TO CLIPS INDEX Clips for February 25, 2009

Brewer calls for cuts to agencies' budgets
The Arizona Republic 2/25/09
Talk about timing. Gov. Jan Brewer on Tuesday directed
state agencies to prepare for additional spending cuts
of up to 20 percent. That same day, Senate Democrats
proposed a budget fix for fiscal 2010 that would close
a multi-billion-dollar shortfall without a dime in state
spending cuts beyond the $580 million approved this
year. The wildly divergent perspectives come as state
officials gird for a 2010 shortfall now expected to be as
large as $3.5 billion. The Brewer memo, written by bud-
get adviser Eileen Klein, warns of "more difficult times
ahead for Arizona," and asks state agencies to detail
spending reductions in 5 percent increments. A 20 per-
cent reduction would be a "worst-case scenario," Brewer
spokesman Paul Senseman said. Agencies have until
March 6 to prepare the information. Senate Democrats,
meanwhile, issued a plan to close the 2010 shortfall
through a mix of payment deferrals, tax-credit
suspensions and budget gimmicks.

Robert Robb: State should accept feds' dirty stimulus
bargain
The Arizona Republic 2/25/09
The money in the federal stimulus package for the state
is a decidedly mixed blessing. On the one hand, it offers
a boatload of money to relieve budget-cutting pressures.
On the other, it paradoxically makes a tax increase more
likely. According to the Legislature's budget staff, Arizona
is eligible to receive approximately $4 billion in additional
federal assistance. But just $1.7 billion is available to fill
a $3 billion hole in next year's general fund budget. And
some of that will probably have to be used to fill a
reappearing hole in this year's budget, as revenue
continues to plummet. There are strings attached. For
next year, the stimulus would provide $700 million in
additional aid to state low-income health-care programs,
but only if the state doesn't reduce eligibility. There is over
$800 million available for K-12 and university education.
But only if the state continues to fund those enterprises
from state sources at their 2006 level, at a minimum.

Republicans aim to revamp Arizona tax codes
Capitol Media Services/East Valley Tribune
2/24/09 10:55PM
Saying higher taxes would make the economy worse,
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee
voted Monday to permanently repeal the state property tax.
The 5-3 party-line vote came after a parade of business
lobbyists said higher taxes could drive some already
struggling firms under. Glenn Hamer, president of the
Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the
levy also would make it harder to convince firms to locate
in the state. But Monday’s action may be just the first
steps of the Republican-controlled Legislature to revamp
Arizona’s tax code to make it more friendly to business.

Lawmakers have high hopes for state money
trickling down
The Arizona Republic 2/24/09 4:54 PM
The state budget is bleak but things could improve -- or
at least not get much worse -- in Tempe next year after
Gov. Jan Brewer accepts a federal economic stimulus
package, three Tempe legislators told the public on
Tuesday. Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman talked to Tempe
Democratic state Reps. Ed Ableser and David Schapira,
and Democratic Sen. Meg Burton Cahill about state bud-
get cuts in education and social services on the Let's
Talk Tempe show taping in the city. The three answered
the public's questions on the show, which will air on
Tempe Channel 11 a number of times in coming weeks.

Tentative agreement made to restore programs at
ASU West
The Arizona Republic 224/09 9:48 AM
West Valley legislators, politicians and business leaders
confronted Arizona State University officials in a closed-
door meeting last week to demand a reconsideration of
painful cuts proposed for the West campus. By the end of
the meeting, held in the office of state Sen. Linda Gray, R-
Phoenix, some master's programs were restored -
tentatively - and even the change of the campus's name
to New College was back on the table. "There was a
feeling that (ASU West) was being relegated to second-
or third-level status," said Sen. John Nelson, R-Litchfield
Park, one of the campus founders.

Laurin Hendrix, Commentary: Legislature fixing budget
crisis Napolitano left
East Valley Tribune 2/24/09 10:32PM
The decisions lawmakers made a couple of weeks
ago with regard to the fiscal year 2009 budget fix
were extremely difficult; and in many cases, just plain
agonizing, especially with regard to reductions in
education. Knowing education is an investment in our
children, lawmakers had very few options and had to
make some very serious decisions with regard to not
only education, but other state services as well. We
made our decisions as responsibly as we could when
faced with a looming $1.6 billion deficit that needed to
be corrected for the fiscal year 2008-09 budget. As you
know, lawmakers are prohibited by law from deficit
spending and the Arizona Constitution requires the
Legislature to balance the state budget each fiscal
year. Lawmakers had no other options and were
forced to make education reductions.

