TO CLIPS INDEX Clips for February 24, 2009
Regents to look at ASU proposal to cut AIMS awards
The
Arizona Republic, Feb. 24, 2009
TUCSON - Arizona
State University has proposed suspending
its scholarship
program for high school students who pass
the state AIMS
test because of severe budget cuts. The
proposal would
require the approval of state regents and
affect hundreds
of students entering the university next fall.
Neither
University of Arizona nor Northern Arizona University
officials have
formally broached the idea, but they will be
watching with
interest as a regents' committee discusses
the future of
AIMS scholarships at a mid-March meeting and
the full
regents' board takes up the matter at its April meeting.
Hundreds protest state cuts that could affect children
The
Arizona Republic, Feb. 24, 2009
About 300 people
filled Arizona State University's Memorial
Union in Tempe
Monday night to protest state budget cuts
that could
affect children throughout the state. Many of
those who
attended worried that the cuts could make life
much more
difficult for children with disabilities such as
autism or Down's
syndrome. Jill Ressler of Scottsdale
appeared with
her 1-year-old daughter, Anabel, who has
Down's syndrome,
and said she had just received word
that services
for her child would be stopped.
"Not only will I
be her advocate, but I want you to be her
advocate, too,"
she told a panel of state lawmakers who
held the
hearing. Suzanne Schunk, director of family
support services
for Southeast Human Development, said
the cuts are
likely to affect disabled children much more
even than
schools.
Republicans
push to repeal suspended Arizona tax
AP/Forbes, Feb. 24, 2009
Arizona
Republican legislators pushed to repeal a
suspended state
property tax, saying it'd be wrong to
burden taxpayers
even as the state's budget crisis
has produced
painful spending cuts. On a 5-3
party-line vote
Monday, the House Ways and Means
Committee
endorsed a repeal bill that the House's
Republican
majority have declared a priority for their
current
legislative session. Consideration of the
proposed repeal
- backed by business organizations
and opposed by
education groups - comes as lawmakers
wrestle with the
state's dire fiscal situation amid the
continuing
recession and its slam on state tax collections.
Democrats to roll out
budget plan today, committees
scrutinize stimulus
package
Arizona Capitol Times,
Feb. 23. 2009
Senate Democrats
will roll out their budget plan today,
as committees
begin to delve into specific components
of the $4
billion that Arizona is poised to receive in
federal stimulus
money. Democrats have provided the
Republican
leadership with a list of budget options.
Senate minority
leader Jorge Garcia told the Arizona
Capitol Times
recently that the plan includes allowing a
$250-million
property tax to come back on the books,
securitizing or
borrowing off some revenue streams,
such as the
lottery, suspending certain tax credits and
factoring in
federal stimulus money. "I've got the list and
I've looked at
it," Senate President Bob Burns said.
"We'll give it
some consideration." Meanwhile,
committees will
begin reviewing specific components
of the federal
economic recovery package this week to
assess its
impact on the state budget.
Beaker-Ready Projects? Colleges Have Quite a Few
The New
York Times, Feb. 23, 2009
The acting
director of the National Institutes of Health
begged
university administrators on Wednesday to
avoid even
applying for stimulus money unless the
universities
planned to hire people almost immediately.
From proposed
animal research laboratories at the
University of
Arizona, the University of Nebraska and the
University of
Pennsylvania to empty floors in laboratory
buildings at the
University of California, Irvine, Ohio
State University
and Southern Illinois University, colleges
across the
country have hundreds of shovel- and
beaker-ready
projects in the sciences that could collectively
cost tens of
billions and begin within weeks. “We’re
grateful for the
money, but it’s not such a large number
that anybody’s
going to have to look very hard for good
projects to
fund,” said Leslie Tolbert, the vice president
for research at
the University of Arizona.
Grijalva: US funds a must
to avert more state cuts
Arizona Daily Star,
Feb. 24, 2009
PHOENIX —
Following his participation in a White
House summit on
fiscal responsibility, U.S. Rep.
Raúl Grijalva
said Monday that Arizona lawmakers
would be foolish
to turn down federal economic-stimulus
money.
"This is not an ideological issue they are
dealing with,"
Grijalva said in a phone interview from
Washington. "In
Arizona, one of the fastest-growing
states in the
country, it would be fiscally irresponsible
not to take this
money. And who gets hurt? The people
who are the most
vulnerable in the state." Grijalva, a
Tucson Democrat
who represents the southwestern
portion of the
state, said Arizona lawmakers should
take the money
to avoid deeper cuts to education
and
universities.
