I walked on fire for this place, a piece of cake compared to guessing which day we were going to die. Or not. Buyers invited to visit the place didn’t bother. We continued “day by day.” Just like real life.

My career here started in 1980, after a decade of change as tumultuous as this one. The Citizen had moved, changed owners and converted to computers.

At 20, spoiled for honest work by a stint at a college paper, I drove to 4850 S. Park Ave. to talk to my uncle’s poker buddy. Then-Features Editor Dick Vonier told me what my creative writing degree was worth and sat me down at a typewriter to rewrite my résumé.

Seventeen years later a couple of co-workers and I sat at Dick’s kitchen table, trying, though not very hard, to talk him out of his last bender.

This by way of saying the Citizen has been, if not the love of my life, by far my most enduring commitment.

Just ask my ex-husband.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: I got a job as a clerk and begged copy editors to let me write headlines. One of them, known for once accidentally setting his hair on fire, ended up in a coma. I offered to fill in. How was I supposed to know he’d died that morning?

After that, the bosses found me an editing position. I started with the new section Calendar and in 1983 was made editor of Bulletin Board, a weeky zoned publication delivered to all area households.

For arcane legal reasons, Bulletin Board had to be an “edition” of the Citizen, outside the ordinary chain of command. I couldn’t, by law, have a boss.

Leaving me free to work my own hours and follow real reporters around. Especially one.

DUCK AND CHICK: This guy walks in with a brilliant magazine-length piece and Dick tells him we can’t use it. He goes home, writes another brilliant story and comes back the next day. This one ran, and Chuck Bowden was hired.

Bowden tolerated me as a kind of apprentice. I’d tag along on interviews and he would invent assignments for me, even dragged me to the gym. Journalism takes stamina.

Chuck and Dick and Picture Editor P.K. Weis were among my many mentors, illustrating every day the power of observation, language and frozen instants in time.

When I wrote a front-page piece about a storefront dance club an editor attached a snotty comment: “Non-Bowden byline CQ (correct).”

I took it as a compliment.

DESK HOPPING: I had skipped the usual reporter-to-editor sequence and needed to back up. I covered the county and city ably enough but rarely with the grit and patience to do it expertly.

We started to lose our investigative edge when our most hardnosed reporters – like Jim Wyckoff and Mark Kimble – became editors. All of us had a learning curve. Frustrated by the “he said, she said” rhythm of reporting, I longed to get to the bottom of things but rarely did.

I landed on the city desk and did a stint at USA TODAY as the token Westerner – and conservative. Just because I didn’t think every problem had a government solution.

Back here, two years on the features desk burned me out on managing people. I never knew where their jobs ended and mine began.

I fell hard in ’96, lost my driver’s license and joined Dick’s support group (he died in 1997).

And I got demoted to the copy desk. Finally I was where I wanted to be.

RECENTLY: From days to nights, copy desk to the city desk, back to the copy desk. Setting the alarm for 2:30 a.m. or 4 p.m. Ducking out of Thanksgiving dinner or arriving late on Christmas Eve – typical newspaper stuff.

And, for the past couple of years, doing this column, riding herd on the Web site and student teaching at Cholla High Magnet School.

On vacation or on assignment, I traveled and saw the world. I stay at home and see it too.

As long as I’ve worked here, I’ve learned. Whether I wanted to or not.

NOW: A few unemployed journalists may not amount to a hill of beans. Ninety percent of what we do is – not, fluff, exactly, but superfluous. Opinions, entertainment, sports. National news, available anywhere. Almost all of it free, not counting the Net connection.

But still we lose something with every demise. Newspapers have the staff, if not always the will, to ferret out embarrassing information local governments don’t want published. To pursue documents revealing whether Lute Olson got special treatment. And to hold big businesses – like Citizen owner Gannett Co. Inc. – at least somewhat accountable for previous statements.

Thanks to Assistant City Editor Mark Evans for reviving that hunger here.

Financing the dogged tenacity to nail that stuff is a lot more important than polishing prose or rewriting press releases.

A born cynic, and most days I still believe: Truth will find a way to be told.

I just don’t know how anymore.

Editor’s note: Night online editor Judy Carlock wraps up the week for the final time.

“Another socialist university,” harrumphed a reader, in response to coverage of President Obama’s commencement speech Wednesday at Sun Devil Stadium.

Well, yeah. Public education is socialism. Knee-jerk responses to the s-word miss the point that collective financing works for some things. Just not everything.

The president’s pep talk urged grads to make the most of what they’ve got – the very soul of capitalism, to my mind.

He also gave a nod to late launchers: older adults driven to new success relatively late in life.

With the end of the Citizen on Saturday, staff members are learning what a luxury it was to be themselves and dodge most bureaucratic busywork. In keeping with Obama’s ethos, I consider skills learned here an investment.

They’ve been part of my compensation. I still want the check, though.

Redefine success, Obama tells ASU grads

MONEY TALKS: Why, I wonder, do some people complain of being “forced” to learn a second language? That came up in comments about the billion-dollar boost Mexican shoppers bring to Tucson’s retail and hospitality industries.

It’s just a skill. You don’t have to develop it. But if other people do, they have a right to leverage that skill however they can.

Wednesday’s story about Mexican spending here spurred comments from readers apparently hostile to the whole idea of . . . Mexicans.

The shoppers are not here illegally, and they’re not immigrants . . . so naturally, the story brought out reader reaction to illegal immigration.

Get over it. We’re an hour from the border.

Mexican shoppers add $1B to Tucson economy

OPEN BEATING LAW: It’s illegal for a quorum of a public body to meet in private. I didn’t know until this week it was also illegal to try to seek consensus by polling your colleagues in twosies. Apparently that’s so, according to the state Open Meeting Law.

The issue came up Tuesday in relation to Councilwoman Nina Trasoff’s efforts to find a fix for Tucson’s budget.

Late local pol E.S. “Bud” Walker defended secrecy succinctly: “When the press finds out, they blow the whole program.’”

He put his faith in smoke-filled rooms, and provided the Pall Malls.

Now they’d be breaking the law by lighting up.

City budget talks derailed by open meetings law tiff

Our Opinion: Council’s talks likely violated Arizona Open Meetings Law

PACKING: How do you balance the right to bear arms with a property owner’s right to have no guns on the premises? A state House vote Wednesday favored fans of firearms.

It seems reasonable that if you have the right to carry a gun, you have the right to keep it in your car. But – is it carrying concealed to stash it under the seat? And if it’s in plain view, could that incite theft?

Then there’s the Arizona heat. What would it do to ammo?

Cigarette lighters can explode in hot cars. One took the windshield out of my VW wagon.

I’m not packing – except for cleaning out my desk.

House OKs bill to allow guns in parked vehicles

DefensiveCarry.com discussion on car heat

SPEED KILLS: Dang! Now there are 10 more places I can’t speed.

Caught on candid camera at Oracle and River a few months back, I started slowing at the yellow light, scared of getting another ticket.

