2004's just starting, but it's busy already (Amnesty)

A guest-worker bill is part of a sweeping bid to reform the nation's immigration laws and is being pushed by McCain and U.S. Reps Jim Kolbe of Tucson and Jeff Flake of Mesa, all Republicans. They say the bill would create a legal way for workers to come to the United States and then return home. It would also legalize the status of the millions of illegal immigrants already living and working in the United States.

A few things are pretty much certain to happen in 2004: Election ballots will require hefty reading, cases of West Nile Virus could increase, college students will pay more in tuition, and governments at all levels will worry about how to stretch shrinking dollars.

The first contest is the Democratic presidential primary Feb. 3. In November, we'll vote for president, all eight Arizonans in the U.S. House of Representatives; the U.S. Senate seat occupied by John McCain; members of the state Legislature; and major Pima County offices, including supervisors, sheriff and county attorney.

Tucson Unified School District voters will fill three seats, and longtime governing board member Mary Belle McCorkle has said she will not run again.

And if you missed last year's back-and-forth between Gov. Janet Napolitano and the Republican controlled Legislature, don't worry. This year could provide a repeat.

With a budget deficit ranging anywhere from $300 million to $1 billion, the budget promises to be the top card in the session that starts Jan. 12.

City and county governments, along with higher education folks and other agencies, are waiting to see how the Legislature handles the predicted budget shortfalls because less money from the state could squeeze local purse strings.

The city of Tucson will open a Midtown multiservice station at East 22nd Street and South Alvernon Way. The new center, set to open near the end of January, will house the Tucson Police Department Midtown Division. Residents will also be able pay water bills and use other city services. The new center is named for Officer Patrick K. Hardesty, who was shot to death in the line of duty on Memorial Day.

John Montenegro Cruz, the Tucson man accused of killing Hardesty, is to go on trial in 2004 on first-degree murder charges. A judge ruled late last year that the trial will not be moved from Pima County because of publicity.

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider whether a 2003 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that requires Arizona juries to sentence defendants to death - instead of a sole judge - is retroactive.

Singer Diana Ross is expected to go to trial in 2004 on drunken-driving charges.

Big decisions about Pima County's future will be made on two fronts early in 2004.

In mid-January, the Board of Supervisors will decide whether to put more than $550 million in proposed bond issues before the voters in a May 18 election. The bonds would pay for open space, police communications, courts, parks, neighborhood reinvestment, cultural resources, libraries and other programs.

The biggest piece, the proposed $180 million open space bond, could be the subject of some political debate because of its size and its potential controversy.

Supervisor Ray Carroll, a Republican, says he would like to offer voters a choice between a $75 million and a $180 million open-space bond to see if they favor minimum or maximum protection. But Chairwoman Sharon Bronson, a Democrat, said she opposes any cuts in the open-space bond because she believes it isn't big enough now.

Sometime in early 2004, a U.S. District Court judge will rule on whether to take the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl off the endangered species list. The pygmy owl has not stopped growth on the Northwest Side, but it has delayed and scaled some of it back. A decision removing federal protection for the bird would make it easier to build where the bird nests and where many people would love to buy homes.

Unmanned aerial vehicles to track illegal entrants and drug smugglers coming into the United States are to become part of regular homeland security patrols.

Meanwhile, a $42 million lawsuit against the Department of the Interior on behalf of the families of 11 of the 14 illegal border crossers who died in 2001 will likely be heard in federal court in the new year. The suit opens a new discussion of U.S. responsibility toward people who come here illegally and could set a precedent for future suits by illegal entrants against the United States.

Record numbers of people dying trying to enter the U.S. illegally are expected in 2004, given increases over the past two years.

Tuition at the University of Arizona and Pima Community College will continue heading upward in 2004.

"It's safe to say tuition will go up. It's unavoidable for a lot of reasons," said Pima Community College Chancellor Roy Flores. While too early to say a specific amount, Flores predicted neither a "skyrocket" nor a "token" increase. The amount will largely depend on how much lawmakers allocate to state community colleges in 2004.

The UA will field a football team with a new coach, Mike Stoops, who will try to recover from last year's turmoil with a fresh start.

Tucson Medical Center plans to open a second clinic in the Rita Ranch area during the summer.

St. Mary's Hospital expects to open its new, expanded emergency department in the fall.

Arizonans are going to have to brace for what is expected to be the worst outbreak of the potentially deadly West Nile virus in this state since the infection was first discovered in the United States in 1999.

Two Pima County residents were diagnosed with West Nile in 2003, though neither died.

Influenza will likely be a bigger problem than West Nile in 2004 but the mosquito-born illness will probably receive more attention, said Dr. Bob England, epidemiologist with the Arizona Department of Health Services.

"It will scare people and it will be a personal disaster for some people because it can be a really bad disease," England said. But flu strikes millions of Americans each year and kills nearly 40,000.

England said he hopes the panic over getting flu shots this winter will motivate healthy and high-risk Americans to get flu shots this fall - by mid-October, preferably.

