Dozens line the median of Congress Street as the rain comes down on a demonstration against federal agents' fatal shooting of a man in Minnesota.
Protest
In Tiananmen Square (Beijing, China) in 1989, one man stopped four military tanks by quietly standing in front of the lead tank. One man. One voice.
With two shooting deaths and the resulting protests in Minneapolis, it seems to me that the Trump administration, being led by Stephen Miller, is intent on creating chaos through the actions of ICE agents. I fear that the end game is to spread this chaos to other cities throughout our country so as to justify (in their minds) declaring Martial Law … and thereby canceling the 2026 general election. I may be overreacting, but the prospect of the 2026 election being canceled so that President Trump remains in power scares me.
ICE agents are currently grabbing non-criminal undocumented immigrants off of our Tucson streets.
Because I have reached my tipping point, I choose to join other Tucson citizens taking our concerns to the streets. If you, too, have reached your tipping point, go to Take Action Tucson for listings of organized protests.
Randy Garmon
North side
Credit-card stocks
I called two nationwide investment firms and posed this question. Can I put a stock purchase on my credit card? Neither said no. That is insane. At 12% average interest and 5% in commissions and fees, it would take a 17% gain just to break even. In 1999, during the Clinton administration, Glass-Steagall was repealed, allowing commercial banks to invest in securities. That mistake caused the 2008 crash due to the banks borrowing the money to invest, and using depositors' money, creating a fear of runs on the banks. Allowing stocks to be purchased on credit cards could cause a mini-2008, as the ‘investors’ would not be able to keep up with the high payments for the purchase. And there will be no government bailout to save them. Big mistake.
Jon Langione
Marana
No investigation?
When you read the TPD “critical incident reviews” (available online), patterns emerge. Officers show remarkable restraint and heroism when suspects ignore instructions to drop their guns, and typically don’t fire their weapons until fired upon. On Friday, TPD officers wounded an armed man. There will be two investigations about this incident — one by the University of Arizona police and one by TPD. I don’t know what the results of the investigations will be, but the point is, the shooting will be investigated.
Trump Administration officials say the two killings in Minneapolis will not be investigated. They immediately slandered the victims as terrorists. ICE and the Border Patrol are blocking Minnesota officials from examining evidence. The videos we have all seen put the lie to the gaslighting by Noem, Bovino, Vance, and Trump. If their agents are acting correctly, they need not fear independent investigations.
Donald Reese
Southeast side
Locking us into sprawl
Transportation shapes how a region grows. RTA Next points us in the wrong direction.
By prioritizing large road widenings on the outskirts of the region, the plan reinforces low-density sprawl; development that is expensive to serve, car-dependent, and disconnected from daily needs. That growth pattern leaves Tucson paying the long-term costs while jobs, housing, and tax base spread farther apart.
Inside the city, residents are asking for walkability, better pavement on our arterials, safer streets, better transit, and transportation options that support infill, small businesses, and mixed-use neighborhoods. Those investments help people live closer to work, reduce household transportation costs, and make better use of existing infrastructure.
RTA Next largely ignores those goals. Instead, it commits the region to a future of longer commutes, higher public costs, and fewer choices.
Voting no on Propositions 418 and 419 allows us to align transportation spending with smarter growth, growth that strengthens Tucson rather than hollowing it out.
Melissa Mason
Northeast side
Greenland
In a column on Jan. 24, Paul McCarthy told us that since Greenland is a handy spot to put missiles and radar stations and since — by the bye — it has lots of mineral wealth, then the United States has an interest — yeah, an obligation — to own and control the place. He suggests that critics are trying to “invoke abstract notions of sovereignty while ignoring practical realities.” This is the language of Putin talking about Ukraine, of the Nazis referring to Hungary, Poland and France. It is the language of ambition and greed. Sovereignty is merely an abstract notion?
