TO CLIPS INDEX  Clips for January 13, 2009

Editorial: Exhorting Ariz. to keep investing in
the future
The Arizona Republic 1/13/09
Gov. Janet Napolitano's State of the State address
Monday was really a farewell as chief executive of
Arizona. With her confirmation as secretary of
Homeland Security apparently a slam-dunk, her
boxes are already packed for Washington, D.C.
Napolitano has spent her six years in office as a
strong advocate for investment in the future. On
Monday, she had her last big platform as governor
to try to inspire Arizonans. She used it to emphasize
a long-standing theme, stated in her first inaugural
address: Government needs to tackle major
problems and aspire to solutions that will build our
physical and intellectual infrastructure. Napolitano
called on Arizonans to defend funding for some of
her major initiatives, including early-childhood
education, universities and research programs
such as TGen and Science Foundation Arizona.
These are all basic building blocks for Arizona's
future.

ASU team wins grant to ensure food safety
The Arizona Republic 1/13/09
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security
has given William Nganje's team of Arizona
State University researchers a $247,000 grant
to find ways to ensure the safety of the produce
we eat. Nganje, of Queen Creek, is an associate
professor at the ASU Polytechnic campus in
Mesa. He and his colleagues are trying to
determine the most efficient ways to ensure that
produce that enters the United States from Mexico
is safe. Specifically, he and his colleagues are
looking for ways to strengthen the security of the
supply chain, not just against naturally occurring
diseases and food tainting, but "from acts of
terrorism," he said.

Director departing UA's bioscience lab
The Arizona Republic 1/13/09
The pending departure of University of Arizona
Bio5 Director Vicki Chandler will leave the state's
top two university bioscience labs with new
leadership. Chandler will leave Bio5 next month
to take a position with the San Francisco-based
Gordon and Berry Moore Foundation. George
Poste last year announced he will step down as
director of Arizona State University's Biodesign
Institute. His replacement could be named early
this year. Both publicly funded research labs,
created to spur innovation and high-paying jobs
in Arizona, face steep budget cuts this year due
to the slowdown in sales-tax collections that
provide the main source of state funding.

Napolitano: Arizona must make wise cuts
The Arizona Republic 1/13/09
Twenty-four hours before leaving Arizona and just
over a week before her expected resignation, Gov.
Janet Napolitano urged lawmakers Monday to use
discretion in closing a record multibillion-dollar bud-
get shortfall. Napolitano appeared before a packed
chamber in the House of Representatives, telling
legislators and assorted dignitaries, including her
apparent replacement as governor, that the budget
crisis must be handled in a way that does "not dim
the bright future of this remarkable state."
Napolitano's plea as part of the annual State of the
State address, her seventh, came amid talk that bud-
get cuts may undo much of her work over the past
six years, with everything from all-day kindergarten
to grants for the state's fledgling biotech industry at
risk.

Reduce required initiative signatures, gov says
Capitol Media Services/East Valley Tribune 
1/12/09 6:06PM
Gov. Janet Napolitano wants to make it easier for
voters to propose their own laws — but harder for
lawmakers to bypass her vetoes by taking issues
to the ballot. In her last State of the State speech,
Napolitano said she wants to reduce the number
of signatures required for initiatives, where
individuals or groups craft changes in state
statutes or the constitution. Right now it takes the
signatures of 10 percent of those who voted in the
last statewide race to place a proposed change in
law on the ballot, a figure that now stands at more
than 150,000. A constitutional amendment
requires more than 230,000 valid signatures. The
issue is not academic for Napolitano: Two of her
pet projects — a sales tax hike to fund transit
improvements and a constitutional measure
putting more than 570,000 acres of state trust
land out of the reach of developers — failed to
qualify because backers did not get enough
signatures.

Editorial: No need for Brewer to make sharp
break on budget priorities
Arizona Daily Sun 1/13/09
Monday's State of the State address by Gov. Janet
Napolitano was both a 6-year summing up and a
future challenge. Whether the governor's imminent
departure for Washington represents a break point
or just an inevitable fork in the road for Arizona
state politics remains to be seen. But Napolitano
on Monday was not backing down from a record of
expanded state support for education and "safety
net" child health care that should be continued,
state budget deficit or not. Critics have accused her
of leading Arizona down a fiscal path that amounts
to living beyond its means -- with the current $1.6
billion deficit as Exhibit A. They're ready for a sharp
break with the past, and in new Republican governor,
Jan Brewer, they think they have the vehicle to get
there.

