On to something new

My next story is the CASA Program. Haven't heard of it? Well you're not alone. I hadn't heard of it until a friend told me about it. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. Basically, it is a program designed for children who have been placed in the state's hands due to abuse or neglect and are assigned volunteers to be their voice/mentor. I think the program has such a great mission and I couldn't be more pleased to work on the story. I really hope to give the program a voice here at the legislature and get people active in the program.

I am also working on, not as exciting of a story, the traffic cameras throughout Arizona. If you haven't heard of or don't know what I am talking about... Arizona highways and city streets (not all, but the number is growing) are equipped with photo radar cameras, to issue citations for speed or red light running. And a new bill passed a few days ago, permitting 170 more cameras popping up all around Phoenix. I am doing a chain reaction based story, from start to finish, beginning with the actual picture, the ticket, to the fees and classes.

It's not as heart warming as the CASA program, but a side note and interesting point, the Governor of Arizona is proposing that these cameras serve as a tool to balance the budget. I sat in on a meeting the other day and the number of tickets that is needed to balance our budget, if the tickets around $200 a piece, would be a over five hundred thousand... interesting concept to balance the budget???