Travelers wait to show passport proof in this 2008 photo in Cancun.

Long gone are the days of simply telling the guards at the borders you are a U.S. citizen while they merrily wave you through.

Now you’ll need proof.

Starting Monday, a passport will be required to get back into the U.S. if you’ve been traveling in foreign lands, according to a report at KOVA.com.

Passport soon required to re-enter US

New travel laws…require citizens to show a passport or passport card to get back into the US by land and sea from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

The rule change is part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

It’s a 2004 law that’s part of recommendations from the 9-11 commission.

The rules apply to everyone, including children. Read story: www.kvoa.com/global/story.asp?s=10442531

The change may have taken five years, but it’s a positive change just the same.

Passports are wonderful pieces of documentation for several reasons:

• How else can you flit off to France at the drop of a hat?

• They are easier to keep track of than the tattered, dog-eared birth certificate

• They serve as a little scrapbook of all the exotic places you’ve been

• The photos always look better than those that end up on the driver’s license

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Do you care about this new travel requirement?

Do you and your children have passports?

If so, is your photo better than the one on your driver’s license?

Two black bears recently paid a visit to some Foothills backyards. While it was not reported whether or not the bears used any area pools, Arizona Game and Fish officials did say folks should take caution.

Wildlife officials ask those in north Tucson to be ‘Bear Aware,’ Arizona Game and Fish news release

Tucson Regional Supervisor Leonard Ordway said the north Tucson area adjacent to the foothills of the Catalina Mountains is not typically bear country, but is within a short distance away from more typical bear country in the Catalinas. Bears can cover vast distances in a short period of time.

Ordway explained that biologists recognize that it is not possible to simply capture and relocate an animal that presents a public safety threat, such as an adult male bear. “If it is a threat in Tucson, it will still be a threat wherever else we might place the animal. We just don’t have vast areas of black bear habitat devoid of humans or other bears – it simply doesn’t exist,” he said.

More info: www.gf.state.az.us/

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING ARE FICTIONAL TIPS THAT MAY GET YOU KILLED.

Some quick tips will insure mauling, mutilation, future visits and possible death from the burly beasts:

• Leave your yard strewn with rotting garbage, open food containers and deer carcasses

• Walk alone, at night, and through areas where you know bears are sure to roam

• Feed them. Better yet, hand feed them bloody raw meat

• If confronted by a bear, scream like a wounded animal and start to run

• Position yourself between a female bear and her cubs

ANOTHER DISCLAIMER Seriously, please know the above tips are a joke. If you try them and get killed, we will not be held responsible.

The real tips appear below.

Wildlife safety tips

• Never intentionally feed wildlife. Even birds feeders can become attractants for larger unwanted animals if they are not handled properly to prevent spillage on the ground.

• Secure all garbage.

• Walk or jog in groups. Pay attention to your surroundings when hiking, jogging or bicycling.

• Supervise your children (especially toddlers) and keep them in sight at all times.

• Keep your pets on a leash – don’t allow them to be free roaming. Pets can easily get into conflicts with a wide range of wildlife from skunks to coyotes.

• Don’t leave pet food out where wild animals can get at it.

• If you have fruit or citrus trees, harvest ripened fruit and don’t let fruit collect on the ground.

• Trim the vegetation around your home to eliminate hiding cover for all wildlife.

What to do if you encounter a bear

• Don’t run. Running elicits what is called a predator-prey response – if you run, the animal might instinctively want to chase and catch you. Despite their imposing size, bears are quick and can reach speeds of 40 mph.

• Stay calm.

• Continue facing it, and slowly back away.

• Try making yourself look as big and imposing as possible; put young children on your shoulders.

• Speak loudly or yell and let it know you are human (don’t scream).

• Make loud noises by clanging pans, using air horns, or whatever is available.

• If attacked, fight back.

• Never get between a female bear and her cubs.

Tucson police dog Sam is shown with Officer Quinton Gleason in this 2006 photo.

Tucson cops go through a lot. They get yelled at, fled from and shot at.

They find dead bodies under overpasses.

Don’t forget they are also stuck wearing stifling uniforms in the searing Tucson heat.

