/ Modified dec 31, 2015 9:31 a.m.

2015's Top Stories: Elections, Drought, Education Budget Cuts

Hear AZPM reporters discuss Arizona's most important news of the past 12 months.

2015 spotlight

Arizona Public Media’s news team recaps some of the year's biggest stories.

Tucson and Pima County 2015 elections

Voters re-elected Tucson's Democratic mayor and three Democratic City Council members, and they rejected an $815 million Pima County bond issue, to borrow for construction pojects and pay it back with property tax increases.

“Voters said ‘no’ to all seven of those, and it’s the first time in county history they said no,” AZPM reporter Andrea Kelly said. “So that was a big hit for the county.”
Review all 2015 election coverage here.

Drought in the Southwest

Southern Arizona, like much of the Southwestern U.S., remained in moderate to extreme drought during 2015.

“The good news for the region is that we’re seeing a very strong El Niño winter,” AZPM reporter Vanessa Barchfield said.

But the expected increase in rainfall will not be enough to end the drought. That would take many years of above-average precipitation.

State budget cuts at the University of Arizona and Pima Community College

UA lost more than $25 million in state funding this fiscal year. The university cut 320 positions, but fewer than 50 were layoffs.

“The majority were made through retirements, resignations and not filling vacant positions,” Barchfield said. The UA employs more than 11,000 people.

Pima Community College lost all state funding.

Education lawsuit settled (almost)

Arizona schools sued the Legislature in 2010 for holding back inflation funding.

“This goes back to the recession when the state budget was in deep trouble,” AZPM reporter Christopher Conover said.

The lawsuit was settled this year via a plan to fund schools with more money from the State Land Trust fund. The plan will need voter approval in May.

Liquid water found on Mars


A University of Arizona undergraduate student first noted the possibility of liquid, flowing water on Mars by studying images from the UA-operated HiRISE camera several years ago.

Lujendra Ojha went on to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and authored a report on the findings published in Nature Geoscience in September.

“It was really a collaboration between the U of A and Georgia Tech and other institutions,” AZPM science reporter Sara Hammond.

Undocumented immigration from Mexico declined

“It’s a combination of many things. No. 1, the Mexican middle class is increasing,” AZPM reporter Nancy Montoya said. “All the while while the U.S. middle class is decreasing.”

A Pew Research Center report found more Mexican nationals are returning to their home country than coming to the U.S.

Rooftop solar subsidy battle

Solar power is not cheap enough to pay for itself and utility companies are reconsidering what they pay for excess solar energy.

“That’s a battle that’s going to carry on through 2016,” AZPM reporter Zac Ziegler said.

The first year of Diane Douglas’ tenure as state superintendent of public instruction

Douglas spent her first year in office campaigning against the Common Core standards, touring the state and in public dispute with the State Board of Education.

Arizona prepares for 2016 elections

Southern Arizona presidential candidate visits and congressional campaign beginnings.

A top race will again be in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, where incumbent Republican Martha McSally has two Democratic challengers.

“This is always a tight race,” AZPM reporter Christopher Conover said. “If you just look at the voter registration in this district, you can’t not have a tight race.”

MORE: News, Tucson
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