I haven’t. Big Brother modified my behavior.

Pima County gets in on the act this weekend, with a warning period to start Monday.

Traffic enforcement saves lives. OK by me. One question about my neighborhood, at La Cholla and River:

Why does River have two left-turn lanes onto a street with one southbound lane?

Speed camera test starts Friday; warning period will be Monday through Saturday

PHOTO SHOOT: Some folks think President Obama is posturing in his attempt to keep photos of abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan under wraps.

He explained his turnaround by saying earlier photos led to “appropriate actions” against “a small number of individuals.”

“Appropriate.” The new fascism.

Arizona’s John McCain twittered approval of Obama’s stance.

The fear: That the images would fuel anti-American actions in the Middle East.

I figure the people who would hate us already do.

No matter how stupid the soldiers who did the deeds or made those pictures, Arabs and Afghans know how much worse it could be. This is not My Lai.

Release them. We don’t have to post them on the Net.

Al-Jazeera will take care of that.

Obama will try to block release of abuse photos

Robert Nickla prepares clinical samples submitted for influenza testing at the Arizona State Laboratory in Phoenix.

Editor’s note: Judy Carlock catches you up on the week’s news – with her own spin.

Flu, shmoo. And closing the borders? What a hoot. If we knew how to do that, we would have done it already.

So ran my first reactions to the sight of masked Mexicans and global coverage about the spread of a pretty ordinary disease.

By coincidence, I was reading a book about Ebola while the current outbreak of influenza was speedily spreading worldwide. Flu looks pretty mild compared to a disease that makes you bleed from the nipples.

Then I started looking at it from the virus’s point of view. Mexico City: What a great place to hatch an epidemic. It’s a teeming, temperate travel hub; sophisticated, but with slums that still lack decent sanitation.

Maybe we really did dodge a bullet. Even if this bug proves relatively mild, flu is extremely contagious. It mutates faster than vaccines can be developed. Somebody could tinker on purpose: germ warfare.

Mexico’s containment measures ought to wipe out any notion that our southern neighbors are a bunch of rubes. Science was all over this. Good.

On the other hand, when I last visited the capital – the smog alone was enough to make me sick.

Tucson Citizen flu page

Flu overhyped? Some say officials ‘cried swine’

PORT SUPPORT: In shipping, time is money. Big containers move by barge, truck or train, hauling stuff all over the globe. The City Council heard this week about a plan to turn Tucson into a major transportation hub.

It already is, if you count dope and illegal immigrants.

Like a lot of ideas, this one has been kicking around awhile. The devil is in the details: an Interstate 10 bypass, a big railroad yard near Picacho Peak, improvements on the Sonoran coast.

Major travel hubs don’t happen by accident. It takes a strategic location, political will and, above all, an opportunity for shippers to pinch pennies from, say, the Panama Canal or Long Beach, Calif.

As for the desirability of this dream – see above.

City Council likes pitch to make Tucson inland port, transportation hub

BLOG WATCH: The Citizen sports editor blogged about the possibility the University of Arizona could acquire a prime recruit Lance Stephenson, relying mainly on various Web sites.

He groaned, though, at seeing a rumor elevated to prime real estate on our home page at www.tucsoncitizen.com.

See, he hadn’t done any substantive reporting. To him, that meant calling people who know things, pumping them for information, maybe putting a tail on head hoops coach Sean Miller . . .

Recruiting stories tend to be speculative to begin with. After all, often the recruit commits at the last minute. Stephenson could go to Tucson or Turkey. Journalists generally want something new, not a cut and paste job from whoever.com. Newsgathering still takes time. The blog bar is lower.

Cable “news” channels milk the same story all day as panelists sit around gassing.

We do that, too. But generally, we try to be fair. And we hate being wrong.

Senators hear dim forecast for newspapers’ future

Wildcat blog: Getting No. 8 hoops player a possibility

Rivera: Cats may not need Stephenson to succeed

BORDER SECURITY FIRST: I can’t make the intractable issue of illegal immigration go away. One tiny suggestion: An analysis this week said President Obama’s new emphasis on border security dodges the most politically risky part of his plan – “a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.”

Many who deal with the issue make the leap from “they shouldn’t be here” to the main point: Now what?

A piece of symbolism that would go a long way: Omit a path to citizenship. Allow a path to legal status.

Mexico. If you can get past the drug-related beheadings and corruption, it’s a country with a lot of values Americans hold dear.

Illegal immigrants know perfectly well they face deportation.

Many would come and go seasonally, if they could.

My bet: The immigrants, as opposed to the activists, would readily forfeit any chance of citizenship to keep their families together. And it might satisfy some who hate to see bad behavior rewarded.

It wouldn’t end the controversy, but it might tone down the rhetoric. Which is hurting my ears.

Even in print.

Analysis: Obama border security move has political angle

Feds ready to build new ‘virtual fence’ on border, starting in Arizona

Contact Judy Carlock at 573-4608 or jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com (jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com).

Suspect in car wash shooting.

One car wash movie is a dumb 1976 comedy featuring a suds crew and Richard Pryor as a preacher.

Monday’s drama was shot by surveillance cameras at 11 p.m. as two Nogales men cleaned their cars at a self-service place on West Valencia Road.

A video spliced together by the Sheriff’s Department shows a man getting out of an Audi convertible and backing away from it. Another clip shows a gunman shooting.

Francisco Antonio Calvillo, 20, was killed and his companion injured.

A sheriff’s spokeswoman said the shooting at first appeared to be random, and found no evidence that the two were doing anything wrong.

“Random” means it could be you. “Planned” indicates someone targeted these guys.

The Audi, which had been reported stolen in Mesa, was found burning a couple of miles away.

Is this an example of syndicate-linked violence? Who cleans their cars at 11 p.m.?

Then again, I’ve done stranger things.

Sheriff releases video of fatal shooting at car wash

Deputy: 1 killed, 1 injured in car wash shooting

Vehicle used in car wash killing found destroyed by fire

LEARN ENGLISH! It’s easy to learn a new language when you’re 3. You don’t mind sounding 3.

A 15-year-old, though, may not want not to sound dumb, or even worse, feel dumb in front of peers.

Kids who can “just pick up” a language fare well. Those who don’t might give up trying. That may mean they’re not getting equal opportunity in education.

A feud regarding that issue came to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, where questions from judges revealed the same schism apparent in politics between the “sink or swim” attitude and the one that favors helping the 15-year-old learn English and basic academics.

The suit started in Nogales, and grew to engulf the entire state. Miriam Flores, now in her 20s (and fluent in English), was a third-grader when her mother pursued the suit.

Some say it will cost hundreds of millions to help children who are being deprived of their civil rights. State schools chief Tom Horne puts the figure at $9 million.

Whatever the amount, plenty will be sucked up by layers and layers of administration.

I say, bribe the kids. It’s cheaper.

Supreme Court divided by Arizona English language case

CORNERED: Do you have one? A snapshot where you pose like a total dork to prove you were in four states at once?

Maybe that’s just me.