Group aims to boost Native American graduation
rate
Arizona Daily Sun 1/12/09 9:11 PM
The current education system is in crisis as evidenced
by 1.2 million high school dropouts nationwide among
all ethnic groups, says a university professor who
advocates reform. While research shows 70 percent
graduate high school, only 51 percent of Native
Americans get a diploma and dropouts are more likely
to experience poverty, poor health and incarceration.
The cost is borne by all Americans, according to
Willard Gilbert, multicultural studies professor at
Northern Arizona University-Flagstaff

My opinion Thomas L. Friedman: Invest in teaching,
schools for long-term returns
Arizona Daily Star 1/13/09
Over the next couple of years, two very big countries,
America and China, will give birth to something very
important. They're each going to give birth to close
to $1 trillion worth of economic stimulus — in the
form of tax cuts, infrastructure, highways, mass
transit and new energy systems. But a lot is riding
on these two babies. If China and America each
give birth to a pig — a big, energy-devouring,
climate-spoiling stimulus hog — our kids are done
for. It will be the burden of their lifetimes. If they
each give birth to a gazelle — a lean, energy-
efficient and innovation-friendly stimulus — it will
be the opportunity of their lifetimes. So here's
hoping that our new administration and Congress
will be guided in shaping the stimulus by reading
John Maynard Keynes in one hand — to get as
much money injected as quickly as possible —
and by reading "Rising Above the Gathering Storm:
Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter
Economic Future" with the other.  "Gathering Storm"
was the outstanding 2005 report produced by our
National Academies on how to keep America
competitive by vastly improving math and science
education, investing in long-term research,
recruiting top students from abroad and making
U.S. laws the most conducive in the world for
innovation.

UA starts automatic late plan for tuition
Arizona Daily Star 1/13/09
Starting next month, the University of Arizona will
automatically enroll students with unpaid tuition
bills into a payment plan in a change officials
hope will keep students in their scheduled classes.
Students must pay their tuition bills in full by the
end of the first day of class — which this semester
is Wednesday — or face a $50 late fee. In the past,
students who didn't pay their bills within the first
few weeks of the semester were dropped from
their classes and had to work with several UA
departments before being able to get back into
a classroom. Beginning this semester, students
who have unpaid bills by the time the UA conducts
its official student head count in February will be
enrolled in a tuition payment plan and will remain
in their classes, said Beth Acree, the UA's interim
registrar.  The automatic enrollment, will cost
students $75, is aimed at helping reduce student
anxiety and financial shortcomings amid a
deepening recession, Acree said. which

New museum, science center designs ready
Arizona Daily Star 1/13/09
The University of Arizona will present the latest
designs for its Science Center and Arizona State
Museum at the city of Tucson's Rio Nuevo site at
a public meeting Wednesday. Architect Rafael
Viñoly originally proposed a $200 million to $350
million Rainbow Bridge spanning the river and
Interstate 10 that would have housed the Science
Center alone. On Wednesday, Viñoly will present
his latest drawings for what is now a $130 million
building that will house both the Science Center
and the museum exhibits. Exhibit designer Ralph
Appelbaum will bring his latest ideas for the
building's interior, formulated in meetings with
UA scientists and anthropologists, who will also
be present to discuss the concepts

Editorial: Our Opinion: A parting message
Tucson Citizen 1/13/09
It's tempting to wonder why Gov. Janet Napolitano
bothered to deliver her final State of the State
speech. Republicans, who control both houses of
the Legislature, weren't the slightest bit interested
in hearing what the Democratic governor had to
say. And Napolitano, probably in her final week
as governor, already is focused on her upcoming
challenge as secretary of Homeland Security in
the Obama administration. But there is a
constitutional requirement for the governor to
"communicate, by message, to the Legislature
at every session the condition of the state" -
which Napolitano did Monday. Republicans
made it clear - by word and deed - that they
had no intention of paying any attention to her
proposals.

