Free Republic

Following several days of bad publicity, University of Arizona officials said Friday they may eliminate the title — but not the job — of student "Social Justice Advocates." It's not just the title of the new job position creating problems, either.

TUCSON, Ariz. - Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector made an immigration stop on a suspicious vehicle near Elgin, which led to a pursuit and the discovery of over 2,000 pounds of marijuana worth over $1 million. As the agents attempted to stop the pickup truck on Lower Elgin Road, northeast of State Route 83, officials say the suspect vehicle sped up.

NACO – An incomplete cross-border tunnel was uncovered by a construction worker clearing old fencing near Naco. According to Christopher Sullivan, a public information officer and Border Patrol agent based out of the Tucson sector, the construction worker contacted Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents at the Brian A. Terry Station to report a “possible smuggling tunnel.” Following an investigation, agents discovered the unfinished tunnel. “The tunnel was approximately 15 feet deep and extended into the United States about four feet from the international boundary fence,” he said. “The tunnel has no ventilation or lighting.” The tunnel has already been filled...

Imagine a dust storm, driven by monsoon downbursts, building near the Maricopa-Pinal county line. There are thousands of Interstate 10 motorists and hundreds of thousands of Phoenix exurb residents who would probably want to know about such a storm before the stinging, blinding wall of sand arrives. But does all of metro Phoenix need to get the alert? Likely not, but the National Weather Service’s Ken Waters told the dozens of attendees at the annual dust-storm workshop in Coolidge last week that that’s exactly what would happen with the existing cellphone warning system in place for dust events. “If I’m...

PHOENIX — Claiming they have been treated with "contempt,'' an attorney for residents near Davis Monthan Air Force Base is telling a judge he needs to order the Air Force to conduct a full-blown environmental impact statement on the effects of flight operations there. In new court filings, Joy Herr-Cardillo said the military in 2012 did do a less formal "environmental assessment.'' It concluded there would be no significant impact on those living in and around the flight path of the Tucson facility. But she told U.S. District Court Judge Javier Soto the assessment was flawed because it used 2009...

A skirmish has broken out in Tucson as one law enforcement agency has barred another from carrying out its mission. The blue-on-blue battle reflects nationwide concern over just how far various policing bodies will go to enforce the nation’s laws and policies toward immigrants. *snip* According to a previously unreported posting on the Border Patrol Agency Facebook wall, the Tucson Police not only declined to help Border Patrol but actually evicted them from the Tucson Police Department, where they’d established a task force to try to track down the escapee.

Link only. http://tucson.com/news/local/crime/tpd-decision-not-to-continue-search-with-border-patrol-draws/article_1c1509b8-1806-5fda-b06e-bd3e52d2ef63.html

TOMBSTONE – Saddle up and hang onto your hats! It’s rodeo time! While Arizona celebrates Tucson Rodeo festivities, third-graders from Huachuca City School are learning all about riding, roping and ranching, as well as a little rodeoing on the side. On Wednesday, about 50 young buckaroos traveled to Tombstone High School for a crash course on cowboys and ranching. The Future Farmers of America students organized the event and worked with the young cowboys and cowgirls as they dabbled in bull riding and roping and learned how to saddle a horse. They met goats and other petting zoo animals and...

... Tides Foundation, which is funded by George Soros. They donated $50,000. Other donors were the city of Tucson and the United Steel Workers labor union. Charities associated with several major corporations also donated. Patagonia.org, the outdoor apparel and equipment company, gave $40,000. The Ben & Jerry Foundation, the charity associated with the ice cream maker, gave $20,000. And Lush Cosmetic gave $43,950, the Daily Caller reported. Laughably, the Peace Development Fund gave $5,000 to this domestic terrorist organization. The New World Foundation also donated. That is a group chaired by Hillary Clinton in the 1980s. ...

Determined was a good word to describe Jillian Bearden, who won the women’s 106-mile race in 4:36.07. Bearden, who is transgender, rode for the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance — SAGA — to promote gender inclusion within cycling. Saturday marked the 36-year-old’s first El Tour, which is Southern Arizona’s largest participatory sporting event.

