After turning 18, many foster children in Tucson end up homeless – so many,
in fact, that youth shelters are struggling to meet the growing demand for
beds. A young man tells what it’s like to be on and off the streets.

Jim Chilton, a fifth-generation Arizona rancher, faces threats from the border and also growing pressure from conservationists.

The green mountaintops looming over the Arizona desert are home to an unusual diversity of mammals and other wildlife. Conservationists say this unique micro-climate habitat is now threatened by development and rising temperatures.

Many horses bought in Arizona are sent to meat processing plants in Mexico despite the recent lifting of a ban on horse slaughtering in the United States. The ban was lifted to stop horses from being killed after grueling journeys across the border.

A code comes through the speaker of the Titan II control center in the desert 25 miles south of Tucson. That code signals that the U.S. has been attacked and a missile needs to be launched. Two crewmembers open a safe and take out a pack of cards to match the code with a sequence of letters and confirm the message’s authenticity. They enter the 16-letter sequence into the butterfly valve lock control, and then each puts a key into a separate lock. Each crewmember must then turn his key within two seconds.

The keys turn. Fifty-eight seconds after the message, the missile carrying a nuclear warhead launches. About 35 minutes later, an unknown target on the other side of the world is obliterated in an explosive firestorm.

From 1963 to 1982, crewmembers at the Titan II missile site in Sahuarita, Ariz.,, prepared for just this sort of situation. Instructions for every aspect of the site were written down in highly classified files.

Now, the site is a museum. Tourists receive an “I turned the launch key” card after they launch the missile. Instruction manuals and other artifacts have been cataloged and sit in boxes in a small storage room.

The Titan Missile Museum is the only site in the world that has preserved a complete nuclear weapons system from the Cold War. All that’s missing is the actual nuclear warhead. Two decades after the conflict ended, more than 50,000 tourists visit the missile site annually.

They get to see the 255,035-pound weapon that, if launched, would have signaled the start of nuclear war. But the purpose of the museum isn’t to show off the missile, said Chuck Penson, who has worked as the museum’s historian for 15 years. Penson said the museum was designed to show how deterrence worked.

“Each passing generation is further removed from the Cold War,” Penson said. “It’s become an abstraction.”

Identical Titan II missiles, which carried 650 times the explosive power of the bombs dropped on Japan during World War II, were once kept at 54 different sites, 18 throughout Arizona. The missiles weren’t made to start a nuclear war, Penson said — they were supposed to prevent one.

“We need to understand the concept of deterrence and the concept of nuclear weapons and its failures,” Penson said.

Visitors to the museum can tour the three-story control area, then go through a nine-level silo to view the actual missile. Once a visitor turns a key, the tour guide starts a simulated missile launch with red lights and sirens. When the site was actually in operation, crewmembers were warned that once they launched the missile they would need to stay underground. They had enough food, water and fuel for 30 days.

If they didn’t hear a message from the speaker within 30 days, said George Birch, a tour guide, that meant the world as they knew it had ended.

Emily Wilkins (Jose R. Lopez/The New York Times)

In the past, when I was told an experience was “like a dream,” my immediate thought was: “Find a better metaphor.”

But — and this may be the sleep deprivation talking — the experience at The New York Times Student Journalism Institute has been surreal. The last two weeks (has it only been two weeks?) have been an intense blur of adrenaline, emotion and hard work. “This is The New York Times?” I’d think. “This is The New York Times.” Cue slight panic, and a return to pushing myself as hard as I could.

Wandering around sunny Tucson, spending long days working and long nights talking, meeting some of the most incredible people in the business and hearing the words “We have a paper” — all of it has been, in short, too wonderful. When I’m under the gray, cloudy skies of Michigan four days from now, how am I going to convince myself I didn’t just imagine the whole thing?

And then I’ll look in my phone at all the new numbers that aren’t so new anymore. I’ll review the #nytsji and #nyttucson12 tweets and Facebook photos. I’ll look at everyone’s stories and photos and videos again. And then I’ll see my byline below the banner of the most impressive newspaper in the English language and I’ll get goose bumps and smile.

For all the cynics and the worriers out there, good news: Journalism is alive and well. There are 23 young people ready to carry on what we’ve learned in this city, some of us for the rest of our lives. Our eyes are weary but bright. We came, we saw, we karaoke-d, we conquered. We’re keeping the dream alive.

Gabe Zimmerman Memorial Fund Established by Child & Family Resources, a nonprofit agency that provides services for families in southern Arizona. Zimmerman was a board member. More than $65,000 has been donated to causes he supported.
Gabe Zimmerman Scholarship Fund The University of California, Santa Cruz, created a scholarship in honor of Zimmerman, who graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. The scholarship is awarded to people who share Zimmerman’s commitment to public service. According to Marcus Frost, associate director of development for social sciences at the university, about $77,000 has been donated from 590 different individuals and organizations.
Tucson Trails Tribute A fund created by the Zimmerman family to promote conservation and healthy living in Tucson. Zimmerman was an avid hiker and outdoorsman. His family and fiancée hope to keep his passion alive through this fund. By the end of 2011, it had received more than $46,000.

