Daily Brief
November 9, 2026
Monday
🚨 Public Safety
The plane circling over Catalina this weekend belongs to the Pima County Sheriff's Department. Residents in Catalina and Oro Valley asked on social media about a plane circling overhead. It circled near Catalina Regional Park for more than an hour Saturday evening and was back Sunday morning. Tucson Daily Brief photographed its tail number, N671AZ, which the FAA registry lists as a 2021 Cessna 208 Caravan registered to Pima County and the Sheriff's Department. A Sheriff's Department spokesperson confirmed the plane is the department's and said it "was patrolling in the area of Catalina" Saturday. The county bought it as one of two Caravans approved in 2020 for $4.5 million, along with about $2.3 million in FLIR camera systems.
Tucson Daily Brief reporting, FAA Registry, Pima County Board of Supervisors
🏛️ Government
Supervisors to take up future of Old Tucson Studios. The Pima County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to discuss this week what to do with the county-owned movie studio and theme park after its operator, Colorado-based American Heritage Railways, gave notice in September that it would not renew its lease for another five years, according to the Tucson Sentinel. The company has run Old Tucson Studios since 2022. The Sentinel reported that the final day of operations will be April 4 and that this year's Yuletide holiday festivities will go on as planned.
Permitting bill that could aid Copper World mine faces Senate vote today. A federal permitting bill that would remove a major roadblock to building the Copper World mine on the Santa Rita Mountains' east slope faces a key U.S. Senate vote Monday, the Arizona Daily Star reported. The bill would loosen federal permitting requirements for energy projects, mines and possibly data centers on federal land. Sen. Ruben Gallego has made some positive comments about it, while Sen. Mark Kelly has yet to take a public stance, according to the Star.
Native American remains unearthed during border wall work in Organ Pipe. Contractors building a second 30-foot steel border wall in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument unearthed Native American remains two months ago, U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed to the Arizona Daily Star. A CBP spokesperson said the National Park Service notified the agency on Sept. 14, six days after the discovery, which neither agency publicly disclosed before ProPublica reported it Nov. 2. Critics are calling for an end to the federal waiver authority that lets wall construction bypass environmental and cultural protection laws.
Arizona voters reject voter ID measure, approve grocery tax limits. Arizona voters rejected a voter ID measure and approved grocery tax limits and a cartel designation measure among eight statewide propositions, KOLD reported. Proposition 141, among the last races called, passed 51% to 49%; it bans state and local governments from taxing drivers based on the number of miles they drive.
Pima JTED prepares to spend $250 million bond after Prop. 427 passes. With voters' approval of Proposition 427, the Pima Joint Technical Education District is setting up a community bond oversight committee to ensure the $250 million is spent legally and transparently, KGUN reported. District leaders said the money will expand hands-on career and technical education programs for students across Pima, Pinal and Santa Cruz counties.
🏗️ Development & Business
Open house tonight on Stone Avenue rapid-transit line. The Regional Transportation Authority is holding an open house from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday at Pima Community College's Downtown Campus, Amethyst Community Room, 255 N. Stone Ave., on its High-Capacity Transit project, also called Stone Ave BRT. The roughly five-mile bus rapid transit line would run between the Tohono T'adai Transit Center in northern Tucson and the Ronstadt Transit Center downtown and is in the 30% design phase, the RTA said. KVOA reported that project leaders are seeking feedback on aspects including design and bike lanes.
Regional Transportation Authority KVOA News 4
Fifth Street gets new lane striping overnight. Crews will stripe Fifth Street from Country Club Road to Alvernon Way from about 9 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday as part of the Fifth/Sixth Street walkability project, the city announced. Two-way traffic will be maintained, but side streets will close temporarily as work moves along the road. When finished, the street will have one travel lane in each direction, a center turn lane and buffered bike lanes, though the bike lanes will have no buffers west of Jones Boulevard, according to the city.
🎉 Community & Events
Thousands walk in 37th All Souls Procession. Thousands of people took part in the 37th annual All Souls Procession on Sunday, walking about a mile and a half from Barrio Hollywood to the Mercado District on the city's west side, KVOA reported. Organizers said the event aims to use artistic expression to help participants honor loved ones and connect through grief.
FOX's 'Big Noon Kickoff' coming to UA campus Saturday. FOX's college football preview show will broadcast live from the University of Arizona mall near the tailgating area from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday ahead of No. 22 Arizona's game against third-ranked Utah, the Arizona Daily Star reported. It is the first time the show has aired a live episode from Tucson.
📢 What Your Officials Are Saying
Sen. Mark Kelly (U.S. senator). Kelly said in a Bluesky post that Arizona Democrats "just flipped control of the state legislature," adding that it will make a difference on costs, public schools and working families.
Campaigns. Neither the Katie Hobbs nor the Andy Biggs campaign posted in the governor's race in the past 48 hours, and neither JoAnna Mendoza's nor Juan Ciscomani's campaign posted in the CD6 race.
🌵 The Desert Today
Heat: Nov. 7 high 75° (normal 79°, record 91°), low 56°. 77 days at or above 100° so far this year. Water: Lake Mead 1,039.5 ft on Nov. 7, down 17.7 ft in a year. Sky: air quality 34 (good), highest reading ozone. UV index 5. Power: TEP demand peaked at 1,571 MW on Nov. 6, solar peak 427 MW.
Weather & Water: the season against prior years, and the long record
⛈️ Weather — Tucson
No active weather alerts.
Today: Sunny, with a high near 79. East-southeast wind 6 to 9 mph. Tonight: Clear, with a low around 53. East-southeast wind around 7 mph. Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 80. Southeast wind 2 to 8 mph; clear Tuesday night with a low around 53. Outlook: Sunny skies continue through midweek, with a high near 81 on Veterans Day and near 82 Thursday. Overnight lows hold in the mid-50s through Thursday night.
NWS Tucson Forecast API
This brief was generated automatically by Claude Opus 5.5 from a review of 17 of 53 local sources fetched, at 6:02 AM MST on November 9, 2026, and published without human review. Every item links to its source. Read more about how this is made.
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