Handguns from an Arizona Turn In Event, 2013 In 2013, the Arizona Legislature passed HB 2455, to prevent the destruction of valuable firearms by lower levels of government in the state. No penalties were imposed. It is not normal for local governments to destroy valuable property, at least not when the property can be legally sold for the public benefit. But in this case, the property was being destroyed for ideological purposes, not for pragmatic ones. The purpose of destroying valuable guns is to send the propaganda message: guns bad.  Some cities, especially Tucson, refused to obey the law....

On July 6th, 2016, the Tucson City Council banned the sales of any gun capable of firing 10 or more rounds without reloading, at gun shows held at the Tucson Convention Center. From tucson.com: Any weapon capable of firing 10 or more rounds can no longer be sold at the Tucson Convention Center. The Tucson City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to add more restrictions on private gun sales at the city-owned venue. The resolution was put forward by Ward 3 Council Member Karen Uhlich and the Vice Mayor Kozachick.  From a pdf of the resolution: FWe request the...

An anti-Trump protester in Arizona held up a “Make America Mexico Again” sign as anti-Trump agitators demonstrated ahead of Trump’s Saturday visit to the Grand Canyon State.

Motorists in Pima County will have to wait to respond to that text message after a ban on texting while driving went into effect this week, giving law enforcement another tool to curb what one Sierra Vista police commander called the most prevalent of the many distractions within a vehicle these days. For years, texting while driving has been one of the most common forms of driver distraction, said Cmdr. Lawrence Boutte of the Sierra Vista Police Department. “We’ve not done any official studies, but every last one of us knows that it takes attention from the road and is...

In a surprising discovery, the Palm Beach Post first reported that according to state records, Orlando shooter Omar Mateen - who as we reported earlier was licensed as a security guard and also holds a firearms license - was employed by the US subsidiary of G4S plc, a British multinational security services company, whose US-headquarters are located in Jupiter, Fla, and which also happens to be the world's largest security company by revenue. ... But where it gets more disturbing is that as Judicial Watch reported several days ago, in a post titled, "DHS Quietly Moving, Releasing Vanloads Of Illegal...

Tuscon sportscaster Paul Cicala deleted his Twitter account after receiving blowback on social media on Thursday night for his tweets suggesting that a supporter of Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump who was assaulted by protesters provoked the attack by pointing “to her Trump shirt.” Cicala’s tweets were in response to the images and video tweeted by NBC’s Jacob Rascon showing a Trump supporter being assault after Thursday’s rally in San Jose, California.

The sister of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was killed in a car accident Saturday in Arizona. Pima County sheriff’s spokesman Ryan Inglett said Ann Day, 77, suffered fatal injuries after her vehicle was struck by two other cars near Tucson. Day was a former Arizona Republican state senator and Pima County supervisor. Day was driving eastbound on Ina Road around 7:40 a.m. when an oncoming car crossed the median. Day’s vehicle was struck head-on, Inglett said. A truck traveling behind Day then rear-ended her. She was alone in the vehicle. Paramedics transported Day to the hospital, where...

Donald Trump scored a 22-point victory in the Arizona Republican primary on Tuesday, but even as the billionaire's campaign turns its attention to upcoming contests, a political proxy battle has erupted here, about 90 minutes north of the border with Mexico. The unlikely arena is a small restaurant a few miles outside Tucson, in the shadow of the dusty Catalina Mountains, called "Sammy's Mexican Grill."

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - It has been two days since she took center stage, next to the GOP front runner Donald Trump in Tucson. Ever since she showed her support for the billionaire, she has been harassed at her business. Before thousands of eyes were on her Saturday afternoon, Trump spotted not her, but her sign which read "Latinas support D. Trump." While KGUN9 was inside Sammy's Mexican Grill, the phone rang several dozen times, many calling Betty Rivas and her family racists, vulgar names and threatening their business. Betty Rivas and her husband Jorge own the restaurant in Catalina, and...

It has been two days since she took center stage, next to the GOP front runner Donald Trump in Tucson. Ever since she showed her support for the billionaire, she has been harassed at her business. ....While KGUN9 was inside Sammy's Mexican Grill, the phone rang several dozen times, many calling Betty Rivas and her family racists, vulgar names and threatening their business. .... Rivas told KGUN9, she's shocked at all the controversy this sign has created because - she took a similiar sign to the Bernie Sanders rally in Tucson. That's right - she has not even decided who...