Local & Community News Update

Arizona was expecting to get a new congressional seat, but the first census numbers from last year dashed that hope.

The university appears on Forbes’ fourth annual “Best Employers For Diversity” list, placing No. 206 out of 500 businesses with at least 1,000 employees – a 35-spot increase over last year’s ranking of No. 241. 

Gov. Doug Ducey removed the statewide order that directed K-12 schools to require masks Monday afternoon, putting the responsibility on local school leaders to decide whether masks will be required for the final weeks of the school year.

The new institute, based at UArizona, will address critical research areas through large-scale international collaboration, innovation and exchange of resources. 

A small but growing number of colleges will require students to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, saying it is the most assured way of returning to some semblance of pre-pandemic campus life. Many colleges have required certain vaccinations for years, but the standards aren't uniform, said Leila Barraza, an associate professor at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are reviewing data involving the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson and six cases of a rare and severe blood clot that affected women between the ages of 18 and 48. Deepta Bhattacharya, an associate professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona, said in a statement released by the Pima County Health Department that the estimated risk of a blood clot from the J&J vaccine is about 1 in a million, which is a far lower risk than an unvaccinated person has of dying from COVID-19 if they become infected. University Communications assisted with this story.

Scholarship applications are available at the College of Medicine – Tucson and the College of Medicine – Phoenix for students who intend to pursue residency training in family medicine, general internal medicine, geriatric medicine, general pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, and now general surgery.