Public can marvel at science center-museum
designs Wed.
Tucson Citizen 1/13/09
The latest designs for Tucson Origins' joint UA
Science Center/Arizona State Museum will be
unveiled 6 p.m. Wednesday. The University of
Arizona design presentation for the West Side
structure will take place at the University Service
Annex Building, 220 W. Sixth St., Conference
Room 104.

Volunteers sought to socialize with international
students
Tucson Citizen 1/13/09
Ivan Ogloblin came to the University of Arizona
from his native Russia two years ago, thrilled
about his graduate studies in chemistry but
apprehensive about living in a country where
he didn't know anyone. In short order, his
apprehension abated, courtesy of the
community-based nonprofit International
Friends. "I came here and I didn't have any
friends or no one around, so I heard about
the group and decided to apply and they
placed me with my host family," said Ogloblin,
24. "I got to see America from the point of view
of an American family and we became really
good friends." International Friends has been
connecting international students with Tucson
community members willing to share a few
hours once a month with students since 1952.
Recent increases in UA international student
enrollment and an increase in popularity of the
International Friends program among those
students has led to the need for more
community volunteers, said Rick Hanson,
assignments coordinator for International
Friends.

Arizona Legislature begins 2009 session
The Associated Press/Tucson Citizen
1/13/09
PHOENIX — The Arizona Legislature began its
2009 session Monday, with newly installed top
leaders vowing a focused push to solve the
state's budget crisis with key decisions made
in public. Lawmakers devoted Monday to
session-starting formalities, so the Republican-
led Legislature's budget push begins Tuesday
with a meeting to forecast how the recession
will hammer the state's tax collections.
Wednesday and Thursday brings panel
discussions of business executives and local
government officials to offer advice on how
to erase red ink in the current fiscal year's
budget.

Arizona nurses gather Tuesday to advocate
nurse/patient ratios
Tucson Citizen 1/12/09
Arizona nurses will gather at the state capitol
Tuesday in an attempt to encourage lawmakers
to make Arizona the second state in the nation
to set minimum nurse to patient ratios. The
Arizona Hospital Patient Protection Act would
set minimum ratios for each area of the hospital.
For example, one nurse for every patient in an
operating room and one nurse for every three
patients in pediatrics. California enacted its
minimum staffing ratios in 2002. Shawn Murray,
a Tucson-area nurse for 11 years, went to the
rally last year. She hopes this year's rally will
get the attention of legislatures who weren't in
office then. "I'm hopeful in that sense maybe
we can educate them and let them know what
the situation is with the nurses in the hospital,"
she said.

ASU, Penn strike tech transfer accord
Phoenix Business Journal 1/13/09 9:40am MST
Arizona State University and the University of
Pennsylvania entered into a partnership to help
each other commercialize technology born at
the schools. The collaboration will team Arizona
Technology Enterprises -- ASU’s technology
venturing arm -- and the University of
Pennsylvania’s Center for Technology Transfer
for the purpose of bringing university technology
to the marketplace.

States continue spending sprees
USA TODAY 1/13/09
As a federal bailout takes shape, many states
continue to spend money at boom-time rates
even though revenue is sinking. The mismatch
between spending and revenue has left states
facing projected shortfalls of up to $80 billion
over the next six months, equal to as much as
10% of what states had planned to spend.
Forty-two state legislatures convene this
month, and filling those gaps will be their top
priority. A handful of states — notably
California, Florida and New Jersey — have
reduced spending, a USA TODAY review of
state financial reports shows. Most have
taken a wait-and-see attitude because
spending cuts may not be needed if Congress
approves a large federal aid package, and big
spending hikes are a possibility.

From Arizona Governor to Homeland Security
Chief
U.S. News & World Report 1/12/09
In her last major speech as Arizona governor,
Janet Napolitano described her impending
departure to become President-elect Barack
Obama's secretary of homeland security as
"bittersweet." "I have been called by our
president-elect to serve in a new way during
extraordinary times," Napolitano said in what
was likely her final state of the state address.
"This is a day of mixed emotions. On the one
hand, I am very sad that this is very likely the
final time I will address Arizonans in this
manner. On the other hand, I am confident
about the future of this state and proud of the
work we have done together."