(gentle music) - [Lorraine] Decade after the January, 8th shooting a permanent tribute to the lives lost and those wounded.

- I just feel like every day is filled with gratitude.

- [Lorraine] Hearing from advocates focused on restoring civility in politics.

- We the American people will have to be our saving grace.

- [Narrator] And local businesses, look for ways to rebound from the pandemics economics setbacks.

- We want people to come back and join us but we need people to do it safely so that these businesses can stay open.

(gentle music) - Hello and welcome to Arizona 360 I'm Lorraine Rivera.

Thanks so much for joining us.

Any hopes for a peaceful transition of power we're appended this week on Capitol Hill, when a mob of the president's supporters invaded Congress, as lawmakers began the process to certify the election results.

We will discuss the issue of deepening partisan divides in politics.

But first we want to remember an important anniversary, 10 years ago, this week, a mass shooting forever changed Tucson.

Six people were killed and 13 others wounded, including then US representative Gabrielle Giffords who's Congress on Your Corner event was targeted.

Of those lost on January 8th, 2011, their names were Christina Taylor Green, Dorothy Morris, Dorwan Stoddard Gabe Zimmerman, John roll, and Phyllis Schneck.

A decade after their murders, Pima County dedicated a memorial in their honor.

The January 8th Memorial outside of the historic County courthouse is attribute years in the making.

Because of the pandemic the ceremony was limited to only a handful of people.

Weeks before the unveiling, Arizona public media heard from some of those who were there that day and remained profoundly impacted.

- People who are not there can't possibly understand what it was like among a bunch of people.

Many of us know each other many of us had never met each other before that day.

- The FBI gave back my bullet.

And so there isn't a day goes by that I don't think about how grateful I am to be here to be able to have seen the birth of my two grandchildren.

I just feel like every day is filled with gratitude.

The memorial named Embrace, honors the victim survivors and first responders of that day.

County officials hope to open it to the public by early February.

In the immediate months following the tragedy as the community took steps to heal it gave rise to the National Institute for Civil Discourse.

It's based out of the University of Arizona.

Over the last 10 years the institute has focused on promoting and teaching meaningful ways to discuss our differences.

A mission made all the more important in today's polarized political climate.

We discussed its work with Executive Director, Keith Allred.

Now the Institute has been around for about 10 years and some very important work has been done during that time.

But as recently as this week it would appear there seems to be work more work to do here.

- Lorraine, I don't think there's any question but in the last 10 years that things have gotten worse and actually much worse.

These are serious times.

These are serious challenges, and the events at the Capitol on January 6th should be a wake up call for all of us.

- Now would be fair to say, though that institutes like yours the goal was to stop that, so how did we get to this position where we're saying we have more work to do and it looks like things have gotten worse over the last 10 years?

- Well, the problem is that it actually started about 40 years ago.

That's when the two parties started to sort themselves out ideologically so that we no longer have conservatives in the Democratic party or liberals in the Republican party, so these are deep systemic changes that we're working against.

I think part of what that says is we can't look to the two parties to sort it out.

We, the American people will have to be our saving grace and those of us who've not been particularly politically active, we may shy away from it.

We've got to recognize, just look at January 6th we can't sit on the sidelines anymore.

We are gonna have to step up and do our part.

- As we know, this is easier said than done.

So how are we as a community able to change that course of the conversation here as we move forward?

- The most important things we can do as everyday citizens are not easy, but they're simple.

The first principle and best practice of engaging differences constructively is to listen for understanding.

I don't know about you, but when I'm in a relationship where the tension start to rise, you know, I start listening for the whole, in what they're saying and how I'm gonna respond rather than trying to really understand, of course, that doesn't get us anywhere.

So if we can really try to take the time and the effort and attention to genuinely understand the other side and listen to them, then we're gonna reach better understanding that's one step.

But a second step is they're also more likely then to listen to us.

If we can both listen and advocate with respect and not ridicule as everyday Americans, we are gonna be better off.

- Next we're hearing from someone who put politics aside and literally crossed the aisle to support, then Congressman Giffords on her road to recovery.

Former Republican Senator Jeff Flakes served in the US House at the time and stood next to Giffords at the 2012 State of the Union address.

