The Chandler Arizonian - 8.8.2021

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EV COYOTES SITE TROUBLES

TEENS GET ROBOT CENTER

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From Uptown to Downtown, covering Chandler like the sun.

An edition of the East Valley Tribune

INSIDE

This Week

COMMUNITY............ 23 EV trio plans rigorous cycle race.

SPORTS ........................ 28

Pair of brothers power Valley Christian roundball.

GETOUT ........................ 31 Chandler actress starts in fundraiser gala.

NEWS ...................................... 03 COMMUNITY ........................ 23 BUSINESS ................................ 25 SPORTS ....................................28 GET OUT ...................................31 CLASSIFIEDS ...........................33

FREE | chandlernews.com

August 8, 2021

Only optional on campus, masks required on buses BY PAUL MARYNIAK Arizonan Executive Editor

T

he law banning facemask and COVID-19 vaccination mandates has no penalties and doesn’t even take effect until Sept. 29, but Chandler Uni�ied, Kyrene and Tempe Union High School District will not be requiring them to be worn on their campuses.

But school bus passengers in those districts must wear them, largely because a federal law requires masks on all public transportation. Attorney Jordan Ellel, who represents Kyrene, Tempe Union and Tempe Elementary, advised against defying the mask mandate ban that the Republican majority in the Legislature passed in the waning hours of the 2021 session.

East Valley cities help pay down $12B pension debt

Two Phoenix districts last week challenged that ban by requiring all staff and students to wear masks on campuses as school resumed. That drew the ire of Gov. Doug Ducey, who called it unenforceable. Ducey also is in a battle that’s so far been only of words with two Arizona school dis-

Waymo help

��� MASK ���� 10

BY PAUL MARYNIAK Arizonan Executive Editor

D

espite an $11.8 billion unfunded liability owed by more than 300 Arizona municipalities, counties and state agencies, some encouraging trends are emerging in the system that provides pensions for nearly 60,000 retired �irst responders, corrections of�icers and qualifying elected of�icials. Shaped in part by the unexpected surge in revenue many of those government entities have seen for nearly a year, those trends aren’t just good news for the retirees who receive pensions from the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System. They’re also good news for Chandler and other taxpayers. One trend involves the largely un�lagging health of the stock market that – combined with some astute investment decisions by PSPRS – produced an unaudited return of close to 25 percent on the agency’s investments. Though the �inal percentage won’t be known for several months pending a routine annual audit, that one-year return is the biggest the PSPRS has seen in more than 30 years.

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Karla Paredes of AZCEND stuffs food bags into a specially colored Waymo minivan being used to ferry essentials to facilities that provide food for elderly people. For the story, see page 11. (Pablo Robles/Arizonan Staff Photographer)

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