EMDR Therapy in Catalina Foothills, AZ

Many residents have been left without power since Monday after the storm toppled powerlines in the area.

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) -Frustration continues to grow for many Foothill residents as they go on over 24 hours without power after Monday’s storm toppled powerlines and knocked out electricity for more than 20,000 Tucson Electric Power customers.

The record-breaking heat mixed with no air conditioning as many people upset.

“We haven’t had power since 4:30 yesterday. It is currently 92 degrees on one side of my house and 90 on the other. Both of my kids had to leave and spend the nights at friends’ houses,” said Micah Lemon, a Catalina Foothills resident.

Lemon said she and her elderly mother woke up feeling sick due to the heat in their home. It was difficult for them to go elsewhere because of their animals.

“We got three dogs at home that we can’t take anywhere because you can’t check into a hotel with three dogs,” said Lemon.

Earlier today, TEP set up ice stations which many foothill residents took advantage of. Yet, some say the ice may not be enough to keep their food fresh.

“We are all pretty much planning on emptying our fridges and our freezers at this point which is unfortunate. I did get some ice from TEP and took it over to the neighbors so they could keep their food frozen, but we can’t guarantee it, we are all thinking it is gone,” said Kathy Hollister, a Catalina Foothills resident.

Some residents said they already had to throw away food.

“We have had to throw away over two bags of stuff away already and now we have to go back and throw more stuff. We do not have enough coolers but lucky we have some friends that are going to bring some over,” said Lemon.

Hollister added that, at this point, she is more concerned about the well-being of her elderly neighbors.

“Across the street I have an elderly couple whose husband is wheelchair-bound. It is not easy to move him, and he relies on the electricity to lift him into his bed and to get into his chair, so it is creating a pretty big disadvantage for him,” said Hollister.

Hollister also said moving them to a cooler location would be difficult if the outage continues.

“It is very difficult to get him into any kind of vehicle. They don’t have a good transport systems for him so any time they have to move him is a major production,” said Hollister.

TEP will continue to work overnight to install new poles and lines. Some customers are not expected to have power restored until Wednesday night.

For residents looking to stay cool overnight, the American Red Cross has set up a cooling center at Catalina Magnet High School located at 3645 E. Pima St.

TEPs ice stations will reopen tomorrow at 8 a.m.

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Catalina Foothills, an unincorporated area north of Tucson, is getting much-needed housing, despite neighbors’ concerns over traffic safety and potential destruction of critical wildlife habitat.

The Tucson area has a severe housing gap, with not enough affordable rentals or single-family houses.

A California-based developer, UIP Quail Canyon LLC, wants to build more than 300 units of housing in the highly sought-after area. Catalina Foothills is known for beautiful mountain views, upscale restaurants, expansive desert landscape and large lots, and is a popular area to live.

On July 11, the developer requested the Pima County Board of Supervisors approve its request to rezone 53 acres of land to allow for the construction of single- and multifamily homes.

The company proposed building a three-story, seven-building, 210-unit apartment complex on the north end of the property and 116 two-story single-family homes on the south end. Of the land to be developed, 22 acres are classified as a riparian area and will remain undisturbed except for the construction of a bridge, according to Pima County staff.

The land is on the former Quail Canyon Golf Course that opened in the 1960s and closed five years ago, located near the intersection of Oracle Road and Rudasill Road and intersected by the Pima Wash.

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve the rezoning, with Supervisor Adelita Grijalva voting against.

Grijalva reiterated many concerns voiced by community members, from the impact on wildlife to emergency access on the roads, and wondered if the company would continue to work with the neighborhood after the board's approval.

“Quail Canyon is the wrong place for a high-density project. … I continue to have concerns about how the community input is going to happen,” Grijalva said.

District 1 Supervisor Rex Scott, whose district includes the area, supported the proposal. While the housing is market rate, and not considered affordable housing, it will still add houses to the market, he said.

He called the project an “appropriate infill development” partly for its proximity to Oracle Road, a major north-south corridor, and its location near retail stores, employment and services. It also would add to the county’s housing stock, he said.

Scott said the company worked with the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, which supports the project, to protect the riparian area.

Transportation, flood control managers support the project

Despite residents’ concerns about road safety on Rudasill Road, which included blind spots, dangerous curves and steep hills, the county transportation department said there are no transportation concerns. Oracle and Rudasill are under capacity, according to a staff report.

The Pima County Regional Flood Control District also supported the project, noting that the development does not disturb intact riparian habitat and exceeds flood mitigation standards.

