Pricey Puppies were stolen from Petland on Broadway in Tucson early Tuesday morning. There were four large breed puppies that were taken worth close to $9,000. One was a French Mastiff, a German Shepherd and two yellow Labradors. They were between 9 and 13 weeks old. The thief entered through an air-conditioning duct and was cut during the process, leaving a trail of blood behind and setting off the alarm. The blood has been collected as evidence. The biggest concern, at this point, is for the safety of the puppies.

It appears that Republican Ron Paul is gathering more and more support from the young people in this country including many at the U of A in Tucson. Ron Paul was the presidential Libertarian candidate in 1988. He is an obstetrician and longtime Texas Congressman. Paul would like to rid us of the Internal Revenue Service and is the only anti-war GOP presidential candidate. He also believes in following our Constitution and has an understanding of the proper role government should play in our lives. He is bringing the energy and enthusiasm of youth into the political process by his working class views and use of the Internet. The voting record of Paul, unlike that of Clinton and Edwards, shows that he never supported the war in Iraq, does not appear to run on what is best for the party, but more of what is best for the country with most all of the donations to his campaign coming from individuals.

Restaurant kitchens in the Nogales area south of Tucson will soon be supplying used fryer oil as fuel in the tanks of emergency vehicles. This should help with the reduction in emissions in the vehicles while they are being used to save lives. This can be blended with regular diesel or used entirely by itself. They expect to use this on as many as 20 emergency and service vehicles. This project, while improving air quality, will also help the Nogales area by having less fat, grease and oil dumped into the sewer system causing clogs as it is used as a source of fuel and has the potential to cost much less than gasoline.

Unfortunately, it appears that sales taxes won’t be enough in the suburbs of Tucson and property taxes may have to increase in order to pay for future needs. This includes the towns of Marana, Oro Valley and Sahuarita where there is no property tax at the time. Without growth to create more tax revenue, local governments may need to create more and better paying jobs as well as increasing property taxes in order to continue to provide existing services.

The ‘superbug’ has been identified in Tucson schools. The most recent one has been in the Vail Unified School District. Pima County is now known to have eight schools where the skin infection has been found this month. The schools have been very proactive in sanitization and in most cases when early detection and medical attention is given to the suspicious skin sore, it will heal properly.

Now on Sundays and Mondays, in order to avoid congestion, recreational vehicles and those vehicles pulling trailers will be allowed to use the commercial lane at this point of entry from Mexico to the U.S. south of Tucson. Puerto Peñasco or Rocky Point has grown tremendously in the past few years with an unbelievable amount of visitors traveling there. Rocky Point now boasts 42 hotels and motels as well as numerous RV facilities. The port of entry only has three lanes and one commercial lane which will now be used on peak travel days to accommodate those returning to the U.S. This should keep travelers from having to wait from one to sometimes as many as 8 hours during some holidays before entering the country.

It appears that all illegal border entrants along the Arizona Border will now be spending from two weeks to six months in jail due to program “Operation Streamline” instead of being apprehended and allowed to return home. In the past, this jail time has only been for repeat offenders. Repeat offenders could be charged with a felony and find themselves in prison for up to two years. Currently only a few of the illegal invaders are prosecuted. Those crossers into the Tucson area have found no deterrent with no consequences to the catch and release program in place at this time. Even though many in Tucson are happy to see this program in place, they don’t feel it is severe enough to stop border invaders who are willing to risk their lives and the lives of those they care about to illegally cross the border though some think this will work quite well because it will keep people in jail where they can not hold jobs and send money back across the border.

Close to 140 members of the 354th Fighter Squadron and 355th Maintenance Group based at Davis-Monthan came home to Tucson yesterday. More pilots from the 354th as well as their A-10s are expected to return later this week. Unfortunately, they were met with a mechanical delay on their way home, but as would be expected, they and their friends and families are elated to have them back in Tucson once again.

Homeland Security’s Michael Chertoff made the decision to invoke a waiver that exempts border fences from any law and will proceed with the two miles of fencing through the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area that is known to be one of the most frequently used passageways for illegal invaders to flood into this country and dump their trash. The environmentalists are quite upset about this decision since the area is used not only by illegal entrants but also birds, mammals and reptiles native to this area.

Students from the U of A in Tucson are proving that energy saving homes can be affordable. These will be well built and well insulated homes with new appliances that are energy efficient as well as cisterns for roof runoff. Mary Hardin who is the project manager for the Civano Demonstration Project in Barrio San Antonio is one of two faculty advisers to the students at the U of A College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture who are doing this work as part of their requirement to graduate. The energy efficiency of these homes in Tucson will be monitored with hopes that this will not only benefit the residents but the environment as well.