And look for pollen counts to drop in coming days

University of Arizona students Jacob Butler (left) and Lauren Slosky, both 20, enjoy ice cream at the UA Mall on Tuesday afternoon. Slosky was raising money and letting people know about Project Sunshine, a UA club that helps ill children at University Medical Center. "It's been very hot, but it hasn't stopped us from raising money," Slosky said.

Cooler temperatures and fewer allergens should make Tucson a nicer place.

The city topped out at 97 degrees Tuesday, and Tucson will likely not see 100 degrees for several weeks, said John Glueck, a meteorologist with the Tucson office of the National Weather Service.

Gila Bend topped 100 Tuesday, and lower deserts in Pima County were expected to be close to the century mark, Glueck said.

The agency has an official temperature station at Tucson International Airport but not in outlying areas, he said.

The record high for Tuesday was 104 degrees in 1989, a year well known for early hot temperatures, Glueck said.

The earliest Tucson has seen 100 degrees was April 19 of that year, he said, with May 26 being the average date for cracking 100 over the past 113 years.

Don’t expect to feel the century mark here soon.

“There is a significant cooling trend coming up,” he said. “This will bring an increase in wind later this week and cooler temperatures, which will be below normal the early part of next week.”

And allergies should be less of a problem, said Mark Sneller, owner of Aero Allergen Research Inc.

Tuesday results from an air sampling instrument near East 22nd Street and South Wilmot Road showed pollen at 68 grains per cubic meter, he said.

Mesquite recorded 25 grains per cubic meter, grasses were 13, paloverde registered 12 and there were small amounts of creosote, pecan, olive and pine and a trace of ragweed, he said.

Readings of 200 to 300 grains per cubic meter are typically needed before people notice allergy problems, Sneller said.

Some local areas could see counts up to 10 times higher than at the test site, he said.

Dry weather makes allergy complaints rise. Moist respiratory systems can better handle allergens, Sneller said.

“In a general sense, the worst is over for the season. We will still have traces of this or that,” he said.

“The next big adventure in pollen and mold will be in August and September, but it all depends on the rainfall,” he said.

Arizona tomato producer Eurofresh Farms Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, CEO Dwight Ferguson said.

Eurofresh Inc.’s reorganization filing is part of an effort to recapitalize the company, which grows tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in greenhouses, Ferguson said.

“This decision was largely taken because of the debt load the company has acquired as it has grown so rapidly in recent years,” he said. “We’re still profitable, we’re still cash positive. We just have a big debt burden we need to correct.”

The company’s Arizona growing and packaging operations employ about 1,600. There is no plan to change the Arizona head count, he said.

Eurofresh’s Arizona facilities near Willcox and Snowflake cover more than 318 acres.

Eurofresh plans to submit a plan in May and complete its financial reorganization in the third quarter, Ferguson said.

The reorganization should appear seamless to customers, he said.

Eurofresh sells branded vegetables to major retail supermarket and club store chains nationwide, he said. Tomatoes account for more than 80 percent of the company’s business.

Brian Myer (left), a doctoral student in optics at the University of Arizona, talks about ways to store solar energy with Nate Allen (middle right) of Biosphere 2 and John Madocks at Global Solar Energy, 8500 S. Rita Road.

Five new projects granted $4 million in seed money could help make Arizona a center for solar development, backers said Friday.

Science Foundation Arizona announced the projects, and the formation of its new Solar Technology Institute, at lunch events in Tucson and Phoenix.

The Tucson event, attended by about 100 industry, government and university officials, was held just outside a 310,000- square-foot solar array that provides power at Global Solar Energy, 8500 S. Rita Road.

“The goal is developing disruptive technology breakthroughs that will bring the cost of solar energy down to the level of fossil fuels,” said Richard C. Powell, co-director of Solar Technology Institute. “We want to make Arizona a leader in the drive to change to solar.”

“Germany, Spain and even New Jersey lead Arizona in the development of solar energy,” said Paul Newman, a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities. “We’ve got to change that.”

