TUCSON, AZ — It’s back!

After 15-years of being at Rillito Park, Spring Fling has returned to the University of Arizona Campus.

Moving the largest student-run carnival in the nation back to its original location has been in the making for a while now and comes just in time for the event’s 40th anniversary.

“This whole plan was kind of put into place about four years ago,” said Hannah Sager, Spring Fling’s marketing director.

The decision simply made sense for the university organizers and clubs involved, especially since students now no longer have to trek four miles north of campus to take advantage of the festivities.

“It’s more of like a central location, and just having it on campus makes it feel like more of a UA event versus like a Tucson event,” said Vishak Shankar, president of a participating club.

One of the most noticeable changes in the move has been the size of the venue.

The university Mall is a significantly smaller space compared to Rillito.

“Obviously this year, they had to limit the number of clubs because they weren’t sure about the space restrictions,” said Shaina Hasan, a participating club fundraising chair:

Organizers, however, say that if anything, Rillito was too big.

“There was a lot of wasted space, a lot of extra space that we didn’t utilize over at Rillito,” said Jared Young, Spring Fling’s Executive Director.

Organizers are waiting to see how Spring Fling goes now that it’s back on campus, but they are hoping it has come home to stay for the coming years.

 

TUCSON, AZ — A renowned Jewish program may not be getting protected well enough from being taken advantage of.

Birthright is a free trip to Israel for Jews.

It is intended to be an exclusive opportunity for young Jewish adults to explore their identities and experience the Jewish homeland, but Jews may not be the only ones getting on these trips.

 

TUCSON, AZ — You can never be too safe when making sure your home is secure.

Two unique cases of home burglary in Tucson provide examples of what to do and not to do when protecting your property.

 

TUCSON, AZ — Amanda Hurley essentially walked out of college into jail.

“I graduated from U of A on I believe it was the 20th of December and i went to jail on the 21s,” Hurley said.

She had never been pulled over before, so of course, it wasn’t something she ever really expected.

“Before I got a DUI I thought like, oh drunks get DUI’s,” she said.

But, she has found a way to cope with the harsh reality.

“It’s the single most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me, that’s why i joke about it now,” she said.

She’s been doing standup comedy for about three years, and now– since her dui in september–she often opens her comedy act talking about her experience getting the criminal misdemeanor.

Hurley isn’t alone, however. law officials say that young adults make up the mass majority of DUI offenses.

“What i see a lot of is, I see college students who have a low alcohol concentration and yet a higher level of impairment. That’s because they haven’t been drinking hard for 30 years and they’re not as tolerant to the effects,” said James Nesci, a private DUI attorney.

Aside from the nearly eight thousand dollars Hurley has spent during the whole legal process so far, what does something like this mean for young adults, such as Hurley, going fresh into the job market?

“Employers are always going to be looking for minimized risk. If you come to us, what’s the risk going to be, whether to our clientele, our business, your ability to do your job,” said Cyndy Watson, a UA career services counselor.

Ignoring the criminal offense when applying for jobs, however, is not the solution.

“That’s probably not the first thing you want to share with someone, but it is certainly not the last, you want to be prepared with you story and how you’re not going to be a risk for them,” Watson said.

No matter what, though, Hurley plans to continue joking about her DUI, especially since it carries with it a message.

“I’m joking, but I also maybe think that people might think twice before driving if they think about the cavity search,” Hurley said.

Which can happen if you go to jail, even if only for one day, often times the minimum required for a DUI offense.

 

TUCSON, AZ  — Companies are significantly easier to get started in today’s world than they were twenty years ago.

This is all due to the internet.

But with increased accessibility comes increased competition.

About 25 percent of small companies fail in the first year and about 50 percent in the first three to five years. Only about ten percent of companies in general make it past the ten-year mark.

Tucson based companies YourLabs and NoteBowl are fighting the odds.

 

TUCSON, AZ — Cats are literally everywhere in Israel.

To any visiter, the rampant stray cat population may seem outlandish, but to the Israeli people, it has become an accepted aspect of their society.

The Israeli government is making moves, however, to at least regulate the growth of this population so that it does not become a major health hazard.

 

TUCSON, AZ — Veteran’s Day is often a reminder of not only the remembered, but the forgotten.

Tucson is home to more than 1,500 homeless veterans.

It is because of this relatively high number of struggling veterans that the Obama administration chose Tucson as one of 25 cities to take on a nation wide challenge: end veteran homelessness.

Tucson city officials are working to meet the president’s challenge by December, 2015.

City officials have met their initial goals so far, but can they keep up the momentum?

 

TUCSON, AZ — Downtown Tucson’s Ronstadt Transit Center is finally being considered for redevelopment after ten years of discussion.

Not everyone is happy about the possible change to the city landmark, however.

Tucson City Council members are taking their time to weigh all sides of the discussion, but they know they can’t put this off much longer.

The Tucson City Council has said they will soon be making a final decision on the matter.

 

TUCSON, AZ — Food vending is on the rise in Tucson and it’s coming on wheels.

Food trucks are making a move right now and it’s more organized than one would think.

Instead of competing with one another, many food trucks have decided to work together in order to promote their movement.

They are doing this by holding food truck roundups.

A time and place are determined; the word is put out through social media and a communal website (tucsonfoodtruckroundup.com); and the participating food trucks meet up and sell food.

This has been a successful business strategy that looks to be evolving at a tremendous rate.