Play the video above to see these stories on AZ Illustrated Politics for Friday, Dec. 6 with guests Ann-Eve Pedersen, president of the Arizona Education Network , Tucson Metro Chamber President and CEO Mike Varney, and Mark Evans, editor of Inside Tucson Business:
CPS CRISIS: Gov. Jan Brewer announced this week that she was appointing an independent body to look into why more than 6,000 reports to Child Protective Services went un-investigated. Pedersen said that state budget cuts to CPS, as well as to other social-safety net programs, were a recipe for this kind of problem and suggested that CPS should be spun off into its own department rather than kept under the supervision of the Department of Economic Security. Evans said that the agency has long been shrouded in too much secrecy.
TUCSON CITY COUNCIL’S CHALLENGES: Three incumbents reelected to the Tucson City Council last month were sworn into office this week. Varney said the City Council had taken some steps to make it easier to do business in Tucson, but there were still too many hurdles to economic development in the city. Evans said he was encouraged by the downtown revitalization efforts.
TUSD: Pedersen said that TUSD was facing many challenges, but she had hope that new Superintendent H.T. Sanchez could help turn the district around, as well as bring some attention to the success stories within the district. Varney said that the district’s woes were contributing to the challenges in recruiting business to the region, but agreed that he had hope that Sanchez would bring positive change to the district.
AZ Illustrated Politics is produced by Jim Nintzel. Contact him at jnintzel@azpm.org.
By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.