PHOENIX — Most Arizonans support Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal for a temporary sales tax increase to help address the state’s budget deficit, according to a Cronkite/Eight Poll released Tuesday.

Sixty percent of those surveyed said they would support the temporary tax increase, while 35 percent said they would oppose it. Five percent had no opinion.

The proposal from Brewer, a Republican, hasn’t received support from GOP leaders in the Legislature. They put forward a budget plan this week that aims to close the $3 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year beginning in July without raising taxes.

Asked how much confidence they have that Brewer is making the right decisions to pull Arizona out of the economic crisis, 7 percent said they had a great deal of confidence and 40 percent said they had some confidence. Thirty-four percent said they didn’t have much confidence, and 19 percent had no opinion.

“I think this shows that people may not have support for Brewer, but they do support this particular idea,” said Tara Blanc, the poll’s associate director.

Meanwhile, the poll suggests that Brewer and her policies aren’t well known to many Arizonans. Thirty-five percent of respondents said they had no opinion of her performance as governor since she took over when Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano resigned to become U.S. homeland security secretary.

“This tells me that Republicans need to step forward and provide some strong positive leadership in Arizona to move things forward,” said Bruce Merrill, a retired Arizona State University professor who directs the poll.

The governor’s press office and spokeswomen for GOP leaders in the state House and Senate didn’t immediately return phone calls seeking comment on the poll.

Arizonans appear to have more confidence in President Barack Obama’s plan to get out of the current economic crisis, according to the poll. Twenty-seven percent had a great deal of confidence in Obama’s plan and 33 percent had some confidence, while 37 percent didn’t have much confidence. Three percent had no opinion.

Most respondents said the deep recession has hurt them, with 28 percent saying it has affected them a great deal and 48 percent saying it has affected them somewhat. Twenty-eight percent said they haven’t been affected much.

“I think this shows when the real estate bubble burst, it really hurt Arizona in a big way,” Merrill said. “Now a lot of people owe more on their homes than what they are worth.”

The poll, conducted Thursday to Sunday by ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Eight-KAET-TV, involved 390 registered Arizona voters. It has a sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The Cronkite School operates the Cronkite News Service.

The poll also found that:

— Forty-eight percent of respondents think the way Obama has conducted foreign affairs has improved the image of the United States abroad, while 27 percent said his actions have worsened that the United States’ image abroad. Nineteen percent said Obama has made little difference in the area.

— Sixty-nine percent of respondents listed education as the top area they don’t want to see cut in the state budget. Public safety was a distant second at 10 percent.

— Sixty-six percent of respondents said it is very important or somewhat important that Arizona schools continue providing all-day kindergarten.

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Poll highlights

Support or opposition to Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal of a temporary one-percent sales tax increase to help offset the deficit in the state’s budget:

— Support: 60 percent

— Oppose: 35 percent

— No opinion: 5 percent

Confidence that Gov. Jan Brewer is making the right decisions to pull the state out of the current economic crisis:

— A great deal of confidence: 7 percent

— Some confidence: 40 percent

— Not much confidence: 34 percent

— No opinion: 19 percent

Confidence that President Barack Obama is making the right decisions to pull the country out of the current economic crisis:

— A great deal of confidence: 27 percent

— Some confidence: 33 percent

— Not much confidence: 37 percent

— No opinion: 3 percent

The degree to which the current financial crisis has affected you and your family:

— A great deal: 28 percent

— Somewhat: 48 percent

— Really not much: 24 percent

PHOENIX — An increase in Arizonans living near and recreating in wilderness areas has contributed to a record number of rabies cases in Arizona, a state health official told lawmakers Thursday.

So far this year, the Arizona Department of Health Services has confirmed rabies in 99 animals, putting the state on pace to eclipse the record of 176 cases set last year, said Craig Levy, vector-borne disease director for the Arizona Department of Health Services.

“We are on track this year, unfortunately, of setting another state record,” he told the Senate Committee on Government Institutions.

Pima County leads all Arizona counties with 35 cases of rabies so far this year, 25 of them involving skunks. Officials are urging residents to avoid skunks that act friendly toward humans, and that do so during the daytime, said Patti Woodcock, community relations manager for the Pima County Health Department.