The $4 million will provide startup funding for the projects, Powell said.

Half of the funding comes from Science Foundation Arizona and half from the private sector.

The funding is in hand and not affected by state budget cuts for the organization, Powell said.

The projects cover the full solar spectrum, from collecting the sun’s energy to distributing electricity to consumers, said Leslie Tolbert, vice president for research, graduate studies and economic development at the University of Arizona.

“The goal here is not just to meet our energy needs but to become a net exporter,” Tolbert said.

The projects are collaborations that include UA, Arizona State University and a variety of industry partners, she said.

Solar panels don’t work at night, and energy storage is a challenge that one funded project is addressing, Powell said.

Plans call for generating excess solar power during the day that will be used to compress air that will be stored, he said.

When darkness curtails energy production, the stored compressed air can be used to drive turbines to generate electricity, he said.

Another project is using nanotechnology to improve the efficiency of thin-film solar devices while driving the price down, said Ray Kostuk, UA professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Ultra-thin coatings will cause sunlight to spend more time exciting the elements in thin-film devices so they produce more electricity, Kostuk said.

Other projects are:

• Concentrator photovoltaics to develop the next generation of low-cost solar reflectors that concentrate the sun’s energy on high-efficiency photovoltaic cells.

• Quickly testing and certifying solar products to determine the performance of new and improved technologies.

• An improved system of “smart” electric grid management and command and control software to help select future power generation sites, storage sites and distribution and transmission pathways throughout the state.

Science Foundation Arizona is a nonprofit public-private partnership that invests areas of strategic importance to the state, including renewable energy and biomedicine.

The executive director of the Sonoran Environmental Research Institute won an Environmental Protection Agency award for her efforts to reduce toxic emissions in predominantly low income and minority neighborhoods in South Tucson.

Ann Marie Wolf was among 40 individuals and groups from Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii and Pacific islands to receive the award for outstanding achievement in protecting the environment, according to EPA.

Wolf headed a Community for a Renewed Environment program that saw area auto body repair businesses dramatically reduce the use of solvents.

Bike 2 Work week rolls on.

Free breakfasts for cyclists will be available 7-9 a.m. Thursday at North Silverbell Road and West St. Mary’s Road, and the Rillito River path at North Campbell.

Cyclists are invited to register their bikes or get them tuned up and get maps and other bike commuting information on the UA Mall, 1303 E. University Blvd., 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday.

Veer, a movie about the bike culture in Portland, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Arizona International Film Festival at Cinema La Placita downtown near Broadway and Church. Valet bike parking will be provided.

Tucson’s focus on cycling to work culminates with a free breakfast and live music from 7 to 9 a.m Friday in front of the Main Library downtown.

A bike tour of downtown Tucson will roll out of La Placita Village at 4:30 p.m.

Breaking Away, a classic cycling film, will be screened at 7:30 p.m. at Cinema La Placita. The movie, popcorn and valet bike parking are all free.

More than 15,000 people are expected to lace up their running shoes Sunday and raise money to battle breast cancer.

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure has a goal of raising $1.5 million locally, said Carol Cullivan, event director.

“It is the largest participatory event in southern Arizona,” she said.

Events, which consist of noncompetitive one mile and 5 kilometer walk/runs and a competitive 5 kilometer race, will kick off at 7 a.m. at Reid Park, Cullivan said.

People can sign up for the event through Sunday morning, she said.

The event is a major fundraiser for breast cancer work in Pima, Yuma, Cochise, Graham, Greenlee and Santa Cruz counties, Cullivan said.

“All the funds we generate from this race go to provide services for people,” she said. “We provide local grants for breast health screening, treatment and education.”

Breast cancer is a widespread problem.

“In southern Arizona 1 in 6 women are afflicted with breast cancer, and nationally it is 1 in 8,” she said.

“Everyone seems to know someone or is related to someone with breast cancer.”

