Good afternoon. There’s a 50% chance of showers tomorrow, but Thursday should be sunny. Expect a high of 69° on Wednesday and 70° on Saturday.
🌵 A proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons could drive up grocery prices.
Arizona’s attorney general is joining the FTC and other states in a lawsuit to stop the proposed merger. Kroger currently owns 14 Fry’s stores in Tucson, while Albertsons and its subsidiary Safeway own more than 20 stores. The lawsuit says the merger would reduce competition and increase prices for consumers.
🌵 A Tucson judge heard a challenge to a lawsuit by Mexico against Arizona gun dealers.
The lawsuit accuses multiple Tucson-area gun dealers of supplying gun traffickers. A separate lawsuit accuses gun manufacturers of tailoring weapons to the Mexican market, such as the “Emiliano Zapata 1911,” named after the Mexican revolutionary. Mexico has long expressed frustration over the smuggling of high-powered American weapons into the country for use by cartels.
- Tucson Sentinel: Mexico’s lawsuit vs. Arizona gun dealers faces challenge during hearing in Tucson
- PBS News Hour: Mexico demands investigation into U.S. military-grade weapons being used by drug cartels
🌵 The University of Arizona’s news service would like to remind you that President Robbins is “the right man to lead the institution.”
An article published Monday without a byline highlights supportive comments made by two state senators during a recent Arizona Board of Regents meeting in Tempe. Sen. Brian Fernandez (D-Yuma) said that “many universities throughout the country are dealing with fiscal issues post-pandemic, as well as inflation.” Sen. Ken Bennett (R-Prescott) said, “We want to be assured that changes will be put in place to make sure that this doesn’t happen again, and I have confidence Robbins will lead the institution to do just that.”
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🌵 Arizona House Republicans passed a bill that would outlaw cash income assistance programs.
The bill would ban any assistance program that provides regular cash payments. Cash assistance programs are becoming increasingly popular in the wake of successful experiments around the country. As the programs become more popular, Republicans in state legislatures have moved to ban them.
🌵 Lastly, a University of Arizona-led telescope balloon mission set a new record over Antarctica.
The GUSTO mission, led by astronomers at Steward Observatory, mapped the distribution of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen between the stars of the Milky Way and nearby Large Magellanic Cloud. A large helium balloon carried the telescope to an altitude of 125,000 feet for more than 57 days, setting a new record for the longest NASA scientific balloon flight.