In hiring Mike Ortega — the ex-city manager of Tucson — to run things, the RTA Board offers another supplication to the City Council, which has had a lengthy list of grievances.

  Each year on July 4, hundreds of dogs get spooked by fireworks and run away from home, ending up in shelters. To prepare for the holiday this year, Pima Animal Care Center is offering free microchips for both dogs and cats at the shelter each day through July 3.

  The Regional Transportation Authority wasn't without a boss for long: Just 11 days after narrowly voting to fire longtime chief Farhad Moghimi, the members of the RTA Board unanimously agreed to hire Mike Ortega, who stepped down as Tucson's city manager last year.

  What we are witnessing is a campaign that casts suspicion not on the guilty, but on the innocent; a campaign that confuses enforcement with intimidation, security with separation. Our immigrant families are not the villains in this story. — Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Rob Elias

  What we are witnessing is a campaign that casts suspicion not on the guilty, but on the innocent; a campaign that confuses enforcement with intimidation, security with separation. Our immigrant families are not the villains in this story. — Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Rob Elias

  A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction - brought by Prisma Community Care and eight other nonprofits - blocking the enforcement of executive orders which aimed to limit recognition of transgender identities, restrict advocacy efforts, and cut funding for DEIA programs.

  Republicans in Arizona’s House of Representatives passed their package of state budget bills by a vote of 31-0 Friday night, long after all Democratic lawmakers had headed home after a day of waiting around for Republicans to bring the bills to the floor for debate.

  As super-contagious measles continues to spread and nears a six-year U.S. record, cases in its original epicenter of West Texas may be subsiding as hesitant residents become more concerned and willing to vaccinate, while North Dakota is a new focus with the highest rate.

  A roundup of upcoming Tucson-area political events: Adelita Grijalva speaks to DGT; Voter registration deadline for CD7 special election is here; early voting in CD7 starts Wedesday; upcoming debates in Tucson City Council races; Sentinel team on the airwaves & more

  Data center promising Pima County it will be a job machine, Tucson Council set to take another swing at camping ban and differential water rates, plus more from local government meetings around Tucson.

  Governor Katie Hobbs joined local leaders in attendance at the 55th annual Tucson Juneteenth Festival

  Thousands of Tucsonans turned out for "No Kings Day," a nationwide protest against the Trump administration while the president celebrates his birthday with a military parade in Washington D.C.