Hola! Gracias for making Arizona Luminaria part of your week. We’re always grateful to hear from you. June is coming. And we desert-dwellers who stay for summer are readying for intense heat. We’re also seeking ways to best support our unsheltered neighbors living through 100-degree-plus temperatures. In the coming months, we’re dedicating local news coverage to climate and how we are — and are not — caring for our most vulnerable neighbors during Arizona’s deadly heat. This week, we had the privilege of sharing more stories of our communities, including reporting on a rate hike proposed by Tucson Electric Power, the private utility owned by a Canadian energy conglomerate.
In today’s newsletter:
⚡️Tucson Electric Power rate hike. What you need to know in English and Spanish.
🎓Many Indigenous student graduates try to bridge worlds wearing Tribal Nation regalia along with their cap and gown amid Arizona’s governmental red tape. Read en español.
🎼As the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind closes, a short-term deal with Saguaro City Music Theatre keeps Berger center open.
📚“Do we take care of one another?”: Elma Correa’s award-winning novel published en español examines relationships between women and the ways they confront hostility and friendship in a borderlands barrio.
Featured stories
TEP rate case: What Tucson customers need to know
“Our TEP bills are too high now,” writes Janelle Menick in a public comment on the ongoing Tucson Electric Power rate case. Hal Bergsma asks how people on fixed incomes […]
TEP busca aumentar tarifas: lo que los clientes de Tucson deben saber
“Las facturas de TEP ya son demasiado altas”, escribió Janelle Menick en un comentario público sobre el caso tarifario en curso de Tucson Electric Power. Hal Bergsma cuestionó cómo las […]
Arizona’s tribal regalia toolkits aid Indigenous students, families and schools amid grad season
Under the scratchy, synthetic material of a graduation gown, Amira Angelo will feel her Apache camp dress — a red, cotton, three-tiered flowing skirt with black ric rac. Her blouse […]
Las guías de vestimenta tribal de Arizona ayudan a estudiantes indígenas, familias y escuelas en graduaciones
Debajo del material áspero y sintético de una toga de graduación, Amira Angelo sentirá su vestido ceremonial apache: una falda roja de algodón, fluida y de tres niveles, con adornos […]
Berger Performing Arts Center to remain open — despite ASDB move — as Saguaro City Music Theatre takes over
When he walked across the Berger Performing Arts Center stage in 1992, Steven Dewakuku received his high school diploma from The Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. […]
“¿Nos cuidamos las unas a las otras?”: “Donde Termina el Verano” explora la amistad y la frontera
Elma Correa cree que la literatura parte de una pregunta persistente sobre la experiencia de las mujeres en un mundo que, a veces, parece rechazar su existencia. A partir de […]
“Do we take care of one another?”: “Donde Termina el Verano” explores friendship and the borderlands
Elma Correa believes literature begins with a persistent question about women’s experience in a world that, at times, seems to reject their existence. From that seed, her book “Donde Termina […]
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The Salvation Army is looking for volunteers and supplies for Operation Chill Out, a summer relief outreach program serving unsheltered and vulnerable community members starting June 1. Donate supplies including bottled water, jerky, granola bars and more at the Hospitality House Shelter located at 1002 N. Main Avenue, Monday through Thursday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. To volunteer, contact Volunteer Coordinator Kristin Ohman at 520-448-3997.
The City of Tucson’s Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on development codes for large-scale data centers on June 3 at 6 p.m in City Hall chambers. Interested parties can attend in person or virtually, and submit comments to PlanningCommission@tucsonaz.gov. Read more about the proposals here.
Arizona Luminaria earned two 2026 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards through collaborations with Arizona Public Media. Luminaria shared honors in the Television Small Market News Documentary category for “Mobile Homes: The Last Affordable Housing” and the Radio Small Market News Documentary category for “The Buzz: Mental Health Care in the Pima County Jail.”
The Arizona Board of Regents is considering changes to its financial reporting policy that would eliminate a requirement for universities to report their actual quarterly cash balances, replacing it with a focus on projected year-end figures. Board staff say point-in-time cash snapshots are difficult to interpret mid-year due to factors like tuition billing cycles and payroll periods — but the proposed change comes as the University of Arizona has faced intense scrutiny over its finances in recent years, including a budget crisis that prompted deep cuts.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved $250,000 in spending from its contingency fund to expand domestic violence and victim services, including after-hours advocacy, forensic strangulation exams, emergency shelter support and a firearm transfer program for domestic violence offenders. The proposal would increase funding for community partners SACASA and Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse amid rising demand and the loss of some federal grant support.
Spots are still available for Pima Community College summer youth programs at a discounted rate, as classes begin Monday, June 1 for students ages 13-17. Students can try out new skills with hands-on learning in aircraft maintenance and manufacturing, automotive, digital design, bio technology, cyber safety and more. Cost is $150. Call 520-206-5100 or email pcc-csnavigator@pima.edu with questions.
Summer hours at the Tucson Botanical Gardens start June 1 and include $5 Fridays through Sept. 25. The Dog Days of summer program includes morning dog walks in the garden with a free treat upon entry. Dog admission is $5.
Pima County Public Library will host “A Discussion with Tucson Journalists: Working in an Age of Unprecedented Challenges” from 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 6, at The Coalition Space, 311 E. Seventh St. The panel will feature local journalists Becky Pallack of Arizona Luminaria, Dylan Smith of Tucson Sentinel and David Lee of Arizona Public Media discussing issues, including Artificial Intelligence, disinformation, media conglomeration and shrinking newsroom finances. Details.
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