Let her innnnnnnnnn!

Maybe next week? … Bending the knee won't help … And shouldn’t this be boilerplate?

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson took an unusual step to announce that he decided not to hold the swearing-in of Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva this week.

It wasn’t a phone call or an e-mail.

Instead, a clerk read Johnson’s statement at the end of a brief House session on Friday that the House would not be in session.

“I hereby designate the period from Tuesday, October 7, 2025, through Monday, October 13, 2025, as a ‘district work period,’” House Clerk Susan Cole read into the official record.

That’s how Grijalva learned she wouldn’t be sworn in this week.

Grijalva told the Tucson Agenda on Friday that she first learned on social media as news outlets reported Johnson’s decision to adjourn the House for a “district work period” until October 13.

Multiple media reports last week had suggested Johnson would swear in Grijalva this week.

By the time Johnson made his decision, Grijalva had already bought plane tickets for her family to attend her swearing-in ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Some of her supporters likely also purchased tickets to attend what is expected to be a historic occasion — Arizona’s first Latina elected to serve in Congress.

“It’s so frustrating,” Grijalva said.

For the past week, Grijalva and her political allies — including other members of Congress — have been pressuring Johnson to set a date as soon as possible. They note that over the past year, Johnson has sworn in multiple members of Congress soon after they were elected in special elections in other states.

In a press conference last Friday, Johnson told reporters that House Republicans had done their job by passing the budget bill to keep the federal government open. He said the House would come back into session “once (New York Senator) Chuck Schumer does his job” and ends the federal shutdown.

Last week, Arizona U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego suggested that Johnson’s delay may be linked to the Epstein files.

Grijalva, who says she’ll vote to release the Epstein records, is the pivotal vote in the House to force a floor vote on making the federal investigative files public.

On Friday, Grijalva said she has had no direct contact with Johnson. Instead, he has been communicating about her swearing-in by talking to the press, while she launches a social media campaign with real “LET ME IN” vibes.

She is penning a letter directly to Johnson, hoping to cut through the various intermediaries.

“Canceling votes to remain in recess while the government is shut down is an abject failure of leadership,” Grijalva said. “Republicans should be ashamed. I demand to be sworn in immediately. There is no reason to delay my swearing-in and it begs the question of their motivation in doing so.”

While the government has been shut down since last week, Grijalva said constituents have been going to what had been her father’s office only to find out that the office is closed.

The House administration canceled the lease for the office her father used at the El Pueblo Community Center on Tucson’s south side. Other satellite offices for Congressional District 7 have also been closed, leaving residents with no options to reach their elected congresswoman.

The political fight also leaves Grijalva in a bureaucratic limbo, unable to hire staff or sign leases for new offices until after she is sworn in.

“My district needs a voice in Congress, my office needs to be able to serve our constituents, and the American people need their government open. Republicans must return from their vacation, stop hiding from the public, and do their job,” Grijalva said.

Tucson’s other member of Congress, two-term Republican Juan Ciscomani, apparently hasn’t weighed in on Grijalva’s swearing-in ceremony.

A review of his social media posts over the last week shows Ciscomani largely blaming the shutdown on Democrats, often singling out Sens. Mark Kelly and Gallego.

He also told constituents in Congressional District 6 that his offices will remain open during the shutdown.

Ciscomani also held a press conference last week with “local press” to discuss the federal shutdown. Maybe he discussed it during that presser. Our invitation apparently got lost in the mail. Again.¹

On Friday, we told you about the Faustian bargain now on the table for the University of Arizona.

The Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” went to nine universities, including UA’s top Wildcat, President Suresh Garimella.

The gist of it is: In exchange for White House perks, UA would cap international students, freeze tuition for five years, protect conservative ideas, and give free tuition to STEM students, while wiping out hard-fought gains by the transgender community on campus. If the universities decline, their federal funding might be in jeopardy.

Here’s what we’ve learned since:

• The Trump administration wants responses by Oct. 20. They plan to hold a signing ceremony with all the universities in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 21, CBS News reported.

• University of Texas Regents Chair Kevin Eltife said UT would be “honored” to sign. The compact specifically targets UT-Austin, per Inside Higher Ed.

• Dartmouth President Sian Leah Beilock sent a letter to the campus community saying she was “deeply committed to Dartmouth’s academic mission and values and will always defend our fierce independence.”

• In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom told Politico he doubts officials at the University of Southern California will bite — but warned if they do, he’ll pull state funding from any school that takes the deal.

We’ve also asked Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs for her take.

Stay tuned.

Protection money: University of Arizona officials spent the last several months agreeing to demands from the Trump administration, but they should have realized that it was never going to be enough, Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller writes. The list of new demands is long, as the Star’s Norma Coile shows in a rundown of the 10-page “compact” the Trump administration offered to the UA and eight other schools last week.

Defining “bad faith”: Former state Sen. Justine Wadsack won’t have to pay $8,000 in legal fees for missing hearings in the lawsuit she brought against the City of Tucson, the Tucson Sentinel’s Dylan Smith reports. Wadsack sued the city for $8 million after she was pulled over driving twice the speed limit on Speedway. A federal judge in Tucson said she couldn’t order Wadsack to pay the city’s legal fees without a “specific finding of bad faith.”

Closing and growing: Amphitheater Public Schools could close five elementary schools next year due to declining enrollment, the Arizona Luminaria’s Shannon Conner reports. District officials will make the final decision on which schools to shutter by the end of December. Down in Nogales, students are flocking to the Downtown Academy, where they can take online courses from actual classrooms and study with peers across the country, the Nogales International’s Graham Krewinghaus reports. Enrollment has grown from 60 students in 2022 to 450 today.

Anger management issues: Nogales City Councilman Saulo Bonilla was sentenced to probation after he was convicted of disorderly conduct and intimidation. The two misdemeanor charges stemmed from him yelling profanities and threats at a man outside a gas station last year, the International’s Genesis Lara reports. Bonilla will also have to attend anger management classes and undergo a mental health assessment.

“The court did not hear any remorse or apology before today,” the judge told Bonilla. “It disturbs me that you were unwilling or unable to control your behavior under these circumstances.”

The only way you’re going to know about local officials’ misbehavior is through local journalism.

Trans 101: A transgender man is traveling around Southern Arizona answering questions in “ask me anything” sessions about transgender people, LOOKOUT’s Joseph Darius Jaafari reports. His goal is to talk to people who might not understand him or his community as anti-trans laws and rhetoric reach a fever pitch.

“I want to open a space where people can ask really basic questions,” he said. “Because I think basic things are what prevent them from engaging with complicated things.”

Pima County admitted Friday that the voter booklet going out in the mail has a typo.

In the section about Tucson Unified School District’s Proposition 414, the Spanish word “Presupuesto” — that’s “budget” — is misspelled. For what it’s worth, the word is spelled correctly in the Yes/No line right below.

Election officials huddled with TUSD, the County School Superintendent, the County Attorney, and the Secretary of State’s Office. Their verdict: The typo won’t disenfranchise anyone.

Fixing it by reprinting the ballots would delay the election for TUSD and city voters in the district — and risk blowing state deadlines.

For the writer behind the mistake, we feel you.

We’ve all been there.

1. Joe is especially perplexed by this, as he lives in CD6.