Cases 231,897 | Deaths 5,830
On Monday, Oct. 19, the state reported 748 new cases of novel coronavirus and 3 additional deaths. Arizona’s average daily case number has increased in recent weeks.
President Trump visits Tucson
AZPM/AP
President Donald Trump held a campaign rally at the Tucson International Airport on Monday. Several thousand supporters came out for the event. The president used the occasion to attack Dr. Anthony Fauci, as well as the cautionary coronavirus advice of his scientific experts. Trump, back on the trail after his own coronavirus hospitalization, blasted government scientists for their criticism of his handling of the pandemic and called Fauci “a disaster.”
Polling that shows the president trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden across key battleground states, including Arizona.
Tucson Council asks UA to test all students
AZPM
The Tucson City Council is set to pass a resolution Tuesday asking the University of Arizona to broaden its COVID-19 testing program.
The non-binding message asks the university to require all students to submit to COVID-19 testing, including those who live off-campus. Currently only those who live in on-campus dorms are required to show a negative COVID test before moving in. For those who live off campus, tests are available, but not required.
UA president Robert Robbins says testing all students is a nice idea, but impractical. "That's our aspirational goal but we don't have the capability to do that now," he said during a weekly briefing on Monday.
Nobel committee cites UA astronomy breakthrough in prize award
AZPM
The University of Arizona-supported project that yielded the first images of a black hole helped win this year's Nobel Prize in physics.
Two astronomers and one mathematician shared the Prize announced earlier this month. They found evidence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. UA astronomer Dimitrios Psaltis helped start the Event Horizon telescope project. Psalstis notes the Nobel committee's honor finally confirmed the work begun by Albert Einstein and his colleagues early in the 20th century.
"It gave us the tools to design the Event Horizon telescope because it was only through this measurement we knew exactly how big the black hole is in the sky, and that allowed us to design the specifications for our telescope," he said.
The UA-backed Event Horizon project united eight ground-based telescopes around the world in capturing the ground-breaking image of a black hole in another galaxy 55-million light-years from Earth.
Relocation raises Tucson's profile in fashion industry
AZPM
A luxury sportswear company plans to move to Tucson in what business boosters pitch as the first of several relocations that establish a local fashion industry.
WOW Studios will move its headquarters from Seattle to a 17,000-square-foot space at One East Toole Avenue, the company announced Monday. The studio's signature line, Buki, offers high-end technical clothing designed by Joey Rodolfo and Stacey Bennett. The new location will include design studios and office space slated to open in January. The venture is expected to bring 50 jobs to Tucson.
"Joey and I started talking several months ago, and I quickly realized what a great opportunity this was - to be on the cutting edge of innovation in this field,” said Sun Corridor president and CEO Joe Snell in a press release.
Rodolfo is a design industry veteran known for revitalizing the Tommy Bahama brand. He attended the University of Arizona as an undergrad and previously sat on the national board of directors for the Eller College of Management, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Navajo Nation reports 42 new COVID-19 cases but no deaths
AP
Navajo Nation health officials are confirming 42 new cases of COVID-19 but no new deaths. The figures released Sunday night bring the total number of cases to 10,955. T
he known death toll remained at 573. Tribal health officials said 116,368 people on the vast reservation that covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah have been tested for COVID-19 since the pandemic started and 7,381 have recovered.
A shelter-in-place order, mask mandate, daily curfews and weekend lockdowns remain in effect on the Navajo Nation.
Border Patrol: Hand-dug tunnel found near border in Nogales
AP
Border Patrol officials say a new hand-dug tunnel has been found near the U.S. border in Nogales. Tucson Sector agents say the tunnel was discovered Saturday night by video surveillance. Agents located the tunnel’s 2-feet-by-2-feet exit about a half-mile west of the DeConcini Port of Entry and about three feet north of the border.
Mexican authorities located the tunnel’s entrance in the floor of an existing drainage system in Mexico. Border Patrol officials say the tunnel extended for about 10 feet and had no shoring, ventilation or lighting. Authorities say completed tunnels are used by smugglers to get narcotics and immigrants across the border.
Tucson TV station KOLD reports that it’s the 127th tunnel discovered in the Tucson Sector since 1990.
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