The senator join us this week, a day after the chaos in DC, to reflect on his actions and then share his views on partisanship at the Capitol.

- Just after Gabby was shot, the State of Union happened and some of us in the Arizona delegation sat together Republicans and Democrats, and left an empty seat in the middle for in honor of Gabby.

Fast forward a year after when Gabby came back he had recovered enough to come back to Congress.

It was just a phenomenal scene.

The applause that she received when she entered the chamber.

I sat with her just off of the dais.

I remember during the speech, saw Gabby wasn't quite able to stand on her own.

I was alone, Republican sitting among a sea of Democrats.

And so I helped her up during those applause lines, and I have immediately started getting texts and emails from partisan Republicans around the country wanting to know why I was standing.

And if I agreed with President Obama, so that by partisan feeling that was in that chamber that night wasn't shared by many in my party.

And it was that was a shame because it was a truly a good moment.

And I think there have been many good moments because of that since.

- Given that we are in difficult times as you said how do you see a path moving forward?

- You know, when events happen like we just had at the Capitol, horrible, you know storming of the Capitol, then, you know I hope that it will lead to reflection from both parties.

We've got to do better here.

We can't foster this kind of environment that causes violence.

Whether it's shootings or anything else, and that it's, been, you know just my time in Congress, I was there in Tucson after Gabby was shot later on I was on the baseball field being shot at, you know we've got to do better and I think we can.

I should say also what will mean most is good leadership from the White House, from the highest office in the land.

If better behavior is modeled by the president then I think it's easier for members of Congress to reflect that as well.

And I think, you know it filters down and hopefully it filters up as well.

- Okay, all right, Jeff Flake thank you for your time.

- All right thank you.

(gentle music) - Like the rest of the country, Arizona entered the New Year still firmly in the pandemic's grasp.

Since it began, Arizona has recorded nearly 600,000 COVID-19 cases and close to 10,000 deaths.

The current outbreak has hit the state hard leading to one of the fastest growing infection rates in the world this week.

Amid ongoing public health and economic setbacks, the tourism industry is trying to remain optimistic Tony Paniagua has the story.

- [Tony] In spite of the crisis caused by the coronavirus in Arizona.

Some businesses are seeing a dim light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks to the state's plentiful sunshine and abundant outdoor options.

Visit Tucson suggests vacations in this market for people who are weary of living under lockdowns.

- People are reluctant to go to a New York City or a San Francisco or places they know that they'll be jammed up against people.

You can have a very isolated experience here.

One of the main things people are looking at travelers are looking at on Google consistently every week our national parks.

Tucson is a great place to pull that off right?

You know, not far from here it's the world national park.

- [Tony] It's a significant selling point for our hard hit sector that provides a major boost to our economy.

- As Southern Arizona goes, it's a hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue that come in every year.

For every Pima County household, in 2019, you are looking at $500 that came off of their household taxes.

So I mean it's there's a real impact there.

Arizona Office of Tourism estimated that 50% of people involved in tourism lost their jobs.

You're starting to see that come back, you know, as tourism starts to rebound.

But it's definitely a long-term challenge.

- [Tony] And one of the biggest challenges is uncertainty.

What will happen with the virus next?

How many additional outbreaks?

The vaccines availability and timeline, and the possibility of new virus mutations or other unknowns.

- Every day is new data and a new perception and different consumer confidence.

And so it's, the challenge is just keeping up with that.

- [Tony] So far the Tucson gem mineral and fossils showcased the world's largest gathering of its kind in January and February has been canceled, although smaller groups may still try to meet in the next few weeks.

Fiesta de los vaqueros Tucson Rodeo and Parade in February, will skip 2021.

And the Tucson festival of books we'll hold a virtual only event in March.

And on Historic Fourth Avenue, North of downtown Tucson, the fate of the popular Street Fair is up in the air.

- Right now, the next Street Fair is scheduled for March.

You know, so obviously a lot of new mitigation plans have to be in place.

The internal processes from this city has now so now there's a city process which has always been in place.

There's a County process, and now there's a state process.

So at any level, if one of them denies permit or denies unfortunately you know were to deny mitigation plan, then the overall permit doesn't go through.