“If a nocturnal animal like a skunk or a bat is out in the daytime, that is a sure sign that something is wrong,” she said.

Because of an outbreak in foxes and skunks around Flagstaff, Coconino County has ordered a three-month quarantine forcing owners to keep dogs on leashes or in fenced yards and to keep cats indoors in and around the city.

Levy said Pima County is seeing an unusual number of rabid skunks, as is the area of Cochise County around St. David.

However, Levy said rabies outbreaks are cyclical and will abate with time. Better rainfall in recent years has increased the population of skunks, foxes, bobcats, bats and other creatures that carry rabies, and the disease eventually will reduce those numbers, he said.

Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system and is spread most commonly through bites from infected animals. It’s always fatal in humans once symptoms appear but can be prevented in exposed individuals through the prompt administration of shots.

There is no treatment for unvaccinated pets.

Levy said officials are especially concerned with summer approaching.

“You’re going to have a lot of people camping and fishing, and we want them all to be prepared,” Levy said.

Those venturing into the wilderness should be ready for encounters with rabid animals, Levy said. Running is a good option when facing skunks, which can’t keep up, but he said foxes and bobcats are highly aggressive when they contract rabies and will catch up to you.

“A good walking stick, believe it or not, is one of the best forms of protection,” Levy said.

Laura Oxley, the communications director for the Department of Health Services, said that the number of rabid bats usually picks up in the summer as bats migrate from Mexico to Arizona. That leads to increased rabies exposure in the fall, when rabid bats fall onto school grounds and children play with them, she said.

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2009 rabies cases

The Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed in each county through April 20:

— Apache: 0

— Cochise: 15

— Coconino: 21

— Gila: 1

— Graham: 0

— Greenlee: 1

— La Paz: 0

— Maricopa: 2

— Mohave: 0

— Navajo: 0

— Pima: 35

— Pinal: 2

— Santa Cruz: 11

— Yavapai: 7

— Yuma: 0

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On the Web

Arizona Department of Health Services:

www.azdhs.gov

PHOENIX – The state budget crisis threatens a program that helps Arizona farmers prevent contamination in lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens, advocates say.

The Arizona Leafy Green Products Shipper Marketing Agreement, also known as Arizona Leafy Greens, is administered by the Arizona Department of Agriculture. It started in September 2007 after California experienced two E. coli outbreaks traced to lettuce and spinach.

“We take food safety very seriously as an industry,” said C.R. Waters, a Yuma farmer who serves as the program’s chairman.

Funded by voluntary assessments to member growers and shippers, the program, which took in about $78,000 this year, sets safety standards for growing leafy greens and brings inspectors from California to assess how farms are meeting those standards.

Waters said members of Arizona Leafy Greens look with worry at fund sweeps lawmakers have made to address the state’s budget deficit. Those sweeps already have cut money from the Agriculture Department’s Iceberg Lettuce Research Council, Grain Research and Promotion Council and Arizona Citrus Research Council, which also are funded by growers.

“The fund sweeps for the 2010 and future budgets are the biggest threat to the viability of the program,” Waters said. “People will be hesitant to put money into a fund if it’s going to be used for something other than its intended purpose.”

Arizona growers provide 75 percent of the leafy green produce consumed in the United States and Canada from November through March. The $1 billion industry employs about 20,000 workers.

Arizona Leafy Greens helps ensure quality and safety by making sure animals don’t get into or feed too close to fields and by monitoring water and soil.

Waters said that in addition to protecting the public, Arizona Leafy Greens helps maintain confidence in the food supply and protects the agriculture industry.

“If there’s an outbreak, people will just quit buying that product,” Waters said.

Kurt Nolte, director of the Yuma County Cooperative Extension, operated by the University of Arizona, said safety standards set by Arizona Leafy Greens protect consumers. He said that sweeping the funds would be unfortunate because the program gets its money from the agriculture industry.

“This is not taxpayer money that might get swept,” Nolte said.

Will Rousseau, chairman of Arizona Leafy Greens Communications Committee, said a fund sweep would be nothing more than an indirect tax increase.

“If the funds were swept away, the industry would be forced to replenish the funds with the risk they would be swept away again,” he said.

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Arizona Leafy Greens

• Full Name: Arizona Leafy Green Products Shipper Marketing Agreement

• Focus: Industry program striving for safety in production of lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens.