Cuts Would Do Little Damage to Polytechnic
East Valley Tribune 2/25/09
The budget cuts likely to hit ASU Polytechnic in the
coming months would rearrange where many
professors teach, but do little damage to the east
Mesa campus. Arizona State University officials
announced earlier this month plans to eliminate
four dozen degree programs to cover part of the
$60 million state funding lost this year. However,
at Polytechnic, only two programs are threatened
with closure. The campus had appeared
particularly threatened. ASU President Michael
Crow said last month the entire branch campus
might be shuttered as lawmakers considered
cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in public
higher education spending.

Proposal to keep kids in school longer fails
Capitol Media Services/East Valley Tribune
2/25/09 10:56PM
Arizona teens will remain free to drop out of school at
age 16. On a tie vote Monday, the House Education
Committee killed a proposal that would have required
students to stay in school until they reach age 18, un-
less they graduate first, or at least make it through
11th grade. Now, teens can leave school at age 16 or
if they get through the 10th grade. The vote came after
state schools Superintendent Tom Horne sent his
chief lobbyist Art Harding to the committee to urge law-
makers to kill the bill. Horne told Capitol Media Services
that while the idea sounds good on paper, it makes no
sense from a practical standpoint. Horne said students
who are being forced to stay in school would be “mixed
in with other kids who do want to study where the first
group of kids make it impossible for the second group
of kids to learn.” “It’s a very bad idea to force kids at that
age to do something they don’t want to do, because
they’ll get back at you,” he said.

NAU grad rate better than peers
Arizona Daily Sun 2/25/09
To the editor: The Feb. 19 "Coconino Voices" column
raised questions regarding Northern Arizona University's
graduation rate but omitted some important information.
NAU's four-year graduation rate is actually better than
most of its peers. In fact, NAU's four-year graduation rate
is 58 percent higher than when the author graduated in
1994. The author also challenged NAU to show students
we are concerned. We gladly accept that challenge. NAU
has numerous programs and aids to help students
graduate in a timely and successful manner. The norm
of four-year graduation is established and reinforced to
all incoming freshmen with a pledge that guarantees
tuition for four years. NAU's four-year graduation
guarantee program -- Finish in Four -- offers intensive
advising and support for students who are committed
to completing their degree in four years.

Inspired by Pele and Peru
Arizona Daily Sun 2/24/09
In her children's books, Monica Brown spreads the
word about legendary Latin figures . Come June,
local author Monica Brown will be safely ensconced
in the bedroom of her mother Isabel Maria Brown's
childhood home in Piura, Peru, the oldest Spanish
city in South America. ....Brown got her start writing
professionally right out of college when she landed
a job as a journalist for the Guadalajara Colony
Reporter for one year. "I wanted to travel and I
wanted to have adventure," she recalled. "I traveled
all over. I made $500 a month and spent it exploring
Mexico. It was a year that taught me that I wasn't cut
out to be a journalist. All I had to do was cover one
murder and that was enough." She moved to
Flagstaff in 1999 with her family, to teach at NAU.
Today, Brown teaches Latino literature, women's
literature, and comparative literature.

Police say UA sophomore gave birth in dorm,
tried to kill baby
Arizona Daily Star 2/25/09
Tucson, Arizona
A University of Arizona sophomore has been arrested
because police say she tried to kill her baby after she
gave birth to him in her dorm. Sarah E. Tatum, 19, was
arrested Wednesday morning, after she was released
from University Medical Center. She was booked into
the Pima County jail. University police became aware
of the birth on Monday around 5:40 p.m. when they
were called to the Arizona-Sonora Residence Hall,
where Tatum lived, for medical assistance. When
officers arrived, they learned that Tatum had given
birth to a boy and the pair were taken to University
Medical Center for treatment and evaluation.

Editorial: Our Opinion: Not the time to cut state funds
Tucson Citizen 2/24/09 4:52 pm
It would be absurd if it weren't true. As Arizona legislators
whack away at state services - cutting spending for
education, making it likely fewer child abuse cases will
be investigated and laying off employees - they also are
voting to cut $250 million in badly needed revenue. Three
years ago, when the state had a budget surplus, the state
property tax was suspended. It is due to return this year -
and just in time. But legislators think it should be
permanently eliminated - a move that would be a big
financial boost for businesses but give minimal help
to homeowners. Before they kill the tax permanently,
legislators must think. Think what that $250 million
would mean for schools. Think how many child abuse
investigations could be undertaken for $250 million.
Think how many employees could keep their jobs for
$250 million.

