By Kelsey Misbrener

In November, U.S. Representative Mike Levin (D-CA) introduced the Solar Jobs Preservation Act with Rep. Dave Schweikert (R-AZ) to protect jobs in the solar industry by strengthening the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Since the ITC was created in 2006, it has helped create hundreds of thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars in investment. However, the tax credit ​has become more difficult to use ​due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is also facing ​a phase down. The bill is also cosponsored by Representatives Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Paul Cook (R-CA).

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BY NOLAN RAPPAPORT, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR

President-elect Joe Biden intends to nominate Alejandro Mayorkas, a Cuban American immigrant, to be the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If Mayorkas is confirmed, he will be the first Latino to lead that department.

This should please the immigration advocacy groups that supported Biden’s campaign, particularly the Latino ones. In fact, Janet Murguía, the president of the Latino advocacy group UnidosUS, has called Biden’s pick “historic and inspired.” UnidosUS is the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization.

Apparently, Biden intends to keep his promise that he will have “the single…

by: Ellen O’Brien | Staff Writer

“Transformative” and “monumental” — that’s how Tim Eckstein, a Jewish criminal defense attorney and member of the Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, describes the passage of Proposition 207, which legalized adult possession of marijuana in Arizona.

“The fundamental recognition that this is a public health problem and not a criminal justice problem, that sort of philosophical shift — the import of that can’t be understated,” Eckstein said.

Arizona voters passed the Smart and Safe Arizona Act, or Prop 207, by a 60% majority in the Nov. 3 election. The initiative legalizes the possession and…

By: Veronica Acosta

TUCSON, Ariz. — Officials with the Pima County Health Departmentsay 2020 holds the record for the most overdose deaths, since tracking began.

In 2019, there were 337 overdose deaths in Pima County, according to an alert issued on November 4 of this year.

The report went on to say in the first nine months of 2020, there were a recorded 334 overdose deaths.

Mark Person, the program manager for the Community Mental Health and Addiction Unit within the Pima County Health Department told KGUN9 that as of the first week of December the number of overdose deaths…

According to Southwest Gas, the agreement provides that the distribution company pays the city an amount equivalent to 2% of the gross turnover it generates in Maricopa. As we have already said, southwest gas use the city`s supply rights for up to 25 years. The company has been supplying gas to Maricopa since its inception, but has no formal agreement with the municipality. Question 1 is a local Measure by Chandler that invites voters to check whether or not to grant a franchise to Southwest Gas Corporation for a gas distribution system. Council member Marvin Brown called the agreement in…

by: Asma Khalid / NPR

Joe Biden won the presidency by stitching together a broad coalition of voters — Black and white, from young progressives to former Republicans, and across cities and suburbs — united by a singular mission to defeat President Trump.

But once Biden takes office, and without Trump as an adversary, a key test for Biden’s presidency will be how he prevents the broad coalition that got him into the White House from splintering once he begins governing.

Staking a claim to the win

Progressive activists insist Biden would not have won swing states like Arizona or…

By: Lisa García Bedolla

Pundits are expressing surprise that so many Latinos voted for Donald Trump.

But pollsters who specialize in the Latino vote knew for months before the election that Latino support for Biden was soft, with many Latinos — especially in Florida — undecided. In Florida 57% of Latinos ultimately supported Biden, compared to roughly 70% nationwide.

These numbers are reliable because they come from exit polls designed to capture Latino political preferences. National exit polls have been mostly wrong about Latino voting patterns since they first began including Latinos in the 1980s.

The 60.6 million Americans lumped…

TEMPE — The Centerpoint for Hope-Mobilize AZ free mobile health clinic will visit Springerville from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2. The clinic will take place in the vacant lot at 225 E. Main St. Everyone is welcome and no appointment is necessary to attend.

The mobile clinic is the result of a groundbreaking partnership among Crisis Response Network’s Centerpoint for Hope and Mobilize AZ, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona’s public health movement. The free mobile clinic travels across Arizona to bring resources to people struggling with opioid and substance use.

The mobile clinic provides a…