Saturday, thousands of visitors will descend on Tucson for the start of the 2012 Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase. The show seems to grow each year and with that more pressure is on the city to put on a good show for vendors and visitors.

The city is pulling out all the stops to make it a success. Gem show vendors are still setting up their space for the big rush in two days. “A lot of dealers work very hard in getting more people here every year we have we’ve been doing it for a long time but we have about I would say about a 10% increase a year,” said Jay Gehring with Village Originals.

What started as a single date in New York turned into an unwanted long-term relationship for a Tucson woman who was stalked through six states over about 18 years. Moses Antonio Shepard, 47, after a federal trial in Tucson, was found guilty last week of two counts of interstate stalking.

Shepard is due to be sentenced in early April and could face as many as 10 years in prison, although he has been in jail since he was arrested in April 2010.

On a bittersweet day for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the outgoing congresswoman spent her final hours in Tucson as the city’s U.S. representative, finishing the meeting she started on the morning she was shot and bidding farewell to constituents who supported her through a long recovery. More >

Outgoing Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords spent her last hours as Tucson’s U.S. representative finishing the meeting she started on the morning she was shot and bidding farewell to constituents who have supported her through her recovery.

But it may not be the end. The woman whose improbable recovery has captivated the nation promised, “I will return.”

On one of her final days as a Congresswoman, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords met Monday with survivors of the shooting that took place at her town hall in January 2011, completing the meet-and-greet that was interrupted when an assassin tried to end her life.

Bill Badger, who was shot in the head and then helped hold the gunman down at the town hall shooting last year, said Giffords met individually with survivors at her Tucson office.

The apparent lowest bid for construction on Tucson’s streetcar project came in at 10 percent below the costs that the city expected to pay.

The Arizona Daily Star reports (http://bit.ly/zgYg0N ) that Old Pueblo Trackworks’ bid of $55.9 million for the Tucson Modern Streetcar construction project was lower than the city’s estimate of $62.4 million.

The Tucson Unified School District’s abrupt cancellation of its Mexican-American Studies program under state pressure has left students and community leaders upset. Some say the move by the district is unconstitutional.

On Jan. 10, the TUSD governing board voted to shut down the classes immediately after Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal ruled the district was in violation of the law and would lose up to $15 million in state aid if the classes continued.

Tucson Police are investigating the death of a one-year-old girl. Police say the child was found unresponsive this morning and showed signs of possible child abuse.

She was transported to a local trauma center, but pronounced dead. More >

Faced with slashing reductions in state funding, the Tucson Unified School District board Tuesday night voted to suspend its controversial Mexican-American studies program.

The district now will write new a curriculum to be integrated into a more general social studies program. Students currently enrolled in Mexican American studies classes will be transferred into other courses.

The vote was four to one, with board member Adelita Grijalva the sole opponent.