Last week's issue garnered a substantial amount of response.
First, the good news: While I was unable to attend Pride in the Desert last weekend (I was in Phoenix at the Arizona Newspapers Association annual convention), the Tucson Weekly folks who manned our booth said numerous people stopped by to thank us for doing last week's Pride section. As I mentioned last week, we plan on making the Pride section a regular quarterly part of the Weekly. Look for the next one in January.
And now, on to less-good news: Ann-Eve Pedersen, who is one of the driving forces behind the Tucson Unified School District override ballot measures, Propositions 401 and 402, was rather upset about last week's story on the measures.
She was upset for several reasons. For one thing, nobody from her Invest in Our Kids group was contacted for the story. While we did talk to TUSD governing board president Judy Burns, we didn't talk to anyone from Pedersen's group, so she makes a valid point.
Pedersen was also upset by several remarks made by override opponent Mary Terry Schlitz; Pedersen went so far as to demand a correction to the story, claiming that Schlitz's remarks on desegregation money, previous bond money for technology and state funding for all-day kindergarten were false.
Problem is, they weren't. Yes, Schlitz did do some serious spinning ... but that's what happens in political campaigns. We've double-checked things, and our story was accurate; we stand behind it.
Pedersen sent a letter to the editor that came in too late for this week's issue; we'll print it next week.
In any case, vote for Prop 401 and 402, OK? Our schools need this money. Badly.
