In January, Governor Ducey released his FY22 state budget proposal. Over the next several months Republican and Democratic leadership in the House and Senate will release their proposed budget and negotiations between the Executive and Legislative branch will begin.

The news from Washington is plenty these days, with the new Biden Administration introducing a series of political appointee announcements, Executive Orders, and a sweeping immigration reform bill in just the first few days.

Mayor Regina Romero and the University Climate Change Coalition program at the University of Arizona have received a grant to develop community listening sessions. The Arizona Institutes for Resilience awarded a $16,940 grant for the City of Tucson’s Climate Action Plan. These listening sessions will supplement current efforts to receive community input through a recently launched community survey.

Scientists from Arizona’s three public universities are joining forces to analyze test samples to detect dangerous COVID-19 mutations. “The concern, of course, is you get one of these mutations that take hold and there’s no vaccine that can protect you,” Robert Robbins, president of the University of Arizona, said.

Researchers at the University of Arizona are developing a COVID-19 testing method that uses a smartphone microscope to analyze saliva samples and deliver results in about 10 minutes. The UArizona research team aims to combine the speed of existing nasal swab antigen tests with the high accuracy of nasal swab PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, tests. 

After only six years of operation and five years of rankings eligibility, Arizona Online made its first top 10 appearance in the 2021 Best Online Bachelor's Programs rankings by U.S. News & World Report. Arizona Online climbed to No. 7 overall – and No. 6 among public universities – out of 337 programs, further solidifying itself as a national leader in online education.

Pima County has begun administering Phase 1B vaccinations, and starting this week the University of Arizona will be the designated distribution point for the Phase 1B priority subpopulation of teachers and child care workers, including K-12 and higher education teachers and staff, as well as student teachers.

The University of Arizona College of Law, the School of Journalism, and the School of Government and Public Policy have launched a Participatory Democracy Initiative to make a difference in practice by educating and developing students and the community to find ways out of the partisan thicket and share a common foundation for debate and rationally engaging in the challenges that lie ahead.

Arizona researchers are launching a project in Yuma County aimed at understanding the community spread of the coronavirus by studying the area’s wastewater. The project is to be carried out by Yuma County public health officials and the University of Arizona’s Center for Excellence in Desert Agriculture.

NASA has awarded $3.1 million to Christopher Hamilton in UArizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory to develop a drone that could act as a "field assistant" to a rover and explore previously inaccessible regions on Mars.