Next Tuesday provides a chance to say thank you.

Tucson Police Foundation and M&I Bank invite community to honor officers on “Thank a Cop Day” June 2

Bring a thank you card to participating bank branches, sign an oversized card set up at the branch or have kids color special cards for the officers.

More info and locations: www.tucsonpolicefoundation.org/thankacopday.htm

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Have you had a particularly helpful or horrible experience with a Tucson police officer?

Are there any officers in particular you think need special thanks?

Sherrif’s deputies made an arrest in the shooting that left Francisco Antonio Calvillo dead and another man wounded at a South Side car wash last month.

Arturo Martin Flores, 21, is being charged with first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder and aggravated assault, according to a report in the Arizona Daily Star.

See original story and video released by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department: www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/114960.php

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Read post at Day of the Dead: www.tucsoncitizen.com/blog/view/1467

A Thursday morning e-mail from Lila Sorensen said shooting victim Francisco Calvillo and his brother were friends with her daughter.

“I used to pick them up and take them to my house to swim,” she wrote. “He and Adrian were nice boys. I never knew of anything bad that they did.”

Sorensen added that her daughter is devastated.

“This is the third young man she has been friends with whom have lost their lives to guns,” she said.

She said the first was Alfred Valenzuela Jr., who was accidentally shot at Lincoln Park in December 2006.

She did not mention the second death.

Time for another checkpoint alert, with the purpose of deterring folks from driving under the influence.

Next one up is on Saturday.

If you happen to drive through one, you also get a snazzy little informational pamphlet that outlines the dangers of driving while drunk or hopped up on drugs.

What: Sobriety checkpoint

Who: Tucson Police Department

When: Saturday evening

Where: “Within the city limits”

Why: “Our goal is to reduce the number of collisions that involve impaired drivers and lower the injuries and deaths associated with these types of collisions.

“By conducting the checkpoint, we will be able to increase the awareness of motorists about the dangers of impaired driving, deter those who may be impaired from driving, and detect and investigate DUI offenses at the checkpoint.”

All quoted info herein from a Tucson Police Department news release.

I happen to be a fan of sobriety checkpoints. It aims to nip the problem in the bud by hopefully deterring impaired driving in the first place.

Before anyone cries about tax-payer money being wasted, it must be noted that checkpoints are paid for by grants awarded specifically for that purpose.

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What do you think?

Do folks hate checkpoints as much as some hate photo enforcement cameras?

Using a tie-out for a dog is illegal in Pima County. But apparently some school employees thought it was OK to use the same concept on a special-needs student.

Student routinely restrained to fence

Five Tucson Unified School District employees were put on notice after an investigation revealed that a special-needs student at Sabino High School routinely was left restrained to a fence by his backpack from when the bus dropped him off for school to when teachers came to take him to class.

The bus monitor involved said the exceptional-education student, whose feet remained on the ground, was attached to the spoke of the fence so he wouldn’t fall over or wander away while he waited for his escort…..

In a written explanation in the district’s investigative file, monitor Thomas Giacoma noted that for most of the school year he had used the fence and nobody voiced disapproval, adding it was done in full sight of everyone at the bus bay, from teachers to bus drivers, supervisors and students. Read story: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/294757

Using the monitor’s logic, anything we do, no matter how atrocious, is OK if it’s in “full sight” of others.

Don’t forget Kitty Genovese was reported as murdered in “full sight” of New Yorkers peeking out their windows when they heard her blood-curling screams for help

Nobody did a thing to help.

Tucsonans, and the entire state, may soon get the go-ahead to play with fire.

Or at least play with sparklers and other small, spinning, smoking and burning objects.

Bill legalizing sparklers clears a major hurdle, Capitol Media Service

PHOENIX — Arizona is halfway to making sparklers legal.

By 34-21, the state House voted Tuesday to make it legal for stores to sell and Arizonans to use sparklers. HB 2258 would also legalize cone fountains, ground spinners and toy smoke devices.

The legislation now goes to the Senate.

