There will be a volunteer group that starts next week on a three month campaign for immigrant rights. The organization will be statewide, and is set up to give immigrants information of their rights and ways to counteract and report abuse. You will find these volunteers at churches, community centers, schools and stores. This volunteer group performed a similar event for one month last year.

Predators, which are the new Arizona National Guard Unit’s unmanned aircraft, are flying combat and surveillance missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. The pilots of these drones are actually located here in Tucson. They are in charge of some of the most desirable aerial vehicles used in today’s conflicts which can also be equipped with missiles. We now have the new 214th Reconnaissance Group at D-M helping with the operations performed by Air Force personnel. The Good News is that this Guard Unit will soon have aircraft at Fort Huachuca which will not only bring employment to Sierra Vista but also Tucson, while being used to detect wildfires, patrol the border and more.

There will be no strike for Tucson Sun Tran and Teamsters Local 104 since a compromise was made slightly modifying the agreement. Both Sun Tran and the Teamsters have tried hard to work together on this and now the revised contract will keep Sun Tran workers from going on strike which they have done twice in the past 10 years.

The driver blamed for a road rage fatality in Tucson Monday night still hasn’t been located. Tucson Police Department believes this to be an act of road rage. A stolen Ford truck pushed a tiny automobile into northbound lanes on Swan south of Grant Road and then the truck shoved the automobile into a wall causing death to the driver. The passenger in the car was taken to a local hospital in serious condition. A dog found in the vehicle was placed in Pima County Animal Care. The condition of the animal is yet unknown. When Tucson police found the truck, the driver had vanished.

According to a study done by a University of Arizona sociologist the cost of the homeless population in Tucson’s warm weather was close to $64,000 just in April when Tucson police officers spent close to 200 hours coming across well over 1,000 dispossessed people. The costs are much higher than this when you consider the need for medical care for these people as well as job training, addiction treatment and low cost housing. On Friday the regional coordinator for the United States Interagency Council was in Tucson and is trying to do something about the consistently homeless due to the economic impact on our cities.

During the past week Federal and Local law enforcement agencies captured 140 fugitives in the Tucson area from sex offenders and gang members to murderers. These arrests were part of Operation Falcon (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally) a countrywide effort conducted on an annual basis. There were 340 arrests made across the state during this time period, as well.

Today Teamsters Local 104 is meeting to determine the outcome of the latest and hopefully final contract from Sun Tran. The current contract that was extended expires Sunday at midnight. This contract includes close to 465 Sun Tran drivers, fuel island attendants, mechanics and more of which nearly 85 percent belong to the union. If necessary, the union members have authorized a strike.

City & State officials, including the Arizona Department of Transportation, are looking into traffic problems due to the work on I-10 and the start of the fall school sessions for Pima College, the U of A, as well as the Tucson Unified School District. The Tucson officials are looking into the timing of traffic lights on the frontage roads as one way to help solve the problem of this huge increase in east-west traffic. The hopes are to have most of this corrected in the next three weeks.

Volunteer Staff Members of the Wildlife Center are planning a Fundraising drive in order to expand the center to the Far East side of Tucson. The facility cares for close to 350 displaced, injured, as well as young and orphaned animals annually. There is no fee to pick up the animals. Once in their charge the center does not attempt to tame the animal and when rehabilitated, it is released in the wild.

The 1-19 Border Patrol Checkpoint proposed near Sahuarita is receiving a lot of opposition. Some people who live along the border entrance on the way to Tucson think that a permanent inspection station will deter illegal immigration, the drug cartel as well as help to prevent terrorism. Other residents are afraid that a checkpoint this far away from the border will not help to keep the undesirables out of this country. They think the Border should be secured At The Border! Their concern is that this will place communities in the area like Amado, Green Valley, Rio Rico, Tubac, Tumacacori and even Tucson, as well as other cities throughout the nation, in danger if the invaders are not stopped at the entrance to border.