The highlight of the event will be a survivors ceremony at 9:30 a.m., she said. More than 1,000 breast cancer survivors are expected to parade onto the stage at the Demeester Bandshell in what is expected to be an emotional event, she said.

In addition to fighting breast cancer, the event will support another local cause, Cullivan said. “We are working in conjunction with the Community Food Bank, asking people to bring a box of cereal to El Con (during registration Thursday through Saturday) or to the race,” she said.

“We are working with the community to help those in need.”

More than 700 volunteers are involved in putting on the event, which will require hundreds of portable toilets, Cullivan said.

The event is put on by the Susan G. Komen Southern Arizona Affiliate, where Cullivan is development director.

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IF YOU GO

What: 11th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

When: events begin at 7 a.m. Sunday

Where: Reid Park, near South Country Club Road and East Camino Campestre

Events: 1 mile and 5 kilometer noncompetitive walk/runs and a 5K competitive run

Fees: $23 to $40, depending on event

Parking: participants are asked to park at El Con Mall. Shuttle bus service will be provided from the north parking lot at El Con, north of The Home Depot, to the race site from 6-7:30 a.m. Return shuttle service will run from 9:15-10:45 a.m.

For more information, go to www.komensaz.org

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ENTRY INFORMATION

Entries for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure will be accepted through Sunday morning.

Entries will be accepted at El Con Mall, 3600 E. Broadway. The event storefront, across from Ross Dress for Less, will be open from noon to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Race-day entries will be accepted from 6 to 7:45 a.m. Sunday at Ramada 22 at the northwest corner of Reid Park.

Adult entry fees for the mile and 5 kilometer noncompetitive events are $35, with cancer survivors paying $25. Children’s fees are $23, and competitive runners pay $40 for their event.

The outlook for Arizona biotech industry jobs may be brighter than anticipated, 175 University of Arizona students learned at a BIO5 Institute event Tuesday.

W.L. Gore & Associates Inc.’s medical products division plans to hire about 1,500 employees in Phoenix and Flagstaff, said Cody Bliss, product specialist.

Bliss made the trek down from Flagstaff to meet and greet UA students studying biotech, engineering, information technology and other disciplines.While Tuesday’s event was not a formal job fair, many job résumés were dropped off with six participating biotech companies from around the state.

About 25 percent of employees at BioVigilant Systems Inc., a Tucson-based instantaneous microbial detection firm, were affiliated with UA, said Scott Morris, manager of special projects. The firm will consider UA students when filling current openings, Morris said.

But the economic slowdown and other factors mean other area bio firms are not currently hiring.

“In the past we’ve hired quite a few people out of UA,” said Kenneth F. Wertman, scientific director at Sanofi-Aventis Combinatorial Technologies Center in Tucson. “I wish I had hired a number of people I met here today but we’re waiting for the economy to turn around.”

Hilary Taylor, a UA senior in molecular and cellular biology, said she began sending out résumés in December and looked at the event to broaden her contact base for employment.

The event was held to introduce biotech firms to UA students, and vice versa, said Kevin Hall, director of research, training and career development at BIO5.

Tucson’s Bike 2 Work Week is under way.

Events kick off Wednesday with a free breakfast station for cyclists 7-9 a.m. at East Third Street and North Country Club hosted by the Ward 6 City Council office and Xoom Juice.

Bicyclists are invited to take an art tour of the downtown area Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. The tour begins at the Ward 1 City Council office, 940 W. Alameda St.

Free breakfasts for cyclists will be available 7-9 a.m. Thurday at North Silverbell Road and West St. Mary’s Road, and East River and North Campbell.

Cyclists are invited to register their bikes or get them tuned up and get maps and other bike commuting information on the UA Mall, 1303 E. University Blvd., 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday.

“Veer,” a movie about the bike culture in Portland, will be shown at the Arizona International Film Festival. The screening will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Cinema La Placita downtown near Broadway and Church. Valet bike parking will be provided.

