December 2, 2019

Joe Biden is Obi Wan. Only he can save us.

An overwhelming majority of Democrats, and a majority of independents, would vote for a potted plant before they’d vote for Donald Trump.

Which brings us to Joe Biden.

Biden was endorsed by Nevada Democratic Rep. Dina Titus Monday.

Maybe Titus, state Sen. Yvanna Cancela, between a quarter and a third of Nevada Democrats surveyed (depending on the poll), and of course Biden himself are right: Joe Biden is Obi Wan. Only he can save us.

Biden is “the right person at the right time,” Titus said during a joint call with Biden and media Monday.

Read more: https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2019/11/26/so-what-have-we-here/

December 2, 2019

School district says rumors of a possible shooting and canceled classes at Tooele High School on

School district says rumors of a possible shooting and canceled classes at Tooele High School on Dec. 2 are false


After hearing of “multiple” rumors that an active shooter would attack Tooele High School on Monday, Tooele County School District issued a statement on Facebook on Sunday night saying the threat “could not be substantiated.”

According to the statement, Tooele police officers found that the rumor of a possible school shooting originated from a Snapchat message, which told students to “sluff,” or skip, school Monday. After the message had been shared and commented on multiple times, “eventually the message changed from students should skip school into there will be an active shooter at the school,” district officials said in the statement.

There is also a rumor circulating that Tooele High School will cancel classes on Monday, but the school district says this is not true. According to the statement, classes will be held as usual Monday, albeit with additional law enforcement at both Tooele High School and neighboring Blue Peak High School.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/12/02/tooele-county-school/
(Salt Lake Tribune)

December 2, 2019

Former 'DWTS' dancer says a Utah teacher berated the son he's adopting over having 2 dads

A fifth-grade child shared with classmates that he was grateful he was going to be adopted this year by his two foster dads.

The substitute teacher didn't let the words of the 11-year-old student pass back in November without letting him know, "That’s nothing to be thankful for,” according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

The Utah teacher continued lecturing the class for 30 minutes saying that "homosexuality is wrong," "two men living together is a sin," and "why on earth would you be happy about that?”

Three girls asked the teacher before leaving the classroom and getting the principal. The teacher was escorted from the Deerfield Elementary School in Cedar Hills, south of Salt Lake City.

Read more: https://www.thespectrum.com/story/life/parenting/2019/12/01/utah-substitute-teacher-shames-child-over-adoption-two-dads/4348787002/
(St. George The Spectrum)

December 2, 2019

Beto O'Rourke - FLIP the Texas House

https://twitter.com/i/status/1201291172079112192

December 2, 2019

GOP proposal would increase in-state tuition at ASU, UA, NAU

Tuition for in-state university students would skyrocket by nearly 50% under a proposal being pushed by one of the leading Republicans on the Education Committee in the Arizona House of Representatives.

Rep. John Fillmore, a Republican from Apache Junction and the vice-chairman of the Education Committee, introduced House Bill 2020 earlier this month. The measure would require the Arizona Board of Regents to calculate in-state tuition “based on the actual cost of educating the student, including maintenance and operations costs and capital costs.”

According to ABOR, the average cost to educate a student at the state’s public universities is $17,075 – about 45% more than the average in-state tuition price of $11,777.

“While the board has not met to take position on bills, it should be made very clear that Rep. Fillmore’s proposed legislation would substantially increase the student cost of public higher education in Arizona, counter to the hard work of the Arizona Board of Regents and universities to keep higher education within reach for Arizona students and families,” said ABOR spokeswoman Julie Newberg.

Read more: https://www.azmirror.com/blog/gop-proposal-would-increase-arizona-tuition-at-asu-ua-nau/

December 2, 2019

Why We Depend on China for Most of Our Medicines

The price of drugs has been a concern of everyone. But, the source of our medicines is not mentioned very much. Unfortunately, we depend on China for most of our supply. The following article is from the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness. See the original article at https://www.ddponline.org/2019/11/01/drug-dependence/

Drug addiction is devastating. Drug dependence may be unavoidable, as with insulin-dependent diabetics. Modern medicine depends on the availability of life-saving drugs. And the U.S. now depends on China for most drugs. The U.S. even lacks the capacity to produce penicillin, as Rosemary Gibson reveals in her book China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Drugs.

In 1988, Oak Ridge National Laboratory published Expedient Antibiotic Production: A Final Report. This includes a how-to guide to build/rebuild antibiotic production facilities if they were damaged or destroyed. It has a map of the location of such production facilities in relation to a possible nuclear attack on industrial or military facilities.

