Arizona State Trooper Resigns After It Is Discovered She Is An Illegal Alien

131211-figueroa-vsml-8p.380Tucson’s NBC affiliate is reporting Carmen Figueroa, who once served as the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s spokeswoman, likely didn’t even know she was an illegal alien until this summer.

Bart Graves, DPS spokesperson tells the News 4 Tucson Investigators “We believe the affidavit and information she gave us at the time. And, she was under the impression that she herself was an American citizen.”

DPS officials wouldn’t say if Figueroa would be charged with a crime, but Graves told the Associated Press she would have been fired if she didn’t step down because state law requires all sworn officers to be US citizens.

Read more at Downtrend

Overreaching Food Regulations Could Leave Cupboards Bare

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This holiday season, FreeEnterprise.com is wrapping up the year in red tape. The federal government—Anti Claus—imposes $1.8 trillion in regulatory costs each year, making businesses yearn for a lump of coal instead. The government’s size and scope is so vast that, as Mark Levin writes in The Liberty Amendments, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) couldn’t determine the number of criminal penalties attached to all its rules and regulations.

On the fourth day of regulatory Christmas, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave to me … a complete overreaction in the name of food safety.

Locally sourced ingredients are all the rage right now—and for good reason. Local foods are fresh, promote food variety, support the local economy, and usually have less environmental impact. But as the FDA writes a heap of rules stemming from the 2010 Food Safety Modernization Act, small farms have reason to be concerned about their future.

One of the most troubling regulations requires that farmers monitor all animals, domestic and wild, that go near their produce. New Morning Farm owner Jim Crawford said that it would be nearly impossible to monitor his 95 acres with just a handful of employees. “Wildlife is everywhere in the farming environment,” Crawford said. “It’s just not a realistic expectation.”

Read more at Free Enterprise

Kiwanis dinner and movie night this weekend

WILLIAMS—Movie night at the First Baptist Church kicks off the weekend events in Williams. 7th to 12th graders are invited to attend movie lock-in night at the church starting Friday, December 13th and ending around 9 am on Saturday. Participants are asked to bring a sleeping bag and pillow and a snack to share. There will be board games, cards and WII games. Contact Bob Broehm at (928)380-4346 if you have any questions.

The annual Kiwanis dinner starts at noon tomorrow at Doc Holiday’s on Grand Canyon Boulevard. The dinner features a great banquet, prizes and a visit by Santa.

There will, of course, be time to squeeze in a trip through Bearizona and a ride on the Polar Express.

The weather is expected to be clear through the weekend after rain and snow tonight.

Study: Atlantic Coast Energy Development Will Create 280,000 Jobs

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CRS_oilgas_chart_659pxOffshore energy production has been declining for years. Bad policies have made 86% of the U.S. coast off-limits to safe development. That has inhibited job creation and economic growth, but better policies can reverse this.

A new study, produced by Quest Offshore for the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), finds that opening the Atlantic outer continental shelf (OCS) to oil and natural gas exploration will add $23.5 billion annually to the economy by 2035 and create 280,000 jobs.

Read more at Free Enterprise