Even lesser periods of dryness will do more damage

University of Arizona researcher Henry Adams prepares a mature piñon from New Mexico for transplanting inside Biosphere 2, shown in the background.

A slight increase in temperature could see drought-stricken trees die five times faster than they do now, a University of Arizona researcher says.

Scientists were able for the first time to isolate the impact of increased heat on mature piñon mortality by using the controlled environment in UA’s Biosphere 2, said Henry Adams, lead author of a paper that will appear this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Drought killed at a faster rate piñon trees kept in an environment warmer than normal ambient temperature by 4 degrees centigrade – about 7 degrees Fahrenheit.

“The cooler trees lasted 28 percent longer,” said Adams, a doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology at UA. “All the warmer trees died before any of the cooler trees.”

Trees subjected to hotter drought conditions died in 18 weeks compared with 25 weeks for trees living in cooler drought conditions, he said.

A control group of trees watered normally survived at both temperatures, he said.

The effects of higher temperatures mean that lesser droughts, which occur with greater frequency than major droughts, will be deadly if temperatures increase, he said.

When researchers extrapolated the results using the region’s 100-year historical drought record, it showed that widespread piñon die-offs will occur five times faster than now based on anticipated temperature increases, Adams said.

Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have projected temperature increases of 3 to 5 degrees centigrade by 2100, he said.

Historical records from severe Southwestern droughts in the 1950s and earlier this decade showed that tree mortality was higher in a lesser drought with higher temperatures, said David Breshears, a UA professor of natural resources and the study co-investigator.

But researchers could not accurately say what impact higher temperatures had on tree mortality until this latest study led by Adams, Breshears said.

“What we’ve done is isolate the effect of temperature alone, and shown that this species is very sensitive to temperature,” Breshears said. “It is warmer in the future by 4 degrees centigrade you won’t need as long a drought to kill the trees.”

The study could show piñons are akin to canaries in coal mines, warning of deadly threats to a variety of species of trees and vegetation, Breshears said.

“I think it’s going to raise concerns of how big and vast the changes from increased temperature and drought are going to be,” he said. “In the Southwest, we’re going to have more drought and more frequent drought.”

Piñons try to protect themselves from drought by waiting it out, Adams said.

“They simply close their pores to not let water out so they are not losing water,” Adams said. “But they aren’t able to take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere needed to photosynthesize.

“If the drought goes on long enough, they run out of stored energy from photosynthesis and die,” he said. “At higher temperatures, they run out of stored energy faster and die sooner.”

The trees used in the two-year study came from near Las Vegas, N.M., Adams said. They were about 6 feet tall and 20 to 30 years old, he said.

The next step in research has begun near Flagstaff, Adams said.

“We’ll try to re-create what we did inside outside,” he said. “We’ll get accurate mortality rates in field conditions.”

The pines have been transplanted on the north side of the San Francisco Peaks to get a look at how heat affects drought-stricken trees in a more natural environment.

Trees have been planted at two levels – one 400 meters higher in elevation – to give a temperature difference of 4 degrees centigrade, he said.

The ground surrounding test trees will be covered with tarps to ensure drought conditions, he said.

Plans are in the works, said Adams, to study the heat effect on drought mortality on different species of trees inside Biosphere 2 near Oracle.

University of Arizona researcher Henry Adams explains his tree experiment to visitors at the Biosphere 2 glass-enclosed laboratory. The controlled environment allowed the testing of trees' mortality rates at varied temperatures.

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Tours, et cetera

• Biosphere offers tours throughout the day. The admission desk will provide tour times and start locations, according to Biosphere 2′s Web site.

• Admission: $20 general, $18 for seniors, military members, students and AAA members, $13 for children 6 to 12; free for children under 6.

• Half of the fee supports research and is tax deductible.

• Web site: www.b2science.org

Your DNA can play a big role in determining your odds of getting cancer.

“Genetic mutations can cause a much higher risk of cancer,” said Dr. Joanne Jeter, assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Arizona Cancer Center.

Heredity plays a major role because incidence of cancer in family members can mean an increased likelihood you will get the disease, she said.