That feat of contortion may have been a waste of pixels. Or film, if you were born in the Jurassic.

The actual location turns out to be a third of a mile away.

With tools available in 1875, surveyors did a bang-up job, a federal official says. It’s like shooting pool: Blame the miss on the curvature of Earth.

Do you reconfigure the boundaries of the states? Or simply move the monument?

Someone’s going to make a federal case out of this.

Readings show Four Corners marker off by 2.5 miles

Four Corners marker only off by third of mile

Mesa Verde National Park

THUMBS UP, CHUCK: Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry feels a recount of 2006 transportation ballots “vindicates” the Election Division’s electronic tally. The news from Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard came Tuesday.

Democrats had demanded records of the vote and some even whispered the fix was in.

If it were, someone would have thrown in a crosstown freeway.

It’s encouraging that Goddard’s count shows only a whisker of difference from the county’s initial tally. But shouldn’t they be identical?

A few votes here, a few votes there, pretty soon you’re talking about real clout.

Huckelberry: Transit election recount ‘vindicates’ county

Judy Carlock is an online and copy editor at the Citizen. She can be reached at 573-4608 or at jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com.

Sedona Naifeh, 9, a third-grader at Lineweaver Elementary School, tells Tucson Unified School District board members Tuesday night it would be sad to lose her music teacher.

When school officials look at what to cut, they might consider drama. Teachers and children do fine already.

At a Tucson Unified School District board meeting Tuesday, a third-grader announced, “It would be the end of the world” if her school lost its music program.

Schools ought to teach music. And art. And, yes, drama. But educators have been crying wolf so long that when schools really are being ripped from limb to limb, it’s tempting to look away.

Thousands of notices of potential layoffs have gone out statewide. Republicans in the Arizona Legislature tossed out staggering budget cut figures, then tried to postpone warning teachers of possible layoffs till June 15. Federal cash could slow the bleeding.

But April is the cruelest month, and unions wanted to keep it that way. The better to warn teachers, they said. And have kids around to stage sit-ins.

A lot of those teachers won’t really get laid off. But, hey, timing is everything.

Students, teachers tell TUSD board of fears about layoffs

NEVERTHELESS: I’m on the teachers’ side. Not just because I want to be one. Some legislators – not all – seem more determined to crow “I told you so” than to help the state come to grips with a staggering shortfall.

They seem to think Arizona still depends on cattle, cotton and copper. Now even construction’s a bust. So higher education matters, even if the ivory tower turns you off.

University presidents played the same chord for colleges that K-12 did for the wee ones, seeking to sock students with a midyear “economic recovery” charge, ranging from $422 to $1,280 depending on the university. It would be $1,100 at UA. Regents don’t really want to do this. They want the Legislature to honor its constitutional mandate to keep college affordable. I hope it finds a way.

Student group: Midyear tuition surcharge ‘absurd’

A CAPITAL IDEA: Have a death penalty or not. Don’t try to pretend you’re not killing someone.

Arizona is considering changing some procedures about the way it executes people. Kentucky’s statute was upheld, but Arizona may be vulnerable to constitutional challenge because it feeds a lethal three-drug cocktail into a tube in the groin rather than the arm. Also, a “dummy” line keeps anyone on the team safe from the certainty he or she killed someone.

It boggles my mind that an additional needle stick could be interpreted as cruel and unusual punishment. And I don’t even like the death penalty.

You want to kill them without hurting them, give them heroin.

Arizona willing to change some execution procedures

DOGGIN’ IT: Dog whisperer Cesar Millan says the whole Obama clan will have to be “pack leaders” to keep first pup Bo in line. Where will he sleep? “Not in my bed,” the president said. That’s telling him.

On an inaugural walk, though, the Portuguese water dog made it pretty clear who was in charge.

Bo makes himself at home at Obama White House

Cesar’s Web site

PIRATES: Navy snipers took out three bandits Sunday in rescuing American ship captain Richard Phillips from a lifeboat off the coast of Somalia.

“Untrained teenagers with heavy weapons. Everybody in the room knows the consequences of that,” U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

Our military would know.

This isn’t over. Somalia’s full of people with nothing to lose.

Undeterred Somali pirates hijack 4 more ships

Obama vows U.S. will seek to halt piracy

GUNS TO MEXICO: This stoner dude I knew claimed those little plastic strips embedded in currency allow satellite-aided spies to count the cash in your pocket. That will come in handy as we track the flow of U.S. drug money to Mexico.

Former Gov. Janet Napolitano, now Homeland Security secretary, said Wednesday that agents have seized $60 million in southbound U.S. currency since Oct. 1.

The flow of U.S. guns to Mexican cartels is another concern.

Am I fatalistic? If they don’t get them from us, they’ll get them from somebody else.

Napolitano: Check southbound cars more often

TEA AND TAXES: Rallies nationwide had thousands of folks venting grievances about tax-and-spend government.

Guys: That’s what governments are for.

In Tucson, 3,000 gathered downtown for a Tea Party protesting taxation with representation.

Good. Keep them honest. But remember: The bank bailout was Bush. Obama added stimulus. If it works, they’re geniuses.

If it doesn’t – oh, man. It’s gotta work.

I inherited a Depression-era mind-set and no survival skills. Well, one: I grow great vegetables.

If I had to can them, I’d die.

3,000 protest bailouts, stimulus at Tucson Tea Party

Contact Judy Carlock at 573-4608 or jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com.

The chemistry of coaching confounds me. Phil Jackson studies a fingernail, Bob Knight goes into a furniture-flinging fit. Both have been effective, though sometimes a successful method loses its magic.

The conundra continue. An able assistant rarely rises to the team’s top spot. Good players often make lousy coaches. What works in college may not translate to the NBA, and vice versa.

Thursday, the Tucson Citizen had tipped toward declaring Tim Floyd as the next Wildcat chief. Then Floyd said he’d stay at USC.

So what’s the University of Arizona to do? The Lute Olson benefits are waning. If we let go of the elite and focus on rebuilding, we might try a guy who likes defense over dunks, fundamentals over flash, academics along with athleticism.

I like Rick Majerus. He lives in hotels. How about the Arizona Inn?

Livengood needs to rally in coaching search

OPEN AND SHUT: One purpose of the Open Meetings Law is to keep some things secret.

City Council members cited the law in a Thursday story checking on Mike Hein’s future as city manager.

The law means no one can divulge what goes on in a publicly declared “executive session,” a maneuver often cited for closing meetings so that politicians can vent about employees or show their cards in a lawsuit.

The law doesn’t prevent anyone from saying whether they, personally, would renew Hein’s contract.

Technically, Hein needs only four votes of the seven-member council. But a CEO needs consensus more than coalitions.

Good leadership dictates that after Tuesday’s vote, council members should either lock him out of his office or back him unanimously – in writing.

Hein resigned to potential firing

KILLER B’s: The Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce is hosting U.S. Sen. John McCain at its National Issues Forum April 17.

