Tucson Speaks Out: September 5

Save our national parks

Contact every government official representing you. Tell Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that Yosemite is not for sale — not now, not ever. Tell your Representatives to save our national parks. They need to vote down any proposal to sell off and sell out Yosemite National Park for a private commercial development. Every inch of our national parks matters, and we must protect Yosemite and all other parks threatened by this precedent of unlawful land exchanges. The land-swap proposal in Yosemite is a direct attack on the uniquely American concept, enshrined in law, that our national parks are to be managed for the benefit of all, not the select few. They should not be changed for anyone's profit scheme. They are to be fully preserved and fully protected. This action would guide future decisions in similar circumstances. Not one inch of our protected lands should be available for profiteers, be it private/public companies or the guy in the White House.

Peter Bisschop

East side

Hail to the WNBA

Women’s sports are growing and gaining popularity in the U.S. I see that eight WNBA teams have qualified for the playoffs that are due soon. Why don’t they just put all 15 teams in the playoffs? Then they can sell more tickets and overpriced hot dogs! But Seattle should maybe be left at home because they haven’t even won double-digit games yet. Then the number of teams would be even for elimination, be they from the East or West Division. Does the Mississippi River decide what division a team plays? Not going to mention any ladies by name since there are so many favorites.

Kenneth Unwin. Jr.

East side

New program at U of A

I found your article on the Sept. 1, front page titled "10M gift for new UA program" very interesting. Combining the Eller College of Management and the College of Engineering to form a new Integrated Business and Engineering undergraduate degree program is a very good idea.

Having personally done potentially the same thing about 70 years ago, but in a different way, might be part of the reason for my interest. In 1958, I received two degrees, a Bachelor of Arts from Westminster College in Fulton, MO, and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. This was a designed five-year program set up by a number of liberal arts and engineering schools in the US.

Although this took me five years, three at Westminster and two at IIT, I felt this was better than the normal four-year program.

The only thing I would question of the U of A is why it takes $10M to set this up.

Terry Allen

East side

Voter turnout

Voting is a constitutional right and a civic duty. Sadly, voter turnout is generally underwhelming. In 2024, only 57.6% of eligible voters turned out in Arizona (versus 60.3% in 2020). Midterm elections have lower voter turnout than presidential elections. Citizens under 30 years old have the lowest rate of voter participation. One solution to having more younger citizens voting could be having every high school senior register to vote as part of their civics education. There is nothing partisan about voter registration. The actual date of being eligible would be dictated by their date of birth. The deadline to register to vote in 2026 is Oct. 5. Check your voter registration at my.arizona.vote. Ask others if they are registered to vote (even oldsters do not vote). Let’s see if we can do better in voter turnout.

Bill Jones

East side

Three Points solar farm

Not all renewable energy is created equal. If the Spanish company RepSol gets its wish, 5,500-plus acres of desert habitat will be bladed to create a monstrosity of an industrialized solar farm and battery storage facility.

Our community west of Tucson shares its dark skies and open spaces with mule deer, javelinas, bobcats, Gila monsters, tortoises, quail and migratory birds, birds of prey and the rare caracara. The many washes distribute winter and monsoonal rains that help keep this desert habitat thriving with native grasses, shrubs, cacti (including the protected pineapple prickly pear), creosote, palo verdes, mesquites and ironwood trees. Open desert is not empty land and should be treasured and protected.

Karen Allison

Three Points