Timothy Steller

Column: Arizona's two new utility regulators have jerked the Corporation Commission to the right. They've put anything that might look like a subsidy for energy efficiency or renewables under tight, arguably excessive scrutiny.
https://tinyurl.com/bddjnb...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller: New utility regulators fight 'tree socialism'

New commissioners Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers have steered Arizona's utility regulators into deep scrutiny of renewables and energy efficiency programs — even a tree giveaway.

02:52 PM - Aug 28, 2023

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Column: It seems like a perfect, midtown Tucson site for dense development. But developers have swung and missed again in an effort to build on the seven acres at Broadway and Rosemont. Maybe we should settle in for some Sonoran dogs.
https://tinyurl.com/38ytdk...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller's column: Another Tucson development plan dies

Eighteen years after a Walmart grocery was rejected, the vacant site at East Broadway and South Rosemont still can't get developed. It should be a natural spot for housing and

10:51 AM - Aug 23, 2023

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Column: The recall effort against Tucson state Sen. Justine Wadsack, a Republican, has released her worst impulses. Lashing out at critics and even going after one woman's job, she has further justified her own recall.
https://tinyurl.com/jsuhm9...

10:41 AM - Aug 20, 2023 (Edited)

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Column: The new indictments against Donald Trump clarify why 11 Arizonans may be in legal trouble soon. These "alternate electors" weren't just there as a contingency, in case Trump won a lawsuit or recount, but as a key part of a plot to overturn the election. https://tinyurl.com/4bbev2...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller's column: Indictments clarify Arizona electors' tenuous legal position

For Star subscribers: The 11 Arizona Republicans who signed on as alternate electors didn't do so just in case a lawsuit went Trump's way, new indictments show. Knowingly or not,

12:27 PM - Aug 16, 2023

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Column: The square-mile city of South Tucson could seek out developers for a couple of key properties, but most of the council prefers affordability. It's an understandable choice that's likely to help keep the city poor.
https://tinyurl.com/mwzku7...

tucson.com

Tim Steller: South Tucson balances low rents, redevelopment

Outsiders have been eyeing South Tucson, and buying property there, raising fears of gentrification and stirring action against it. But bigger developments there seem unlikely.

03:52 PM - Aug 14, 2023

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Column: Most Arizonans want public disclosure of dark-money sources, and most support abortion rights. On both issues, efforts are underway to preserve minority rule -- a growing feature of American politics.
https://tinyurl.com/2sm4sk...

tucson.com

Tim Steller: Will minority win on dark money, abortion?

Arizona voters showed by a landslide vote that they want light shone on dark-money campaign spending. Polls show they also support abortion rights. But the majority doesn't always rule.

01:53 PM - Aug 09, 2023

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Column: As Tucson's mayoral race begins, no issue divides residents like homeless camps. Along one Tucson wash, some neighborhood residents have helped manage camps while others filed complaints, testing the city's new homeless protocol.
https://tinyurl.com/yepmff...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller: Homeless issue splits residents, candidates

For Star subscribers: Tucson's new system for evaluating and cleaning out homeless camps struck a friction point that has candidates for mayor questioning if it's the right approach.

03:10 PM - Aug 06, 2023

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Column: The big gem-show tent frames that stay up year round are another blemish on Tucson.
https://tucson.com/news/lo...

tucson.com

Tim Steller: Let's consider big tents along with little ones

Huge gem-show tent frames litter the entry to Tucson along I-10 at a time when many gem and mineral businesses are moving to permanent structures. The tents should come down.

11:57 AM - Jul 30, 2023

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Column: Arizona Republicans are desperately claiming "the weather is normal" because it is always hot in summer. That's gaslighting and denialism, because this is a *record* heat wave fits the pattern of global climate change. Denialism only hurts us in the long run.
https://tinyurl.com/3thcar...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller: No, this heat is not 'normal'

There is normal Arizona weather, and then there is this — a record-setting heat wave. Still, Arizona Republicans are denying the evidence of climate change, leaving the state at risk.

