Tuesday Microburst: Unsheltered migrant releases, UA salary database, presidential preference election

Good afternoon. After today’s warm temperatures, things will cool down a little. Expect sunny skies and a high of 71° on Wednesday and 70° on Thursday. 

🌵 Today is the last day to register to vote in the Arizona Presidential Preference Election.

You can register at arizona.vote for the March 19 election. Only registered Democrats and Republicans can participate. The presidential preference election tells state parties who voters would like to see on the ballot, but the results are not binding. 

🌵 Some lawmakers want Governor Hobbs to disclose her fundraising numbers ahead of schedule.

Most Arizona legislators must file annual fundraising reports, but the governor is only required to do so during an election year, which will be 2026 for Hobbs. Some Republicans want to change that. The current campaign finance reporting law was signed into law by Governor Doug Ducey in 2016. 

🌵 Hundreds of unsheltered migrants could be released each day onto Tucson-area streets as federal funding dries up.

The Border Patrol processes and releases migrants into the care of aid organizations like Casa Alitas and Catholic Community Services, which partially rely on federal funding administered through Pima County. That funding is expected to dry up at the end of March, and attempts to pass a new aid package have stalled in Congress. One option is for Pima County to foot the bill for reduced aid offerings.


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🌵 You can now search a salary database of everyone working at the University of Arizona.

The data are public records and have been compiled online by AZ Luminaria for 2023 and 2024. You can look up individual names or sort the full database by annual salary to see who makes the big bucks. 

🌵 Lastly, the winning word of this year’s Pima County spelling bee was “macchiato.”

Eighth grader Ricardo Cabrera of Dodge Magnet Middle School won the title after ten rounds of spelling that lasted two-and-a-half hours. Cabrera and runner-up Bryant Banzhaf will now move on to the state spelling bee in Phoenix.