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TODAY'S LOCAL HEADLINES
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TODAY'S NATIONAL HEADLINES
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TODAY'S OPINIONS
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LOCAL HEADLINES
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Special tax districts hang in the balance
By Jim Small. Lawmakers this year are considering the creation
of several special tax districts. Some are aimed at building the
economy by fostering development of burgeoning industries, while
others are inventive attempts to pay for new projects during a
down economy. One such bill hopes to keep a springtime mainstay
in southern Arizona, while another legislative push may result
in the dismantling of a district designed to create a bustling
downtown Tucson. Another bill would allow the state’s three
universities to each create a special district that would allow
them to impose a fee on commercial development on school land
that could then be used to back bonds that could pay for
renovations to athletic stadiums.
(Arizona Capitol Times:
http://www.azcapitoltimes.com/freestory.cfm?id=10824)
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House Dems offer budget plan that raises taxes, suspends tax
credits
By Jim Small. House Democrats have proposed solving the state's
fiscal crisis with minimal spending cuts, instead relying
heavily on suspending tax credits, increasing taxes on wealthy
Arizonans and homeowners, accounting gimmicks and federal
stimulus aid. And $75 million of university funding due at the
end of fiscal 2010 would not be paid until the beginning of
fiscal 2011.
(Sierra Vista Herald:
http://www.svherald.com/articles/2009/03/31/news/doc49d1bb6c5f05f003895159.txt)
(Arizona Capitol Times:
http://www.azcapitoltimes.com/freestory.cfm?id=10836)
(Arizona Capitol Times:
http://www.azcapitoltimes.com/freestory.cfm?id=10816)
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Smokers set to get burned
About the new federal tobacco tax, which takes effect Wednesday
New cost of a premium pack of cigarettes in Arizona: Amount of
increase for a pack of cigarettes: 62 cents, from 39 cents per
pack to $1.01 Where the money goes: The State Children's Health
Insurance Program, known as KidsCare in Arizona, which provides
medical insurance for children younger than 18. Current state
tax on a pack of cigarettes: $2 Where the money goes: The
Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System - AHCCCS, which is
the state's form of Medicaid; early childhood education; health
research; and tobacco prevention and education and helping
people quit smoking.
(Arizona Daily Star:
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/286668)
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Solar-electric car cruises UA campus
By Marissa Hopkins. A new electric and solar powered truck has
been added to the Parking and Transportation Services' fleet and
was put into use for the first time yesterday, programs director
Joyce Childers, said. The little white Xebra Zaptruck has only
three wheels, weighs about 500 pounds, and is only 5-feet-1 inch
tall. It is powered by electric and solar power, said PTS
marketing manager Bill Davidson.
(UA Daily Wildcat:
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/news/2009/03/31/News/SolarElectric.Car.Cruises.Ua.Campus-3689521.shtml)
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Undergrad medical bioinformatics degree program to open in fall
By Rheyanne Weaver. As some degree programs ASU are downsizing,
biomedical informatics, a field University officials say is
growing, will expand to offer an undergraduate degree next fall.
The program will be the first undergraduate program of its kind
in the U.S. Robert Greenes, chair of the Department of
Biomedical Informatics in the Ira A. Fulton School of
Engineering, said there is an urgent need to train people in
biomedical informatics, which improves information technology,
along with data management, in health care, research and
medicine.
(ASU State Press:
http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/5517)
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Horne says tuition increases would hurt middle class
By Kevin Tripp. Tuition could be going up at Arizona's three
major universities. The Board of Regents will hear arguments
from the three public universities on Tuesday, but it's unlikely
they'll get a yes vote from State Superintendent of Public
Instruction Tom Horne. Horne has a seat on the Board of Regents.
"The tuition isn't necessarily high as compared to other states.
But nevertheless, I have always voted against tuition
increases."
(KTAR Radio 620 AM -92.3 FM:
http://www.ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1111518)
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Tuition Task Force to consider increases in UA fees
By Renee Schafer Horton. Students at the University of Arizona -
and their parents - should prepare to open their wallets wider
next fall, as UA is considering instituting more than 150 new
program and course fees, as well as nearly $1,000 in new or
increased mandatory fees for all undergraduates. Increases to
current course and program fees are also being discussed as the
university deals with about $76 million in cuts to the
state-funded portion of its budget this year and prepares for
expected further cuts next year.