If approved there, odds are it will become law. Gov. Jan Brewer, who said she played with sparklers herself while growing up in California, is on record saying she believes the current restrictions make no sense. Brewer said she allowed her own children to play with sparklers in Mexico. Read story: www.azstarnet.com/sn/byauthor/294569

Well, if the governor’s done it, and her kids have done it, by all means the rest of us should follow suit.

I am not much of a fan of sparklers after I accidentally burnt down the neighbor’s picnic table umbrella with one.

There went my entire summer’s allowance.

These devices can be neat, but they can also get into the hands of pranksters and rabblerousers who will use them for annoyance and destruction.

Then again, those types would get their hands on them whether they were legal or not.

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Are you a fan of sparklers, cone fountains, ground spinners and toy smoke devices?

Do you lay awake at night wishing they were legal to sell and use in Tucson?

When Joseph Gutierrez’ 5-year-old son slipped of an inflatable dolphin in to the depths of a swirling river, Gutierrez did what most parents would do.

He jumped in to save the boy, reports The Associated Press.

He also drowned.

The child was saved by two bystanders.

The boy may also grow up riddled with guilt, but certainly knowing what true love is.

Chandler dad drowns trying to save 5-year-old son, The Associated Press

PHOENIX — A Chandler father trying to save his 5-year-old son’s life drowned in a river northeast of Phoenix, police said.

Gutierrez jumped into the 17-foot-deep water (of the Salt River) to rescue the boy, as did two bystanders who had been watching people float on inflatable tubes down the river.

The bystanders saved the boy, but Gutierrez drowned. Read story: www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/294413.php

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Would you risk your life to save your child?

Would you risk your life to save your parents?

Would you want your parents or children to risk their lives to save you?

More gore on the South Side, with a woman and her 13-year-old daughter stabbed and slashed in the arms and neck at the trailer park where they lived.

They survived, but the person arrested for the attack, 30-year-old Yesenia Sosa, is charged with attempted murder, among other things.

Arrest made in stabbings of woman, daughter at South Side home, Arizona Daily Star

The stabbings occurred about 12:30 p.m. in the 3500 block of East Alvord Road, near South Palo Verde Road.

The woman who was stabbed may have known the suspect, said Deputy Dawn Barkman, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

They were “somewhat acquainted,” Barkman said. But the victim “did not know her that well.” Read story: www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/294409.php

Nice acquaintance.

Some still say the South Side is no more dangerous than other areas around town.

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What do you think?

Smile for the speed cameras

Ten speed cameras installed in Pima County have been patiently waiting to catch you in the act.

Their time has come.

The testing phase is finally finished and speeding violations will be issued starting Monday, according to a report at KVOA.com.

Don’t forget to smile for the camera if you happen to be speeding in one of the camera locations:

• La Cholla Boulevard at Sunset Road

• Mission Road at Nebraska Street

• Ina Road at Camino de las Candelas

• Swan Road at Calle Barril

• Alvernon Way near Station Master Drive

• Valencia Road near Camino de la Tierra

• Valencia Road near Wilmot Road

• River Road near Country Club Road

• Ruthrauff Road near Rillito Street

• Nogales Highway near Hermans Road

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Will speed cameras stop you from speeding?

Investigators take a look at the burned squad car after a February 2008 vehicle crash at West Ajo Way and South La Cholla Boulevard.

Some Tucson drivers could use a little training. Or a lot of training.

Many don’t even seem to know what a blinker is, much less how to use it.

That’s not the only knowledge they are lacking.

Road runner: One-fifth of Arizonans on road would flunk written driving exam, Arizona Daily Star

More than one-fifth of the Arizonans who have driver’s licenses could not pass the written driving exam today, according to a national survey.

Nationally, 20 percent of Americans with licenses can’t pass the test, and in Arizona the number climbs a bit to 22.8 percent, based on numbers from the GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test. Read story: www.azstarnet.com/metro/294281

While Arizona flunkee statistics may seem pretty high, we are only a shade higher than the national average.

And there are places that have even crazier motorists.

Tucson drivers are not as reckless as those I’ve seen – or nearly been hit by – in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sure enough, the report mentions that New Yorkers ranked the lowest scores on the road, averaging 70.5 on their driving tests.