- [Tony] If the fare cannot be held it would be the third consecutive loss since the pandemic swept the nation last year.

- We had both our spring 20 and our winter 20 Street Fairs canceled.

That would have been our 100th and 101st overall show.

- [Tony] On Fourth Avenue Monique Vallery says about eight businesses have closed permanently but others are struggling to hold on.

She says a federal grant of $455,000 last month is providing some relief.

A portion of the money is helping qualifying merchants pay for electricity, rent and other bills.

While other parts of the grant will be used for COVID mitigation efforts.

- Did it save businesses?

You know, we'll never know but did it help to keep folks open?

Yes.

- [Tony] Measures like temporary parking for takeout orders are providing some welcome relief but Vallery says more community support is necessary through sales and public behavior.

In spite of everything that's happened since last year she says some patrons are still fighting recommended safety measures, such as wearing masks or maintaining social distancing.

- We want people to come back and join us but we need people to do it safely so that these businesses can stay open.

- Real we see the real turnaround happen when people feel comfortable to have a meeting of 500 people.

Until you see the convention return, it's there you're gonna have challenges.

- Well, businesses look for ways to recover, it's happening, as healthcare leaders work to get shots in the arms of Arizona's on the front lines.

The Arizona Department of Health Services says about 120,000 people have received the COVID-19 vaccine so far, including more than 22,000 in Pima County.

Banner University Medical Center in Tucson is one of the main distributors.

We got an update on how distribution is going from Physician Executive, Dr. Joshua Lee.

- So we have designed a completely drive-through self scheduled program so that when we send out registration links to all of our potential colleagues, whether they're inside of Banner or any other healthcare facility they get to schedule their specific time, in 15 minute windows.

They drive up we validate the registration they've done online.

And then we once again assess them for any potential problems, like high risk of allergy.

They come around a curve and then they get vaccinated, and then they luckily wait in a holding area for either 15 or 30 minutes, depending on their risk of reaction.

And then they get to sail on their way with their next visit already scheduled for them for the followup booster.

- Can you give us a sense of what sorts of challenges may have occurred that you didn't quite foresee?

- So in the first few days we probably under estimated the number of vaccines we could do in a given hour.

So we thought, okay we're gonna do one in every 15 minutes.

So that was one person, but we realized very quickly that the vaccine process can be efficient.

And so we very quickly moved from one person every 15 minutes to four people, to 15 people every 15 minutes so that we can markedly increase the throughput.

- There have been some reports here in the state that there were vaccines sitting on shelves, has that been the case or your experience?

- Not to my knowledge we really try to use up almost every dose that we have in our possession, literally up to the day before we're expecting the next shipment.

- Dr. Lee, what is your message to the public as we enter into the next few weeks here, I mean, already there are various calls to suspend activities or to reduce group gatherings.

What would you like to tell members of the public who are watching you tonight?

- Thanks for that opportunity.

I think all of us can do our part to help mitigate the pandemic.

And as we look at all of the different tools in front of us it starts with social distancing, and masking, and hand hygiene and limiting our contacts as much as possible, because each of those makes a difference.

I think people can recall the days of June as we were on a steep upward curve of cases by public actions such as mitigating public contacts, reducing capacity in stores and restaurants, taking the time to be masked everywhere you go, we were able to beat back that surge.

So I'm confident that we can do that again.

We just have to come together as a community and commit to everybody's personal action.

- Okay, Dr. Joshua Lee UMC Banner Physician Executive, thanks so much for your time.

- Thank you.

(gentle music) - After more than 20 years there's new leadership at the Pima County Attorney's Office and the Recorder's Office.

This after the women who served in those roles for more than half a century combined both decided to retire.

As their final terms winded down I sat down with each to discuss their careers in public service and the legacies they hope they left behind.

Since 1992 one name adorn the Pima County Recorder's Office.

- There's a signature rosters over there in the back corner where we have to scan those and preserve them.

- That's F. Ann Rodriguez for 28 years.

Her name was on everything from land sales, to ballots.

A public servant some things about her personal life remain just that.

Will you solve this mystery for me, what does the F Stand for?