12:34 PM - Jul 23, 2023

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Column: The protest of a "drag story hour" Sunday afternoon was a pointless, hot, act of projection by a Tucson church. There was no harm done at the story hour; hard to know about the churches, where "grooming" has historically flourished. https://tinyurl.com/y4n5ap...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller: 'Grooming' protest is misdirected

A Tucson bookstore finally held a drag story hour, postponed in March. But a local church again instigated protests of "grooming" — ironic since so many churches have had real

10:09 AM - Jul 19, 2023

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Column: The finding of a groundwater shortfall in Phoenix seemed like a firm dictate, but under political pressure it turned out to be flexible. That's why we in Tucson should see our next groundwater model as an opportunity to win leverage for conservation.
https://tinyurl.com/27m99b...

tucson.com

Tim Steller's column: Let's hope they find a water shortfall in Tucson area

For Star subscribers: Arizona water officials are unlikely to forecast a shortfall of groundwater in the Tucson area. Too bad: The Phoenix experience shows such findings amount to leverage for

10:04 AM - Jul 16, 2023

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Political Notebook: Tucson Dems may have to redo their choice of 3 candidates to replace Rep. Andrés Cano. Plus, more on ward-only elections, the Ward 1 mailer wars, and the upcoming CD 6 race between Ciscomani and Engel.
https://tinyurl.com/5pwfx3...

tucson.com

Replacing Tucson lawmaker could be delayed

For Star subscribers: Problems with the nomination process could force Tucson Democrats to re-do their candidate selection, critics say.

05:54 PM - Jul 14, 2023

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Column: When you live in a hot climate like Tucson's, heat in July is no surprise. That's why recent "extreme heat," possibly traced to the globe's alarming warming and connected to other extreme weather, is often met with a shrug.
https://tinyurl.com/ry4uzp...

tucson.com

As globe bakes, Tucsonans adapt to familiar heat

The globe is baking and extreme weather events are spreading, but in Tucson what we have is familiar to anyone who has lived here. A draining summer hot spell that

10:31 AM - Jul 12, 2023

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Column: State law gives nearby neighbors extra power when fighting developments near them -- a minority of neighbors can force a supermajority vote to pass the project. This could matter Tuesday when Pima County supervisors vote on a 336-unit project outside Tucson.
https://tinyurl.com/39fnvx...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller: Law gives zoning power to minority

Supervisors will decide Tuesday whether to approve 330 units of housing going into a closed golf course in the Catalina Foothills. Neighbors have forced a supermajority vote.

08:02 PM - Jul 09, 2023

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Political Notebook: LD 20 Democrats have a strong lineup to pick from when they pick candidates to replace Rep. Andres Cano. Also, the latest on the recall effort against Justine Wadsack and more.
https://tinyurl.com/ysj385...

tucson.com

Political Notebook: Seven candidates vie to replace Rep. Cano in Tucson district

Candidates to replace Andrés Cano include Betty Villegas, the one-time Pima County supervisor. Plus, more on the effort to recall Sen. Wadsack, LD 17 candidates, and supervisor candidates.

01:39 PM - Jul 07, 2023

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Column: No powerful politicos or parties have supported the latest effort to change Tucson's election system. Nevertheless, a handful of second-tier political personages are wrapping up another effort to put ward-only elections on Tucson's ballot.
https://tinyurl.com/y56jsc...

tucson.com

Tim Steller's column: Tucson's ward-only election effort pushes on

For Star subscribers: There aren't many of them, they aren't well-funded, but they might put the idea of ward-only elections back on Tucson's ballot.

05:06 PM - Jul 05, 2023

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Column: "With no regrets, I quit." The resignation note by Pinal County's election director was a classic. What caused her dramatic departure remains obscure, but the pattern is clear and spreading in AZ: GOP activists pressuring Republican supervisors over elections.
https://tinyurl.com/bdvh39...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller's column: Another election director driven out by right-wing pressure

For Star subscribers: The pattern is set in conservative counties across Arizona. From Yavapai to Cochise and now Pinal counties, elections officials who don't follow the GOP activists' whims get

12:18 PM - Jul 02, 2023

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Column: A development conflict on Tucson's west side highlights the differences between the two candidates for City Council in the Ward 1 Democratic primary. It's YIMBY vs. NIMBY.
https://tinyurl.com/4hatek...

tinyurl.com

Steller: It's YIMBY vs. NIMBY in Tucson City Council race

The Democratic candidates for Tucson City Council in Ward 1 reveal different approaches to housing proposals as they rehash a 2022 development vote.

12:58 PM - Jun 28, 2023

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The murder rate appears to be declining in the United States after a scary surge. I know in Tucson, the number of murders so far this year is a little below the number last year. Still high though.
https://www.nytimes.com/20...

12:15 PM - Jun 26, 2023 (Edited)

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Column: Arizona's interminable legislative session has been unproductive and is becoming annoying to legislators. But GOP members and the Democratic governor have reaped political rewards, and now there is even a financial benefit, ongoing per-diem pay.
https://tinyurl.com/33vhhw...

tucson.com

Delay pays for Arizona legislators as session lingers on

For Star subscribers: Arizona's legislative session that won't end at least comes with a fringe benefit: A per-diem that continues for each legislator even as nothing substantive gets done.