McCarthy, representing the Heritage Foundation, says, “This is not imperial conquest. It is a strategic consolidation.” Employing an Orwellian euphemism does not change reality. The fact that Greenland/Denmark have something that Trump wants, and finding a rationale for getting it by whatever means necessary is imperialism. The people of Greenland are not fooled by the euphemism. We should not be fooled either.
Scott Coverdale
Midtown
Trump's colors
If Minnesota and Maine aren’t white enough for Trump, imagine what he’s gonna do to Arizona.
George Timson
Midtown
Faster roads, deadlier outcomes
Over the past decade, roadway deaths in our region have risen dramatically, even as billions were spent through the RTA. Tucson now faces a safety crisis for everyone who uses our streets: drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists alike.
RTA Next doubles down on the same strategy: wider roads designed to move vehicles faster. We know where this leads. Higher speeds mean more severe crashes and more lives lost. This isn’t speculation; it’s well-documented traffic safety research and our lived experience.
The 1st Avenue project shows this problem playing out today. Throughout public outreach, residents have been clear that safety for all users is the top priority. But because the project relies on RTA funding, it must meet vehicle efficiency requirements, limiting the City’s ability to design for safety even when that is what the public is asking for.
We don’t need more of the same. Voting no on Propositions 418 and 419 gives Tucson a chance to pursue a transportation plan that actually saves lives.
Gustavo Silva
Downtown
Touch a nerve?
Given the events of the past few weeks, it might be a good time to review the definition of fascism:
"Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian political ideology marked by extreme nationalism, a strong central government led by a dictator, militarism, and the suppression of opposition, prioritizing the nation/state above the individual. Key characteristics include a single-party state, control over economy and society, aggressive promotion of national or racial superiority, and opposition to democracy, liberalism, and communism, often rising through populist movements promising national rebirth.
At the core of fascism is loyalty to tribe, ethnic identity, religion, tradition, or, in a word, nation."
— Merriam-Webster
Tamzen Pickard
SaddleBrooke
'Yes' on Props. 218, 219
In her Jan. 26 guest opinion, Tucson City Councilperson Miranda Schubert (central Tucson’s Ward 6) makes the case for several brilliant transportation goals: shaded sidewalks; stormwater irrigation; protected bike lanes; redesigned dangerous streets; electric buses; shaded, clean, dignified bus stops that display bus status; and buses every eight minutes.
Mistakenly, she presents these worthy-but-underfunded goals as an either/or alternative to the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Next proposal, and she urges defeat of the March 10 county-wide transportation propositions.
In a universe of infinite possibilities, why limit the amount of good to which we can aspire?
We need both: all of the $2.3 billion in Pima County general transportation projects proposed (with no new taxes) under Props. 418 and 419; and push the Tucson City Council to fully adopt all of the wonderful transit projects supported by Councilperson Schubert.
Last day to register: Feb. 9. Ballots will arrive by mail.
Vote “Yes” on Props. 418 and 419. (Details: rtanext.com)
Stephen Yozwiak
Northwest side
ICE
ICE is no longer functioning as it was originally intended, and instead has become an organization delivering domestic terrorism within the United States. It picks up an occasional undocumented immigrant, and every once in a while, it picks up someone with an actual record of criminal violence, but its primary function is now to terrorize the populations in areas that don't support Trump. It is now an organization of domestic terrorism, as defined by the DHS.
For its use of the term domestic terrorism, DHS relies on the definition of terrorism from the Homeland Security Act. It states that terrorism is any activity that:
(A) involves an act that —
(i) is dangerous to human life or potentially destructive of critical infrastructure or key resources; and
(ii) is a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State or other subdivision of the United States; and
(B) appears to be intended —
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping."
ICE is currently checking every one of those boxes in a concerted effort to bully citizens and local governments.
Congress has a duty to immediately stop all funding of ICE and to withhold it until the agency and its priorities are completely reworked. This is unlikely to happen under the Trump regime, so it will need to be defunded until he is out of office.
Saelon Renkes
Green Valley
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