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In today’s newsletter:

🕯️ More than 1,000 mourners packed Catalina Park Wednesday with candles, rainbow flags and anti-hate signs to honor Cameron Davis Capara and Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, the two men killed outside LGBTQ+ bar Venture-N. See the photos.

📚 TUSD released the data behind its school closure decisions Thursday and named the 31 people on the committee that will help decide which of its 88 schools close. Read more.

🌵 Borderlands Bulletin: On a podcast taped in Tucson, local environmentalists said trail cameras show 86% of animals can’t cross the border wall, while Tohono O’odham advocate Amy Juan pushed back on claims that new construction on the nation’s land is about security. Read more.

🥵 With Pima County logging 117 heat deaths last year — two-thirds of them seniors — three Tucson nonprofits are driving, cooling and checking in on older residents to get them through the hottest months. Read more.

🐸 No licking: veterinarians are giving Sonoran desert toads full neurological exams to figure out what “normal” actually looks like for the chunky, toxin-coated amphibians. Read more.

Featured stories

Photos: Vigil draws 1,000 to honor two men killed outside LGBTQ+ Tucson bar

More than 1,000 supporters and mourners gathered at Catalina Park near Fourth Avenue on Wednesday, Sept. 2, many draped in rainbow flags and clothing bearing anti-hate messages, carrying candles and […]

TUSD posts school closure data, releases list of committee members

A first look at the range of data used to determine which Tucson Unified School District schools will close and be consolidated was made publicly available Thursday afternoon. The 31 members […]

Local environmentalists discuss federal border construction impact on public lands, wildlife

Amy Juan questioned why the Trump administration is misrepresenting the border wall as a critical security measure and targeting millions of dollars to build a structure the Tohono O’odham Nation […]

“Invisible disaster”: How Tucson nonprofits help seniors through extreme heat

It’s 103 degrees outside, and it’s hard to avoid the unrelenting heat, even on Tamara Shamrock’s shaded porch. But Tamara, 61, is only outside for a little while before she’s […]

No licking. How scientists study Sonoran desert toads.

Last summer, Kansas State University veterinarian Gretel Tovar-Lopez headed south on Interstate 35 bound for Oklahoma State University, home to a colony of Sonoran desert toads. She and her colleagues […]

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The Watershed Management Group is hosting an online information session Tuesday, Sept. 8 from 7-8:30 p.m. to talk about the proposed revisions to Tucson’s Large Quantity Water User Ordinance. Tucson Water will present revisions to the Mayor and Council at its Sept. 22 meeting. Register for the info session here.

The Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation will host a community forum about the impact of federal funding cuts on HIV and hepatitis C services. The forum, led by health care providers and advocates, will take place Tuesday, Sept. 8 from 5-8 p.m. at the TMC Health Campus on 5301 E. Grant Road, in the Marshall Auditorium.

The city of Tucson is seeking input on shelter housing rules. The Drachman Institute at the University of Arizona and the city’s Planning and Development Services Department are hosting public feedback exhibits on how zoning code regulates emergency shelters, ahead of a planned code amendment. Sessions include interactive maps and displays on where shelter housing should be located and how it should be defined. The Fourth Avenue Coalition Space hosts one Sunday, Sept. 13, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Park Place Mall’s central exhibit space runs Oct. 2-4; and a virtual session is set for Thursday, Sept. 24, 5:30-7 p.m. (registration required for the virtual session). All sessions are free. RSVP.

The Arizona Center for the Missing in Action will hold a POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony on Friday, Sept. 18 at the University of Arizona. The ceremony includes a remembrance service and student presentations on MIA recovery missions conducted across Europe this summer. Details.

PFAS in Arizona: The Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy hosts a panel on “forever chemical” contamination and regulation in the state, with researchers from the University of Arizona alongside officials from Tucson Water and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Grand Challenges Research Building, 750 N. Cherry Ave. The free event includes a panel discussion and audience Q&A. Register.

Meet Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing Executive Director Nikki Soukup and discuss local priorities for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind residents at a community gathering from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Tucson Deaf Community Center, 1436 N. 11th Ave. ASL interpreters and CART captioning will be provided on-site. Register.