The U.S. Senate passed a massive $1.7 trillion funding package that carries emergency aid for natural disaster recovery and the Ukrainian war effort, pushing past disputes over immigration policy and barely meeting a Friday deadline when current funding runs out. Read more»

After a brief pause, the Pima County Health Department will extend a free COVID-19 "test-to-treat" program that offers Paxlovid therapy, with some changes. Read more»

With less than three months until the midterm election, election officials say a continuing onslaught of violent threats makes them worried about safety, but federal efforts to provide financial support to state and local election officials appear to have fallen short. Read more»

Pima County will extend a "test-to-treat" program another month and continue to offer Paxlovid antiviral oral medication to anyone who tests positive for COVID-19. The program has been extended once already due to popular response. Read more»

In theory, summarizing risk information for flooding, hurricanes and even wildfires should help homebuyers and renters make more informed housing choices, but surveys show it isn’t working that way, at least not yet. Read more»

Pima County’s free test-to-treat program for COVID-19 patients has been extended through August 24, after the federally supported Paxlovid program was set to end. Read more»

Pima County residents should stay safe and wear masks indoors in public for the July 4 weekend, the Health Department warned, as COVID cases and hospitalizations remain "high" in Maricopa and Pinal counties and "medium" closer to Tucson. Read more»

In April 2021, FEMA offered to reimburse funeral expenses for COVID victims - up to $9,000 - and though the federal government has paid more than $2 billion to cover funeral costs, fewer than half of eligible families have started applications. Read more»

The federal government will allocate more than $8.6 million to mitigate flash flooding in the Nogales area, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva announced. Read more»

Over the last few months, Pima County spent around $1.3 million per month to shelter migrants released by Homeland Security officials, and the county faces a funding crunch as federal grants that helped cover theses expenses are held up in Congress. Read more»

Local governments are wading into dicey political territory with potentially unpopular agenda items on water rate hikes, raises for elected leaders and payouts of unused COVID leave. Read more»

Wind and rain predicted for Wednesday will force Pima County officials to close the COVID-19 testing site at Pima Community College's West Campus for the day. Read more»

Two COVID-19 testing sites funded by Federal Emergency Management Agency opened last week to mitigate the shortage of rapid testing in Pima County, a problem that’s especially acute for businesses and public schools. Read more»

Almost two years after the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in Arizona, new infections in the state have reached a “bizarre plateau,” rising from summertime lows in the hundreds to more than 3,000 new cases a day through the fall. Read more»

President Biden will announce new actions to fight the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, measures that include dispatching 500 million at-home tests to Americans, creating new federal testing sites and deploying 1,000 service members to hospitals across the county. Read more»