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Thursday, February 4 – 19:18
Here is the Cronkite News Service lineup for Thursday, Feb. 4. Video and other multimedia with these packages is available at http://cronkitenews.asu.edu/video, and clients are welcome to link to or embed individual videos on that site. In addition, clients may download the QuickTime movie file for their players here with a free Vimeo account. If you have questions or would like to receive an e-mailed version of this digest, please contact Steve Elliott at 602-496-0686 or steve.elliott@asu.edu. You can monitor Cronkite News Service via Twitter (@cronkitenews) and a Web feed optimized for iPhone (http://cronkitenews.asu.edu/mobile).
Read More »
Thursday, February 4 – 11:52
- Slug: BC-CNS-English Learners,475
- With: BC-CNS-English Learners-Box
By GRISELDA NEVAREZ
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Wednesday, Feb. 3) _ State mandates on how school districts teach English language learners keep local officials from adopting systems that can most effectively address the needs of their students, a state lawmaker contends.
“To say that one size fits all sometimes may work, but sometimes it does not,” said Rep. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista. “I think we need to look at alternatives so that children don’t fall behind.”
Gowan has introduced a bill that would allow districts to choose the currently required curriculum, which is produced by task force overseen by the state Department of Education, or develop their own English language learner programs at individual schools without seeking the task force’s approval.
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Wednesday, February 3 – 18:42
Slug: BC-CNS-English Learners-Box,105
With: BC-CNS-English Learners
By Cronkite News Service
The Arizona English Language Learners Task Force English model requires:
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Wednesday, February 3 – 18:40
- Slug: BC-CNS-Pay Cut, 1st Ld-Writethru,410
- Note: Leads throughout to UPDATE with committee approval Thursday.
By MELANIE KISER
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Wednesday, Feb. 3) _ After shooting down five straight ballot propositions to give state lawmakers a raise, Arizona voters may get a chance to give them pay cut instead.
State Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, has introduced a resolution that would reduce lawmakers’ pay in line with any pay cuts for other state employees. Senators and representatives now earn $24,000 for their part-time roles at the Capitol.
“I think we need to live as we legislate,” Cheuvront said. “It’s important that if we’re asking state employees to decrease their salaries that we should also be willing to decrease ours.”
The Senate Government Institutions Committee endorsed SCR 1038 Thursday on a 5-2 vote.
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Wednesday, February 3 – 18:25
- Slug: BC-CNS-Juvenile Corrections,535
- With: BC-CNS-Juvenile Corrections-Box
- Photos available (thumbnails, captions below)
By KRISTENA HANSEN
Cronkite News Service
YUMA (Tuesday, Feb. 2) _ On any given day, youths occupy about 55 of the 80 beds available at the Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center, staying an average of about two weeks.
Officials say the facility would burst at the seams if Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal to close the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections goes through. Under that plan, an additional 50 high-risk juvenile offenders would head back here.
County Administrator Robert Pickels said that in addition an estimated $1 million more in personnel costs the facility’s space constraints could force lower-risk offenders back into the community.
“This is something that we hate to have to consider,” Pickels said.
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Tuesday, February 2 – 18:45
- Slug: BC-CNS-Juvenile Corrections-Box
- With: BC-CNS-Juvenile Corrections
By Cronkite News Service
Here are quick facts about the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections:
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Tuesday, February 2 – 18:25
Slug: BC-CNS-Healthcare Rally,340
By RICHARD TACKETT
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Tuesday, Feb. 2) _ John McFarland Jr. has spent seven years advising adults diagnosed with behavioral health issues, but before that he suffered from mental illness himself.
Through the help of recovery groups that operate partly as a result of state aid, he said he turned his life around.
“I got off of disability, went back to full-time work and got married, all because of the help I got here in Arizona,” he said.
He said that was why he joined a few dozen people who demonstrated at the statehouse Tuesday in opposition to Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposals to reduce state aid for those with serious mental illnesses and to cut back on eligibility for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
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Tuesday, February 2 – 18:23
- Slug: BC-CNS-Public Notices, 1st Ld-Writethru,690
- Note: SUBS 12th graf to replace estimate of revenue from public notice ads to cite National Newspaper Association report.
- With: BC-CNS-Public Notices-Box
By RYAN VAN VELZER
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Tuesday, Feb. 2) _ In a digital age, should Arizona taxpayers have to continue covering the cost of publishing public notices in newspapers?
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, says it’s wasted money when government bodies can easily post the notices on their Web sites. He’s sponsoring a bill to remove a requirement in state law that public notices, also known as legal notices or legal ads, run in newspapers.
“It is extremely costly to do print media,” he said. “You’re dealing with essentially 19th century technology to disseminate information.”
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Tuesday, February 2 – 16:46
- Slug: BC-CNS-Public Notices-Box,100
- With: BC-CNS-Public Notices
By Cronkite News Service
Examples of a public notice ads:
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Tuesday, February 2 – 16:00
- Slug: BC-CNS-Parks Rally,180
- NOTE: No sidebar will move with this story.
By Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Monday, Feb. 1) _ Closing state parks removes access to areas where children can learn to appreciate the environment, wildlife and state history, the head of a state environmental group said Monday.
“These parks are our schools, and by losing them we cut off wonderful educational opportunities,” Sandy Bahr, conservation director for the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, who led a rally at the State Capitol.
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Monday, February 1 – 19:17
