Chuck Huckelberry's tenure as the administrator atop Pima County will end Tuesday. Gone are the days when "You didn't need a whole process. You just needed Chuck." Read more»

Arizona Land and Water Trust purchased more than 370 acres of land near Amado, Arizona, as part of a multi-million dollar campaign to protect a "conservation linchpin" between the Santa Cruz River and nearly 54,000 acres of landscape covered by Pima County's conservation plan. Read more»

Richard Elías was a politico who made the job fit him, rather than the other way around. He had an inner sense of mischief, and the political courage to stand up to his friends if he thought it was the right thing to do. Read more» 1

Much has been written about how developer Don Diamond — who died this week — fought to defeat environmentalists in the growth war, but we should also take this occasion to remember how he put an end to that conflict. Read more» 1

Arizona's watersheds don't look like the water courses of other states, but that doesn't mean they deserve any less protection. Ours may in fact need more, albeit different, safeguarding — streams don't have to be year-round flowing rivers to be vital to the state's environment and economy. Read more» 1

President Trump has included two sites in Pima County in a potential roll-back of national monuments across the country. But our Southern Arizona monuments aren't just good for the environment. They're good for business and not just the soy-based, eco-tourism business. There's a damned fine reason for the blade-and-grade types to keep things just as they are. Read more» 1

Politics is getting way too personal on TUSD's Governing Board, which puts schools at risk. So for the good of the students, teachers and my sanity, the board members and their accompanying factions must start to look outside themselves to the broader community to fix what's wrong. Read more» 1

Pima County has been steadily buying land for the past 40 years and now owns and manages more than 230,000 acres of natural, cultural and historic areas. About 73,000 acres were purchased with $230 million from four bond issues dating back to 1974. Read more»

Answering the question, "Are the open space bonds necessary?," requires a bit of storytelling about a bygone era. For all the complaining done about local government in Pima County, the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan was the high-water mark for community-based compromise that led to a policy that works for parties traditionally at each other's jugulars. Read more» 2