High-school sophomores - the Class of 2006 - will take the high-school AIMS test for the first time this spring. These students will be the first group that must pass the AIMS reading, writing and math tests in order to receive a high-school diploma.

Arizona schools will face the third round of state labels in October. Schools that are labeled as "underperforming" by state and federal education departments will work with state solutions teams to help the schools improve and avoid takeover.

A phone system to connect people in Arizona to social services by dialing 211 is expected to begin in 2004.

An upgrade to a 55-year-old gasoline pipeline on Tucson's West Side is scheduled to be completed by March.

The line, operated by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, burst in 2003, spewing 10,000 gallons of gasoline into Silvercroft Wash and a nearby construction site. No one was hurt.

The company is installing the pipeline generally along the existing alignment, in some cases moving the pipeline farther away from homes, parks and other structures.

Tucson's largest mosque will continue its search for a new imam to replace Omar Shahin, who left abruptly in June after three years leading the Islamic Center of Tucson, 901 E. First St.

Mosque administrator Muhammad As'ad said the board at the Sunni mosque hopes to have a new imam by summer. The Islamic Center of Tucson has about 1,000 members; about 8,000 Muslims live in the Tucson area.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, along with Catholic dioceses and Eastern rite eparchies across the country, in early January will release the results of a national audit of compliance with guidelines concerning sexual abuse.

Officials with the local diocese, which represents Tucson's largest organized religion, expect the national report to reflect positively on progress here. But diocese officials, hoping to put the sexual abuse scandal in the past, will still have 17 local pending lawsuits alleging sexual abuse to defend in the new year.

People of all faiths in Tucson will be called on in late February to march in a walk for peace. The march is to be led by members of the local Jewish and Muslim communities.

The coming year promises to be a busy one for Southern Arizona's military, from fighting federal base closures to engaging enemies around the world.

The state Legislature will be asked to approve a package of base protection measures this year aimed at sparing Arizona's military installations in an upcoming round of base closings set for 2005.

The main proposal calls for creation of a multimillion-dollar Military Installation Fund to compensate landowners affected by military operations.

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base expects to complete about $130 million in new construction and upgrades to existing facilities. Major projects include a new base exchange, improvements to base housing, and a new flying operations center for its new combat search and rescue mission.

Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista is bracing for a boom in military intelligence training, spurred by increased demand for interrogators and other intelligence specialists due to the war on terrorism, spokeswoman Tanja Linton said.

Fort Huachuca's 11th Signal Brigade, which provides high-tech communications systems for overseas military missions, still has several hundred soldiers serving in the Middle East. They are expected to return in stages by March.

In March, railroad buffs and Downtown boosters will celebrate the completion of a renovation project that has transformed the Downtown train depot at 400 E. Toole Ave. The overhauled depot will be the home of Tucson's Amtrak station. Its future also includes a restaurant, offices, shops and the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum.

A major travel corridor between Midtown and the South Side will be shut down in May or June as Pima County works on a $22.6 million project to replace the Veterans Memorial Overpass. Drivers who commute along South Palo Verde Road between East 22nd Street and East Ajo Way will have to find other routes during the yearlong closure of the overpass.

In July, freeway drivers will face relief when the Arizona Department of Transportation completes the construction of a traffic interchange connecting I-10 and I-19. The $54 million project started in 2001 and has caused chronic delays at the junction.

Well, tell them to check into the immigration laws for China and Mexico because Americans won't be able to find jobs here.

The only reason for such new immigration laws is because none of these politicos have come up with a solution to enfore the laws we have. Both parties have been a big failure for the American people.

They say the bill would create a legal way for workers to come to the United States and then return home. It would also legalize the status of the millions of illegal immigrants already living and working in the United States.

What utter insanity. How many million more illegals will it take to turn American into an easily controllable third world country?

Have the elite politicos not seen our brutally over crowded classrooms? Have they not seen out jails full of illegals? Have they not seen the standing room only in our hospital ERs, full of non paying people that don't even speak the language? Have they not seen our social services being choked off?

Do the elite politicos in DC represent us, or are they actually our enemy?

WTF is really going on?

Unmanned aerial vehicles to track illegal entrants and drug smugglers coming into the United States are to become part of regular homeland security patrols.

But will that change anything when it comes to apprehending and deporting illegal aliens?

The U.S. has NO responsibility for Mexico's lawbreakers.

Record numbers of people dying trying to enter the U.S. illegally are expected in 2004, given increases over the past two years.

Too f'ing bad.

P.S. Happy New Year, America.

"The suit opens a new discussion of U.S. responsibility toward people who come here illegally and could set a precedent for future suits by illegal entrants against the United States."

It's my contention that it's Mexico's responsibility.. they have encouraged their citizens to take the risk.. "if you don't succeed the 1st time, try again".. The Mexican government is at fault..

I question the allegiance of McCain/Flake/Kolbe .. just where does their allegiance lie? Overwhelmingly, the 'people' are opposed to their proposals.. to whom are they beholden? I read an article re illegals in Georgia (picking the vadalia crop) who were rounded up.. apparently the congressmen from Georgia were contacted because the onions weren't being picked and the INS backed off.. All this sickens me beyond words..

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