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Arizona's Latino population grew by 46.3 percent in the last decade, according to the 2010 Census figures released earlier this month.
It continued a half-century trend of Latino population growth outdistancing the growth rate of the rest of Arizona's population. It also reversed the Latino population decline seen in the first half of the 20th century, dating back to before statehood.
This Friday's Arizona Week will explore the implications of the rapid Latino growth in terms of state economics, politics and social trends.
We plan to interview academicians who study the trends and societal changes, political experts and those in the business community.
March 21st 2011 at 11:57 —
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Arizona state senators were prepared to go all night Wednesday and into the morning hours Thursday to get their version of the state budget passed. As it was, they voted on and approved the 13 appropriations bills with nearly an hour to spare on Wednesday night, finishing shortly after 11 o'clock.
Our Arizona Public Media crew headed up early Thursday to set up in a Senate conference room for interviews with two and possibly three legislators. We spoke with Senate Minority Leader David Schapira and House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Kavanagh, both of whom showed up right on time.
Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs, who doubles as Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, was another story. He was scheduled in at 11:30 a.m., but didn't walk into the Capitol's Senate wing until nearly 1 o'clock. And then he went straight to a hearing room for an Ethics Committee meeting.
We staked out the room, asked Biggs to come visit us after, and he said he might.
When the hearing ended after just 20 minutes, the crew cranked up the lights and cameras, and we ushered Biggs into our little makeshift studio to grab off 10 or 11 minutes of discussion about the Senate's passage of the budget.
As we stretched it, Biggs leaned over to interrupt and said, "This will have to be the last question, because they already rang the bell" for the Senate floor session. We asked, he answered, and away he went.
A bit chaotic, but just the right amount of edginess to keep our whole crew on alert.
Watch the results tonight on Arizona Week, 8:30 p.m. MST on KUAT-TV Channel 6 in Tucson, 10:30 p.m. MST on KAET-TV Channel 8 in Phoenix and online at azweek.com, starting at 8:30 p.m. MST.
March 18th 2011 at 12:38 —
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posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel
As you’ve probably heard, Garrison Keillor has announced his imminent retirement (spring, 2013) from A Prairie Home Companion. All he has to do is anoint a successor host, preferably one who sounds less narcoleptic. I nominate Don Francisco. Wouldn’t Prairie Home Companion be more interesting if it could develop the energy of Sábado Gigante?
radio-life,
March 18th 2011 at 6:26 —
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Gov. Jan Brewer's budget proposal released in January is serving as a fine template for the Republican-controlled state Senate and House to make adjustments, leaders of both houses' appropriations committees say.
In separate interviews for Friday's Arizona Week, Sen. Majority Leader and Appropriations Committee Chair Andy Biggs and House Appropriations Committee Chair John Kavanagh said the two houses are pretty close to agreement. They also said they think they're close to what the governor will accept.
The Senate passed its budget proposal Wednesday, adding $600 million or more in cuts to what Brewer had proposed. Biggs said the Senate plan eliminates the need for rollovers and borrowing, the "gimmicks" on which the budget has rested for several years.
Kavanagh agreed that the Senate proposal is close to what Republicans in the House will want when they take up the budget, likely as early as next week.
Then comes the negotiating with the governor, who has promised to protect educational funding as much as possible. Despite that, the Senate significantly increased the cuts both for K-12 and universities.
Those cuts won't hurt the economy, both appropriations chairs said. Biggs said the business tax cuts passed earlier are what businesses really want, and he and Kavanagh said they don't see educational quality diminishing because of the cuts.
Biggs was asked if the defection of two Republican senators in the final budget votes on Wednesday, one who opposed the universities cuts and the other the K-12 cuts, would mean disappearance of a veto-poof majority should it come to that, said: I hope we won't need it."
March 17th 2011 at 16:37 —
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posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel
That NEA study regarding the decline of cultural omnivores I mentioned in my previous post has spurred some interesting thoughts from NPR pop culture blogger Linda Holmes. Primarily, she's taking to task not only those--like the provocative blogger A.C. Douglas, although she doesn't mention him--who insist on the supremacy of high art over pop trash, but also those--like Greg Sandow, although she doesn't name him, either--whose central thesis is that classical music culture has to become more like pop culture if it's going to survive. Wisely, Holmes recognizes useful distinctions between the two areas, without believing they are mutually exclusive pursuits. If you're short of time, I'll repeat her conclusion:
Omnivores thrive in an environment in which, if you are defined by your cultural interests, you at least don't have to be defined by any one cultural interest. Tolerating the ideas that classical music can be viscerally stirring and that Survivor can be sociologically interesting allows much better balance — which benefits everyone — than an escalating and unnatural war between fun and art. Fun and art are natural allies (despite often appearing separately), and forcing them to do battle just divides us into tinier and tinier camps, where we can only talk to people who like precisely the same kinds of culture that we do. That benefits absolutely nobody — not artists, not audiences, and not the quality of discourse.
That's the short version, but do take the time to read the full post.
quodlibet,
March 17th 2011 at 6:51 —
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Republican Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs convened his Appropriations Committee this morning at the Arizona Capitol and immediately set a three-minute speaking limit for the long list of people wanting to address the budget, according to the Arizona Republic.
Biggs and the committee are taking up a dozen bills that comprise the state budgets both for the rest of this fiscal year and for 2011-12. Work on the bills could be grueling, and Senate President Russell Pearce has said the Senate will act today.
"There is a very good chance we will be here until the morning hours of Thursday, because of the budget," Senate Republican spokesman Mike Philipsen said in an e-mail earlier this week in response to an Arizona Week request to schedule an interview with Biggs.
This year's budget remains more than $500 million out of balance with three and a half months to go in the year. Biggs told the Arizona Capitol Times the Senate plans to cut $118 million, which is $46 million more than the governor wants, and to let a $374 million deficit flow over into the new year.
Then, that amount plus another $1.15 billion will be cut from 2011-12 spending to balance the budget, Biggs said.
The action will be a true balance with no rollovers, Biggs and others have said. Brewer's budget borrows money on the last day of the year, pays it back on the next day in the new fiscal year and delays an educational payment until the new fiscal year, all described as "gimmicks" to produce a balanced budget.
March 16th 2011 at 10:31 —
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