- I didn't find out what my birth name was until I got my driver's license, I say what's this you know?

And then I heard the story, so I never shared it with anybody.

- Okay and it remains.

- It remains as I use it, the F means fun going and fundraising.

- [Lorraine] But Rodriguez did share that she and her identical twin sister are the youngest in a family of seven.

A graduate of Salpointe Catholic high School and Pima Community College.

Her parents ran a small business which she helped manage.

Along the way, business insiders encouraged her to run the year was 1988.

- But at that time I only lost by 4,000 votes against an incumbent with the name Kennedy.

Subsequently in 1992, you know, I said, I'm gonna continue going for my goals ambition.

What do I got to lose, should I came so close the last time, it was an open seat and I won.

- [Lorraine] Overtime the Democrat won seven elections, each one coinciding with the presidential race.

During Barack Obama's campaign she took heat for publicly supporting him.

- You know, it was different back then the politics wasn't as hostile.

I sat on the executive committee of the Democrat party and everything but I also treated the Republicans very fair and it was straightened up front with them okay?

This is what you know what I'm doing.

If I remember, I also don't tabulate the ballots either, so you know, that's a little bit of a cushion.

- [Lorraine] Her career began in the original county complex a place she affectionately refers to as the pink palace.

Rodriguez helped oversee the move to the new building.

- Here is the old corner of stone and tool.

- [Lorraine] The transition and the overall modernization of the office turned up some surprises along the way.

- We found the original one of wider, we needed them so I'm getting ready to do some ceilings of those.

- [Lorraine] With time and technology, Rodriguez updated the office to include scanning and digitizing documents.

On the policy side, she led the creation of the permanent early voting list and crafted state policy to allow military members to vote while serving overseas.

As Rodriguez reflected on her time in office, she remembers one of her first meetings with the title company.

- They didn't direct the questions to me.

They directed everything to my chief deputy the male.

And he picked up on it and he very nonchalantly, he says, it would've be whatever Ms. Rodriguez wants.

- [Lorraine] A woman who some might say helped break the glass ceiling a long time ago.

- You know, I'm long past that I never used that.

I said I came F. Ann Rodriguez who happens to be of Hispanic descent, that's it very simple.

And then I go from there.

(phone ringing) - [Lorraine] A revenue based department Rodriguez prided herself on fairness and transparency.

- I'm sure I did not please everybody but you try to do the best you can.

You know, we've had, I've had disagreement with some legislators but I've been honest and forthright with them.

- [Lorraine] And though things are very different than when she first took office, she thinks service remained the same.

- A lot of people say this office runs like a business during this whole COVID thing, we didn't close.

People still need to have recording documents.

Some people say, we'll just have them mail it this is some of the elderly people, they don't understand what they're doing.

Everybody was in a rush to get all their personal financial orders in, their beneficiary deeds you know, where you can leave your assets to somebody making sure that they did transfer properties on, I mean, it was a madhouse in here.

People trying to get all their stuff in order because nobody knew what was gonna be happening.

But we, this office never closed.

We were getting ready for the presidential preference election, people come in and we're public service.

- If you've got your ballot go in, go to the right.

- [Lorraine] Before we left Rodriguez showed us how the office is honoring those who served before her.

- My hair is thinned out.

I had full head eyebrows thinner.

It's the only one in color obviously, 'cause technology changes things.

- [Lorraine] With humor and admiration, she's humbled at her time serving the public.

- It's been a wonderful experience, you know, I have a tremendous amount of gratitude that actually the voters allowed me to continue to do something that I truly enjoyed.

- Oh hi.

- [Lorraine] A couple blocks away in downtown Tucson sits the Pima County Attorney's Office.

At the helm for the last 24 years was Barbara LaWall.

- [Kent] Barbara Congratulations.

- Thank you Kent.

- [Lorraine] Days before her retirement.

We watched as dozens of colleagues, friends and longtime supporters, bid farewell in a car parade.

- I can't believe you have all of that stuff.

- [Lorraine] It wasn't the goodbye, this long-time prosecutor envisioned after a lengthy career prosecuting crimes in Pima County.

Over Zoom she told me how it was a reminder of how she came to be.

