Buckmaster: Anxiety over growing waistlines

The process for developing a post-2026 transportation plan for the Tucson region is starting to hit some bureaucratic snags and City Manager Mike Ortega is asking the City Council to weigh in on them. Plus more in local government meetings this week. Read more»   

Los legisladores están impulsando un proyecto de ley para crear un plan estatal para la demencia y destinar hasta $500,000 para nuevos trabajos enfocados en la enfermedad de Alzheimer, un tipo común de demencia que está aumentando especialmente rápido en Arizona. Read more»   

When the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in Arizona v. Navajo Nation, it will be considering fairly technical legal questions, but the answers could have a large impact on water allocation in the Colorado River basin. Read more»   

Federal departments and agencies say U.S. House Republicans’ plans to cut federal spending would result in reductions to key programs like food aid, education assistance and wildfire management. Read more»   

Recovery of wolves in the wild accelerated at an astonishing rate in 2022, with the population growing from 196 to at least 241 wolves, including 136 counted in New Mexico and 105 in Arizona. Read more»   

Dozens of teachers took to the street on Wednesday afternoon to demand that Arizona Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne’s newly established parental complaint hotline be dismantled. Read more»   

Arizona Republican legislative leaders have been given the go-ahead by a federal judge to defend a 2021 abortion law in court after Attorney General Kris Mayes said she wouldn’t. Read more»   

With just three weeks until convicted murderer Aaron Gunches is scheduled to be put to death, a court battle continues to rage over whether Arizona will be ready to execute him by lethal injection on April 6. Read more»   

A 600-page report published Thursday encourages federal, state and local lawmakers to think “beyond traditional silos” and innovate ways to stem adverse effects of addiction and increasing drug overdose deaths among Americans. Read more»