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.

US legislator Gabrielle Giffords has led a candlelight vigil a year after the Tucson shooting that nearly killed her, as President Barack Obama called her recovery an “inspiration”.

Her voice strong and unwavering, the Democratic congresswoman, who was shot in the head at point-blank range in a rampage that left six dead, led the crowd late on Sunday in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly stood next to her.

After a year of struggling to re-learn how to walk and speak, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords confidently climbed the steps on an outdoor stage on Sunday and led a crowd of hundreds in the Pledge of Allegiance, her words ringing out on a cold Tucson night just one year after she survived a gunshot to the head. More >

The city of Tucson has created a new task force to try to make its streets safer for pedestrians after 17 were killed in 2011.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that ( http://bit.ly/y9rhZq) the task force was created just two weeks after a 13-year-old boy was fatally struck by an SUV as he was crossing a street with other children.

There were 13 pedestrian fatalities in 2010 and 10 in 2009, the city’s police department said.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords plans to be at a Tucson memorial for those killed in a shooting spree that left her critically injured, a spokeswoman says. More >

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords plans to attend an Arizona candlelight vigil exactly one year after she and 18 others were shot outside a Tucson grocery store during a congressional meet-and-greet.

Giffords husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, will be one of the speakers at Sunday evening’s vigil, which will be held at the University of Arizona. Giffords’ spokesman Mark Kimble says the congresswoman will not grant any interviews while she’s in Tucson.