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?

But try being one in New York City.

One off-duty cop, who was chasing a guy he found trying to rob his car, was shot and killed by a fellow officer, according to The Associated Press.

Off-duty NYPD cop fatally shot by fellow officer, The Associated Press

NEW YORK — A plainclothes policeman who drew his gun while chasing someone he had found rummaging through his car was shot and killed by a fellow officer who was driving by and saw the pursuit, the police commissioner said.

Commissioner Raymond Kelly said 25-year-old Omar J. Edwards died after being shot late Thursday within blocks of the Harlem police station where he worked….

The shooter was white and Edwards was black, a fact that could raise questions about police use of deadly force in a minority community.

In the past three years in the New York City area, there have been two other cases of off-duty policemen being shot and killed by other officers. Read story: www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/294922.php

During my time in New York City, several very helpful Brooklyn police detectives came to my rescue when I was being stalked.

Yet I also had some less-than-stellar experience with New York City cops.

So did Abner Louima.

Anyone not familiar with the Louima case needs simply Google: plunger and NYPD.

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?

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.

Restaurant worker hospitalized after kitchen fight, The Associated Press

PALO ALTO, Calif. — An employee of a Palo Alto Chinese restaurant is hospitalized and a second employee on the run from the police after a kitchen scuffle turned violent.

Palo Alto police say during the scuffle Wednesday evening one man suffered wounds to the face and torso after being attacked by a second man with a cleaver in the kitchen of the Jade Palace restaurant. Read story: www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/294775.php

Like in the story about the 2-year-old shooting and killing her 3-year-old brother, a rule or two of common sense may have avoided this incident altogether:

1. Don’t get in a fight with anyone who is wielding a cleaver.

2. Don’t get in a fight with anyone in a kitchen. From the blender to the shish kabob skewer, there are way too many weapons in there.

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What was the worst fight you had with a coworker?

Did either of you end up in the hospital?

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?

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.

4 bodies left behind in vacant Ind. funeral home, The Associated Press

GARY, Ind. — Church leaders who bought a defunct Indiana funeral home in a tax sale have stumbled upon four bodies that had been left behind in the vacant building…..

Lake County Coroner David J. Pastrick and his staff found one body in the bag, then another in a burial box and finally two more in caskets.

None has been identified.

Pastrick says the bodies may have been there since 2006, when the funeral home’s business license was revoked after several people filed complaints.

Read story: www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/294607.php

It’s no surprise the place went out of business, but it is an awful surprise that the former owners could apparently be so crass.

Funeral homes are entrusted with more than just our money. We fully trust them to do the right thing for our dearly departed. Evidently, not all of them do.

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Have you had a particularly harrowing experience with a funeral home? What happened?

What about those that have met or even gone beyond your expectations?

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?