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What’s the most insane driving habits you’ve seen in Tucson?

What’s the worst driving you’ve seen anywhere?

Would you pass the written driving exam if you took it today?

Tucson police Officer Erik David Hite, 43. <a href="http://10.4.149.24/archives/photos/search/?search%5Bform%5D%5Bfulltext%5D=Tucson+Police+Dept.+within+BYLINE"/>

Slain Tucson police Officer Erik Hite deserves to be remembered, and folks at the Saguaro Canyon Evangelical Free Church are doing their part.

They will soon be opening the Erik Hite Family Park, complete with a playground where the late officer’s young daughter can play.

Church’s playground dedicated to slain police officer, Arizona Daily Star

On May 31, a dedication ceremony will be held — two days before the first anniversary of Hite’s death….Hite was killed last June by a gunman who led police on a crosstown chase. Read story: www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/294311.php

Hite is survived by his wife, Nohemy Hite, and 1-year-old daughter Samantha.

The church is located at 10111 E. Old Spanish Trail and the report says memorial bricks are still available for purchase in Hite’s honor. Call 885-7088.

Any tribute to Hite is a beautiful tribute.

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What other ways can we pay tribute to fallen Officer Hite and others who deserve to be remembered?

Some areas of Pima County may be going down the toilet, but you can be sure our toilets’ wastewater will be flushed away with ease.

Pima County to receive $10M in stimulus funds for sewer system, Arizona Daily Star

Pima County will receive $10 million from the federal stimulus package to put toward improvements to the regional sewer system.

Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department will receive the money through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to put toward a regional interconnect that will carry wastewater between the Roger Road treatment plant and the Ina Road treatment plant.

Read story: www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/294312.php

This is a very good thing.

More federal funds for more projects would be even better.

No complaints, however.

Any money Pima can get from the government is a blessing.

Toilets are a pretty necessary commodity and our sewers should be something that stays in tip-top shape.

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What other areas of Pima County would you like to see improved and why?

Lucky Voodoo Doll honors 31 years of Tucson police service

Tucson will miss Sgt. Mark Robinson. At least much of Tucson will.

I recall hearing one reporter complain he was sometimes grumpy, but most people would be after a 31-year police career.

Robinson held a number of positions at the Tucson Police Department.

He worked as a patrol officer, traffic sergeant, burglary investigator and in surveillance, according to a report at KVOA.com.

I’m guessing one of his favorites was his time in the motorcycle unit.

Robinson finished off his decades of service with a finale in the Public Information Office, where I got to know him as my gig as a night cops reporter.

He was cool enough to earn a parting gift. I made him a Lucky Voodoo Doll.

Only one other police officer has thus far merited a Lucky Voodoo Doll. Lt. Decio Hopffer got one for his promotion.

It’s just a little way to thanks for making our community better.

More layoffs hit Tucson Unified School District employees in a scramble to reshuffle the organization.

Just what the school district, students and our economy needs.

Next year’s budget is expected to be $46 million smaller, thanks to state cuts, according to a report in the Arizona Daily Star.

In operations, 55 “middle management” folks were let go, but the reshuffling also created 26 new positions. Total gone: 29; total savings: $1.2 million.

Communications slashed more than half its staff, with four out of seven severed.

Layoffs included Chyrl Hill Lander, the only one allowed to talk to the media.

Odds of getting info may have just plummeted.

Total gone: 4; total savings: $350,000.

Technology is reducing its staff, but it’s not clear by how many since some part-time positions will be shifted.

What is clear is a new plan that gets schools serviced based on how much money they shell out, according to the report.

Schools that need computer help will have to kick in a fee to share the pool of technicians unless, of course, they want to kick in a bigger fee to have a technician of their own.

Schools that can’t pay a fee will still get technical assistance – after everyone else has been served.

Doesn’t sound good, but not much in this economy does lately.

Home schooling anyone?

It sounds like operations will take longer, computers may go haywire and stay that way and no one will be able to talk about it, at least not on the record.

Read story: www.azstarnet.com/metro/293801