The Citizen said the 2008 Republican nominee for president would discuss budgets and bailouts. That misses the third killer B: the border.

Maybe he’s ceded that to President Obama – and to Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, ex-governor of Arizona.

McCain to discuss budget, bailouts in Tucson

Napolitano outlines plan for border infrastructure

JUSTICE SERVED: Jurors in the Christopher Payne case returned with the only defensible sentence: death.

I don’t daydream about torturing him, though a lot could happen in a prison yard.

Jurors who oppose the death penalty on principle are weeded out of capital cases. And a principled stance, I respect.

New Mexico recently abolished executions and many countries do not practice them.

But we have it in Arizona, and if Payne doesn’t get the death penalty, no one should.

His life still will be better than the ones he provided his kids, Tyler and Ariana, who were beaten, locked in a closet 24-7 and starved to death.

Payne may never be executed, and no one can bring those babies back. There’s some solace in seeing him get the max.

Payne gets death sentence for killing his kids

MAN OR MACHINE? Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs – not my faves. I can’t deal with their outrage. I’m too busy with my own.

And I don’t want Obama’s heroics to fail, as Rush does.

But President Obama seems to think he can fix anything. That could make him more dangerous than a bunch of bilious broadcasters.

Strong-arm the auto industry, secure the U.S. border, hammer out an arms treaty and give a pep talk to the planet on spending our way out of recession. All in the past couple of weeks.

What’s up for April? Health care, global warming, One thing he’s smart enough not do: Trot out a “Mission Accomplished” banner.

Confidence is cool. But humility doesn’t hurt.

House OKs $2.6 trillion Obama blueprint

U.S., Russia call for nuclear weapons cut in sweeping agenda

Medvedev-Obama meet a success for Russia

G-20 leaders eye more IMF funds, tighter rules

HANG TIME: No noose is good news, a former (laid off) co-worker said in an e-mail to the Citizen staff. “Day-by-day” employment here beats standing in line for handouts. The closer we get to 2010, he believes, the better.

I get that. But plans for finding another job, retraining in a new field or even scheduling a day off get more awkward by the day, ever since the paper passed a March 21 deadline for sale or closure. Most of us are sick of the subject, but to qualify for severance we must stay.

We try to read clues like ancient Romans divining the future by reading the entrails of sacrificial sheep.

The suspense is killing me.

Buyers pass on Citizen visit

I’ve been overeating, lying to the dog, barely cleaning – the house, mostly, not myself – figuring next week there would be plenty of time for sit-ups, walkies and head-to-toe moisturizing.

Pure folly.

The Tucson Citizen’s day-to-day status might be seen as an existential opportunity, a chance to live in the “now.” Except that usually we make some plans for “next week.”

News that the Gannett Co. Inc. will hold off the planned March 21 closure of the Citizen while it negotiates with possible buyers raises questions about a severance package good for up to 26 weeks’ pay and benefits.

Gannett informed Citizen employees late Friday afternoon that the paper will not be sold or closed before March 27.

Happily, from the point of view of the noble workers of the proletariat, the CEO’s pay was cut to $3.1 million. And the company spokeswoman returned our phone calls. Eventually.

Gannett cuts CEO’s pay to $3.1 million

Citizen to stay open ‘day to day’; closure delayed

TELLING TEACHERS: The state’s economic shakes make Gannett look like bedrock. One issue in play this week: whether to tell teachers now their contracts might not be renewed, or wait till June 15, when the funding picture may be clearer.

It hardly matters. Anyone with a teaching position knows it’s tenuous. Early notice might help some people plan ahead, but anyone could make the wrong call.

Armed with my new teaching certificate, I found few districts advertising opportunities.

Rural districts may fare slightly better. A new teacher could have a good life near the border – if they lived on the Mexican side.

Arizona balks at delaying except lay off warnings

IT TAKES TWO? Reina Gonzales and Christopher Payne both caused the deaths of Payne’s children, who were imprisoned and starved to death in 2006.

Gonzales cut a deal that will have her out of prison in about 20 years.

Payne, though, faces the death penalty after a jury this week took about 3 hours to convict him of first-degree murder.

The jury will decide between life in prison or execution after the sentencing phase of his trial, which continues Tuesday.

His defense strategy has been to blame Gonzales.

With two defendants, prosecutors run the risk of making deals with the devil. Gonzales may be just as guilty as Payne. But with just one in front of jurors, I doubt they’ll face a tough call.

Child killer’s upbringing, character outlined at hearing

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/112482.php

HAPPY NORUZ: Like other presidents, Barack Obama released a greeting to the people of Iran to coincide with the Persian new year. His is on the Net, with Farsi subtitles, and calls for diplomatic relations – if the regime drops its usual bluster.

Iran, a hotbed of blogging, probably won’t put too much stock in the well-wishes. The country has a well-entrenched democratic structure, but ultimately religious leaders make the calls. Hating Israel and enriching uranium are two favorite government pastimes.

Then again, John McCain famously resurrected a Beach Boys’ knockoff from the hostage era – “Bomb Iran” – that recently was taken off YouTube.

There is this: Iran hates the Taliban just as much as we do.

Obama message asks Iran leaders to drop threatsLUTE VS. UTES: I gave the University of Arizona Wildcats about as much hope of getting into the NCAA Tournament as I did the Citizen’s surviving March 21.

Retired coach Lute Olson’s recruits helped the Cats get into Sunday’s second round.

Good for the team, and for interim coach Russ Pennell.

We’ll keep covering them for a few more days, at least. Word came the Citizen won’t close or be sold until March 27 at the soonest.

Oh, me of little faith.

Budinger grateful for chance to shine at NCAAs

Contact Judy Carlock at 573-4608 or jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com.

Police are supposed to solve mysteries, not create them. This week, a startling revelation followed a marathon closed meeting of the Tucson City Council: The city will stop a nationwide search for a new police chief and rely instead on its own ranks.

The Citizen decided the issue important enough to allow using two unnamed sources who confirmed the story. Who squawked? The county attorney wants to know.

We don’t have to tell them.

Other Tucson Police Department news: Off-duty Officer Allen Johnson, 26, died when his bicycle was rear-ended Tuesday on Old Spanish Trail. And Monday, we reported 10 guns had been stolen from TPD officers since 2002.

Given the size of their arsenal, that’s not bad.

County attorney probes City Council

Tucson police chief search to start over

Police chief finalists won’t heavily pursue immigration enforcement

Off-duty Tucson police officer killed as bicycle rear-ended

Ten guns stolen from cops since 2002

THE PLATE DEBATE: None of the police chief candidates said he would make enforcing federal immigration law a priority. Good. The feds have people for that. For the most part, the feds don’t investigate local murders, rapes or other violent crimes.

If officers are going to choose which laws not to enforce, some Citizen readers would prefer they’d pick the one fining drivers heavily if the word “Arizona” is obscured by a license plate frame. Now some lawmakers are trying to get that rule rolled back.

How is it the Legislature keeps passing laws it doesn’t believe in?

