Here and Now - State Budget, Transportation
The broadway musical RENT (which recently came to the valley) features a catchy number that starts like this:
"Five-hundred twenty-five thousand six-hundred minutes..." The refrain ends with the question "How to do you measure, measure a year?"
In legislative terms, as of midnight Sunday, lawmakers have "two-thousand eighty minutes and zero seconds... to approve a budget, a budget to begin the new year." Question is, will they?
And will it be enough to pay the RENT?
If Here and Now is starting to sound like a record that's skipping--playing the same song over and over--I apologize. There are plenty of other important topics to discuss. Just one problem. Nothing compares to the historic almost $4-BILLION budget deficit the state faces. And solving it is proving to be as elusive as finding DB Cooper and all the money he had with him when he jumped from a jet into the northwest wilderness.
Okay, I digress. But the point is, we know there are plenty of important topics to get to, but first we must make sense of what's going on a 1700 Washington west of downtown Phoenix.
That being said, one of the important topics we plan to discuss is transportation--buses, light rail, cars, roads, interstates, airplanes, etc. Fares for mass transit goes up Wednesday. And guess what? Revenues for expanding light rail and bus service is not going up. It's going down. Meaning there are fewer tax dollars to pay for it.
And not just mass transit, but for building roads, highways, freeways, and the like. Less driving is one option, (right?) but another is to speak the unspeakable word at the capitol. So I will spell it slow as not to cause such a fuss. Ready? T-a-x-es! Anyone shooting yet? The bottom line. If we want our roads and interstates, then we have to pay for them somehow. And even those in the transportation industry think one fair way is to tax gas more, so those guys driving tricked out 4X4 trucks, will have something else they'll have to compensate for.
So, we plan to talk budget (again) and visit an issue important to everyone --transportation. Have a comment, question, or clever retort? Please submit it! We do have to moderate comments to keep those darn spammers from filling up our pages with their stupid pharmaceuticals and the like. So, if you don't see your comment, right away, no worries, it will be up soon. Thanks! Paul
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Here and Now: Budget Stalemate, Cancer Treatment
President Obama will meet with Hispanic leaders today to discuss what should be contained in an immigration reform proposal. KJZZ's Here and Now checks in with Dena Bunis, Washington bureau chief for the Orange County Register, to find out the latest on what's going on.
ASU law professor Paul Bender will discuss the legal ramifications from Tuesday's Supreme Court decision in the tussle between the Governor and legislative leaders over the budget. George Cunningham, former deputy chief of staff for Governor Napolitano, will discuss where the political tug-of-war goes from here.
The Business Journal's Angela Gonzales will talk about the proliferation of cancer treatment facilities in the valley. And cancer researchers Kim Bussey and SuWon Kim will discuss some of the latest innovations in cancer treatment, clinical trials in Arizona, and the cancer research taking place in the valley.
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Here and Now: Budget Update; Ballot Props Re-vote; Arts Fundraising
Governor Brewer has had enough. She let lawmakers go through their normal course of developing a budget, but after a legislative leader walked out of budget negotiations, the Governor is taking a different tack. Brewer filed a special action lawsuit Tuesday to force legislative leaders to send her the budget bills lawmakers passed. Some capitol observers may joke that it's the latest move in a game of chicken, but its no laughing matter to the thousands of Arizonans who rely on state government for some kind of help and the tens of thousands of workers who draw a paycheck from the state.
Here and Now will examine the latest news concerning the state budget impasse.
Former Senate President and current Secretary of State Ken Bennett will discuss the idea of putting voter approved initiatives back on the ballot with Mark Osterloh, MD. The idea is for voters to re-approve ballot initiatives passed between 1998 and 2004 that require state spending but did not contain a dedicated funding source, other than the state general fund. Dr. Osterloh spearheaded an initiative that expanded state sponsored healthcare for thousands of Arizonans.
Finally, myartscommunity.org
was an attempt to solicate donations to help valley arts and culture organizations survive the recession. It ended up costing more than what it took to fund the initiative. Here and Now looks at the impact the down economy is having on performing arts, museums and the like, and how people can help.
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