“The development, as proposed, meets and exceeds federal, state, and local flood mitigation standards for this type of development, and can be constructed such that it is at minimal risk of flood damage and that it does not cause an adverse impact to others,” the district stated in a June 15 memo.

The developer also committed to implementing ways to mitigate impacts on wildlife, including using low-level pedestrian lighting, maximizing rain harvesting, implementing renewable energy sources, using gabions to protect the banks of the Pima Wash and revegetating the wash.

The developer said it also would restore areas of the Pima Wash previously disturbed by the golf course.

The project is leaving much of the wildlife area untouched and preserving half of the 62 saguaros. But 5 acres of riparian habitat will be disturbed for parking and driveway circulation, according to a county staff report.

Residents implore board to deny the rezoning

Many area residents spoke out against the development, noting its location in a riparian habitat and fears that nearby roads could not handle more traffic.

The county received 730 written comments in opposition to the rezoning request, according to a June 16 memo.

At the July 11 public hearing, many residents in the area spoke about their concerns about the riparian habitat.

“This development turns a critical wildlife corridor into a terror zone for wildlife,” Joan Scott said. She noted the development would impact the resilience of the wildlife area, and additional residents would mean additional disturbance near a critical wildlife corridor.

Others noted the already busy streets would become more congested with additional residents nearby.

However, citing Tucson’s housing crisis, some residents spoke in support.

“I am here to speak for the hundreds of people who would benefit from this development plan who are struggling during this affordable housing crisis,” Miranda Lopez said. “I believe this project will help address our region-wide housing shortage and especially our need for infill development near existing jobs, schools and infrastructure.”

Reach the reporter at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com. The Republic’s coverage of southern Arizona is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America. Support Arizona news coverage with a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.

TUCSON, Ariz. – The pipes were hissing for one Arizona woman for all the wrong reasons.

Bryan Hughes, owner of Phoenix-based Rattlesnake Solutions, said one of his employees was called to a woman's home in the Catalina Foothills near Tucson late last month to catch what was called in as a rattlesnake seen in the toilet.

Michelle Lespron said she called Hughes and his team to eliminate her fear of getting bitten.

"So many people think this is fake, but I guarantee it’s real," she said.

Hughes laughed, saying if you do this type of job long enough – even though it's really rare – everybody will stick their hand in and grab a snake in the toilet at some point.

After three visits over two days, the snake handler was finally able to get his hands on a black-and-pink Coachwhip.

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Hughes said the snake is harmless but will bite if you pick them up.

"They're also very fast and hard to catch," he added. "If you manage to get a hold of one and get bitten by it, it's definitely a decision. That's not an accident. So they're not anything that anyone has to worry about."

Hughes said they are called to catch one or two snakes in toilets each year, and it is very uncommon.

"If anybody's worried about this or your next action of the day is to call your realtor, don't worry about it," Hughes said. "You're not going to have this happen, just once-in-a-million kind of thing."

Hughes said the snakes may get into the plumbing through vaults in septic systems, flushed in from other homes and a variety of other situations.

Regarding the snake found in the toilet, it was released safely back into its natural habitat.

The Colts had 19 hits en route to their banner victory over Catalina Foothills, which finished its season 27-3-1.

“It’s great just being a part of this season,” Catalina Foothills coach Lance Robertson said. “I wasn’t here last year, so being a part of this season, I just tried to get out of the way. I told them how much we love them and care about them.

“It’s a great season. Just one game short. That’s what it is.”

Catalina Foothills (27-3-1) senior ace Ethan Bell, who had a 1.86 ERA entering Tuesday, allowed seven runs on 14 hits and couldn’t hold an early Falcons lead.

“He threw well,” Robertson said. “Sometimes you just get those seeing-eye singles, things happen and there’s a mental mistake here and there. He threw great for us all year. You can’t take anything away from him. He was good today. Just ran out of gas in the end.”

The Falcons scored five runs in the second inning. Catalina Foothills catcher Kincaid Bergthold slapped a leadoff single into left field, then three straight walks scored the first run. Then a wild pitch, a walk and a hit-by-pitch, followed by a blooper into right by shortstop and future Grand Canyon Lope Troy Sanders, scored the final four runs of the inning. Casteel junior pitcher Mason Russell, who threw a no-hitter against Nogales in the semifinals, ended his start allowing five runs and four walks. He was replaced by Nick Dale.

“We knocked out probably the best pitcher in the state, in the first couple innings,” said Catalina Foothills standout sophomore Ganon Dwyer, who, like Russell, is committed to Arizona.

