Good afternoon. Today’s sunny, warmer weather will last for a couple of days. Expect highs near 80° tomorrow and 77° on Thursday.
🌵 The Border Patrol closed the Lukeville crossing amid an ongoing migrant surge.
Agents who would normally process travelers in Lukeville are being reassigned to process asylum seekers crossing into the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, which stretches from New Mexico to the Yuma County line. Governor Hobbs and Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema issued a joint statement asking for federal assistance.
- AZPM: Officials to close Lukeville/Sonoyita border crossing due migrant surge
- Sinema, Kelly, Hobbs Statement on Lukeville POE Closure
🌵 The Border Patrol is considering “unsheltered street releases” of migrants in Tucson.
The Border Patrol typically coordinates with local support agencies to help shelter asylum seekers after they arrive in the U.S. But as the agency struggles to process a flow of more than 1,000 migrants per day, it may begin releasing detainees without prior coordination. Migrants have already been waiting outside for days as they wait to be processed.
🌵 A University of Arizona college says the administration’s fiscal guidance led to a $20 million deficit.
Officials at the College of Agriculture, Environment and Life Sciences said their school was fiscally healthy before the university’s CFO and Provost forced them to spend down cash reserves. The college warned the university that the move could lead to a deficit, which it did. The news comes amid the U of A’s larger financial crisis and accusations that senior officials mismanaged the university’s finances.
🌵 A journalist was arrested by the Pima County Sheriff’s department while covering a protest.
Alisa Reznick of Phoenix NPR affiliate KJZZ was covering a pro-Palestinian protest outside of missile maker Raytheon at the University of Arizona Tech Park. Sheriff’s deputies say Reznick, who identified herself as a journalist and was wearing her press badge, did not immediately comply with a request to leave private property while covering the protest. She was charged with criminal trespass along with 25 others and released.
🌵 Lastly, the University of Arizona men’s basketball team is No. 1 in the nation.
The latest Associated Press poll released Monday gives the Wildcats the top spot after previous No. 1 team Purdue lost. Arizona faces No. 23 Wisconsin this Saturday, Dec. 9 at the McKale Center.