Proposed law cuts fines, stops for illegal plate frames

MILDCATS: For 24 years the University of Arizona men’s basketball team determined how staffers here schedule vacations. First-round losses in the NCAA meant fewer pages to put out in the subsequent two weeks.

The Final Four? A special section. A championship? Saturation coverage before, during and after.

This year, the Cats’ fortunes don’t matter so much, what with the last Citizen rolling off the press March 21.

The chances of finding a buyer are even smaller than UA’s chances of getting picked on selection Sunday.

UA loss hurts NCAA chances

Denogean: Hats off to Citizen hawker

NEW ON BOOZE: Willie Tuitama’s arrest on suspicion of extreme DUI charge Monday might hurt his chances in the NFL draft.

Local police are letting spring break revelers know they’re serious about enforcement.

Meanwhile, former Phoenix Sun and pontificator at large Charles Barkley finished his weekend at Maricopa County’s Tent City on Monday.

He didn’t have to wear pink underwear because he was on work release, said Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Maybe he went commando.

Former UA QB Tuitama charged with extreme DUI

DUI checkpoints, patrols planned for spring break

Charles Barkley finishes jail time on DUI charges

KID STUFF: Of all the places to cut the state budget, laying off Child Protective Service caseworkers sounds like one of the worst. Cutting 112 from the staff makes the agency 15 percent smaller than it was earlier this year.

Said state Rep. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson: “I think it will result in dead kids.”

A salute to the young mom who gave her baby up to University Medical Center last weekend. She did the right thing under the state’s Safe Haven law.

The really lousy parents seem to think they’re doing just fine. Like Christopher Payne, accused of starving his children to death in 2006. Prosecutors say he didn’t want to pay child support.

Closing arguments are Monday. Something tells me the jury won’t be out long.

Woman leaves baby at UMC under Safe Haven law

112 caseworkers laid off at CPS

Payne jurors can’t hear of ex’s alleged threats to kids

Judy Carlock can be reached at jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com or 573-4608. For more on these articles, see this story at www.tucsoncitizen.com.

Ariana and Tyler Payne

Citizen staffer Judy Carlock review’s the week’s events with a personal twist.

Christopher Payne is innocent until proved guilty. But even his defense team appears to be conceding some facts that make acquittal a longer shot than a trip to Mars.

If he is found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of his daughter Ariana, 3, and son Tyler, 4, the jury will decide if he lives or dies. The “aggravating” factors – extreme cruelty and the age of the victims, for example – will be invoked in favor of execution.

Given the layers of appeals Payne could claim, even a death sentence would mean years more of life for the man accused of imprisoning his children and starving them to death.

Given the percentage of criminals abused as children, prison might prove harder on Payne than execution.

Along with the “aggravators,” juries consider mitigating factors. I can see one tiny sign of humanity.

He arranged to have at least Ariana’s remains put in a storage locker. He could have just buried them. They were so small.

Payne houseguest may have heard child’s cry

JAN’S PLAN: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer frequently refers to an “inherited” budget debacle, apparently a stab at former Gov. Janet Napolitano.

Fair or not, Napolitano did leave Brewer holding the bag.

The Republican governor surprised me this week with a proposal for a temporary tax increase and a frank reliance on federal stimulus money to make it through the rapids of the recession.

No one has accused Brewer of being a liberal. Whatever the fate of her plan, it beats immediately dismantling the apparatus of state in a way that does irreversible harm.

Yeah, I know it’s taking money out of one taxpayer’s pocket and putting it in another. It sounds like a shell game because it is a shell game. But this isn’t about common sense.

It’s economics.

Brewer tax-hike plan gets tepid response

CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT? The capture of a border-area jaguar by Game & Fish officials and its outfitting with a tracking collar may have stressed the animal and aggravated kidney dysfunction, which eventually forced euthanasia of the 17-year-old big cat.

Given that it is just about the only jaguar seen this far north in longer than anyone remembers, it’s possible that like Rudyard Kipling’s kitty, this cat walked alone.

Wildlife activists protested Thursday at local Game & Fish offices. Others countered that the cat’s main population lives in Mexico.

I hope so. Losing big cats makes the planet poorer.

Jaguar’s death prompts protest at Fish and Wildlife

PAPERED OVER: Even without hot lead type, newspapers are physically harder to produce than the flickers of light that make up the substance of the Internet.

Gannett Co. Inc. apparently introduced an odd element into the sale of the Citizen. Reportedly, it invoked a condition that the buyer continue printing a newspaper.

But as the company wants to keep its share of the “Joint Operating Agreement” – allowed by Congress specially to make printing two newspapers feasible – this new twist makes one wonder: Gosh, does Gannett really want to sell the Citizen?

Some have said they would consider buying the paper as a Web-only operation.

The company didn’t want to talk about it this week. Don’t ask me. I just work here.

Last I checked.

Justice Dept. questions potential Tucson Citizen buyers

OCTOMOM: Against all odds, octuplets born to Nadya Suleman are doing amazingly well. Good. Suleman, 33, conceived the octet in vitro, as she has with five other births producing six babies.

Anyone who’s caught a glimpse of her can tell she’s excitable. She’s also news.

A 911 tape released this week revealed her to be frantic and saying she was going to kill herself when her 5-year-old briefly disappeared. A dispatcher suggested she might not want to say that in front of her other kids.

Can this single, unemployed mom cope? Will she keep her babies? State officials may have no legal grounds to take the California kids.

Yeah, women used to fairly commonly produce 14 kids. But eight newborns at once? Nadya: Get real.

911 tape: Octuplet mom frantic when son disappeared

Judy can be reached at 573-4608 or jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com. For more on these stories, see this column at www.tucsoncitizen.com.

Editor’s note: Citizen staffer Judy Carlock wraps up the week’s events with a dash of sass.

A lot of people failed Ariana and Tyler Payne, in life and in death. Even so, joy shines from their faces in an image their stepgrandfather used as a screen saver. It didn’t last after they went to live with their father.

Imagine being 5 years old, starving to death in a tiny closet with your 4-year-old sister. Then she’s gone, replaced by a bag stuffed with rotting remains.

You leave this world soon after.

Christopher Payne is on trial this week for first-degree murder. Crossed signals between police and Child Protective Services helped keep the children in a fatal situation.

Ariana was found in February 2007 in a trash bin at a storage facility. Police retrieved her broken body, but didn’t think to search the whole bin. Tyler likely is in the city dump.

Payne’s former girlfriend, Reina Gonzales, 24, accepted a plea in the case and will serve 22 years. Just in time for menopause.

If convicted, Payne faces the death penalty. I don’t like capital punishment, but I don’t care if Payne is executed. And if it hurts? That’s why they call it punishment.

Jury will hear gruesome details of young kids’ deaths

Mom testifies about learning of her kids’ deaths

KID STUFF: State child care subsidies help many people keep working. Maybe you think people shouldn’t have kids they can’t afford. Once they’re here, though, someone has to take care of them.