LaWall was born in New York and raised in Tucson.

- When I graduated from the University of Arizona I was the first in my family to go to college.

And you know, none of my other family members had college degrees.

So my parents were very proud of the fact that not only did I go to college but that I was becoming a high school teacher.

And they thought that was a great profession, and my mother was frankly very appalled, when I said, I'm quitting teaching mom, I'm gonna go to law school.

But I wanted to make a difference in the change in educational policy and thought between getting a doctorate in education and going to law school, I think I could do it better in law school.

- [Lorraine] During her second year of law school, everything changed.

LaWall found herself divorced with an infant daughter and needing a job.

The Pima County Attorney's Office hired her as a law clerk.

A challenging line of work that came with careful deliberation every step of the way from a law clerk, to a trial supervisor, she eventually oversaw criminal divisions and then became chief deputy.

After more than 20 years, LaWall saw the top spot.

LaWall won one six elections, looking back, she's grateful her passion paid off.

- You are working for the community.

You are the voice of the vulnerable the voice of the voiceless in the courtroom and you are doing justice every day.

So I have really loved the 44 years that I've been in the County Attorney's Office.

- [Lorraine] Time well spent, she says LaWall spearheaded programs like the drug alternative to prison program giving people with addiction a chance to treatment.

And the juvenile program helping troubled youth get reconnected with their families and back in school.

- Some people have attributed to the fact that I was a school teacher and I saw a lot of kids that got into trouble that they weren't bad, they weren't evil.

You know that we do have some evil people out there but I've always realized that there are individuals that if you give them a second chance and the opportunity to go into treatment, or rehabilitation, or counseling they can turn their lives around.

Somebody needs to pay attention to them and to help them.

- [Lorraine] LaWall is especially proud that she was able to oversee efforts like the Safe Baby program, Amber Alert, the smart program that created juvenile prosecutors.

Drug court, and even support for victims of check fraud.

In 2019 Pima County renamed it's Children's Advocacy Center in honor of her work.

As LaWall leaves office, though, there are no regrets, you might say there is unfinished business.

- As I have two wishes.

I wish that I had been able to create a Family Justice Center as part of the Children's Advocacy Center.

And then the other thing I wish I had learned to do very early on, as wish I had learned to play golf.

And I say that because there's a lot of business that goes on in the county on the golf course.

And I was never part of that because I never learned to play golf.

So I was never invited along with Clarence Dupnik and Chuck Huckleberry to join them on the golf course.

And I think that could have been very helpful.

- Now when you talk about the golf course you mentioned two prominent names, they happen to be men.

You are not the first woman to serve in your role but you're the first woman to be elected to your role.

Looking back do you ever think about the challenges that you had to face just because you are a woman in your role?

- I was very fortunate to be in the prosecutor's office because results were measured, not gender.

So the office itself, wasn't a place where I faced any of those issues, but the courtroom was.

Sometimes with law enforcement, it was a problem being a woman, initially as a Deputy County Attorney, there were some of the older cops who came in and I think they had an attitude of well, let's see what this pipsqueak can do.

Once they saw that I fought hard for them and successfully in the courtroom, then their attitudes changed.

And things slowly turned around and more and more women came into the office.

And so the women as prosecutors were respected, I think equally as the men.

- Yesterday we saw your car parade and what a touching tribute to you and your work.

And I saw men, women, law enforcement, Democrat, Republican, organizations like Homicide Survivors.

What did that mean to you to see all walks of life, come out to just salute your work and your legacy in this community?

- It was so touching, it was so special, I felt very loved.

It was amazing, you know, I had no idea that they would turn out in that kind of force.

I'm gonna miss you.

- [Lorraine] What's more is that she hopes her work meant something for the community.

- I took a lot of risks.

I did a lot of things that other prosecutors across this nation are afraid to do that they're not willing to do.

And I did it in the hope that what we would do is produce a great result.

So we did, and I'm very, very proud of all of the programs that I have put in place.

And I hope I've left a great legacy that remains in Pima County.

- That's all for now, thanks for joining us.

To get in touch visit us on social media or send an email to arizon360@azpm.org and let us know what you think.

We'll see you next week.

(gentle music)