C. Leighton

Two brothers and a third man were arrested Wednesday and accused of killing 37-year-old Rosario Maria Morey, police said.

Christopher Leighton, 23, Robert Leighton, 25, and Zachary Roesch, 21, are charged with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and kidnapping, said Tucson police spokesman Sgt. Fabian Pacheco Wednesday.

Morey was dead when officers answered a call from her boyfriend, who said he had found her unconscious and not breathing in her ground floor condominium in 1600 block of North Wilmot Road on Aug. 20, suffering from “obvious trauma.”

Pacheco would not release how Morey died, saying the information played a role in identifying the three who are charged.

Pacheco said all three are from Rio Rico and were in the custody of the Arizona Department of Corrections at the time of the arrests and are serving time on unrelated charges.

That could not be confirmed with state prison officials.

R. Leighton

Roesch

The Frances McClelland Institute for Children, Youth, and Families at the University of Arizona has been awarded a $200,000 grant to study how student sexuality, gender and conformity norms affect school systems.

The Ford Foundation awarded the grant this week for the two-year study.

Stephen T. Russell, Institute director, said in a news release that past research has focused on the connection between student sexuality and gender norms, and overall health or student well-being.

The new study will examine how schools, districts and state education systems can implement programs and policies to improve student safety and create a better world for youth.

The University of Arizona baseball team moved within a game of .500 with a dominant performance at Stanford on Friday night.

The Wildcats (18-19, 4-12) won 11-1 as Preston Guilmet (3-4) threw seven strong innings, allowing five hits and one run while striking out three.

UA scored four times in the fourth and twice in the fifth to take a 6-0 lead. The Wildcats added two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth.

Brad Glenn went 3 for 5 and hit his 40th career homer for the Wildcats, while Dwight Childs went 2 for 3 with three RBIs.

Glenn and Childs scored three runs apiece.

Jett Bandy, Kyle Stiner and Bobby Coyle also had a pair of hits for Arizona.

Bryce Bandilla pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Guilmet, who won for the first time since March 13.

Stanford’s Jordan Pries (3-1) took the loss, allowing six runs in 4 1/2 innings. The Cardinal had just six total hits, and got their only run on a homer by Toby Gerhart in the sixth.

UA is still in last place in the Pac-10, a half-game behind Oregon. The teams meet again at 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. UA will be home next week to host Arizona State at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

An African swallowtail butterfly sits on a leaf in the Butterfly Magic exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Gardens on Thursday. The swallowtail butterflies are easily identifiable by the "tail" on their lower wings.

Love butterflies? C’mon, who doesn’t?

Thursday is your last chance to catch the Tucson Botanical Gardens’ Butterfly Magic Exhibit before it closes for the season. At any given time, 400 butterflies are on display, said John Rhodes, curator of the exhibit. Over the seven-month duration of the exhibit, more than 200 different species of all shapes, colors and sizes have fluttered about the hothouse.

Each day, garden staff brings in the new butterflies and take out the ones that died of old age, Rhodes said.

On Friday morning, the exhibit was filled with children from the Cornerstone Christian Academy. As Rhodes stood with a visitor waiting to exit the greenhouse, one of the young students cheerfully announced, “five of them landed on my head.”

The butterflies in the garden’s exhibit come from nine suppliers who pack and ship them while the butterflies are in the chrysalis stage. Once they arrive in Tucson, they are taken to the emergence room, a climate-controlled space where they emerge from the chrysalis. Visitors who arrive early enough in the day can watch through a window as the butterflies emerge.

The butterflies are given loving care during their short lifetimes. The greenhouse is kept at a humid 85 degrees to 90 degrees.

It is filled with flowering plants that provide nectar for the butterflies. The flowers are sprayed four times a day with artificial nectar. And for those species that eschew flowers, there are small pots of puréed fruit.

If you happen to come across Rhodes, he’s happy to answer any questions you might have. Unless you ask if he has a favorite butterfly.

“It would be like asking someone who is your favorite child. They’re all my children,” he said.

A stationary, pinned exhibit might provide a closer look at butterflies, Rhodes said. But the garden’s live exhibit allows people to observe the lovely creatures as they would in nature. Visitors can watch as the butterflies feed, engage in courtship, and just do their thing.

“A lot of them, it seems like they play,” Rhodes said.

He’s seen them follow each other in what mimics a game of follow-the-leader. They seem to playfully bump each other off of leaves.

Once the butterfly exhibit closes, the remaining butterflies will be rounded up, carefully packed and shipped overnight to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, Colo., for its final exhibit.

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IF YOU GO

What: Butterfly Magic Exhibit. Visitors this Sunday also will enjoy Bugging Out, a display of live bugs from the Sonoran Desert and tropical rain forests, including tarantulas, scorpions and centipedes.

Where: Tucson Botanical Gardens, 2150 N. Alvernon Way.

When: Through April 30, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Cost: $11 for adults and $5.50 for children ages 4-12.