Federal stimulus money may restore some child-care money slashed by the state. A bunch of other programs that aim to help people become responsible parents are also on the hit list, as well as staffing for Child Protective Services.

In my private and professional life, I’ve heard dozens of women complain about losing their kids. I’ve known some who tried hard to clean up their acts. Some couldn’t. Or in any case, didn’t.

Cuts to safety net programs may devastate families, kids

DORM BABY: Some people should never have kids. Sarah Elizabeth Tatum, 19, may be one.

Police found a newborn “gasping for breath” in a plastic bag at a University of Arizona dorm Monday. Police say Tatum indicated she had miscarried, but the boy weighs 7 pounds.

Gasping for breath is a good sign. If a snippet of police radio chatter earlier this week is any indication (I sit next to one all night), his blood oxygen may not have fallen low enough to cause permanent damage.

I hope that Tatum, if found guilty, spends some time in prison. I also hope she gets her tubes tied.

Baby born in dorm found in plastic bag ‘gasping for air’

NOBODY’S BUSINESS? It comes up all the time: Why should I have to pay for other people’s mistakes? If anything defines liberal and conservative these days, a lot of it comes down to the question of personal responsibility.

For instance: The Lost Barrio fire this week did up to $1 million in damage to the artsy businesses in a converted warehouse block. Fire officials said sprinklers could have minimized that. Yet the city may waive some building codes to encourage conversion of warehouses and other old buildings.

President Obama’s address this week laid this out on a grander scale.

Rewarding bad behavior sticks in the craw. But some argue that the greater good justifies – even demands – huge federal bailouts with money we have to borrow.

Damage from Lost Barrio fire could reach $1 million

Chavez: Obama’s Utopian plans will ruin us

BAD KITTIES: Tiger got scratched off early in the Accenture Match Play Championship in the Tortolita foothills. Also on Thursday, the University of Arizona Wildcats got beat by Cougars – as in Washington State University.

The men’s road loss makes Saturday’s basketball game against the Huskies a must-win cat-and-dog fight. I love sports clichés.

Hard to imagine an NCAA Tournament without the Cats.

Hard to imagine Tucson without the Citizen.

At the finish, Cougars hot, Cats were not

Bad drive costly as Woods eliminated in Match Play

Citizen likely to close March 21; no buyer stepping up

Judy Carlock is an online and copy editor at the Citizen. She can be reached at 573-4608 or at jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com. For more on these stories, see this column at www.tucsoncitizen.com.

My bad. I erred in saying a group that rancher Roger Barnett held at gunpoint in 2004 were U.S. citizens.

Hardly anyone noticed, which shows how much attention I get.

Barnett did detain a group of citizens in 2004, and got sued. In that case, he was ordered to pay $99,000.

This week, Barnett was ordered to pay $78,000 in a civil case stemming from another 2004 incident.

Online readers were quick with comments about the legal system and illegal immigrants:

“Maybe these skanks will return to Mexico and live a life they are not used to. May they all bake in the flames of Hell.”

So much for Christian charity.

The Tucson Citizen Web site serves as a forum for a core contingent of anti-illegal-immigration stalwarts. They’re not all bigots, but some are. When we fold, they’ll find other online venues – or start their own.

Maybe MyRace.com. Or InYourFacebook.

Jury says ranchers didn’t violate immigrants’ civil rights

UBEA EST MEA? Late columnist Mike Royko touted that as the informal motto of Chicago. It means “Where’s mine?”

Plenty of people asked that when details of a housing bill were spelled out as President Obama visited Phoenix Tuesday. Same with the stimulus package. Even if you disagree with the concept, it’s hard to say no to the dough.

Most encouraging: Obama’s 1,000-watt smile at Arizona’s frosty governor, Republican Jan Brewer, who also cracked a grin.

Some 7,000 Tucsonans may need help to avoid closures. Not me. Not yet.

Rescue for homeowner takes multiple forms

CHOP CHOP: Through sheer lack of imagination I’ve been at the Citizen 28 years – all because my uncle played poker with the features editor.

They’re both dead now, and here I am.

Not for long. The paper will likely cease production March 21 – Iranian New Year and the second day of spring.

We reported thoroughly on our own demise in Friday’s paper. As one who has watched the dismal decline in circulation, I’ll leave with a measure of grief.

Mixed with relief.

Citizen likely to close March 21

SEX ED: Colleague Anne Denogean wrote this week of a sensible sex-ed bill that will never see the light of day in our Legislature, which has been chiseling away at abortion rights.

I figure if kids are old enough to do it, they’re old enough to look it up. Though on the Net, they might have to scroll through 10,000 pages of porn before they get to WebMD.

That will give them an education – a bad one. Not what state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, had in mind.

Meanwhile, a local weekly claimed a bill would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth-control pills. Not exactly. “Morning-after” pills target a fertilized egg, keeping it from getting a tiny toehold in the womb.

If a pharmacist really believes that’s murder, should he or she have to participate? There must be another way deliver such services.

Denogean: Democrat’s sensible sex-ed bill will never see the light of day

PRIORITIES: The Citizen doesn’t look so bad compared to alleged cable “news” channels that milk one story for 24 hours or more. This week, another missing toddler: “Where’s Haleigh?”

All too likely, murdered. And though it’s news, it crowds out a lot of content.

Like, where’s Swat? That would be Pakistan, where leaders have made a truce with the Taliban, allowing the enforcement of “Islamic law.”

These male chauvinist thugs are to Islam what Arizona’s polygamists are to mainstream Mormonism.

And Pakistan is supposed to be our ally.

Pakistan’s truce with Taliban may hurt U.S. effort

New troops in Afghanistan to try breaking ‘stalemate’ with Taliban

CALL IN THE CAVALRY: My conservative father, in the 1960s, argued to the Supreme Court about the Citizen’s business arrangement. He lost.

Congress then took up the cause, and made it legal for separately owned newspapers to share a press.

He also helped found the Council on Abandoned Military Posts, now the Council on America’s Military Past.

State budget cuts that affect parks may hurt efforts to preserve that history.

This seems like an area where the private sector could step up. Couldn’t well-heeled history buffs form a foundation?

Maybe they already have – I’m no expert. But one reason the private sector may stay out of these efforts is pretty simple.

Under big, benevolent government, it’s sometimes hard to get a chance.

List of state parks that may close grows to 11

Editor’s note: Judy Carlock catches you up on the week’s news – with her own spin. Contact her at 573-4608 or jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com.

A crew installs a retaining wall on the west side of the interstate.

Editor’s note: Judy Carlock catches you up on the week’s news – with her own spin.

Whom do you trust? That’s more than a rhetorical question. When opinions clash on such fundamental issues as averting a second Great Depression, the ordinary American has little to go on but gut feelings and propaganda.

Should we save or spend?

Deficit hawks and domestic do-gooders throw e-mail elbows for attention. Party lines dictated votes on stimulus bills that passed Congress this week. Trust Democrats, or trust Republicans.

Often in politics, the losing side can save face by criticizing something they know is going to pass.