“The most important thing is to know your family history of cancer,” Jeter said. “You want to identify who has these mutations and who doesn’t, who has high risk and who has standard risk.”

Jeter and Dr. Christina Laukaitis of the Arizona Cancer Center will present “Live Smarter: Cancer Genetics and You” at Tuesday’s University of Arizona Flandrau Science Center science cafe.

Science cafes are casual forums where people meet to discuss a particular scientific topic with UA researchers.

The event runs from 6-7:30 p.m. at Cushing Street Bar & Restaurant, 198 W. Cushing St.

Jeter said if a family tendency for a disease is identified, genetic counseling can lead doctors to test genetic material for mutations.

“Know the family history of disease. That will help identify people who need additional testing and may need additional interventions,” she said.

Strategies for at-risk people could include screening, chemotherapy or even surgical intervention, she said.

The science cafe event scheduled for May 5 – the final before a summer hiatus – will feature Peter Smith, principal investigator of the UA-led Phoenix Mars Lander mission, said Sam Kane, Flandrau’s associate director for marketing.

Smith will discuss the science that has occurred since the Lander arrived on Mars on May 25, Kane said.

———

IF YOU GO

What: Flandrau Science Center science cafe event

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Cushing Street Bar & Restaurant, 198 W. Cushing St.

Topic: “Live Smarter: Cancer Genetics and You”

Presenters: Dr. Christina Laukaitis and Dr. Joanne Jeter

Cost: free, with food and beverages available for purchase

Area officials are seeking the public’s comments to help formulate and refine policies dealing with sustainability and climate change.

Pima County, Tucson and the University of Arizona are holding a “spotlight conversation on climate action” April 22 to see what local residents think should be done on climate change issues, said Tedra Fox, Pima County’s sustainability manager.

Participants will be able to discuss climate change as it applies to drought preparedness, affordable and green housing, transportation, human health and food security, and jobs and the economy, Fox said.

“What we’re going to do is have the community help us identity the key issues we have to address and include them in the solutions discussions,” Fox said.

The ideas generated will help area officials refine policies and plans that will include a greater focus on sustainability, said Nicole Urban-Lopez, program assistant with the city’s office of conservation and sustainable development.

“This event is for the greater Tucson area and what we need to do to prepare for climate change and how to be a more sustainable community,” Urban-Lopez said.

“We really want to get the community registered to attend the event, which is free and open to the public,” she said. “Their input and participation in the conversation is really valuable to the city, county and University of Arizona climate change planning efforts.”

The event will begin with presentations on how climate change will affect Arizona in the areas of environment, economy and health, which will be followed by group discussions, Fox said.

The event runs from 8 a.m. to noon in the Grand Ballroom of the University of Arizona Student Union Memorial Center, 1303 E. University Blvd.

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IF YOU GO

What: spotlight conversation on climate action

When: 8 a.m. to noon April 22

Where: University of Arizona Student Union Memorial Center Grand Ballroom, 1303 E. University Blvd.

Cost: Free, open to public

To register: go to www.tucsonaz.gov/ocsd/climateaction

Can it prevent or treat prostate and cervical cancers?

Sherry Chow, research assistant professor at the Arizona Cancer Center, examines Polyphenon E pills being tested in three human clinical trials to determine if they can help prevent cervical cancer, prostate cancer and COPD, a precursor to lung cancer.

Arizona Cancer Center researchers are working to clinically prove readily available green tea extracts can prevent cancers.

The curative powers of green tea have long been touted, but three human clinical trials here seek to scientifically prove – or disprove – that Polyphenon E, a green tea extract, can help prevent cervical cancer, prostate cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – COPD – a precursor to lung cancer.

“A lot of people say green tea prevents this or prevents that,” said Dr. Francisco Garcia, who is heading a cervical cancer study. “We’re actually trying to see if that is true.”

