Everything all at once
It's a long list to tackle … Today's Election Day … And the Big, Beautiful sticker.
Local politics rarely take a holiday, and today’s packed Pima County Board of Supervisors agenda is a reminder that the drama in the Old Pueblo doesn’t stop for political primaries.
We’d be remiss not to mention that today is Election Day for three Tucson City Council seats as well as a recall in South Tucson — and tomorrow, the Council will hold its first public discussion on Project Blue since the county voted to sell a 290-acre parcel to a proxy representing Amazon Web Services.
Here’s what we’re watching most closely: The Board of Supervisors will head into executive session with its attorneys to discuss whether the county should follow the city’s lead in criminalizing sleeping in washes. The Pima County Attorney’s Office requested the closed-door discussion, likely concerned about legal risks.
The City of Tucson narrowly passed its version of the policy last month. The motivation? Same as the county’s: Officials want to limit exposure to lawsuits tied to Proposition 312 — the voter-approved initiative that lets residents sue over unenforced public nuisance laws.
In fact, one resident has already filed a claim against the county under Prop 312, arguing officials failed to enforce anti-camping ordinances, as we previously noted.
The Board won’t hold a formal vote today, but we expect the Board to give staff direction — possibly paving the way for future action.
Also on today’s agenda:
Supervisor Rex Scott wants to publicly release two memos from the County Attorney’s Office about nondisclosure agreements and firearm preemption laws.
Supervisor Matt Heinz is asking to waive attorney-client privilege on a memo related to the Board hiring outside legal counsel. (Here’s our explainer from last week.)
Supervisor Steve Christy wants the county to begin discussions on how to respond to President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting homeless people sleeping in encampments and public spaces. Critics say the order may force local governments to revisit policies around involuntary treatment for people experiencing serious mental illness or substance addiction.
Supervisor Jennifer Allen wants to add a new item to the county’s legislative agenda: ending sales tax exemptions for computer data centers on equipment purchases, which we noted in yesterday’s edition.
Finally, the Board will be asked to extend a contract with the law firm Struck Love Bojanowski & Acedo to continue representing the county in Taylor v. Pima County — at no additional cost.
Previously, the county approved a $945,000 contract to fight the lawsuit filed by Louis Taylor, who spent more than 40 years in prison for the 1970 Pioneer Hotel fire. Taylor was released in 2013 after entering a no-contest plea.
Today’s going to be a long day for Tucson-area politics — the meeting starts at 9 a.m., but election results won’t start rolling in until 8 p.m.
If you live outside of Tucson — or just don’t enjoy reading about elections you can’t vote in — feel free to skip ahead.
We won’t judge.
Still here? Great.
This next part is for Tucson Agenda readers in Ward 3, Ward 5, Ward 6, as well as our readers living in South Tucson.
Today’s your day. Go vote in Tucson’s Council primaries or South Tucson’s unusual recall election.
A few polite suggestions before the polls close at 7 p.m.:
Got a ballot? Turn it in. Now would be great.
Know someone who needs a ride? Offer one. Just don’t fill out their ballot or turn it in for them.
Spot anything sketchy? Tell Joe. He loves that kind of thing.
We’ll be back tomorrow with results, analysis, and (maybe) some light chaos.
A little wrinkle: When the Arizona Luminaria reached out to Amazon Web Services about Project Blue, a spokesperson said the company does “not have any commitments or agreements in place to develop this project.” That could be a clever way of saying Amazon will only be a client for Beale Infrastructure, which is developing Project Blue, instead of the actual owner of the project. But it’s yet another example of how cloudy things can get when the public has so little official information. And that cloudiness is one reason why several local officials are reconsidering their policies about signing non-disclosure agreements, the Luminaria reports.
We’re all legislators now: Thanks to a dispute over developing the downtown area in Page, residents of cities throughout Arizona have more power to undo actions taken by their local officials, Capitol Media Services’ Bob Christie reports. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in favor of Page residents who wanted a ballot measure to block the city from widening a road. The key distinction in the justices’ minds was that road widening was a legislative action, which means citizens have as much of a say as their elected representatives. The city argued the road widening was an administrative action, which would have meant residents didn’t have a right to overturn it at the ballot box.
New degree incoming: Pima Community College is all set to offer its first bachelor’s degree program, the Luminaria’s Shannon Conner reports. The college’s governing board signed off last week on submitting a new program for accreditation. If all goes according to plan, PCC will offer a bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education in Fall 2026, which school officials hope will help alleviate the teacher shortage and pave the way for bachelor’s degree programs in other fields.
Blue veterans: JoAnna Mendoza, a Democrat running for the seat in Congressional District 6 held by Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani, is one of an “unusually large crop of military veterans” who are running as Democrats across the country, the New York Times reports. Mendoza is a former drill instructor for the Marines, while a former Navy SEAL is running in Michigan and a former Navy helicopter pilot is running in New Jersey.
Border drones: The Herald/Review is running a series on the military deployment to Arizona’s border with Mexico. First up is a look at how the military is dealing with drones used by cartels in Mexico, Lyda Longa reports. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in Arizona are filing fewer immigration-related charges than they were under the Biden administration, which Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts says might put U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine’s job at risk. After all, Roberts writes, look what happened at the Bureau of Labor Statistics when President Donald Trump didn’t like the jobs numbers.
You can boost our jobs numbers by clicking that button.
Yep, we’ve wandered out of the Tucson city limits to bring you this quick laugh.
Just outside the border crossing at Los Algodones, near Yuma, someone decided to get creative with a federal billboard related to improvements at the port of entry.
If you squint at the freshly updated billboard, you’ll spot a sad little sticker slapped over the name “President Joseph Biden,” now boldly declaring credit for the future port of entry belongs to Donald J. Trump.
Never mind that the rest of the sign still openly name-drops Biden (calling him the President of the United States) and hypes the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a signature of his administration.
Who put it there? Why is it hilariously undersized? Do the fonts even match up?
We don’t have any answers — but let’s be honest, you already have a guess.
Chump is starting to give enlightened 6-year-olds a bad name for Pitching a fit for not being chosen shortstop. So, he is concerned the Bureau of Labor statistics are going to "make him look bad".? When is somebody going to tell him...