Today, most of this capacity is gone, as manufacturing has been outsourced to the cheapest supplier. In 2004, the last U.S. penicillin production facility, in Syracuse, N.Y., closed. It was also making the starting material for cephalosporins. Launched in 1943, the facility had made 70% of the world’s penicillin until the mid-2000s.

Read more: https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2019/12/01/why-we-depend-on-china-for-most-of-our-medicines/

December 2, 2019

To ease teacher shortage, pilot program in Tucson offers free tuition, $1,000 a month

TUCSON – The University of Arizona and a neighboring school district are working on a pilot program to “grow” Tucson residents into teachers, offering free tuition and paying them $1,000 monthly stipends.

Pathways to Teaching, an education program and support system, will help 10 people earn their K-8 teaching degree in 17 months – and chip away at teacher vacancy rates and retention problems, advocates say. The pilot program of 10 potential teachers includes a classroom assistant, a member of a school Parent Teacher Association and health-clinic employee.

Karla Amezcua, 26, works as an appointment scheduler in a health clinic but intends to leave her job in January to start in the Pathways program.

“When I graduated high school and was getting ready to enroll in college,” she said, “I was having kind of an identity crisis. My mom had me when she was going to college to be a teacher, so I wanted to become a teacher for her, but I didn’t know what I wanted for myself.”

Read more: https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2019/12/01/to-ease-teacher-shortage-pilot-program-in-tucson-offers-free-tuition-1000-a-month/

December 2, 2019

Former foster child demands $15M from State of Arizona

A 34-year-old military veteran has filed a $15 million notice of claim against the state of Arizona for sexual abuse he contends he endured as a foster child placed in the Sierra Vista home of convicted child molester David Frodsham.

According to public records, the man referred to in the claim as “John Doe” became a ward of the state as a young boy in 1992. In 2001, the then-16-year-old was placed in a residential group home in Sierra Vista, where he enrolled in a local school and became acquainted with Frodsham’s children.

Soon after, state officials approved Frodsham and his wife Barbara to serve as the teenager’s foster parents. It was then, John Doe alleges, that he was subjected to repeated sexual abuse by Frodsham and also witnessed incestual rape in the home. John Doe says he reported the abuse to his caseworker, but nothing was done by the time he graduated from high school and enlisted in the military in late 2002.

John Doe contends various state agencies and caseworkers didn’t follow statutory licensing and care requirements and failed to protect him by ignoring “obvious signs and warnings” that Frodsham’s home was not safe for a vulnerable child.

Read more: https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2019/11/29/former-foster-child-demands-15m-from-state-of-arizona/

December 2, 2019

Progressive groups challenge law on deadline for ballots

Saying voters are being disenfranchised, two groups are asking a federal judge to void an Arizona law that says ballots have to be received by county officials by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

In new legal papers filed here Tuesday, attorney Sarah Gonski said the state has “no legitimate interest” in enforcing the deadline, particularly when the state is promoting that people cast their ballot by mail.

“Although Arizona may certainly set a reasonable deadline to receive ballots to ensure the finality of election results, the current Election Day receipt deadline is unreasonable and disenfranchising,” she wrote. “It is contrary to voters’ reasonable expectations, necessitates that ballots be cast far earlier than they need to be, and is poorly communicated to voters.”

What Gonski told Judge Dominic Lanza would be reasonable is to require that ballots be postmarked by the 7 p.m. deadline and received within five business days afterwards.

Read more: https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2019/11/26/progressive-groups-challenge-law-on-deadline-for-ballots/

December 2, 2019

Judge rules AG missed deadline to sue regents

A judge has once again rejected efforts by Attorney General Mark Brnovich to challenge what he contends is an illegal deal by the Arizona Board of Regents to build a hotel and conference center.

In a ruling late Wednesday, Tax Court Judge Christopher Whitten does not address Brnovich’s contention that the deal violates the Gift Clause of the Arizona Constitution. That claim is based on the idea that the Arizona Board of Regents is effectively providing a subsidy to the private developer by paying for a conference center that the university would be able to use just seven days a year.

There’s also a separate legal question of having what amounts to a tax exemption for the hotel because it is being built on tax-exempt university property.

What Whitten does say is that the legal claim came too late, meaning he has no legal right to decide if Brnovich is right or wrong.

Read more: https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2019/11/28/judge-rules-ag-missed-deadline-to-sue-regents/