But Sherry Chow, a co-investigator on the three studies, said, “There is no direct proof yet that green tea can prevent cancer. We’re doing the clinical trials necessary to move in that direction.”

The green Polyphenon E pills used in the study come from the National Cancer Institute, Chow said. Taking four small pills once a day offers the equivalent of the beneficial properties found in 16 cups of green tea, she said.

Garcia, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UA College of Medicine and Arizona Cancer Center member, is working to see if cervical cancer can be prevented, and perhaps even be resolved non-surgically.

In the cervical cancer clinical trial, participants who have persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infections or other high risks for cervical cancer take the pills for 16 weeks, Garcia said.

Half the participants get Polyphenon E, and half get a placebo, he said.

About 180 women will take part in the study, which is still seeking participants.

Call 318-7178 for more information on getting involved in the study.

“We’re looking for people with evidence of persistent HPV infection, abnormal Pap smears, or might have an an abnormal biopsy,” Garcia said.

Dr. Frederick Ahmann, a UA professor of medicine and surgery, is leading a study to determine if Polyphenon E could potentially impact prostate cancer.

Study participants are taking Polyphenon E for a few weeks before undergoing surgery to remove their cancerous prostate.

Tissue removed during surgery will be examined to see if the green tea extract reached the prostate and had any effect on tissues there, Ahmann said.

“It’s the first step, but an important test, to see if these substances will turn out to be useful,” Ahmann said. “There are theoretical benefits right now but we don’t know if green tea does anything.”

Participants are told the research will not help their situation, but will perhaps help people in the future, he said.

If this test – slated for completion by year’s end – is successful, future clinical trials could possibly determine if green tea can prevent or even cure prostate cancer, he said.

The COPD study is assessing whether the green tea pills can reverse some of the damage associated with the disease, said Chow, research associate professor at UA.

COPD, primarily caused by heavy smoking, is a disease that leads to a high risk for developing lung cancer, Chow said.

Dr. Iman Hakim, principal investigator and dean of the UA College of Public Health, is investigating whether green tea intervention can actually reverse some of the airway damage caused by COPD, Chow said.

Green tea components like Polyphenon E – a chemically defined, decaffeinated, catechin-enriched antioxidant green tea extract – are dietary supplements already available to the public, Garcia said.

“The issue is not whether you can get it, but whether it would do anything for you,” Garcia said.

“The big thing for me is to not oversell this concept. We are enthusiastic and hopeful, but the whole reason we are doing the trial is to see if these agents, which look so promising in the laboratory, really have a human application.”

Ahmann, who is working on a study to see if green tea extract can impact prostate cancer, agrees.

“Dietary supplements can be sold and touted as something you can do to try and help yourself without any true tested evidence that it works,” Ahmann said.

“We don’t believe that is the proper way to decide what people should or shouldn’t take. You should test something to see if there is a positive benefit before you suggest someone take something.”

And the public should be cautious of the quality of supplements being sold.

“The over-the-counter pills are not controlled by the FDA,” Chow said.

“You don’t know what is in them. They are so variable.”

The National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, has funded the three studies to the tune of $3.2 million, Chow said.

The COPD study has $1.8 million in funding, the cervical cancer study got $1 million and the prostate cancer study received $400,000, she said.

The Arizona Cancer Center led the way in proving that Polyphenon E is safe and could enter the bloodstream, said Chow, who led that investigation.

The Tucson center, which was the first to work with pure Polyphenon E capsules, is also the leader in investigating the preventive properties of the green tea compound, she said.

“We’re really excited about each one of our studies,” Chow said.

“We can’t wait to finish them and have more information to share with the public.”

Taking four Polyphenon E capsules daily offers the equivalent of the beneficial properties found in 16 cups of green tea. Arizona Cancer Center researchers are working to determine if the pills can prevent several types of cancer.

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ON THE WEB

Arizona Cancer Center site: www.azcc.arizona.edu

Giffords

The federal stimulus money intended for Arizona could create or save 70,000 jobs over the next two years, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords said Wednesday during her state of the district presentation.

