Rocks without jobs - AZ Luminaria

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In today’s newsletter:

🪨 On Mount Lemmon, volunteers are stacking “unemployed rocks” into erosion-control structures to keep soil and debris in place after the Bighorn Fire. Read more.

🎓 Arizona’s teacher turnover costs taxpayers more than $150 million a year, according to a Learning Policy Institute tool. The final piece in our series with KOLD News 13 on teacher retention solutions. Read more.

📌 Judges ruled that deporting some at-risk migrants could mean persecution or torture back home. ICE is detaining them anyway. From Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. Read more.

Featured stories

On Mount Lemmon, volunteers give unemployed rocks a new job: Erosion control

Julius Gorton pushes a rectangle-shaped rock into the ground then shakes it. Still loose. He takes the pick axe next to him and hammers it down. “OK, maybe it just […]

Arizona’s teacher turnover costs taxpayers $150 million a year

Arizona’s teacher retention crisis affects classrooms and students but it also costs taxpayers money. A tool from the Learning Policy Institute puts the annual cost of replacing departing teachers in […]

Judges ruled deporting at-risk migrants home could lead to persecution or torture. ICE is detaining them anyway.

This article was originally published by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. Sign up for their newsletter here. On an August day in 2025, Celestin Dima had reason to celebrate. […]

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City pool passes to lap swim or aqua jog go on sale Monday, Aug. 24. After five years of free pool admission, Tucson will charge to use pool lanes beginning Sept. 1. Recreational swim remains free. Cost will be $30 a month for residents and $45 for nonresidents. Passes can also be purchased in increments of five — $10 for residents and $15 for nonresidents and must be used within a year.

New east side park in the works. Tucson City Council gave the green light to buy about 10 acres near Fifth Street and Ridgeside Drive from the Tucson Unified School District for $250,000 for a future natural resource park. The deal, approved Tuesday, is paid for with developer fees set aside for parks in the area.

Arizona’s Head Start providers are pushing back. The Arizona Head Start Association is asking federal health officials to scrap a proposed rule that would strip more than 90% of Head Start’s program standards — things like classroom size limits, disability services, and parent governance — without adding any funding. Association president Eve Del Real said the change would leave local programs, which serve about 17,000 Arizona children and pregnant women, “impossible choices” while kids bear the consequences. Comment on the rule through Oct. 6.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors will meet Tuesday, Aug. 25, with items including continued discussion of the county administrator hiring process and final action on the 2026-2029 Economic Development Strategic Plan. See meeting agendas and livestream details.

The Pima County Board of Health will meet Wednesday, Aug. 26, to talk about TCE and PFAS water pollution plus health impacts from mining and data centers. See the agenda and virtual meeting details.

Flandrau Science Center will host a free lunar eclipse watch party 5:30-11 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, with telescopes on the UA Mall, planetarium shows, and two screenings of a Pink Floyd laser show timed around the eclipse. The partial eclipse peaks at 9:12 p.m., when about 96% of the moon will be in Earth’s shadow.

Tucson City Council Member Nikki Lee announced she won’t run again when her term ends next year. She took office in December 2019. Lee represents Ward 4, which covers the southeast part of the city.