• Components: Sets standards for safe productions, ensured through audits by government-certified inspectors.

• Launched in September 2007 after two E. coli outbreaks traced to leafy greens grown in California.

• Administered By: Arizona Department of Agriculture

• Funding: Assessments to member growers and shippers – about $78,000 this year.

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On the Web

Arizona Leafy Greens:

www.azlgma.gov

PHOENIX – Five emergency calls in five hours were enough to prompt fire officials here to put out word that bee season has arrived, and that it could be a busy one after a wet winter.

Bees swarm in the spring as groups break away from overcrowded colonies, often setting up hives in places that bring them in contact with people. That’s no small issue with aggressive Africanized honeybees established around Arizona.

“When you run into bees and there’s an actual attack, immediately call 911. Do not delay,” said Hugh Chase, a public information officer with the Phoenix Fire Department.

Kevin Hodgson, owner of The Beekeeper: Total Bee Control, joined Chase at a news conference this week to show bees and a honeycomb he’d removed that morning from a tree in a woman’s front yard. It’s been a busy season already because of winter rain, he said.

“When it rains a lot, there’s more pollen and nectar on the plants,” he said. “That gives the bees a lot of food, which increases the number of swarms.”

Osman Kaftanoglu, project manager of the School of Life Sciences Honey Bee Research Laboratory at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic Campus in Mesa, said all indications point to many swarms this spring.

“It will be a busy bee season and there will be a lot of swarms this month and next month,” Kaftanoglu said. “Due to the winter rains there are a lot of flowers blooming this time of year.”

Diana Sammataro, a research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, said it’s impossible to predict what will happen.

“There’s no way of knowing because no one is tracking where swarms come from,” Sammataro said. “Bee season depends on how many colonies there are in the winter, the climate and the location.”

Africanized honeybees are dangerous to humans and pets because they respond aggressively and in large numbers to perceived threats, a trait that makes them far more dangerous than European honeybees.

The so-called killer bees arrived in southern Arizona in 1993 and since have been found in every county. They are descendants of a variety brought to Brazil from Africa in the 1950s by scientists looking for a better honey producer. The bees bred with the local honeybees and began spreading northward.

Africanized bee attacks can be fatal to people, especially the elderly and those who are allergic to bee stings. Dogs are vulnerable because they often are chained or enclosed by fences and can’t get away.

The bees don’t go out looking for trouble with people, but confrontations often occur when someone inadvertently disturbs a hive or decides to destroy the bees without professional help.

Those who are attacked should run from the bees or get inside buildings, closing doors behind them. Diving into a pool doesn’t help; the bees will wait for a person to surface.

Chase, with the Phoenix Fire Department, said the best protection is taking steps to avoid provoking bees, such as staying on hiking trails and not trying to take a closer look at a bee hive.

“Usually curiosity is the biggest cause of bee attack situations,” he said.

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SAFETY TIPS

Authorities offer these tips for staying safe during bee season:

• When going into areas that might have bees, wear long-sleeve clothing, insect repellent and sunscreen.

• If hiking, stay on trails.

• If attacked, run away from the bees – into a building, if possible – and call 911.

• If cornered, wave a jacket or towel at the bees.

Subscribers-only Arizona Guardian is in Phoenix area

Journalist Mary K. Reinhart attends a news conference at the Arizona Capitol. Reinhart helped found the Arizona Guardian Web site with three other journalists laid off by a Phoenix-area newspaper.

PHOENIX – In many ways, it’s a typical news meeting about State Capitol coverage.

Paul Giblin, a veteran political reporter, is heading to cover a news conference by Democrats in the state House of Representatives. Patti Epler, an editor and political reporter, will join him and shoot photos.

Mary K. Reinhart, with extensive experience covering health care and social services, is going to catch a similar availability with Senate Republican leaders, joined by Dennis Welch, a seasoned statehouse and government reporter.

There is no conference room, conference table or whiteboard for this session, however. The four meet in a hallway of the Arizona State Senate building.

The journalists, all laid off as the East Valley Tribune retrenched in January, joined forces to create the Arizona Guardian, an online venture that they hope will not only turn a profit but perhaps help create the future of news.

