AZ Luminaria

09/18/2026

Prop. 427 would raise Pima County property taxes to fund a $250 million expansion of Pima JTED's career training facilities and programs.

About a dozen school districts have signed a letter calling the bond's allocation unfair, saying most students take JTED classes through their high schools.

Pima County’s Joint Technical Education District will ask voters to raise property taxes for JTED for the first time ever, citing explosive growth in career and technical education. JTED — a separate school district born in 2007 and serving about 30,000 students throughout Southern Arizona — h...

09/18/2026

A federal judge said Maricopa deputies still search and arrest Latino drivers at higher rates

A federal judge has denied efforts to remove oversight of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, saying the agency continues to show racial disparities in traffic arrests of Latinos — and that there is not enough evidence that efforts to improve would stick without legal monitoring.

09/17/2026

Tucson City Council has added a public hearing to its Sept. 22 meeting on proposed changes to the city's large water user ordinance — enacted in response to Project Blue

Tucson City Council will consider proposed changes to its large water user ordinance Tuesday, but some environmental advocates and Tucson residents say the changes don’t go far enough. The city council rushed to approve a new ordinance in August 2025 to protect the city from large water users like...

09/16/2026

Arizona quietly lowered the score needed to pass its English-language proficiency test this year and the share of students who passed more than doubled statewide. Researchers warn many may be leaving before they're ready

With ProPublica

In the Tucson Unified School District, the percentage of test-taking students who scored high enough to be classified as proficient in English more than doubled — from 10% in 2025 to 24% in 2026. Rather than a big leap in fluency, however, the test results reflect the Arizona Department of Educati...

09/15/2026

Seventh grader Mauricio Armenta traded his trombone for headphones and a keyboard this year, learning to compose music through a new Utterback Middle School curriculum, among the first of its kind in Arizona

Seventh grader Mauricio Armenta traded his 3-foot trombone for some headphones, a keyboard and mouse this school year. Instead of playing in the band, Mauricio says he wanted to learn a different way to play music. Teacher Ian Mast helps Mauricio and other Utterback Middle School students deepen the...

09/12/2026

🌵 Tus noticias en español
💧Quitobaquito: Para los pueblos indígenas del sur de Arizona, este oasis es un lugar sagrado. Ahora, un nuevo muro fronterizo amenaza el sitio, sus plantas protegidas y el acceso a tierras ancestrales. :feather:
🏳️‍🌈 Tucson recuerda: Más de 1,000 personas se reunieron para honrar a Cameron Davis Capara y Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, asesinados afuera de un bar LGBTQ en Tucson. Sus familias y amigos pidieron mantener una ciudad segura y libre de odio. :candle:
📲Todos los detalles en AZLuminaria.org

09/10/2026

Rep. Yassamin Ansari visited a Phoenix ICE facility. Here’s what she found inside.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari visited a Phoenix ICE facility. Here’s what she found inside. U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari visited the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Phoenix Field Office on Sept. 9 following reporting from the AZ Mirror that raised concerns about conditions for people held at the faci...

09/10/2026

Ciscomani vs. Mendoza debate live tonight at 6 p.m. — watch here

Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani and Democratic challenger JoAnna Mendoza will face each other for the first time in a debate tonight at 6 p.m. Ciscomani is seeking a third term in Congress after first winning the seat in 2022. He narrowly defeated Democrat Kirsten Engel in 2022 and again in a ...

09/10/2026

Tucson & Pima Co. just unlocked $11.5M to repair mobile homes and fight evictions

When Robert Meade noticed a storm had blown a number of shingles off the roof of his four-room manufactured home several years ago, his heart sank. Meade, who is in his 80s, didn’t know how they would fix the roof until his granddaughter told him she had found a county program that would help. ...

09/09/2026

After Project Blue, Pima County expands NDA transparency and development review rules

The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to expand transparency rules for non-disclosure agreements and widen the county’s review process for major development projects that use large amounts of water or electricity. The board voted 4-1 to update two policies governing non-disclosure agr...