Solar and ACC
The Arizona Corporation Commission is assaulting solar panels owners like me. I paid $21K after getting a rebate for my solar panels. My electric bill for September says my solar panels generated 833 kWH for a credit of $51.95. I receive $0.06237 each kWH. The electric company receives the rest from my system that generated 833 kWH.
I am not sure why some of the Commissioners want the electric company to receive all the kWH from solar panels. Why would anyone install solar panels if you do not receive anything for what the panels generate.
Arizona with its sunny days should be first in solar panels. This proposal will make Arizona last.
Matthew Nelson
Oracle
Full transparency, accountability at UA needed
Re: the Nov. 14 article “Higher education faces financial woes.”
The University of Arizona has serious financial problems. Resolution will surely have major impacts on students and faculty. The public has another interest that’s being overlooked: getting a clear understanding of how a public institution was so far off on its budget projections for this fiscal year.
In his Nov. 14 op-ed, Regents Chair Fred DuVal said, “President Robbins enjoys the full support of the board.” I hope Mr. DuVal can explain to taxpayers why his confidence is justified. Of course U of A shares the challenges common in higher ed today. But his op-ed failed to explain the $240 million shortfall. The Star reported, “the method the university normally uses [to forecasted cash on hand] was significantly off.” I’ll say!
Compared to the average Arizonan, U of A’s CFO Lisa Rulney and President Robert Robbins are paid enormous salaries. In theory that’s due to their managerial expertise. How can the public trust that UA has administrators and practices in place to prevent a recurrence? We expect full transparency and accountability.
Jim Armstrong
Green Valley
Fixed morality
Re: the Nov. 14 letter “Mr. Shapiro editorial.”
The letter writer suggests that “Faith provides a higher power and a fixed morality.” I am not convinced this is a good thing. We should continue efforts to make society fair and just for all instead of freezing the rules of society to those of a couple thousand years ago where, for example, women were to be subservient to men. Our non-fixed morality has improved society, and we have further improvements to make.
It is also interesting that the Declaration of Independence says men are granted rights by their Creator. However, the US Constitution states that “We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice ...” It is we the people who are responsible for establishing the rules of society. We can use ideas from religions in forming those rules (we have agreed that murder is wrong), but need not adopt all the rules of a religion for our current society.
Harold Hallikainen
East side
Agreement!
Re: the Nov. 16 letter “Can’t have it both ways.”
I am in partial agreement with the letter writer. I too believe Jeffries was wrong to question Trump’s legitimacy, although Trump did lose the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes in 2016 and over 7 million in 2020, but perhaps that’s a nit.
To play the “what about Hakeem,” card is weak at best. Jeffries did not incite a deadly riot at the capitol, did not create a slate of fake electors in multiple states, intimidate election officials and lose every election fraud court case. Jeffries supporters did not defecate in the halls of congress. So, nice misdirect on the key issue. (I’m being ironic.)
Since you did not address my key thesis, I assume we are in total agreement that Kirsten Engel is not only more qualified than Ciscomani but also ANY republican election denier in the entire state of Arizona. Thanks letter writer!
Jim Lombardo
Oro Valley
A little Jewish history
Re: the Nov. 24 letter “Mistaken historical claim.”
The following comments are from a book The FAHRUD by Edwin Black.
For 2,600 years Jews were imbedded in the Iraqi culture as a subordinated underclass known as dhimmi. This ended in a wild killing spree June 1-2, 1941. The title of this book comes from this incident. The Arabic word for violent dispossession is Farhud. The Jews did not consider themselves Zionists but Iraqi, but after the Fahhud occurred a mass exodus began since they realized they could no longer remain in Iraq.
Mufti Husseini of Jerusalem met with Adolf Hitler and pledged the support of Muslims everywhere to do their part in the extermination of Jews. He raised whole divisions trained by German officers for that purpose. This was mostly in Yugoslavia. By the end of the war very few Jews remained alive.
The Fahrud was not a beginning, not an ending. It may not even be at a midpoint.
Jack Walters
Northeast side
Wished I would have said this
“No matter what has it, life is the most precious thing there is. That is why any suffering by man or beast outside the natural order of things is repugnant, and why scientific research on animals is such a tough issue to deal with. It’s also why the murder of people is so heinous, and why killing animals for sport is disgusting. Because the worse thing you can do to something that lives is to make it stop.”
The late Beaufort Cranford, Detroit News Outdoor Editor, many years ago. Our society is becoming too violent. Hopefully some people will read and remember Mr. Cranford’s beautiful philosophy.
JD Shulec
Foothills
A short quaint history of football coaches salaries
I remember when the there was a legal fight to find out the compensation of Penn State’s football coach Joe Paterno. A 2008 state law was passed for such transparency, but Penn State refused. According to the New York Times, after all the court hearings, Penn State relented and announced that, in 2007, Paterno made $512,664 a year. In 2007, 54 college coaches made $1 million yearly and Nick Saban led with $4 million a year. Saban today makes $11.41 million.
Bear Bryant, no slouch of a college football coach with six national championships, insisted that he make a dollar less than the president of the university. He felt he needed to make less than the president of the university as a moral statement.
I guess the Babe Ruth answer to why he made more than the president of the United States is the real truth today. In 2023 University of Arizona terms, football coach Jedd Fisch did have a better year than President Robert Robbins—by far.
Matt Somers
Midtown
Antisemitism
To those Christians who hate Jews and think that they are bad, a question, does that include Jesus? He was a Jew.
Flora Frederick
Midtown
Why does History repeat?
Arizona has an education problem. Our educational programs are underfunded.
There are two easy answers to this underfunding.
1. Our population doesn’t want to pay taxes.
2. Legislators always vote to lower taxes.
This is why:
Legislators cut educational funding.
Arizona voters re-elect those that have cut spending.
Repeat, forever.
Parents of children, protest, realizing that their kids don’t meet the educational standards of their great grandparents, cry out about the lack of funds. They ask why Arizona is becoming the lowest of the low and the laughing stock of the nation when it comes to education spending and standardized testing.
Do we take the elephant by the trunk and throw it in the dirt pile of legislative errors or just use the trunk to continually blow away our education money so desperately needed by our education system.
So, Arizona voters, put your money where your mouth is. VOTE out those legislators that have been destroying our educational system for years. Until that vote happens, your protests are meaningless.
Bob Reynolds
East side
