The plans to allow artists to reoccupy the old 6th Street warehouses are not seeing any progress. Legalities involving the city and state procedures have become problematic and the Attorney General’s Office informed the Arizona Department of Transportation that in order to allow the warehouses to go to the private sector, they must be sold at public auction. The City and State transportation departments had hoped to sell Zee’s warehouse directly to Zee Haag who has occupied it in the past allowing the other warehouses in the area to be sold to those leasing them as well. The Attorney General’s office didn’t allow this and now it is thought that perhaps this Tucson area could be rezoned to allow those already leasing the properties to remain there and purchase them, though some have currently moved out seeking other Tucson locations. With no timeline in sight, it has been difficult for those interested parties to remain in limbo.

Though, even with the rise in population, traffic tickets in Pima County have dropped 30 percent since 2001. Tucson Police Department increased enforcement last year reversing the decline. They had not made the traffic citations a priority for some time since they needed to deal with other types of crime and didn’t have the manpower for proactive enforcement of the traffic laws. Since this is a revenue producer for the Pima County Justice Courts, the Police Department with the implementation of photo radar vans and red-light cameras is now generating more citations, stating that this is making it safer, causing fewer accidents and a better environment.

Students at Civano Elementary School became celebrities after Ellen DeGeneres congratulated them on her show for winning the “Go green and Small with All” environmental contributions contest as the “greenest” school in the country. The Tucson was awarded $50,000 and each student will receive a green iPod with a solar charger as well as All Small & Mighty laundry detergent for a year. The students won the award for their efforts to save the environment with the use of solar panels, water harvesting and more.

Tucson’s UA Catalina Sky Survey located on Mount Bigelow and Mount Lemmon discover and track objects that pass close to or even hit the earth and nearby planets. They are trying to find methods of deflecting or extenuating any threats that may be presented by asteroids with the use of nuclear explosives, hitting it with an aircraft as well as alternatives. Earth’s atmosphere is filled with tiny objects on a daily basis that burn up before hitting the planet but it would only take one sizable asteroid to have a huge impact on our planet. Meteor Crater in Arizona was hit by a meteor that was 164 feet and it made a 4,000 foot wide hole that is 550 deep. The thinking is that that impact is what killed the dinosaurs and would throw enough dust and gas into our atmosphere to cut off energy and light from the sun, upsetting the entire food chain and killing crops. The goal is to find a sizeable object early enough to develop a technique to divert or destroy the object before it hits our earth.

Companies in Tucson and Phoenix as well as all of Arizona may soon be prosecuted for violating Arizona’s new employer sanctions law where illegal workers were hired this year. The law was thought to cover those illegal employees who were hired prior to the first of the year as well but that may be in question now. Mexican officials are unhappy with Arizona’s new sanctions law where companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants could lose their business license, but it appears that Mexico has a similar law in place as well. Mexico has vowed to defend the rights of the invaders to this country that are affected.

The Mexican state legislators from Sonora say that the employer sanctions law in Arizona is extremely destructive to Mexico. The Mexican government representatives mentioned that they can not handle the return of all of these workers, the need for jobs, housing as well as many other services. They said that these illegal workers depend on jobs in Arizona to feed their families on both sides of the border and that this will cause a division in families sending some members of the family back to Mexico. Many residents of Tucson are happy with the new law and don’t understand why Mexico can’t see that these people are illegal in this country. Mexico doesn’t allow illegal entrants to stay and work in their country so they should not expect the United States to provide for their people who are already breaking our laws.

It is not known how or if Lute Olson will be paid for his entire leave of absence which could end once this year’s basketball season is over. It is still unclear whether Coach Olson will return to the UA at that point or possibly extend his leave if he wishes. Some wonder if Olson is receiving special treatment to continue to receive his annual salary of close to $738,000, since it is unknown if this time off is sick leave for health reasons, or vacation time due to personal marital problems, which could run out soon.

Some of the states in this country have direct links to Canadian pharmacies where they purchase less expensive prescription drugs and now Arizona is looking into the Mexican market. Though many residents in Tucson and Phoenix go into Mexico to purchase from large pharmacies, the safety, ingredients and actual potency of the prescription drugs sold there is under question. Napolitano wants to find out what is needed develop a program on each side of the border that would insure consumer safety of such drugs coming into this country. Some in Tucson who make frequent visits to Mexico for their prescription drugs do not believe this agency is needed since they have not had any problems in the past, fearing that this will just cause the prices to increase.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón is quite upset about the new Arizona sanctions law for businesses, most of which are located in the cities of Phoenix and Tucson, which went into effect on January 1. These businesses are subject to license suspension or revocation if they knowingly employ undocumented workers. President Calderón admonished this new law thinking that it harasses and persecutes illegal immigrants from Mexico coming into the United States when he should be more concerned about the abuse these people receive in their own country and make it more desirable for them to stay there and work.

Helicopters were called to Sabino Canyon on Sunday afternoon to rescue over 60 hikers who were caught in water covering several bridges blocking passage. Tucson didn’t receive much rain on Sunday but well over an inch fell in the Catalina Mountains causing the flood. Hikers started using their cell phones to call for help around 3 p.m. All those stranded were evacuated by 6:30 p.m. with the use of helicopters.