Behind Red Tides, the Swimming and Shape of Plankton
The New
York Times, Feb. 23, 2009
The coastal
ocean can be likened to a parfait of
enormous
proportions. Rather than being homogeneous,
it’s a layered
affair of water, nutrients and organisms.
Among the layers
are those that contain large
concentrations
of plankton. These layers are usually
just a few yards
below the surface, only a few feet thick
but potentially
miles long. They serve as ecological hot
spots, providing
food for other creatures. But they can
also be the
scene of huge algal blooms that cause toxic
red tides.
Just how those plankton layers form has been
unclear. Now in
a paper in Science, William M. Durham
and Roman
Stocker of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and
John O. Kessler of the University of
Arizona have
shown that plankton’s swimming and
shape play a
role.
Solar Initiative
The
Arizona Republic, Feb. 24, 2009
Arizona Public
Service Co. officials are banking on
renewable
energy, but no more traditional coal power
plants, to help
the utility to meet its added energy
demand in the
2020s and beyond. Though potentially
more expensive
for consumers, utility officials said,
the plan would
help balance energy costs and reduce
the impact of
charges for carbon-dioxide emissions
and natural-gas
price swings. Some coal-industry
officials,
though, questioned whether the utility could
meet its demand
without cheap, domestic coal.
NAU, AWC get $600,000 each in science grants
Yuma Sun,
Feb. 24, 2009
In light of
drastic cuts in state aid for higher education,
welcome news
arrived for aspiring Yuma scientists
who got a shot
in the arm toward realizing career goals
thanks to the
National Science Foundation. Arizona
Western College
and Northern Arizona University-Yuma
administrators
each proudly announced awards of
$600,000 STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering,
Mathematics)
grants Monday. Funds will provide
scholarships for
two groups of 15 to 25 incoming
science
students. Mary Schaal, AWC director for research
and grants and
grant author, noted it was an exciting
day for the
AWC/NAU partnership.
Pima County buys
ecologically important property
KOLD
News 13, Feb. 24, 2009
TUCSON, Ariz.
(AP) - A 320-acre parcel of ecologically
important land
was bought by Pima County for $4.7
million. The
tract, which was purchased Monday from
the Arizona
State Land Department, was bought with
$2.35 million
from 1997 and 2004 bonds and another
$2.35 million
from the state's Growing Smarter fund.
The parcel,
which is home to the University of Arizona's
Desert
Laboratory, has been a target in the county's
Sonoran Desert
Conservation Plan for several years.
The site will be
preserved as is for continued use by
the university's
Desert Laboratory.
Your Turn: Ariz. primed to promote integrative
health care
The
Arizona Republic,
Feb. 24, 2009
The governor and
Legislature have moved rapidly to
make necessary
cuts to balance our state budget.
We would like to
point the way to some long-term
permanent
savings for the state. About five years
ago one of us,
Weil, spoke to a full house in Gammage
Auditorium at
the invitation of the other, Roy, to make
the case that
Arizona could brand itself the nation's
"Health Capital"
based on its leadership and potential
in this field.
Our state has a culture of self-reliance
and openness to
the new and unusual. It can point
with pride to
the University of Arizona's Center for
Integrative
Medicine, known worldwide as the leader
in integrative
medical education; to Arizona State
University's
related research; to many other institutions
in Arizona,
training allied health professionals; and to
hundreds of
small businesses and inventors developing
lower-cost
options for maintaining health.
Kosovo president visits ASU
ASU
Web Devil, Feb.
24, 2009
Kosovo President
Fatmir Sejdiu received the first
Distinguished
Global Leadership Award on Monday
night for his
leadership achievements in bridging
cultural gaps on
an international level. Sejdiu was
honored for his
contributions to the “process that
evolved,
eventually, in the birth of a nation,” said
Anthony “Bud”
Rock, vice president for Global Engagement
at ASU. Rock
presented the award to Sejdiu, who was
elected
president of Kosovo in 2006 and is the country’s
only president
since declaring independence from Serbia
in February
2008, in front of nearly 300 people in the
Arizona Room of
the Memorial Union on the Tempe campus.
ASU men's lacrosse team
suspended
East
Valley Tribune, Feb. 23, 2009
The Arizona
State men's lacrosse team has been
suspended until
August and placed on a two-year
probation by the
university, according to the team's
Web site. A
voice mail left for lacrosse coach Chris
Malone was not
returned Sunday, and university officials
could not be
reached for comment. The lacrosse team,
which is a club
sport and operates independently of the
athletic
department, was reportedly suspended by the
university
pending an investigation for alleged inappropriate
conduct by team
members this winter. According to the
Web site: "The
Club is awaiting receipt of the formal written
notification at
which time club officials will decide a future
course of
action."