1. U.S. States Agree On Plan To Manage Overtaxed Colorado River. Associated Press October 10, 2018
Seven U.S. states in the Southwest that depend on the overtaxed Colorado River have reached tentative agreements on how to manage the waterway amid an unprecedented drought, officials said Tuesday. The announcement was a long-awaited step toward preserving the river, which supports 40 million people and 6,300 square miles of farmland in the U.S. and Mexico.
“We have, after many years of discussion and negotiation, a real milestone,” said James Eklund, a water lawyer who represents Colorado in the interstate negotiations on the river.
A nearly two-decade drought has drained the river’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, to alarmingly low levels. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages major reservoirs across the West, says the chances of a shortfall in Lake Mead are 57 percent by 2020. The reservoir has never fallen low enough to trigger a shortage before. If it happens, mandatory cutbacks would hit Arizona, Nevada and Mexico first.
The drought contingency plans announced Tuesday are not designed to prevent a shortage in the river system, but to manage and minimize the effects. The two major components of the plans cover the Upper Basin, where most of the water originates as Rocky Mountain snowfall, and the Lower Basin, which consumes more of the water because it has more people and more farms. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are in the Upper Basin. Arizona, California and Nevada are in the Lower Basin. The Lower Basin plan is detailed and specific, but the Upper Basin plan outlines what steps the states would take if things get worse, said Karen Kwon, Colorado’s assistant attorney general.
It will likely be next year before all seven states and the U.S. government approve the plans, Kwon said. Mexico agreed last year to participate in drought planning.
Reaching the agreements was a complex and delicate task because the river is not controlled by a single agency. Instead, it is governed by interstate compacts, international treaties and court rulings, known collectively as the law of the river.
2.Halloween Quiz:
“Eye of newt, toe of frog.
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adders fork and blind worm’s sting,
Lizards’s leg, and howlet’s wing…..”
Where does this recipe for this particular charmed pot come from?
Answer at the end of the newsletter.
3. Walking The Dog, Cleaning The Cat Box: How To Pick Up After Your Pets Limiting The Use Of Plastic Bags – An Environmentalist Dilemma. While a number of solutions exist for dealing with dog waste, one preferred method is simply picking it up, carrying it home, and flushing it down the toilet. However, one should always contact local sewer administrators to make sure that this practice is locally permitted. It is not recommended for households with private, nonmunicipal sewer systems or septic systems, as dog hair could clog the sewer system or damage the septic system. But such residences can simply collect the dog residue in a single plastic bag for a spell, then seal it, and place it in the regular garbage, thereby reducing the number of bags required.
Cats are an entirely different matter. Their waste should never be put into sewage systems or septic systems as it harbors Toxoplasma gondii, which can cause pregnant mothers to pass the disease on to newborns, where it can lead to various health problems, from eye damage to mental retardation. It can also affect adults who have weakened immune systems or are on chemotherapy.
Dirty cat litter should be removed daily and only be placed in trash that is disposed of in a landfill. Cats that are not fed red meat and are kept indoors—as all cats should be—are not likely to become infected. Source: “Sierra” Oct 16, 2018
4. November 6th 2018 Elections: Vote Intelligently. If you have not mailed your early ballot (October 9th), it is hoped that you will make your way to the facility on November 6, 2018 to cast your ballot. When you arrive to vote at the polls on Election Day you will announce your name and place of residence to the election official and present two forms of identification:
- Valid Arizona driver license
- Valid Arizona non-operating identification card
- Tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification
- Valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification OR
Sufficient ID Without A Photograph That Bear The Name And Address (Two Required)
- Utility bill of the elector that is dated within 90 days of the date of the election. A utility bill may be for electric, gas, water, solid waste, sewer, telephone, cellular phone, or cable television
- Bank or credit union statement that is dated within 90 days Registration of the date of the election
- Valid Arizona Vehicle
- Indian census card
- Property tax statement of the elector’s residence
- Tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification Arizona vehicle insurance card
- Recorder’s Certificate
- Valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification, including a voter registration card issued by the County Recorder
- Any mailing to the elector marked “Official Election Material”
Understand Your Vote:
Proposition 125
PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF ARIZONA; AMENDING ARTICLE XXIX, SECTION 1, CONSTITUTION OF ARIZONA; RELATING TO PUBLIC RETIREMENT SYSTEMS.
The Constitutional Amendment and accompanying legislation would permit the state to adjust certain benefits in the corrections officers’ and elected officials’ retirement systems to alleviate pension underfunding.
A “YES” vote will allow the State to adjust certain benefits for corrections officer retirees and elected official retirees in order to provide greater financial stability in the pension system; plan changes for newly-hired corrections officers include the replacement of the current permanent
benefit increase with a cost of living adjustment tied to inflation and transition to a defined contribution system; plan changes for elected official retirees include a guaranteed cost of living adjustment tied to inflation.
A “NO” vote will have the effect of maintaining the current benefit and contribution rules in the Corrections Officer Personnel Retirement System and Elected Officials Personnel Retirement System.
