I don’t know why, but I love NORAD’s Santa Tracker. I open it on Christmas eve and watch Santa and his reindeer fly around the planet. Maybe it’s because I’m a geography buff or I just love the imagination with it. Read more»

Gov. Doug Ducey announced Friday that he has allocated $25 million in federal funds to the Department of Environmental Quality to partner them with Tucson Water in efforts to treat PFAS near the Tucson International Airport. Read more»

The judge in Kari Lake’s election lawsuit challenging the outcome of the midterm governor’s race had not issued a decision as of early Friday morning, after both sides rested their cases on Thursday.  Read more»

Over the past two decades, the Colorado River flow has dropped, and all the while the Lower Basin deliveries have remained roughly the same - now Western states must finally face the consequential question of which regions will make their sacrifice first. Read more»

The year 2022 will be remembered across the U.S. for its devastating flooding and storms – and also for its extreme heat waves and droughts, including one so severe it briefly shut down traffic on the Mississippi River. Read more»

With the winter holidays approaching, the Biden administration released a COVID-19 preparedness plan announcing access to free tests and vaccines as well as hospital staff support and equipment in anticipation of increased disease transmission. Read more»

The city manager is asking Tucson to fully subsidize public transit for another six months while searching for a permanent funding source. Plus more in local government meetings this week. Read more»

Federal government and some states are redoubling efforts to curb the epidemic of overdoses from opioid painkillers, heroin and fentanyl by making medication-assisted treatment more accessible to the estimated 9.5 million people with an opioid use disorder. Read more»

Western states can no longer rely on snowmelt and rain to supply their communities in a drier, more arid landscape caused by climate change, and some local water officials across the West see a massive opportunity in storing rainwater in reservoirs and groundwater aquifers. Read more»

NASA scientists announced Thursday that they had discovered evidence of two dozen previously unknown protostars wrapped within the gasses of a distant nebula. The starlets had long hidden in plain sight, only recently identified via close examination of one of the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Read more»

Green Valley will host a series of four free COVID-19 and flu vaccination events to make sure adults 65 years and older get protected against a worse-than-normal spread of respiratory diseases. Read more»

Ranked choice voting has seen steady success in recent years as nationwide, 62 jurisdictions have adopted the voting method - and though proponents argue it leads to better representation of voters’ viewpoints, opponents say it’s too complicated for the average voter to understand. Read more»

Lake Mead and Lake Powell are currently sitting at a combined storage of 13.1 million acre-feet, which is about a quarter of capacity. In December 1999, Lake Mead sat at 96% capacity and Lake Powell was at 88%. Read more»

A new study shows native American tribes performed controlled burns for a variety of reasons - some economic and some cultural or religious - resulting in a sprawling patchwork of charred land that reduced the risk of large wildfires set off by droughts. Read more»

Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid - which helped prevent many people infected with COVID-19 from being hospitalized or dying - courtesy of the federal government, but the government plans to stop footing the bill within months, and millions may have to pay the full price. Read more»