Tucson Speaks Out: August 10

Elections, the Constitution, the Law

The Arizona Republican has party nominated three 2020 election deniers for statewide office: Andy Biggs for Governor, Alexander Kolodin for Secretary of State, and Warren Petersen for Attorney General. Remember when it’s time to vote that without these dishonest politicians perpetrating their fictional “stolen election” story, we would have had no Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Their compatriots who trashed the Capitol, beat up Capitol police, and attempted to crash our constitutional process by force were sent into action by Trump and enabled by Biggs, Kolodin, and Petersen. Jan. 6 is a permanent stain on American political history and no doubt they have more dirty tricks in mind for this election. Don’t reward MAGA mobsters. Vote Hobbs, Fontes, and Mayes.

Mark Hengesbaugh

Foothills

Where did Sunday Pets and LTEs Go?

I sent you an LTE over a month ago questioning where the Sunday edition Pet Rescue column went, and asking that you return it — no response. Now I see the daily LTE section is missing (don’t see it online either). It appears your standard statements regarding “We believe our Southern Arizona community is the heart of the Arizona Daily Star's Opinion section” are also missing. Am I overlooking something, or are you slowly taking away local columns?

Pat Murphy

Northeast side

Editor's Note: Due to a limited number of unique letter writers last week, we did not publish a Letters to the Editor page every day. We encourage readers to continue sharing their perspectives. Going forward, if we do not receive enough letters to fill the space while maintaining a diversity of voices, we will hold submitted letters for publication in a future edition rather than publishing only a small number of contributors. We appreciate your participation and look forward to sharing more community perspectives in the days ahead. The Adopt a Friend feature has been moved online as we’re no longer receiving enough regular submissions to support a weekly page in our print edition.

Unwinnable war

So ... now we discover that our arrogant Commander-in-Chief and his incompetent, unqualified "Secretary of War" have in the past 5+ months expended nearly 80% of our missiles on a war of their choice at a time of their choice, missiles that cannot be restocked until at least 2029, a war that leaves the enemy with all its uranium still underground, its mullahs still in charge of a military murderous to its own citizens, and the primary vector of much of the world's petroleum, formerly free to international shipping, under the control of these mullahs. We cannot help Ukraine, or any other allies, because our Congress continues to allow this travesty of a "national defense" to continue. What can we do? Vote out any Congressman who keeps approving the funding of this war, e.g. Juan Ciscomani, and vote in responsible Representatives, e.g. retired Marine Joanna Mendoza, to restore sanity to our defense.

Suzanne Ferguson

East side

Ciscomani Family Immigration VISA

Ciscomani’s political ads include family’s immigration: father drove bus & mother cleaned houses. What VISA did the family use to come?

• R-1 Religious Worker Visa — This is a temporary nonimmigrant visa for ministers and other qualified religious workers who have a job offer from a qualifying nonprofit religious organization in the United States. The worker generally must have been a member of that religious denomination for at least two years. Spouses and unmarried children under 21 can accompany the worker on R-2 visas, but R-2 family members cannot work.

•EB-4 Special Immigrant Religious Worker — This is an immigrant (permanent residence/green card) category. It allows certain ministers and other qualifying religious workers to become lawful permanent residents. Their spouse and unmarried children under 21 may also receive permanent resident status as accompanying family members. Ministers are covered under permanent law, while some non-minister religious worker provisions have required periodic congressional extensions.

Please explain which VISA was used. Please state the religious organization involved.

Dominic (Don) Dutton

Northwest side

Thanks to TUSD for summer lunch program

I want to share a belated THANK YOU to TUSD Administration and Leaders for the free summer lunch program offered this year to students.

My youngest goes to Brichta, and these free summer lunches were such a gift. Not only did we save on our grocery bills during the summer season (when many other bills are extra high), but we also had more time together as a family in the morning.

Getting the kids out of the door before heading to work is always hectic - this program kept dollars in our pocket this summer and gave us back precious time to start our days off right. I know it meant even more to many other families in the district.

Many thanks to TUSD, and shout out to the great team at Brichta Infant & Early Learning Center for all they do for Tucson's kids.

Laura Dent

West side

War

From December 1941 to the present, the US has fought five major wars; WW II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Afghanistan War, Iraq War. Sandwiched between these major wars are our lesser wars; Grenada, Panama, Kosovo, Lebanon, Somalia, Dominican Republic, The Gulf War.

The time span of our five major wars totals at least 51 years. I was born in 1941. For more than sixty percent of my life, and yours if you were born in 1941, the US has waged war. We might have a problem.

The Department of Defense now the Department of War. Military personnel having testosterone levels checked. A $1.5 trillion Defense budget. And now a war with Iran. Why? How to explain this? Maybe we are addicted to war. Is there another explanation for our non-stop staggeringly expensive war-like behavior? Perhaps it is time to face our addiction and pull the needle out of our arm.

Robert Bishop

East side

Ciscomani supports law enforcement

I just read that Congressman Juan Ciscomani preliminarily secured over $4 million in federal funding for the Oro Valley Police Department.

The funding will equip OVPD’s new headquarters with the technology and equipment it needs to keep communities in Southern Arizona safe. As an Oro Valley resident, I am grateful for Congressman Ciscomani’s continued efforts to support and serve our members of law enforcement.

Law enforcement agencies like OVPD play such an important role in the safety and strength of our communities and I am thankful that we can count on Ciscomani to ensure local law enforcement has the resources it needs to protect and defend Arizona.

If you care about the safety of our communities, I encourage you to vote for Juan Ciscomani. He will continue to work tirelessly to make sure members of our local law enforcement have the support they need to do their jobs well and keep us safe.

Pamela Furrie

Oro Valley

Affordability hoax?

We did a little data mining into our monthly expenses. In 2024, under the Biden administration, our average monthly expenses for just groceries (no liquor, no household goods, etc)was $801 per month.

In the last three months, under the Trump administration, with the tariffs and surging gas/diesel prices, the average cost of food was $943; an increase of 18%

I compared Household expenses from 2024 (Biden administration) to 2026. Household expenses exclude clothing, durable goods, auto expenses, etc. and includes items such as toilet paper, aluminum foil, laundry soap etc. So far in 2026 we have experienced a 31% increase in Household expenses with the biggest jumps coming since March. Trump launched his war with Iran in February.

We shared our data with Representative Juan Ciscomani; we don’t expect a reply.

Thomas Hefley

East side