A house fire that did $25,000 of damage Friday has left a man, his wife and dog without a place to live.

Tucson Fire Capt. Trish Tracy said the American Red Cross will help the family with shelter, medication and food.

Firefighters arrived at the scene of the blaze, in the 2200 block of East Poquita Vista near South Campbell Avenue and East 36th Street, about 1:45 p.m., Tracy said.

Tracy said the fire was caused by heat conduction. The man had been soldering as he installed a new hot water heater. The heat from the soldering caused some flammable materials in the ceiling to catch fire.

The University of Arizona snagged two academic awards Wednesday.

• Craig Sheedy, a senior on the Wildcats’ diving team, was the men’s winner of the NCAA’s Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship, given for outstanding academic accomplishment and superior citizenship. Sheedy will receive a $24,000 scholarship.

Sheedy has a 4.0 grade point average in biochemistry and molecular biophysics, plus a second major in physiology and a minor in Spanish. The Byers award was established in 1988. Sheedy is Arizona’s first recipient. He and USC women’s soccer player Ann Massey were chosen from among six finalists.

• The UA men’s cross country team was among almost 800 teams across the nation recognized for top academic performance as part of the NCAA academic reform program. Based on its most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rates, the UA squad earned an NCAA Public Recognition Award, given each year to teams scoring in the top 10 percent in each sport with their overall APRs.

University of Arizona football coach Mike Stoops would get more than a $300,000 pay raise and make $1 million this season as part of a proposed contract extension through 2013.

Under the deal – pending Arizona Board of Regents approval – Stoops would make an extra $100,000 per season, culminating with a $1.4 million salary in 2013.

He also could earn more through attendance, academic and victory incentives.

Stoops, 47, would receive a $500,000 base salary and $500,000 in “peripheral and other duties” for the 2009 season. His previous contract paid him $685,288 per year, including a $385,288 base salary.

Stoops, who took Arizona to its first bowl win in 10 seasons last year, is 25-34 entering his sixth season at UA.

Stargazers are invited to attend a star party and fundraiser hosted by astronomer and author David Levy next month.

Levy’s nonprofit organization, the Sharing the Sky Foundation, is dedicated to getting young people interested in the night sky and will be accepting donations during the party, which will run from 3:30 to 10 p.m. May 2. The party will be on the Mall at the University of Arizona next to the Flandrau Science Center, 1601 E. University Blvd.

Telescopes with special filters will be set up to view the sun during the daylight hours. The moon and Saturn, along with distant stars and far-off galaxies, will be viewed after dark.

Admission is free but donations are encouraged. For more information, go to www.sharingthesky.org.

The University of Arizona baseball team managed to salvage one win on its trip to Washington.

UA suffered a three-game sweep to Washington State over the weekend, but held on to beat Gonzaga 8-7 in Spokane, Wash., on Monday in a nonconference game.

Shaun Cooper had three hits for Arizona (17-19); Dillon Baird, Jett Bandy and Steve Selsky each had two.

Hunter Pace and Bandy homered for the Wildcats.

Joe Allison (3-0) picked up the win in relief, and Cory Burns picked up his first save.

Burns allowed the first two hitters to reach base in the bottom of the ninth, but got out of trouble without allowing a run.

Gonzaga fell to 25-13. Ernesto Ortiz had three hits and scored three runs for the Bulldogs.

UA visits Stanford for the start of a three-game series at 5 p.m. Friday.

Alejandro Antonio Alvarez, 22, was set to sign plea deal in his infant’s death.

A man charged with first-degree murder and child abuse died of a possible drug overdose while in the Pima County Jail awaiting a court date.

Alejandro Antonio Alvarez, 22, was taken to the hospital Sunday night after jail staff reported that he had taken an unknown drug and appeared lethargic.

He died Monday morning, according to a news release issued by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

Investigators with the department say that Alvarez was on prescription medications and may have intentionally overdosed, but they will not make a final determination until toxicology tests as part of an autopsy are completed.

Alvarez was to sign a plea agreement on Monday in a case where he was accused of killing 5-month-old Jayher Holguin on Jan. 19, 2008.

Holguin was found dead by paramedics called to his mother’s home.

Alvarez, who was in a relationship with the mother, was supposed to be watching Holguin while his girlfriend was at work, according to the investigators with the Tucson Police Department who charged Alvarez with first-degree murder and child abuse.

The University of Arizona baseball team had a weekend to forget in Pullman, Wash.

The Wildcats (16-19, 3-12) were swept by Washington State, losing three one-run games – including an 8-7 decision in 11 innings Sunday.

UA, in last place in the Pac-10, will visit Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash., for a noon nonconference game Monday.

Cody Bartlett doubled in Garry Kuykendall with the winning run for Washington State with one out in the 11th.

Matt Veltman (2-5) took the loss for UA, allowing one run in 1 1/3 innings. Starter Kyle Simon went five innings and gave up four runs, only one of which was earned.

