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A secure ballot envelope
Given the recent Supreme Court ruling on mail-in voting, it's time for the Pima County Recorder to bring back a secure outer envelope in which to return ballots by mail. I was uncomfortable with the change to a single envelope which revealed my name, signature and phone number. Now that mail-in voting will be controlled by the Post Office, having an anonymous and plain outer envelope is crucial to preventing tampering with the safe return of ballots by the government. In fact, the envelope used to mail out ballots should also be plain and unmarked so as not to be identified by the Post Office as a ballot. How is it that the Post Office, an independent quasi-federal agency, will now be controlling who receives or returns a ballot by mail when only the states and local jurisdictions have the constitutional right to do so? This is dangerous to our democracy.
Ronald Lent
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East side
Stupid Hiker law
It's time for a Stupid Hiker law. If it's 20 degrees below zero, I'm not going hiking, so why would I if it's 105? These rescues are becoming far too common, and warning signs on trails and local media imploring folks not to hike in hot weather are not getting through. Hitting them in the wallet seems to be the only solution.
Mark Moral
East side
USS Pvt. Bone Spurs
Instead of naming a new aircraft carrier after Doris Miller, a Navy Pearl Harbor hero (who happened to be black) as previously announced by the Navy, the Navy and Trump are now pushing to rename it after Trump. It's insulting to all veterans and obscenely ironic that the draft-dodger-in-chief with five 4F deferments for claimed alleged bone spurs during the Vietnam War wants an aircraft carrier named after him. We should give it a more fitting and appropriate name, the USS PVT. BONE SPURS.
Jeff Aronson
Former Captain, USMC, 1967-70
Northeast side
Promises
Dear Mr. Trump and/or Ms. Natalie Harp:
As one of the citizens of this great nation, please LMK the status of your Republican administration's promises. From my point of view. Lower my grocery bill, not accomplished. Reduce gas prices, not accomplished. No more WARS, really, really not accomplished. Reduce inflation, not accomplished. Make home ownership more affordable, not accomplished. Lower unemployment, not accomplished. More manufacturing jobs for blue-collar workers, not accomplished. Lower egg prices, accomplished, thank you, I'll give you this one. I have been rooting for ya'll to be successful, really, because all this is very, very important to blue, red, and purple voters, but alas, results are what we all expect from your promises. We all plan on voting for results come election time. Juan, you listening too?
John (Jay) Van Echo, PE
West side
Still waiting
Recently my husband was t-boned in the middle of a residential neighborhood intersection when a driver ran the stop sign at high speed and totaled his Honda. The EMT First Responders believed the only reason his injuries were minor is because he never saw it coming! The system now employed in Tucson traffic accidents is the Tucson Police Collision Team. On arrival, the parties are separated & one leaves with the “Collision Card” stating the officer’s name, badge number & a case number. The card includes how to receive the collision report, which is requested & purchased for $5. It has now been 3 weeks & the report is still “in process” and unavailable. So he is still unable to contact the insurance company of the driver cited and at fault — whoever he is! Couldn’t there be a more efficient system than this?
Joan Meggitt
Midtown
Affordability?
Last November on Truth Social, President Trump proclaimed in all caps: "I AM THE AFFORDABILITY PRESIDENT." This could have been laudable if it weren't so laughable. Just one month later, two-thirds of Americans were worried about tariff impacts on their finances. At that time, the Yale Budget Lab reported that the annual cost of Trump's tariffs to the average household was $1,700.
There is nothing funny about the cost of living in America today. Unprecedented new tariffs on Canada, fewer job opportunities, high energy and gas costs, gratuitous wars, increased healthcare expenses, and cuts to safety net programs such as SNAP make life ever more difficult for many, if not most, of us Americans.
"Affordability?" That's rich coming from a president who is a billionaire.
Melody Sears
Northeast side
De facto censorship
The Star’s 30-day policy on publishing letters to the editor is what I call “de facto” censorship. De facto censorship means restricting or silencing speech in reality and practice, even though no official or legal law bans it. Letter writers have noticed a drastic reduction in the number of letters published because of a draconian adherence to this 30-day policy. From my personal experience, I’ve found that more letters, not fewer, drive open communications in our community and give voice to citizens to express their support or objection to government actions, quality of life issues, politics, education, business, religious and media issues. The Star and the “Not in my Paper” crowd have silenced this community. From my perspective, freedom of speech and the press are a foundational basis for the public to help inform our policymakers about what we see as important. So with fewer and fewer and lower-quality letters, the Star and its “naysayers” are doing a disservice to our community.
Richard Harper
Northeast side
Unprecedented
Every day, as I read the AZ Daily Star, no matter the subject matter of the article, whether the Trump shenanigans, politics in general, health care, the environment, the coming elections, plus other topics — the word "unprecedented" is usually in the first sentence or paragraph. Just sayin' … Or as they say: May you live in interesting times.
Diane Simons
Oro Valley
TEP's exploitation of Tucson
TEP has exploited Tucson for many years. We'd have saved a fortune if we'd kept our money here. If we owned our own power company, like we do Tucson Water, our hard-earned money would stay here, and fossil fuels would stay in the ground.
TEP hates solar because it won't raise their profits, though it would greatly lower our bills. TEP prioritizes investor profits over consumer affordability. The ACC is supposed to protect us from TEP's exploitation. Instead, it lets TEP's profits soar at our expense!
Public Power would eliminate TEP and the corrupt ACC's authority over us. Tell the Mayor and Council we want Public Power on the ballot this fall, so Tucsonans can vote for Public Power to replace TEP!
Until we get Public Power, vote NO on the FA and vote only for ACC candidates who pledge to vote NO on any TEP rate hikes!
Lee Stanfield
East side
