During the sentencing of Tucson gunman Jared Loughner at the U.S. District Court of Arizona on Nov. 8, Mark Kelly held nothing back when it came to his feelings about the nation’s gun laws. 

On Jan. 8, Tucsonans will reflect on the mass shooting that occurred two years ago at a local Safeway shopping center where a gunman opened fired into a crowd that had gathered for a congressional event hosted by then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. 

Throughout our lives, things happen that make you ask, “What is this world coming to?” Friday was one of those days. It was one of those days where we hear there are 20 young children dead and six school professionals dead because a 20-year-old shot them inside their classrooms.

When a tragedy strikes, it is human nature for us to ask, "Why?" And in the next breath, we wonder, "What can be done so this never will happen again?"

“We are the 90 percent.” 

I quit carrying a wallet years ago on a visit to Italy, where the pickpockets are experts and profile Gringo Turistas. I keep cash in my front pants pocket and other stuff in my shirt. No one carries "papers" much anymore. We carry plastic.

Not that the gun debate really needed any more fuel, but President Barack Obama rolled out his plans for gun reform in a press conference Tuesday morning.

“We are the 90 percent.”

Over the years I have always been surprised to see a man like Tom Horne get reelected over and over again to different offices. Horne, who is under investigation by the FBI, has served as our superintendent of public instruction, and is now the state’s attorney general.

On Friday, July 20, at midnight, a theater full of people in the suburbs of Denver excitedly sat down to watch the much-anticipated ending to the Dark Knight trilogy. None of them would have ever guessed it would turn into a nightmare with a gunman throwing tear gas into the room and opening fire.

Entrenched Fantasy

Pulling for Giffords’ full recovery

October 25, 2006 - At the Northern Pima County Republican Party headquarters on Oracle Road, just north of River Road, a handful of volunteers gathered on a Wednesday in early October for a Randy Graf call night.

Following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 children and six staff members were killed by a lone gunman, state and federal lawmakers began discussions on how to better protect America’s students.

In her State of the State address earlier this afternoon, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer expressed her continued optimism about the direction of Arizona’s economy, and called for increased competition in the realms of job creation and education.

Name: Jonathan Paton

October 25, 2006 - Republican Jennifer Burns thinks she can appeal to both Democrats and moderate Republicans.

Letters to the editor in this week’s Explorer.

The following in an overview of the five major state races, governor, attorney general, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction and treasurer.

Did you attend the Jan. 12 public tribute at the McKale Center? If so, please share your thoughts and photos of the event by uploading them to editor@explorernews.com by 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 17.

Wallet lost, then found; his thanks eternal

Letters to the editor published in the September 2, 2009, edition of The Explorer.

July 20, 2005 - Since its shaky beginnings in the 1980s, Continental Ranch has been a cauldron of controversy, a place where neighborhood activism takes on its true meaning - perhaps a world within its own bounds.