Volunteers will be planting new trees in Tucson next weekend to create shade, reduce energy costs and help with the fight against Global Warming. The Trees for Tucson organizers are putting a lot of thought into this event so they won’t have trees planted in improper places causing power lines to be shorted out, blocking road signs, buckling sidewalks and invading sewers. These trees have already been spoken for by some businesses, individuals and schools.

It was confirmed that Sahuaro High School has had two cases of the potentially deadly bacteria. Several schools and hospitals have had cases in the past of this drug resistant “superbug.” Some doctors think that since they’ve seen an increase in cases since September that it has something to do with the beginning of the school session, when students can pass it to each other. The infection is usually passed from contacting the skin of an infected individual. Tucson is lucky since it has not experienced any of the severe infections yet and hopefully the knowledge will be out there to get infections treated early, before they become severe and enter the bloodstream. With the effort being put forth to make people aware of the importance of cleanliness and disinfecting private residences and public places, the hope is that Tucson will not experience any of the severe and sometimes fatal cases in the future.

Sea levels appear to be rising due to Global Warming and the climate change seems to be affecting our forests as well according to a University of Arizona scientist who is to be featured on a CBS “60 Minutes” segment. There’s a good possibility that close to half of the West’s forests will die off in the next 100 years. We can see the impact of the warming earth already beginning to happen in our Arizona forests even near Tucson on forest-fire frequency and severity. Our forests have an abundance of fuel, from debris of downed trees and underbrush, once controlled by smaller, natural fires that unfortunately cause fires to burn extremely hot now, destroying the mature forests and the inhabitants. One solution is to agree to thin forest-undergrowth, though this too has it’s problems because that’s where some of the endangered species live. Some agencies have come up with a forest management plan with the hopes of decreasing the risk of catastrophic fires.

A 6.3 percent rate increase by the Metro Water District is proposed for close to 18,000 customers in the Foothills and Northwest Side of Tucson beginning November 1. Most will see an increase of from $2 plus to over $35 per month. The increase is due in part to the construction of the new 5 million gallon underground reservoir that is currently being built as well as other upcoming improvements. It appears that there are still more increases planned to cover maintenance and operation costs as well as upcoming road projects in this area of Tucson.

Tucson Drug Dealer, Dominique Martinez, 29, was convicted of murder and nearly two dozen felony counts including aggravated assault, armed robbery, kidnapping and more. He was running a drug business venturing as far away as Florida and New York capturing other drug dealers for ransom, killing at least one. He is to spend life in prison but can apply for parole after 25 years.

The Border Patrol has been busy with many incidents in the past few days. One involved a truck load of 10 illegal entrants from Mexico that hit a stationary rail car. In another occurrence 15 double bundles of marijuana were located under a tree. Two Los Angeles gang members were arrested crossing into the country illegally and another gang member was apprehended near Sierra Vista who had been convicted of lewd acts with a child. There was also a car crash when a driver tried to avoid the patrol checkpoint north of Tubac while on it’s way to Tucson with seven illegal invaders and these incidents are but a few of the many that our Border Patrol are dealing with at the moment.

Many of Pima County’s schools are not meeting state standards and two schools are in danger of failing. The Adequate Yearly Progress report on the schools will be available today. There were only 12 schools in the Tucson area that received failing status as compared to 23 for 2007. Information on how your school rates will be found at www.go.azstarnet.com/AZLearns.

Homeland Security’s Michael Chertoff might invoke a sanction of federal law that will allow the border fence construction, in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area southeast of Tucson from any law, so he can continue with the project. It’s a good possibility that he will do this since he can make the lawsuit and judge’s ruling disappear by making the project exempt from the law. Environmental groups think that the barriers in the river and washes will cause erosion that will affect the species and harm the environment. Chertoff appears to believe that the protection of the border from illegal invaders is more important than the animals that live there.

Lawsuits have been filed against the new Arizona Employer Sanction Law to stop it from going into effect in January, but the Arizona Attorney General’s Office asked a federal judge to deny the attempt to stop it stating that Arizona is within its rights to prevent the hiring of illegal immigrants. Employers caught hiring illegal workers will face suspension of their business licenses for up to 10 days. Those who violate the law for the second time will lose their licenses permanently. The lawsuit states that this responsibility belongs to the federal government and what the state is doing conflicts with it.

A website has been developed for a woman who has been missing for three weeks. The missing woman’s name is Tracy Beth Feltes previously known as Tracy Beth Krumins and was last seen leaving her home in the 8000 block of North Hobby Horse Court near North Oldfather and West Magee Roads in Tucson. Her car was found at Oldfather Inn. She is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 125 pounds with hazel eyes and brown hair. Please notify Tucson authorities if you have any information that would help in this case.