It’s telling that while Republicans in the Arizona Legislature make a show of balancing the state budget, they factor in $500 million in federal deficit spending.

“Checks and balances”: The federal government writes a check so Arizona can balance its budget.

Stimulus measure a relief but no windfall for Arizona

Obama to promote stimulus plan in Phoenix

COLLEGE CRISIS: On the other hand: An Associated Press story this week carried a whiff of moderation. Though budget chairmen in the Legislature would hack university spending, some in the GOP are expressing reservations about leadership’s plans.

President Obama will be in Phoenix next week, apparently trying to drum up buy-in on the stimulus plan.

I wish he had time to really hear our Legislature out on its thinking about education. Cuts of the magnitude proposed for next year reek of rancor. Obama has a reputation for building consensus.

It’s almost too bad he’s a rock star. We don’t need a pep rally in Arizona. We need people to do the hard work of listening to one another.

Lawmakers propose $390 million cut to state universities

PERPETUAL PORN: The sexually explicit clip that aired during the Super Bowl continues to generate page views for the Tucson Citizen. We’re happy for the “hits,” even in our twilight days.

A spokeswoman on Tuesday issued this statement:

“Comcast has conducted an extensive, methodical investigation of the Super Bowl programming interruption in Tucson and we have verified that this was an intentional, malicious act.”

So it was intentional. Did anyone really believe it happened by accident?

Comcast seeks FBI help in porn investigation

TRAFFIC: A couple of front-page stories this week highlighted the dry and the dramatic sides of mobility.

Some apparent good news: The Interstate 10 widening project has gone pretty well.

That’s not a very sexy story, but it affects a lot of people.

The freeway frontage road figured in another story – about how a young woman, apparently near unconsciousness from drugs and alcohol, allegedly plowed head-on into a vehicle, killing the driver, Marco Salazar.

The 21-year-old woman charged in his death reportedly did not have a driver’s license at the time. She was ordered to get one.

If the police are right, she has some issues to deal with before she gets behind the wheel.

Crash deaths down; DUI fatalities level

I-10 work to be finished in December – four months early

PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE: Just a taste of complex economics:

Candy makers have moved to Mexico, for cheap labor and to avoid the high price of U.S. sugar – which is propped up by government subsidies, according to The Associated Press.

The move cost U.S. jobs. Meanwhile, Mexican cacao growers are being shut out by cheap imports from Africa and Brazil.

I’m OK with Mexican chocolate this Valentine’s Day. Hold the Peanut Corp. goobers, please. I already had salmonella.

Many Valentine treats traveled from Mexico

Peanut firm CEO mum at hearing on outbreak

Contact Judy Carlock at 573-4608 or jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com.

Editor’s note: Citizen staffer Judy Carlock reviews the week’s events, with her own personal twist.

Isn’t it ironic? Subscribers to Comcast’s high-definition service didn’t get to see in vivid detail the porn clip regular customers caught in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl Sunday.

Most of us look better in low resolution anyway.

The “appalled” cable provider offered a $10 credit for customers “impacted” by the clip.

In practice, Comcast can’t tell if you were watching or not. The number to call: 888-315-8219.

Inevitably, the guy-on-the-sofa glitch ended up on YouTube, his privates mercifully blacked out (when I saw it). The actress, beaming resolutely, looks ready to romp.

Is this what they mean by “cardinal sin”?

Mostly it made me think about how cheesy porn is.

Nevertheless, I played it back. For the touchdown.

Comcast still doesn’t know who put porn in Super Bowl telecast

Comcast has ‘some leads’ in Super Bowl porn incident

CHINA ROAD: “Third World conveyance disasters,” one editor here called the all-to-common stories about planes crashing in Indonesia, ferries sinking in Bangladesh or buses tumbling down cliffs in the Andes.

The toll would often be 100 or more.

Such figures dwarf the number of Chinese tourists – seven – killed in an Arizona tour bus crash Jan. 30. In the aftermath, national and state safety officials sought to pinpoint the cause of the wreck.

In a lot of countries, no one would expect an investigation, or even an explanation.

The deaths of the Shanghai tourists serve to remind that whether the toll is 700 or seven, someone’s heart is broken with every life lost.

License suspended for owners of tour bus in crash

PINK SLIPS: The Arizona Legislature’s slash-and-burn approach to budget cutting may turn out to be just the medicine our state needs to operate more efficiently.

Or not.

Throwing hundreds of people out of work strikes me as imprudent, even if the government is as bloated as state lawmakers think.

Especially if a wad of federal cash comes our way.

The Department of Administration this week laid off 138 people, or 17 percent of its staff. When the budget gets rearranged – as it must – we may need administrators.

If any of those jobs come back, I hope someone is keeping an eye on the new regime to make sure cronies don’t get weaseled in to plum positions.

Odds are it won’t be the Tucson Citizen. Unless someone passes a journalism stimulus bill.

Arizona Department of Administration lays off 138

Some Arizona rest stops, MVD offices may close

Budget fallout: UA to lay off 200, close 3 museums

8 state parks face closure after lawmakers make cuts

Arizona legislative chambers take different tracks

STIMULATED YET? Even some economists who support deficit spending fear the U.S. House’s version of an economic stimulus bill tries too broadly to enact the whole Democratic agenda.

On the Senate side, the mood may be more measured. Politicians who don’t run for re-election every two years may feel less pressure to do everything at once.

And “buy American” provisions brought concern from President Obama of a “protectionist message” that could affect crucial trade relations.

Even if he doesn’t need Republicans, he’d just as soon have some. For cover.

New break added to stimulus

Democrats kill McCain’s alternative stimulus plan

MAKEOVER MAGIC: “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is the stuff of nightmares to me. My dream house is a hotel – one that allows small pets.

The allure of the show, and the fantasies it represents, drew thousands to watch a Tucson family’s house demolished, then rebuilt in a few days.

Just the thought of $50,000 in furniture makes me phobic.

As one online reader asked, “Why does everything have to be overdone???????”

I guess for the same reason you need seven question marks.

Oops. What I meant to say was, “Thanks for reading!”

Very much indeed.

Volunteers made ‘Makeover’ possible for Lizzie, Bell family

Contact Judy Carlock at 573-4608 or at jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com.

News is what happens to your editor. So reporters say. To our credit, we noticed the economy was bad even before the hooded guy with the ax showed up. I take it back, everyone in a position to hire me someday is wonderful.

The 5,000 job hunters who showed up at the Tucson Convention Center Tuesday drove it home. Gone is the guilty sense of relief – glad it’s not me!

Journalism has gone digital, and mainstream media organizations still struggle with making money on the World Wide Web. The junk aggregators and blathering blogs and navel-gazing narcissism of social networking may tell us what we want to know, but I for one still like someone vetting information for fairness, accuracy and all that jazz.

Maybe we’ll get it right some day.

In the meantime, pending the Citizen’s probable closure March 21, the company is offering us high-quality paper to print our resumes.

Leaving me to wonder: If print is dead, why does the quality of paper matter?