Proposition 126
AMENDING ARTICLE IX OF THE ARIZONA CONSTITUTION BY AMENDING SECTION 6 AND ADDING SECTION 25, AND AMENDING ARTICLE XIII, SECTION 2, OF THE ARIZONA CONSTITUTION; PROHIBITING THE TAXATION OF ANY SERVICE THAT WAS NOT TAXED AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2017.
The Constitutional Amendment would prohibit the state and each county, city, town, district, or other political subdivision in Arizona from imposing a new or increased tax on services that was not already in effect on December 31, 2017.
A “YES” vote will prohibit the State and local governments from enacting any new or increased tax on services that was not already in effect on December 31, 2017.
A “NO” vote will preserve the State and local governments’ existing authority to impose a tax on services in the future.
Proposition 127
THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT WOULD REPLACE ARIZONA’S CURRENT PLAN FOR INCREASING RENEWABLE ENERGY USE BY IMPOSING A NEW MANDATE REQUIRING NONGOVERNMENTAL ELECTRIC UTILITIES TO INCREASE THE PORTION OF THEIR RETAIL ENERGY SALES GENERATED FROM CERTAIN TYPES OF RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES TO 50% BY 2030.
The Constitutional Amendment would replace Arizona’s current plan for increasing renewable energy use by imposing a new mandate requiring nongovernmental electric utilities to increase the portion of their retail energy sales generated from certain types of renewable energy resources to 50% by 2030.
A “YES” vote will replace Arizona’s current plan for transitioning nongovernmental electric utilities to renewable energy with a constitutional mandate that, irrespective of cost to consumers, 50% of the retail energy sales of these utilities come from certain types of renewable
energy by 2030 (neither pre-1997 hydropower nor any nuclear generation counts for this percentage); the current plan increases use of the same types of renewable energy from 8% this year to 15% in 2025. A “YES” vote also will mandate that these utilities increase their use of distributed renewable energy (energy locally generated and distributed from customers’ premises) to 10% by 2030; will require the new mandates be met by obtaining renewable energy credits, which may be created through renewable energy production or purchased from others who own existing renewable energy credits; and will require the Arizona Corporation Commission to enact implementing regulations.
A “NO” vote will preserve the existing rules that govern the required annual percentage of retail sales of renewable energy by nongovernmental electric utilities.
Proposition 305
AMENDING SECTIONS 15-2401, 15-2402, 15-2403 AND 42-2003, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES; AMENDING LAWS 2013, CHAPTER 250, SECTION 3; RELATING TO EMPOWERMENT SCHOLARSHIP ACCOUNTS.
The Law would expand eligibility for education empowerment scholarship accounts to increase the number of eligible students enrolled in kindergarten through twelfth grade, with greater funding provided for low-income students.
A “YES” vote would allow Senate Bill 1431 (2017) to go into effect, which would gradually increase for four years the percentage of students in kindergarten through twelfth grade eligible to receive an empowerment scholarship account to spend on tuition, textbooks, educational therapies, tutoring, or other qualified forms of instructional assistance at a private or home-based school in an amount equal to 90% of the allotted funding that otherwise would have been allocated to the student’s public school district or charter school (for low-income students, the amount would be equal to 100% of the allotted funding); make changes to the existing empowerment scholarship program by requiring a policy handbook to be published for program applicants and participants, clarifying parental rights to appeal Department of Education eligibility decisions, and placing scholarship spending information on the Department’s website; and control the growth of the scholarship program by limiting new scholarship accounts each
year through 2022 and eventually capping the number of new scholarship accounts at 2021-2022 fiscal year levels.
A “NO” vote will preserve the existing law regarding empowerment scholarship accounts.
Proposition 306
AMENDING SECTIONS 16-948 AND 16-956, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES; RELATING TO THE CITIZENS CLEAN ELECTIONS ACT
The Law would prohibit candidates who finance their political campaigns with public funding from the citizens clean elections commission from transferring any campaign funds to a political party or private tax-exempt organization that attempts to influence elections and subjects the commission’s rulemaking procedures to regulatory oversight.
A “YES” vote will prohibit statewide and legislative candidates who receive public funding to finance their political campaigns from transferring campaign funds to a political party or a private tax-exempt organization that attempts to influence elections, and will subject the Citizens Clean Elections Commission’s rulemaking procedures to the regulatory oversight that applies to other state agencies by repealing the Commission’s exemption from the Administrative Procedures Act.
A “NO” vote will allow the Citizens Clean Elections Commission to determine whether publicly-funded candidates are permitted to transfer their campaign funds to political parties or private tax-exempt organizations that influence candidate elections, and will leave current law
unchanged regarding administrative oversight of the Commission
5. Desert Botanical Garden Plant Sale. October 20 1201 N Galvin Pkwy, Phoenix 7 am to 5 pm
Answer: Macbeth (Act IV, Scene 1)
