The national debate over how to prevent mass shootings in schools led Gov. Doug Ducey to release his school safety plan this week. The proposal offers $2 million in state funding for mental health programs in schools and training improvements for school resource officers.
Pima County Sheriff's Deputy William Farmer is also a representative for the Arizona School Resource Officers Association and explained what role school resource officers currently serve on campuses.
Since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, student activists have remained vigilant on the issue of stricter gun control. Students in Southern Arizona staged school walkouts and are taking part in a March for Our Lives rally this weekend.
Cholla High School senior David Calzadillas has become one of the most outspoken students on the issue at his school. He joined Lorraine Rivera to discuss the message he and his peers want lawmakers to hear.
A federal trial with national attention began this week in Tucson. Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz faces murder charges for the death of Mexican citizen Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez in 2012. Swartz shot the teen several times through the border fence in Nogales.
Tucson attorney Bill Risner has represented several plaintiffs in civil cases against the Border Patrol. He explained what makes Swartz's trial unique, and what jurors in Southern Arizona are being asked to consider.
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke toured the border for the first time this month since joining the Trump administration and reaffirmed his support for the president's plan to build a wall. His visit also included a meeting with leaders of the Tohono O'odham Nation, who oppose the wall.
For insight into what transpired during that meeting, Chairman Edward Manuel appeared on Arizona 360 to address the tribe's concerns about border security and the impact a wall could have on its land.
With new steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by the Trump administration set to take effect this month, George Hammond, director of the Economic and Business Research Center at the UA Eller College of Management, discussed what impact that could have on Arizona's economy.
Hammond also explained why it could affect Southern Arizona's aerospace and defense manufacturers, and what industries are vulnerable to any retaliatory tariffs.
With the arrival of spring, rising temperatures sparked a discussion about the relationship between climate and wildfire behavior. UA School of Natural Resources and the Environment Professor Donald Falk looked at 35 years of climate data to learn more about future wildfires. He shared those findings with Lorraine Rivera.
“We think the primary effect that’s going on between climate and wildfire is that climate is making the wildfire season longer,” explained Falk. “Here in Southern Arizona, we are pretty much 12 months to the year. There could be a fire at any given month of the year.”
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