Parents, students, worried about possible loss
of AIMS college aide
Tucson Citizen 2/25/09
About 50 Sabino High School juniors spent Tuesday
morning taking the AIMS test with one goal in mind:
Getting a tuition waiver to one of the state's three
public universities. They may be out of luck if the
Arizona Board of Regents decides to suspend the
program, initiated in 2006, that grants students who
excel on the AIMS test scholarships covering university
tuition. Arizona State University, University of Arizona
and Northern Arizona University are mandated by the
regents to offer the scholarships, but no state funding
is provided for them.

Arizona Senate GOP plans closed caucus on
stimulus
The Associated Press/Tucson Citizen
2/24/09 6:20 pm
PHOENIX — Arizona Senate majority Republicans
plan an unusual closed party caucus Thursday on
federal stimulus money, citing an Open Meeting
Law exemption for legal advice from attorneys.
Asked why lawmakers plan the closed meeting,
majority spokeswoman Laura Devany said Tues-
day some senators have concerns about whether
accepting stimulus money would commit the state
to future spending. The Legislature's budget
director has said that the federal stimulus law
gives governors, including Arizona Gov. Jan
Brewer, direct say over whether to spend stimulus
money.

UA College of Fine Arts is added to Colleges of
Letters and Science
Tucson Citizen 2/25/09 12:37 pm
In the latest step in the University of Arizona Trans-
formation Plan, the newly created Colleges of
Letters and Sciences will absorb UA's College of
Fine Arts and change its name to the Colleges of
Letters, Arts and Science. The new unit will serve
as home for more than half of all UA faculty and
undergraduate students and could result in at
least $3 million in savings according to UA
officials. UA originally said creating the Colleges
of Letters and Sciences in mid-December wasn't
a merger but a "partnership" between the colleges
of humanities, social and behavioral sciences,
science and University College that would result
in $1.5 million in administrative savings.

Evidence points to liquid water on Mars
Tucson Citizen 2/24/09 9:39 pm
Salty liquid water may have splashed onto the leg
of the Phoenix Mars Lander as it arrived on the
planet's surface. If true, that could place liquid
water, essential for life, on the planet at this time.
The Lander's thrusters exposed subsurface ice
and blasted liquid salt water found above the ice
layer onto the struts of the spacecraft's leg,
according to a paper that will be presented at the
40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
March 23 in Houston. The Martian temperature
ranged from minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit to
minus 115 degrees Fahrenheit on the Lander's
first day on the surface, said Andrea Matte, media
relations adviser for the Canadian Space Agency,
which built and oversaw the spacecraft's weather
station.

Arizona Democrats push for tax increases to
balance budget, avoid cuts
Phoenix Business Journal 2/24/09 5:54pm MST
Democrats in the Arizona State Senate proposed
$496 million in tax increases Tuesday to help
solve the state’s $3 billion budget deficit. The
plan includes return of a $250 million property tax
that has been on hiatus. The equalization rate
property tax was repealed in 2005 but will come
back at the end of the year with out action. Business
groups, including the National Association of
Industrial & Office Properties and Arizona Chamber
of Commerce & Industry, support permanent repeal
of the levy. The Senate Democrats also want to ax
$168 million worth of individual state tax credits and
write-offs and $81 million worth of business tax
breaks and credits. The plan also calls for borrowing
$500 million against state lottery funds and putting
more state prisoners under house arrest.

Michael Crow: ASU West to become undergrad liberal arts
center, Polytechnic to mirror European technical institutes
Phoenix Business Journal 2/25/09 6:23am
Arizona State University President Michael Crow envisions
ASU West as an undergraduate center focused on the arts
and sciences and the Polytechnic campus geared toward
research and European-style technical programs partnered
with the private sector. Crow sent an e-mail to portions of
the ASU community and others talking about the suburban
campuses in northwest Phoenix and Mesa. The ASU
president has warned West and Polytechnic could be
closed if state budget cuts continue to hit the state university.
ASU has instituted programs cuts at both campuses and
moved some programs to the school’s downtown center,
which gets funding from the city of Phoenix. That includes
moving graduate business units out of the West campus.
Crow’s outline for the Polytechnic campus calls for the
school growing to 15,000 students by 2015 using California
State Polytechnic State University and European technical
education programs as models.