The $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will offer local help, Giffords, a Democrat, told about 200 people attending the luncheon event.

“We’re talking about 8,000 jobs in southeast Arizona,” she said.

That would be good news for Arizona, where the unemployment rate has been inching closer to 10 percent with each monthly jobs report announcement.

“In Arizona last year, every single day about 220 people were told they no longer had a paycheck,” Giffords said.

“Last year, one out of every 198 homes in the state received a foreclosure notice,” she said. “Here in Pima County that translates into almost 25 foreclosures every single day.”

The federal stimulus package calls for funding to increase the nation’s capacity for generating power from solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources, she said. Arizona’s abundant sunshine should make the state a magnet for such business growth, she said.

The stimulus package, 40 percent of which comes from tax cuts, is not expected to have an immediate impact.

“The hope is that by the end of 2009 we will have hit the bottom and be on the way back up,” Giffords said.

“But if 2009 is truly terrible, as opposed to just bad, we may need to do more,” she said.

Results for efforts to boost education, new alternative energy businesses and other economic areas will be examined and programs refined if necessary, she said.

“We need to stand back and evaluate what is working,” she said.

The economic crisis has pushed issues important to residents in Giffords’ 8th Congressional District – such as border security – to the back burner, she said.

“I haven’t forgotten about it,” Giffords said. “It’s still being discussed but it is not a top priority.”

A spate of drug-related border violence, including 7,000 homicides in Mexico, is pushing the issue back to the forefront, Giffords said.

“The most contentious part of this is what we do with the 12 million to 14 million people who are here (illegally),” she said.

She said documentation of illegal entrants should be mandatory, they should be required to pay back taxes and fines, and must not jump to the front of the line ahead of people who have been waiting to acquire documentation to come to this country legally.

Vivyan Adair, a feminist scholar and author, will give a talk at the University of Arizona at 11 a.m. Thursday on motherhood, poverty and education.

Adair, an associate professor of women’s studies at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., who has an adult daughter, will speak in the Rincon Room at the Student Union Memorial Center, 1030 E. University Blvd.

The newly formed Feminist Action Research in Rhetoric student coalition is coordinating the event.

An exhibition of Adair’s photographs titled “Missing Stories of Ourselves: Poverty and the Promise of Higher Education” is on display at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave., during April.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Economic activity up 57% in 5 years, study says; 87,417 jobs in sector

Bioscience work such as the research done in the Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch Building at University of Arizona contributes billions of dollars to the Arizona economy.

Arizona’s bioscience sector posted $12.5 billion in state economic impact in 2007, and that figure is expected to continue to grow, according to a study released Tuesday.

Arizona had 87,417 bioscience jobs – 2.5 percent of total state employment in 2007 – paying $5.3 billion, according to the report prepared by Ohio-based Battelle Technology Partnership Practice for the Flinn Foundation in Phoenix.

The report is to be presented by Walter H. Plosila, Battelle senior adviser and consultant, at a luncheon at the Biozona 2009 conference in Phoenix.

“Between 2002 and 2007, economic activity within the bioscience sector increased 57 percent, jobs 20 percent and tax revenues 35 percent,” Plosila said in a statement released Tuesday morning. “This rate of growth is difficult to find elsewhere in the nation.”

Bioscience economic impact jumped from just short of $8 billion in 2002 to $12.5 billion in 2007. Sector jobs increased from 72,855 to 87,417, and bioscience payroll increased from $3.2 billion to $5.3 billion, according to the report.

State bioscience employment is projected to top 142,000 jobs by 2020 if industry and government leaders continue to make progress on Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap, a 10-year plan launched in 2002 to make Arizona a biotech powerhouse.

The recession may slow expected progress.

“The economic turndown will clearly have an impact on reaching these numbers,” said Plosila, who leads the Roadmap research. “It affects the biosciences, just as it affects all industries.

“Arizona is on the right trajectory, though given the state of the global economy, it may take more time to realize these long-term gains.”