Giblin, who spent 14 years with the Tribune, said he and his partners have had opportunities to take more lucrative positions outside of journalism but were committed to the craft. And they still are, he said.

“We’re kind of slaves to journalism,” Giblin said. “We like the ideal of journalism, the principles of journalism – the excitement of journalism, quite frankly.”

And then there is a more practical reason for starting the venture.

“I hope this works because I need a job,” Giblin said.

The Arizona Guardian, a subscribers-only Web site, launched Jan. 5 as Giblin, Epler, Reinhart and Welch teamed with Bob Grossfeld, a Democratic strategist who serves as publisher, business and marketing manager and webmaster. Each of the five has an equal stake.

For $30 a month, a subscriber gets access to the site’s news coverage. A $150-a-month subscription aimed at lawmakers, lobbyists and companies offers more frequent e-mail and text alerts and eventually will offer a bill-tracking service among other premium content, the owners say.

“Our audience is different than typical media outlets,” Reinhart said. “It’s the gang that hangs out at the Capitol, as opposed to the soccer moms and the NASCAR dads.”

The premium subscription puts the Arizona Guardian into competition with the Arizona Capitol Times, a weekly newspaper and Web site appealing to those with an interest in state government. The Capitol Times offers its own premium service with comprehensive news about state government issues and action, bills and gossip.

Ginger Lamb, publisher and vice president of the Arizona Capitol Times, said competition keeps everyone on their toes.

“The more news coverage of government and Legislature the better,” she said. “It only makes everybody better.”

Grossfeld declined to say how many subscriptions the Arizona Guardian has sold or how many it needs to turn a profit.

A typical 24-hour news cycle at the Arizona Guardian features about 10 to 12 stories, which include coverage of the governor’s office, the state Legislature and the budget as well as features on topics such as lunch spots around the Capitol and columns submitted by politicians.

The reporters take their own photos and edit each other’s copy.

“The biggest challenge that we face is just being able to keep up with the volume of the news that’s going on down here,” Epler said. “We only have four reporters working on the site right now, and we could use at least twice that many.”

Epler and her counterparts have faced challenges when it comes to workspace. Initially denied access to the press room in the Senate building, Arizona Guardian staffers set up there anyway before being banished recently.

They now work out of a basement office near the Capitol.

Howard Fischer, a longtime statehouse reporter who in 1992 founded Capitol Media Services to feed content to media outlets, said the Arizona Guardian’s model may represent the future of journalism.

“I hope they are successful,” Fischer said. “We all may end up doing this, but it’s a hard way to make a living.”

Sarah Muench, the spokeswoman for House Democrats, said she is a satisfied subscriber.

“I am extremely interested in what they write,” Muench said. “Their coverage helps keeps me informed, which helps me do my job.”

Welch hopes for many more such subscribers.

“For personal reasons, I hope this works because, well, because I need to pay my bills,” Welch said. “But in the larger sense I hope this works so we can find a new model, a new way for journalists to keep practicing journalism.”

Tim McGuire, the Frank Russell Chair for the Business of Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said operations such as the Arizona Guardian represent the future of journalism. However, he isn’t enthusiastic about the subscribers-only model.

“Entrepreneurial journalists are going to be out there looking for business models – experiment and possibly bump into the answer,” McGuire said. “Has the Guardian run into the answer? I don’t really think so, but God I hope so.”

Journalists Paul Giblin (center) and Patti Epler (right) interview Rep. David Lujan, D-Phoenix, the House minority leader. Giblin and Epler helped found the Arizona Guardian Web site with two other journalists laid off by a Phoenix-area newspaper.

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On the Web

Arizona Guardian:

www.arizonaguardian.com

PHOENIX — Advocates for senior citizens rallied Tuesday against cuts to a state program that provides in-home help such as bathing, dressing and grooming.

With additional cuts proposed for the coming fiscal year, some seniors relying on the program will be forced to move into nursing homes, representatives of groups including AARP said at the state Capitol.

“We need to raise up our voices because these people are voiceless and faceless because they are at home,” said Lupe Solis, AARP Arizona’s associate director for advocacy.

“These cuts are denying these people the dignity they’ve earned by working hard their whole lives,” said Rep. Daniel Patterson, D-Tucson.