Thousands pack TCC for job fair

AX? TAX? FACTS? The state Legislature, eager to show how well it can do without popular former Gov. Janet Napolitano, appears to be closing in on a deal based mostly on cuts.

With a Republican governor, they’re free to do whatever they want without the threat of a line-item veto.

It’s not their fault they have that power in a year of plummeting sales tax revenue. Napolitano got a better job offer, so she left. Now she’s head of Homeland Security.

But the GOP should take care. Under three successive Republican governor-and-Legislature combinations, we chalked up two indictments, an impeachment and a giant government giveaway – an alt-fuel tax credit that had to be rescinded

A quick Net perusal tells me government is Arizona’s biggest employer. And our government is already smaller than most states’. An immediate $1.6 billion whack translates simply to this: More layoffs. Lots more layoffs.

Those laid-off government workers? They are constituents, too.

We’re not running on pure free markets or pure Marxist collectivism. Our government is a hybrid. Perfect? No. But it’s what we’ve cobbled together.

It’s easy to blow up a bridge. Harder to build one.

Arizona lawmakers to act to close shortfall

Thousands of students protest proposed university budget cuts

State may cut TUSD funding by up to $80 million

Arizona Indicators

DEFICIT HAWKS: Arizonans pay federal taxes, too. We’ll get some of that back. Though some lawmakers grouse about the strings that may be attached, they’re in no position to opt out of the Union. I don’t think.

So the hacking continues apace, as if we’re going to refuse our part of a big federal stimulus package.

Refusing federal money on ideological grounds qualifies as cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Legislators won’t lose face by accepting. They’ll save it. A good thing, in my opinion.

Somehow, some way – I really doubt government is going to make itself smaller. If we keep innovation alive without smothering initiative, we might get some bang for our tax bucks.

It’s worked before.

Grijalva, Giffords: Aim stimulus funds at workers, homeowners

Arizona lawmakers not waiting for federal stimulus

DRUG WARS: Meanwhile we go through all this trouble to seize perfectly good commodities – heroin, cocaine, marijuana – only to destroy them. Really, is that fiscally prudent?

We could sell it back to the cartels. Drop it over Afghanistan – screw up Al-Qaeda’s business plan.

If we were ideologically wedded to personal freedom, we’d sell it here. We buy into some government intrusion, except when we’re exercising our right to drive a 2-ton missile down Interstate 10.

Smuggling would still be illegal, so that we could seize the assets of the bad guys.

I hear the Border Patrol is hiring.

Ariz. detectives uncover pot house near Tucson

Fed seize drugs at border

Red-light cameras store video, too

HOW ‘BOUT THEM CARDS? Didn’t I always say they were headed to the Super Bowl? No. Thanks to the Internet I can make it look like I did.

Just go back to last week’s column, change it on the server and my digital tracks are covered, sort of.

In “1984,” George Orwell’s unlikely hero, Winston Smith, worked falsifying records at the Ministry of Truth.

Orwell didn’t imagine how easy it would become – or that we’d come to surveillance.

Finally, I love Big Brother.

On second thought: Forget I just said that.

George Orwell – Complete works

Steelers’ mild-mannered defensive guru a game changer

Warner’s Hall of Fame chances may be hurt by career lull

Contact Judy Carlock at 573-4608 or at jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com.

Obama after a press briefing

Editor’s note: Judy Carlock reviews the week in news, with her own personal twist.

The president is black. So he defines himself, and so he is. To me, a product of the desert Southwest and not the deep South, race is not so black and white.

Even if it were, President Obama is so different from previous presidents that skin color seems almost beside the point. Other politicians, you can see, or at least sense, the hustle, the sweat, the sheer naked want of the struggle for dominance. Unless we’re talking Gerald Ford.

Obama made it look easy.

Of course, his race made Tuesday a historic event. No less historic would be the election of a woman to the Oval Office.

In this country, black men counted as people 50 years before women of any color did.

Some day, a woman will be president. And maybe it will be no big deal.

Now that would be progress.

Denogean: Tucson activist sees life’s work pay off

Tucsonans at inauguration relish historic event

CITIZEN PAIN: Newspapers reporters are more ethical than you might think. If we were on the take, we wouldn’t work these hours.

If anything, we often overcompensate, trying to be fair despite our human biases.

An exception: We write obituaries about our family members. Former Managing Editor Dale Walton came in one night and without a word started typing. I knew then his wife was dying.

In 1996, one old trouper – Phil Hamilton – even wrote his own. (We had to trim it.)

A week ago, we sent off one of the funniest guys in the business, John Jennings. From the obit, you wouldn’t know a friend wrote it.

Now the Citizen will cover its own probable demise. Legally, our parent company, Gannett Co. Inc., must make an effort to find a buyer. But given the times, our specially permitted “joint operating agreement” likely will dissolve without much federal scrutiny.

There are no words to describe this loss. We’ll write them anyway.

Tucson Citizen to cease publication March 21 if no buyer found

FATE OF THE STATE: Our new commander in chief is known for listening – hearing all points of view, then looking for common ground.

At its best, that method could channel adversarial energy in a way that leverages whatever warring factions can agree on.

At its worst, it can be seen as weakness.

The budget process for dealing with a gaping state deficit has generated heat, little light. One member of the state Board of Regents on Thursday called a Republican budget proposal “retribution,” aimed at revenge against ex-Gov. Janet Napolitano, the new head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Looking at the numbers, the claim that public colleges would be “crippled” for years to come seems plausible.

Even if legislators don’t bleed for laid-off faculty members, chances are they care about their children’s futures. Common ground?

Let us reason together.

More than 900 protest proposed cuts to higher education

Lack of funding could slow growth of bioscience industry

BEYOND REASON: When does life begin? To some, at the moment of conception.

Common ground on abortion rights has eluded activists for at least 30 years.

Those who believe abortion is murder can’t rationally allow it in cases of rape or incest. Some ardent abortion-rights supports champion almost unlimited access.

The state Legislature, now with support from Napolitano’s replacement, Gov. Jan Brewer, this week adopted a ban on partial-birth abortions.

Tuesday, a crash that killed an 8-month fetus resulted in a manslaughter sentence for 10 years, on top of other charges against Carlos A. Frasquillo.

Yep, at 8 months, that’s a person. Can’t say I disagree.

Arizona House panel OKs bills to limit partial birth abortions

23-year prison sentence in crash that killed fetus

A LIGHTER NOTE: One dispute that may be resolved without a lawsuit: The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum would like to work something out with a Dutch tourist who accidentally cornered a javelina.

Rene Zegerius, 46, is public health director of Amsterdam. He may never kickbox again.

His lawyer clarifies that Zegerius was not trying to pet the javelina before it charged.

“We agreed this was going to be resolved without litigation,” the museum’s director said Tuesday.

Good. Lawsuits can be such a bore.

Dutch tourist attacked by javelina seeks settlement with desert museum

Contact Judy Carlock at 573-4608 or at jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com.