Vatican laws have changed to toughen sexual abuse punishment for perpetrators . . . Oh, and, by the way, women still are not allowed to enter the priesthood

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The photo is of the Seven Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, nuns who survived 13 desert days travelling from San Diego to Tucson in a covered wagon in May of 1880. The women, hired to teach at Archbishop Jean-Baptist Salpoint's school, soon opened schools of their own, as well as St. Mary's Hospital, the first hospital in Arizona. That facility, along with others belonging to the Carondelet Sisters, was recently sold.

On June 1, 2021, the Vatican announced punishments directed at priests and clergy regarding the protection of children from sexual abuse: Pope Francis has changed the Roman Catholic Church laws to explicitly criminalise sexual abuse of children with penalties described at all levels of complicity. . It’s the biggest overhaul of the criminal code for …

Read moreVatican laws have changed to toughen sexual abuse punishment for perpetrators . . . Oh, and, by the way, women still are not allowed to enter the priesthood

At the Library with Borges

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I have many fortifying memories of the Joel Valdez Library and the plaza that fronts it, which is named for the enterprising Jácome family and contains a striking red metal sculpture, but on April 5, 2021, as I sat in a black car across the street from that library and noted how its white façade …

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Another Arizona Doctor Sounds Hospital Alarm (and Is Ignored by Tucson Media)

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Picture of Dr. Cleavon Gilman in medical gear

We now have our second case of an Arizona doctor sounding the alarm about the overburdened hospitals in the state, receiving much attention in the national media for it, but barely getting a mention in our own, local media. The previous case, which we reported on, involved the Tucson media’s silence at University of Arizona …

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Say It Like It Is Instead of What It Isn’t

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I’m in favor of that and you should be as well. In this case, what it isn’t is the unemployment rates listed by your and my devious government. Does anyone actually believe—feel in their bones—that the current rate of those without jobs in America is a mere 6.7 percent? That’s what the bean-counters in Washington …

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Tucson Hospitals Are “Close to Breaking” Says U of A Doctor: Why Has the Star Made No Mention of It?

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Picture of New York Times building in New York City

In a June 26 New York Times op-ed, Bradley A. Dreifuss, director of rural and global emergency medicine programs at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, states that “in a medical crisis, my job is to manage a clinical team, problem-solve and be in control. It is hard to admit that I feel vulnerable …

Read moreTucson Hospitals Are “Close to Breaking” Says U of A Doctor: Why Has the Star Made No Mention of It?