Cure for valley fever on horizon
Valley fever is one of the Southwest’s most persistent problems, affecting an estimated 90,000 Arizonans every year. Fewer than 1 percent of people who get valley fever die from it, but that still means about 30 deaths a year, according to the Arizona Daily Star. There’s no known cure, but because the disease flourishes in only a single region of the country, the drug industry has been reluctant to spend money on it. The state government has been equally unwilling. Now a team of UA researchers, led by longtime valley fever researcher Dr. John Galgiani, has identified a possible vaccine, nikkomycin Z, for which they are working to garner interest from pharmaceutical companies. It’s a useful reminder of why it’s important for the state to invest in research for the public good: sometimes, the free market doesn’t work in everyone’s best interests.

Bankruptcy rate in Arizona skyrockets
While a national debate rages over how to salvage the economy, Arizonans are feeling the pressure. According to the Arizona Daily Star, bankruptcy claims in Arizona have risen by 112 percent in the last year, with 329 Chapter 7 claims – personal or business liquidation – filed in the last month. While it’s easy to blame this on reckless individuals, it would be more accurate to say that our entire society is reaping what it sowed. With Congress voting to bail out Wall Street tycoons and, closer to home, a debt-ridden state government struggling to make ends meet, fiscal wisdom in this country is at an all-time low. Economists often speak in terms of consumers “”staying afloat”” or “”getting in over their heads.”” If this mess doesn’t teach us some personal responsibility, we might well drown.

TUSD to diversify faculty to boost student morale
Responding to some education experts’ contention that students respond better to teachers who share their backgrounds, Tucson Unified School District has embarked on a $550,000 effort to recruit more diverse teachers. It’s hard to deny that the district has a diversity problem. According to the Arizona Daily Star, only 21 percent of TUSD’s teachers are Hispanic, despite the fact that Hispanics make up more than 40 percent of Tucson’s population. The district has similar shortages of Asian and American Indian instructors. While TUSD should remember that this is only a shallow solution to very real problems in the public school system, it would certainly improve students’ morale if they saw themselves better reflected when they looked at their teachers.

Isn’t that what the spines are supposed to discourage?
Who would steal a helpless saguaro from the desert? Plenty of people, apparently. The National Park Service is planning to embed microchips in Arizona’s beloved spine-covered giants in response to an increasing number of thefts. “”Everybody wants a saguaro in their front yard,”” Jim McGinnis of the Arizona Department of Agriculture told the New York Times. With approximately 1.3 million saguaros in the Sonoran Desert and the microchips priced at $4.50 each, this solution won’t come cheap. But it’s worth it to ensure that Arizona’s signature icon, long used in cartoons as a way to automatically signify the desert, won’t disappear from the real desert landscape anytime soon.

Editorials are determined by the Daily Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Andi Berlin, Justyn
Dillingham, Lauren LePage, Lance Madden and Nick Seibel.