With Catalina Foothills leading 5-4 in the bottom of the third inning, Dwyer blasted a two-run home run — his fourth of the season — over the right field wall to extend the advantage to 7-4.

“It felt good,” Dwyer said. “Especially after that first at-bat when I got diced. Three straight strikes; I looked stupid. I got a pitch I could handle, and it was probably one of the hardest balls I hit. It felt good rounding those bases.”

The game turned in the fourth inning. Key hits included Kyler Anderson’s triple, UA commit Kade Thompson’s double and an RBI from another UA commit, Tyler Russell. The Colts scored eight runs in the inning to take a 12-7 lead. Bell was pulled after 3⅔ innings. The Colts had 15 hits at that point.

“We just couldn’t get out of it,” Robertson said. “Don’t take anything away from them, they were just pounding the ball that inning and finding some barrels. You let those type of great-hitting teams get a couple extra outs, they’re going to hurt you, and they got us pretty good.”

The title game was delayed just over an hour because of lightning in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Robertson thought the lighting delay “would’ve been a little bit of an advantage for us.” Once play resumed, Sanders’ deep hit to left field scored one run, but the Falcons never pulled within striking distance and Casteel tacked on three more runs after the weather delay.

“With the shock and awe of that eight-run inning, we thought, ‘OK, let our guys reset,’ because, gosh, you could feel we were a little flat,” Robertson said. “It just didn’t work out for us.”

Despite the loss, Dwyer said this year was “one of the best seasons in Foothills history.”

“I’m so happy to be a part of it as a sophomore, especially as a contributor tonight,” he said. “I hit the ball well, but there was nothing else we could’ve done.

“Casteel deserves it.”

An Arizona school district denied that employees and teachers are instructed to comply with a system that withholds gender pronouns and preferred names from students' parents.

Emails obtained via records request by the senior fellow with Independent Women's Forum Nicole Solas show a Catalina Foothills School District (CFSD) principal emailing a confidential list of students with preferred pronouns to teachers and staff.

The email subject line reads, "CONFIDENTIAL: list of students with students pronouns & preferred names different than in Synergy."

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL'S PRIVATE EMAILS SHOW SECRET PLANS TO DEFY PARENTS' WISHES ON TRANSITIONING THEIR CHILD

(Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Principal Mark Rubin-Toles, who presides over Orange Grove Middle School, wrote, "Teachers and staff, if you are like me you may have been challenged recently to keep some of our kids’ pronouns and preferred names straight - and to remember what can and can’t be shared to families."

Another portion of the email reads, "Please be very careful - students in red are NOT comfortable with us sharing information to their parents / guardians. This can be cognitively challenging. It is our responsibility to protect student privacy in these matters."

Fox News Digital reached out to the CFSD for comment and a spokesperson for the district sent a statement.

"This has never been our practice in our school district. We respect any student's preference regarding how they are addressed in school, be it a nickname or a pronoun request," Julie Farbarik, Director of Alumni & Community Relations, said. "However, as students are informed, if a parent were to inquire, our staff do not keep this information from parents. Further, we encourage students to discuss these matters with their parents."

"Yes, the email with that subject line is authentic," Farbarik added. "However, it does not conform to our district's practice. The list should not have been created, and it no longer exists."

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Solas responded to the school's statement.

"The school is being coy," she told Fox News Digital. "They’re saying that they keep secrets from parents until the parents ask if there are any secrets. The school also pretends that a nickname like ‘Frank’ in place of ‘Francis’ is no different from an ideological gender affirming pronoun indicating a child is under mental distress and wrestling with an identity crisis."

"The school has a moral obligation as a matter of safety to notify parents immediately of a child’s request to change their sex so that the parents can support their child," she continued. "Waiting for a parents to casually inquire about whether their children are in distress is absurd and wholly insufficient to keep children safe."

CFSD is a public school district located in Tucson, Arizona. It has 5,190 students in grades PK, K-12.

WASHINGTON TEACHER SAYS SCHOOLS MUST DO MORE TO KEEP STUDENTS' INFO

Parents across the country are paying closer attention to school boards by challenging progressive curricula and contesting books they deem inappropriate.

(REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

The issue of education has become a top concern among voters. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, school board meetings have oftentimes become battlegrounds between parents and school board officials, reigniting the debate over how much control parents should have over their children's education.

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Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

Joshua focuses on politics, education policy ranging from the local to the federal level, and the parental uprising in education.

Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and is an alum of the National Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation's Young Leaders Program.

Story tips can be sent to joshua.nelson@fox.com and Joshua can be followed on Twitter and LinkedIn.