Tombstone audit shows Chamber of Commerce fraudulent spending

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Tombstone’s Marshal gave the state’s Attorney General’s office his investigation of the audit that pointed to possible fraudulent spending practices by the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce.

Marshal Billy Cloud told the City Council on Tuesday night that the attorney general would decide on the next step.

“If they choose to move forward on issues involving this, it’s going to be completely up to them,” Cloud said.

He also said that the audit, completed by the accounting firm Heinfeld, Meech and Co., showed signs of criminal wrongdoing.

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Proposed Bill Could Limit Access to Healthcare for Women in Rural Areas

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[caption id="attachment_123" align="alignleft" width="600"]Planned Parenthood/Angelina Bravo[/caption]The battle to control abortion access rages within the Arizona Legislature and some critics charge that bills under consideration unfairly target rural, poor women and could leave them and their families without crucial health services.

The bills create a number of barriers to care for even basic sexual health services provided by Planned Parenthood—in addition to increasing the required number of visits for an abortion and increasing medical liability for doctors and clinics who perform abortions.

The most controversial bill, H.B. 2838, included a wide range of changes to abortion procedure in the state.

Currently, women already have to get an ultrasound before an abortion, but the bill’s new requirement states this must occur 24 hours before the procedure. Critics argue this unfairly targets rural women.

Because abortion clinics are concentrated in Phoenix and Tucson, women outside those cities have to drive hours to receive abortion services. Now they would have to stretch their travel time over days—for previous visits as well as follow-up appointments.

 

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UA delays signing Defense Department agreement

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A month and a half after missing its original deadline to sign an agreement giving service members tuition assistance, a University of Arizona official says they are closer to resolving the impasse that left many students saying they would have to leave UA.

Both Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University signed the agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense before the original Jan. 1 deadline. Because of problems, some universities were having, DoD set a new deadline of March 30, which UA officials say they hope to meet.

The tuition assistance program grants each student $4,500 per year, according to the Defense Department.

UA South CEO James Shockey, who is facilitating discussions with the Defense Department, anticipates that the paperwork will be completed within the next 10 days.

One reason that UA has so far refused to sign the document is because the language of the document could be interpreted in different ways, Shockey said.

“There is a whole array of issues that weren’t as clearly stated in the MOU as we would have liked,” he said.

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Cancer Strikes Rural Arizona Hardest

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The Arizona Department of Health Services released a statement claiming that Arizona had the lowest cancer rates in the nation. Although this is a tremendous accomplishment for the state, many health professionals worry that there may be disparities in the data based on rural polpulations and under-reporting. However, there are programs in the rural communities…

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