ASU spring enrollment up, in spite of economy
abc15.com 2/24/09 5:44 pm
According to spring enrollment numbers released
Tuesday, the demand for a degree at Arizona State
University remains high despite a downturn in the
economy. Enrollment for the spring 2009 semester
grew by 2,605 students over last spring, to 62,476,
said Sarah Auffret, Assistant Director of Media
Relations for ASU. This represents a bigger
percentage growth over last spring than the growth
seen in last fall's record enrollment, she said in a
news release.

NSF and NIH Differ Over How to Pay Out Stimulus
Money
The Chronicle of Higher Education
2/25/09
In the absence of definitive guidance from either the
U.S. Congress or the White House, the nation's two
leading providers of federal science money to
universities are apparently taking different
approaches to what it means to help the U.S.
economy. The National Institutes of Health, which
is getting $10.4-billion from the $787-billion economic-
stimulus measure signed last week by President
Obama, announced it will tweak its science-based
distribution guidelines to ensure the largess some
measure of geographic parity. The National Science
Foundation, which is getting $3-billion in stimulus
money, has concluded that it will not

Obama Pledges to Support Education, Urging
All Americans to Get 'More Than a High-School
Diploma'
The Chronicle of Higher Education
2/25/09
Washington - In a nationally televised address to
Congress on Tuesday night, President Barack
Obama promised to increase federal spending
on education, while ending “education programs
that don’t work.” He urged all Americans to pursue
“a year or more” of higher education, or career
training, and set a goal for the nation to have the
world’s highest proportion of college graduates
by 2020. “Every American will need to get more
than a high-school diploma,” he said. While
warning that his budget, which he plans to unveil
on Thursday, will contain some painful cuts, Mr.
Obama identified education, energy, and health
care as “three areas that are absolutely critical
to our economic future.”

Guest Column: Stephen Quake: The Crumbling
Ivory Tower
New York Times 2/24/09 10:00 pm
In some quarters of academia there is a deep longing
for a return to the ivory tower – that time when the
university was disconnected from commercial
interests and faculty members were unsoiled by the
financial rewards that can be associated with their
research. I must admit that in some respects I share
that nostalgia – it would be good for society if there
were institutions to turn to for unbiased opinions on
the questions that face society. However, it is also
true that universities have turned away from the ivory
tower model and have embraced a more engaged
role in the commercial development of the
discoveries of their faculty members. A driving force
for this is that universities place their research
agendas at the whims of external funding agencies,
and many of these agencies are themselves under
pressure to show practical applications and
industrial connections for the research they fund.
It is not unusual for these agencies to require
industrial advisory boards or even industry
partners for grant proposals

Maricopa Community College Students Named
to 2009 All-Arizona Academic Team
Media-Newswire.com 2/23/09
Members of the 2009 All-Arizona Academic Team-the
top community college student scholars in the state-
were honored with scholarships and tuition waivers
to continue their education at the 15th annual event
Feb. 19 at the Fiesta Inn convention center in Tempe.
Student scholars from all 10 Maricopa Community
Colleges were among those honored for academic
achievement, leadership, and service to the
community during the luncheon and awards
ceremony. In all, 23 of the 58 students were from the
10 Maricopa Community Colleges. The rest were
from community colleges throughout Arizona. The
annual event was created in the 1990s to recognize
top scholars from Arizona's community colleges who
also are members of local chapters of the Phi Theta
Kappa Society, the national community college
honors organization

Unpaid furloughs a trend for U.S. white-collar jobs
Reuters 2/25/09 9:34am EST
CINCINNATI - U.S. newspapers have done it. California
police have too. Governments in California, New Jersey
and Ohio say it will save the budget. Forcing workers to
take unpaid time off is a new version of the American
layoff. The involuntary furlough, once a staple of boom-
and-bust blue-collar industries like mining or auto-
making, is making its way into white-collar workplaces
across the United States as employers try to cut costs
quickly amid a deepening recession. With some 2.5
million jobs lost in the past six months, few furloughed
workers are complaining about the unpaid time off. "I
think some people are more comforted by the furlough
because they believe there is less risk of layoff," said
Dennis Hoffman, an economics professor at Arizona
State University who has been told he has to take 15
unpaid days off by July. Hoffman isn't complaining
about the pay cut, figuring it is better than losing more
staff at the 114-year-old university. But like consumers
across America, Hoffman views the forced time off as
another reason to cut back on spending, a trend that
is delaying a general recovery.