Tag: Tucson

News

Arizona’s Minimum Wage set to Increase

Photo by Gage Skidmore By Kyler Van Vliet At the start of 2021, Arizona’s minimum-wage will rise to $12.15 an hour, a jump of 15 cents from the current minimum wage of $12.00 an hour. The rise in pay is due to a 1.3% increase in the cost of living over the past 12 months through August, as reported by the Arizona Republic.  The Industrial Commission of Arizona oversees the state’s minimum-wage and announced the uptick earlier in September. Arizona already has one of the highest minimum-wages in the nation after passing the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Initiative in 2016. With increase in pay, Arizona will be tied with Maine for the ninth-highest minimum-wage in the country.  As for Flagstaff, their minimum-wage will increase from $13 an hour to $15 in January.  Some workers and bus...
News

McSally and Kelly discuss climate change, public land management in online forums

Photo by Gage Skidmore By Joe Giddens Posted with permission from Tucson Weekly. Original story can be found at: https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2020/10/05/mcsally-and-kelly-discuss-climate-change-public-land-management-in-online-forums?fbclid=IwAR3tttQkKYOkpQ74hz8e_t5SXFA1FeJNx9NW8UyeYiso5QeP_04uXXfosJM Senate candidates Martha McSally and Mark Kelly laid out their visions of public land management for Arizona on Friday in two separate online forums hosted by the Arizona Trail Association. The online forums took place ahead of their only scheduled debate on Tuesday and today’s voter registration deadline (which has since been extended to October 23). Climate change starkly contrasted the candidates. McSally continued her rhetoric of qualifying the scientific consensus th...
Pima Animal Care Center: saving one animal life at a time
Features

Pima Animal Care Center: saving one animal life at a time

This article has been edited to clarify and correct some facts. By Mylene Roberts Mahatma Gandhi once said “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”  Homeless animals have always and will always be an issue that society faces. There are many people in the world that are making a difference in animals’ lives whether it is working or volunteering at a shelter, adopting an animal or just donating to an animal shelter.  Nikki Reck, spokeswoman for the Pima Animal Care Center, one of the animal shelters in Tucson, offered information regarding the programs that PACC has, how to volunteer and their process of adopting animals. According to Reck, the biggest difference between adopting an animal now and before the pandemic occurred is ...
Arts & Entertainment, Features

Q&A with ‘Vote Here’ filmmaker Steve Waxman

By Joe Giddens This Q&A was originally made for a Tucson Weekly Story available here: https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2020/10/02/tucson-filmmakers-highlight-the-history-of-voting-in-new-documentary Filmmaker Steve Waxman has released his new documentary, "Vote Here", to inspire voter turnout this year and provide some historical insights into political movements wanting to engage the youth vote. What was the inspiration for this project?  I just felt that voting is the essence of democracy and I've always been big on voting. I felt that this country, if it had a little bit more of a civic background on the evolution of voting, might understand the sacrifices other people made and realize that the more people who participate, the more people who decide. What was the p...
Opinion

Op-Ed: PCC Board of Governors Candidate Catherine Ripley

By Catherine Ripley, Pima Community College Governing Board candidate My training as an officer in the U.S. Navy and as a U.S. diplomat demanded that I learn each position from the bottom up so I could better lead from top down. On a ship, the sailor turning a wrench in the boiler room is as critical as the captain steering the ship up top. With one mistake, either could imperil the vessel. So the captain must know every inch of that ship and every sailor running it.  That’s how I’ve approached my candidacy for the Pima Community College Governing Board. I’m seeking this position because, as an Adjunct Professor of Political Science for the past five years, I’ve come to appreciate just how valuable this institution is to our community. But I also believe that my unique expertise can help ...
TUSD introduces hybrid model
News

TUSD introduces hybrid model

By Kyler Van Vliet On September 22, the Tucson Unified School District approved the decision to go to a hybrid model for its classes by a 3-2 vote. The vote came four days after TUSD released a video via their YouTube page, TUSDMedia, discussing their plans to bring students back on campuses. Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo discussed his plan for a hybrid model that was proposed to and approved by the TUSD Governing Board. Trujillo’s hybrid model consists of a two-day in class and a three-day remote learning schedule. With the help of the Pima County Health Department, Trujillo has suggested that October 19 be the targeted startup date. However, there has been no confirmation as to when in-person classes will start back up. The Governing Board has their eyes set on October 6 as the dat...
And I learned how to get along (with Covid)
Features, News

And I learned how to get along (with Covid)

By Nate Martinez Fall is right around the corner, and you know exactly what that means: it’s time to bust out those new shoes, strap on that overpriced JanSport backpack and make your way from your bed straight to the couch to log on to your zoom class. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be no face-to-face classes at Pima for the rest of the year. Many of us will miss seeing our old friends to study with and the face to face time with instructors that many students utilize to ensure they get the best grade possible. But is the absence of face to face classes at Pima Community College such a bad thing?  A survey was given by the Aztec Press to three randomly selected students. They were asked if the transition to fully virtual learning was either positive of negative and w...
To ban or not to ban: what’s going on with TikTok?
Arts & Entertainment, News

To ban or not to ban: what’s going on with TikTok?

By Lanissa Patterson You just might actually be living under a rock if you haven't heard of TikTok, the viral application where individuals post videos ranging from 15 seconds to a full minute. Originally called Musical.ly, the app has been compared to Vine and Triller. In 2017, Chinese owned company Byte Dance bought Musical.ly for $1 billion. Thus, TikTok was born. Tik Tok has been downloaded over 175 million times in the United States and over one billion times globally since its launch. There is room for every type of video on TikTok, which is part of what makes it so popular.  When scrolling down your TikTok feed you are bound to see DIYs, skits, and infamous dance videos with way too much choreography. TikTok has a little bit of something for everyone, but it is the humor that att...
Pima to host virtual Career Café
News

Pima to host virtual Career Café

By: Kyler Van Vliet On Tuesday September 29, 2020, the First Year Experience Program will be hosting a virtual Career Café via Zoom. The event is free and open to all PCC students who are looking for advice on job searching and career exploration skills. The Café will be led by college faculty and staff volunteers from multiple departments. Students can login (via link: https://pima.zoom.us/j/92861472069) and participate anytime between 11 am-1 p.m., visiting one, some or all of the featured breakout rooms focusing on: Resume Tips  Cover Letter Tips  Interview Skills Pima’s Online Career Resources    FYE will be giving out prizes to encourage students to login and interact and will be selecting winners based on attendance and participation. They also encourage the tradition of ...
News

$2.5 Million Donated to Pima for Applied Technology Programs

By Dalton Grijalva On Wednesday, Sept. 8,  the Thomas R. Brown Family Foundation announced it would be giving Pima Community College $2.5 million to advance Pima’s applied Technology programs. According to Chancellor Lee Lambert, the goal is for Pima to further establish itself as the center of economic recovery and growth within the region. The donation will support employer demand for high-skilled technicians.  The announcement was made at PCC’s downtown campus in front of the Automotive Technology and Innovation Center, which is set to be completed in 2021. “The focus on Centers of Excellence, public-private partnerships and expanding the economic vitality of our region through high-tech training and reskilling of both new and incumbent workers is exactly what our community needs,”  ...