11:00 AM - Jun 25, 2023

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Column: Steven Jackson was best known as a Tucson youth-soccer coach, but his interests ranged from homebuilding to Pilates. His death in a bear attack was a rare case that doesn't really change outdoor safety rules. It was also typical of fatal black-bear attacks.
https://tinyurl.com/5cmamb...

tucson.com

Tim Steller's column: Bear attack was one good Tucson man's very bad luck

For Star subscribers: Steven Jackson was known as a youth soccer coach in Tucson, and he was building an off-grid retirement home in the woods.

12:36 PM - Jun 22, 2023 (Edited)

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Column: Arizona's problem with "sober living homes" is bigger than the way they've treated Native Americans. The model lends itself to fly-by-night scams. The homes are proliferating in Tucson too, some of them committing fraud, and need local regulation.
https://tinyurl.com/2p8dku...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller's column: Time for Tucson to regulate sober living homes

For Star subscribers: State law keeps us from knowing the addresses of sober living homes that have proliferated across Arizona, some scamming the state for millions in fake services.

11:26 AM - Jun 18, 2023

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Column: Donovan Durband was so much more than Tucson's parking director. For 25 years, he was part of whatever good happened in downtown Tucson --conversant with its history and passionate about its future.
https://tinyurl.com/fuw95v...

tinyurl.com

Downtown Tucson loses a big booster

For Star subscribers: Like many Midwestern migrants, Donovan Durband fell in love with Tucson. In the 1990s, when downtown Tucson was dead, he dedicated his life to reviving it.

10:22 AM - Jun 14, 2023 (Edited)

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Column: Yes, Tucson's new project to make block for construction out of waste plastic is better than typical recycling. But the real problem is plastic itself, which oil and gas interests are trying to sell as recyclable and reusable in order to prop up the industry.
https://tinyurl.com/8y7eh5...

tucson.com

Tim Steller's column: Despite new Tucson project, recycling plastic is problematic

For Star subscribers: Soon Tucson residents will be able to turn their non-recyclable plastic into locally made construction block. That's good, but still, recycling plastic is mostly marketing.

07:47 AM - Jun 11, 2023

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Column: Old motor courts are a symbol of Tucson's mid-century past. Of course people want to preserve them, especially the cool signs. But the new Pima College board shouldn't be stuck with the decisions of the previous board, led by a top historic preservationist.
https://tinyurl.com/4zdtjk...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller's column: PCC board deserves flexibility on preserving old Tucson motels

For Star subscribers: The new Pima Community College board inherited tough choices from the old board, which splurged on historic motor-courts. PCC should try to preserve them, maybe by selling

09:20 AM - Jun 04, 2023

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Column: The two version of how Raymond Mattia ended up dead in his remote Tohono O'odham village can't be reconciled. Body-cam video will likely help show why Border Patrol agents fired. But questions lying deeper in the story, and in history, remain.
https://tinyurl.com/p6u9cp...

tinyurl.com

Tim Steller's column: History helps explain Border Patrol killing of O'odham man

For Star subscribers: Phone records and body-cam video should clarify why agents showed up at Raymond Mattia's house on the Tohono O'odham Nation May 18 and ended up killing him.

11:20 AM - May 28, 2023

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In 2022, I was sued for the only time in my 28-year journalism career. Weirdly, it was by a woman I've never named in any column or story, let alone defamed. She's the daughter of a judge I wrote about. Yesterday, the court of appeals delivered a victory for free speech.
https://tinyurl.com/ejucyk...

tucson.com

Star wins appeal over reporting on former judge who fired gunshot in confrontation

The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled the Arizona Daily Star did not defame a Tucson lawyer in its reporting on a 2021 confrontation between a then-Pima County Justice of the

12:42 PM - May 26, 2023

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Column: It's one thing to propose returning 10 acres of historically key land on Tucson's west side to the Tohono O'odham Nation in a "land back" move. That messes with a neighborhood plan but has merit. It's another thing to suggest residents should have no say on the plan.
https://bit.ly/3Moz6iC

bit.ly

Tim Steller's column: It's OK to ask what O'odham will do with Tucson land

For Star subscribers: The planned transfer of 10 Tucson acres to the Tohono O'odham Nation is a profound move. It also leaves residents' questions about casinos unanswered and cuts them

11:35 AM - May 21, 2023

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Column: Rep. Juan Ciscomani, the freshman Republican from Tucson, is risking his reputation as a steady and responsible force by using the threat of debt default and economic catastrophe to get his way.
https://bit.ly/3Im1Wih

bit.ly

Tim Steller's column: Rep. Ciscomani loses way in debt-ceiling debate

For Star subscribers: Rep. Juan Ciscomani should negotiate spending cuts the old fashioned way rather than use default as leverage in budget negotiations.

12:43 PM - May 17, 2023

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