Dillon Baird was 2 for 5 for UA and hit his fifth homer of the year to go with a stolen base. Jett Bandy and Kyle Stiner also had two hits, while Hunter Pace stole three bases.

UA women’s tennis

The Wildcats ended their regular season with a 5-2 loss at Arizona State on Saturday.

UA (11-10) will compete in the Pac-10 Championships in Ojai, Calif., starting Thursday.

Danielle Steinberg won at No. 1 singles for UA against the Sun Devils, and Ariane Masschelein won at No. 4 for the Wildcats.

Pima baseball

The Aztecs split a doubleheader with host Arizona Western on Saturday in Yuma, winning 2-0 and losing 9-8.

Mike Lachapelle (Sahuaro High) went the distance in the first game to post his third shutout of the year. He improved to 5-4 in striking out eight and allowing five hits.

Justin Zumwalde (Sabino) had five hits on the day, including two homers.

Pima (30-19-1) visits Cochise College for a doubleheader at noon Tuesday in Douglas.

Pima softball

Pima fell to 47-15 after losing twice to visiting Yavapai College on Saturday.

The No. 3 Roughriders won 2-1 and 10-2 over the No. 16 Aztecs.

Pima visits Arizona Western for a doubleheader starting at noon Tuesday.

The University of Arizona will partner with the city of Tucson, Pima County and local businesses for one of the largest Earth Day celebrations ever held on campus.

Events on Wednesday include:

• Spotlight Conversation on Climate Action, 8 a.m. to noon in the Student Union Memorial Center Grand Ballroom.

The public is invited to participate in one of five discussion groups on climate change. Contact: Nicole Urban-Lopez, 837-6934, nicole.urban-lopez@tucsonaz.gov; Tedra Fox, 740-8766, tedra.fox@pima.gov.

• “Carbon Down Arizona” block party, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Main Gate Square: Check out information booths and more at this student-run event. Contact: Lesley Ash, 850-0830, ash87@email.arizona.edu; Brendan Nuriddin, 245-6592, nuriddin@email.arizona.edu.

• Campus Sustainability Walking Tour, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: This campus tour highlights 11 stops with sustainability features. Contact: Glenn Schrader 621-2591, schrader@email.arizona.edu.

• UA Environmental Summit, 1 to 5 p.m. at SUMC Gallagher Theater, Student Union Memorial Center, 1303 E. University Blvd. More than 35 UA faculty members will share results of cutting-edge environmental research. Contact: Lou Regalado 792-8712, regalado@email.arizona.edu

• “Planet Earth” screenings, 7 p.m. at Gallagher Theater. The public is invited to watch three episodes from the series. Contact: Liz Zavodsky, 626-9179, zavodsky@life.arizona.edu.

The University of Arizona baseball team fell back under .500 with a tough 5-4 loss at Washington State on Friday night.

Arizona (16-17, 3-10) led 4-2 in the seventh inning before the Cougars rallied for three runs.

Alex Burg hit a two-run triple to put Washington State up for good. The ball fell when Arizona outfielder Hunter Pace got his cleats caught in the turf.

Preston Guilmet (2-4) took the loss, allowing four earned runs in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked four.

Matt Way (5-3) earned the win, giving up one earned run in eight innings. He struck out 10.

Jett Bandy went 3 for 4 with a home run and double for the Wildcats.

Washington State improved to 16-16 overall and 4-4 in Pac-10 play.

The teams meet again at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Women’s tennis

Arizona had no trouble in a nonconference match with visiting Portland on Friday, winning 7-0 to improve to 11-9.

Wildcat senior Danielle Steinberg won 6-0, 6-0 in her last home match at UA.

Sarah Landsman won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2.

UA visits Arizona State at 1 p.m. Saturday in its regular-season finale.

“This will be a true test against the Devils,” said UA coach Vicky Maes in a news release. “This is for school pride and we have to put it all on the line.”

Autopsy results show that a University of Arizona student who was found dead in a fraternity house last month died of natural causes.

The coroner’s report indicates that Andrew J. Segal’s cause of death was related to heart defects, according to a news release from the University of Arizona Police Department.

The UA sophomore was a graduate of Monte Vista High School near Silicon Valley in California.

Officers from the Tucson Police Department found Segal in the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on March 6 after someone called to report that the 19-year-old was unconscious.

Deputies are seeking a man who tried to kidnap an 18-year-old woman on the Northwest Side last Saturday.

Deputy Dawn Barkman, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, said in a news release that the woman called 911 about 10:30 a.m. on April 11.

She said she had been walking in the 9700 block of North Thornydale Road when a man who was driving a van offered her a ride.

The man got out of the van and grabbed her before forcing her to the ground, according to Barkman.

Barkman couldn’t say how the woman escaped from the man.

“She must have been able to fight him off at least somewhat, because in the report it doesn’t indicate what happened,” Barkman said.

The man is described as being in his 30s with a dark complexion and silver, wire-framed glasses. He is about 6 feet tall, is unshaven and had a mustache.