(KVOA-TV (NBC) Ch. 4:
http://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=10095546)
(Arizona Daily Sun:
http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2009/03/31/news/20090331_front_193695.txt)
(Tucson Citizen:
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/113233.php)
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Students advocate at Tempe MU for education immigration reform
By Griselda Nevarez. ASU students will gather outside the Tempe
campus Memorial Union this week encouraging passersby to support
the DREAM Act by calling their congressional representatives.
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act,
introduced to Congress on Thursday by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.,
would put undocumented students on the path to legalization. It
was first introduced in 2001 in the House of Representatives and
the Senate but fell eight votes short of the 60 necessary to
proceed to a debate on the Senate floor in 2007.
(ASU State Press:
http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/5518)
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University cuts not likely in 2010
By Derek Quizon. The state Legislature will most likely not use
cuts in university funding in 2010 to help cover the state's $3
billion shortfall, legislators said. "If at all possible, we'd
like to make reasonable cuts to the universities [in 2010], but
that doesn't seem likely," said Rep. John Kavanaugh, R-Fountain
Hills. Kavanaugh said that's because of spending regulations
surrounding the $1.6 billion in federal stimulus money going to
Arizona, which could require the state to maintain levels of
funding equal to those in 2008. Currently, the state's
university budget falls $54 million short of that.
(ASU State Press:
http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/5514)
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NATIONAL HEADLINES
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Colleges Face a Financial-Aid Crunch
By Laura Fitzpatrick. Finding the funds to meet applicants'
unprecedented financial need this year is a tall order for all
but a handful of mega-wealthy schools, and as colleges decide
how much they can afford to give, many worry they won't have
enough to attract a full freshman class. Because private
undergraduate colleges draw an average of 60% of their operating
costs from tuition revenue, a student shortfall could cause a
painful budget crunch, forcing schools to cut programs, slash
faculty salaries and potentially raise tuition for students
already enrolled.
(TIME Magazine:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1887867,00.html?xid=rss-mostpopular)
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Scientists study Mars’ ‘most habitable zone’
By Leonard David. The Phoenix probe, which descended to the Red
Planet's surface last May, was designed to study the history of
water and habitability potential in the Martian arctic's
ice-rich soil. It did not pack instruments designed to find
life. To date, there is no firm evidence that Mars ever hosted
biology. Now four papers are under review for scientific
publication, detailing four major discoveries from the mission,
said Peter Smith, the Phoenix mission's principal investigator
at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Smith and other Phoenix
scientists provided a review of what the spacecraft uncovered on
the Red Planet at last week's 40th Lunar and Planetary Science
Conference held here.
(MSNBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29960909/)
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OPINIONS
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No waiver; state should restore cuts to universities
[Editorial] The federal government has erected a huge roadblock
in the way of legislative plans to slash higher education
funding in Arizona. That roadblock, which could cost Arizona
$800 million, should be just what is needed to persuade the
Legislature to restore some funding for the deeply decimated
budgets of community colleges and universities.
(Tucson Citizen:
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/opinion/113088.php)
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Lawmakers, explore all the options
[Editorial] We don't live in the same state as last year.
Arizona's budget crisis is so severe that we don't recognize the
landscape. With $11 billion in spending programmed for 2010, we
face a revenue gap the size of a canyon: $3 billion, more than
the state spends on prisons and higher education combined.
(The Arizona Republic:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2009/03/29/20090329sun1-29.html)
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Poor economy could send more kids to cheaper universities
By Heather Price-Wright. An article in Monday's New York Times
warned that shrinking endowments are causing even top-tier
colleges and universities to make changes. Schools that
admittedly consider ability to pay full tuition in admissions
decisions are taking it into account more than ever this year,
the article states. As a result, cautions Owen Schapiro, the
president of Williams College, "There's going to be a cascading
of talented lower-income kids down the social hierarchy of
American higher education." I was under the impression that such
"social hierarchy" talk was pretty passé, but apparently those
at the "top" still think it matters.
(UA Daily Wildcat:
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/home/news/2009/03/31/Opinions/Poor-Economy.Could.Send.More.Kids.To.Cheaper.Universities-3689322.shtml)
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More moderate Brewer faces immoderate legislature
[Editorial] Last week it was announced that the Arizona State
Legislature might have to reverse its decision to slash higher
education funding due to stipulations from the federal
government. The reason? The federal stimulus package, which
stipulates approximately $800 million for education. The catch
is that, by cutting education funding below its most recent
level, the state government would forfeit its share of the
stimulus package.
(UA Daily Wildcat:
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/news/2009/03/31/Opinions/Editorial.More.Moderate.Brewer.Faces.Immoderate.Legislature-3689298.shtml)
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