As it closed a $1.6 billion deficit for the fiscal year ending in June, lawmakers cut $2 million from a program providing independent-living support for elderly and vulnerable adults through the Department of Economic Security’s Division of Aging and Adult Services. About 450 people over age 60 lost their services as a result, according to the DES Web site.

In all, more than 17,000 people statewide receive in-home care through the program, which had an appropriation of about $19 million before the cuts.

“These budget program eliminations and reductions are horrendous,” said Guy Mikkelsen, president and CEO of the Foundation for Senior Living.

“The impact of the cuts is that frail elderly people are abandoned when they need us the most,” said Timothy Schmaltz, coordinator and CEO of Protecting Arizona’s Family Coalition, an alliance of social service associations.

Solis, with AARP, said keeping seniors in their homes makes economic sense. She said the in-home care costs an average of $2,000 annually per person, while the Arizona Long Term Care System averages about $24,000 per person.

“People who are not receiving care deteriorate at home by themselves and end up in more costly care,” Solis said.

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Senior services

Key facts about an in-home care program for seniors operated by the Department of Economic Security Division of Aging and Adult Services:

— Services Provided: Assistance with bathing, dressing, grooming and other basic functions.

— Total Receiving Services: More than 17,000.

— Appropriated Money in Fiscal 2009: About $19 million.

— Amount Cut in Fiscal 2009: About $2 million.

— Number Who Lost Services: 450.

Source: Arizona Department of Economic Security

PHOENIX – A group of Hispanic lawmakers is urging members of President Obama’s administration to join in a discussion of whether Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has engaged in racial profiling or other civil rights abuses.

“It upsets me and gets me angry, but with this anger I want to take some positive course of action,” Sen. Richard Miranda, D-Phoenix, co-chair of the Arizona Latino Legislative Caucus, said at a news conference Tuesday.

Sheriff’s deputies have been conducting what they call saturation raids for the past two years in predominantly Hispanic areas. Arpaio has said these raids are aimed at apprehending criminals as well as illegal immigrants.

Miranda, however, said deputies have been stopping people instead for trivial traffic violations such as cracked windshields or broken taillights, suggesting that they are looking for illegal immigrants.

“Is he using racial profiling to conduct these raids, and why is he not seeking out other immigrants who may not be here legally?” Miranda said.

Hispanic leaders also have objected to Arpaio’s recent decision to segregate illegal immigrants in county jails.

Miranda and Ben R. Miranda, D-Phoenix, his co-chair and brother, have sent a letter on behalf of the Latino caucus putting their concerns to federal officials. They invited U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to send representatives to a legislative forum on Arpaio’s actions.

Ben Miranda said the group is more optimistic about the prospect of a federal review because of the administration change in Washington.

“It gives us hope that Arizona will not continue to operate as an island of violation of civil rights that individuals have throughout the country,” he said.

Two messages left with Arpaio’s media relations office weren’t returned Tuesday.

Last week, U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, joined three other Democrats on the committee in asking the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to review whether Arpaio’s actions toward Hispanics amount to racial profiling or other civil rights violations.

Richard Miranda said Arpaio’s decision to segregate illegal immigrants in jails portrays them as violent criminals although some have yet to be tried.

“It seems to me he’s interested in publicity rather than law enforcement at this point,” he said. “These are human beings; they are not (trophies) to be paraded around like conquests.”

Jason Martinez, chairman of the Arizona Civil Rights Advisory Board, part of the Civil Rights Division of the state Attorney General’s Office, said it’s important to keep fighting until Arpaio’s office stops immigration sweeps.

“We’re tired of being ignored; this is a serious civil rights problem,” Martinez said.

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Arizona Latino Legislative Caucus

— Sen. Richard Miranda, D-Phoenix, Co-Chair

— Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Phoenix, Co-Chair

— Sen. Amanda Aguirre, D-Yuma

— Sen. Manuel “Manny” Alvarez, D-Elfrida

— Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia, D-Tucson

— Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson

— Sen. Rebecca Rios, D-Tucson

— Rep. Olivia Cajero Bedford, D-Tucson

— Rep. Martha Garcia, D-Phoenix

— Rep. David Lujan, D-Phoenix

— Rep. Robert Meza, D-Phoenix

— Rep. Anna Tovar, D-Phoenix