John M. Roll

John M. Roll Memorial Fund A scholarship established by the Arizona State Bar and the University of Arizona for students of the James E. Rogers College of Law. Nancy Stanley, assistant dean of development and external relations at the College of Law, said both large and small donations had been made, including a $5 contribution from someone Roll once sentenced. “He said that at least Roll had treated him like a person,” Stanley said of the donor. About $55,000 has been collected.

Christina-Taylor Green

Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Fund/Memorial Scholarship The parents of Christina-Taylor Green raised nearly $290,000 for their fund under the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona before becoming a private group. In the past year, the fund has supported several projects, including a technology upgrade and a new playground at Mesa Verde Elementary School in Tucson. In addition, Running Start, an organization that supports young women who are interested in politics, established the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Scholarship, intended for girls between the ages of 9 and 18, as part of its Young Women’s Political Leadership Program.
Christina-Taylor Green and Daniel Hernandez Jr. Scholarship Fund Established under the Community Foundation, by Phil and Carol Lyons of Tucson, the fund is for students in the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona. The scholarship honors Green and Daniel Hernandez Jr., a political science major at the University of Arizona and an intern for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who helped victims during the Jan. 8 attack; Hernandez is now a member of the Sunnyside Unified School District Governing Board.

Dorwan Stoddard

Dorwan Stoddard was shot and killed in an attempt to shield his wife, Mavy. A private fund has been set up for Mavy, who sustained serious leg wounds. Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo bank in the family’s name.

Ron Barber (wounded)

Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding The foundation started by Barber’s family when he was still in the intensive care unit has raised $298,330 in the last year. Through local programs, Barber and his family hope to promote mental health awareness and a positive platform for political discussion.

Other Funds

Tucson Together Fund In an effort to help the victims’ families with costs and needs not covered by insurance, the Tucson Together Fund has raised $504,297 since the shooting. Families of victims and survivors who were wounded can use the fund to cover medical costs, among other expenses.

The 34-year-old man, who served two tours in Iraq with the Marines, is on suspension from the Border Patrol. He was charged with sexual conduct with a minor under 15 and molestation of a child in January 2010.

The child’s mother initially told school officials last January that she had seen her husband rubbing the child’s genitals on Christmas Day 2010, when the girl was 10.
The child told the authorities that she had also been forced to have oral sex with her father on a separate occasion, according to court records.

On the stand during the trial last week, the mother recanted her account and said she believed her daughter was lying.

No DNA or other physical evidence of abuse was found in the home where the alleged molestation took place.

The child’s mother was also molested when she was around 7 years old and may have jumped to conclusions about what she saw, said the Border Patrol agent’s defense attorney, Richard L. Lougee.

During the trial, Deputy Pima County Attorney Jesse Navarro told jurors that the mother had recanted only after Child Protective Services removed the daughter and her younger sister from the home, leaving the mother living alone with the father.

Jurors could not reach a unanimous decision by 5 p.m. on Friday. Deliberations will continue on Tuesday.

At 11:53 a.m. on Saturday, New York Times Student Journalism Institute Director Don Hecker announced to the newsroom that the paper was ready to be sent to the printers.

NYT Student Journalism Institute, A1

High style in a Stone Age destination.

Welcome to Ravens-Way Wild Journeys, a 42-acre retreat surrounded by mountains outside tiny Patagonia, Ariz.

Down a winding path from the entrance, the resort’s founders, Vincent Pinto and Claudia Campos-Pinto, husband and wife, have created a village of lovegrass and mesquite pole huts.

“We try to keep things rustic and beautiful,” said Pinto, an owner and teacher of survival skills at the off-the-grid resort. The couple purchased the land in 2008 and have since been cultivating it and removing non-native plants.

“Our ancestors all lived like this, so what can we learn from it?” Pinto said.

The resort’s huts, naturally waterproofed by lovegrass, and shelters built of branches are intended to take visitors back to the basics, Pinto said. He designed the compound to offer visitors plenty of opportunities to slow down. Large rocks along the trails serve as makeshift seats. In the resort’s orchard, Pinto has trained branches over the trails to force walkers to slow down.

Throughout the resort, Pinto and Campos-Pinto have built unobtrusive shelters intended to lure wild animals like coyotes, foxes and mountain lions. Depressions are dug out along the sides of nature walks, Pinto explains, so that the land can be not only a resort for humans, but also a sanctuary for wildlife.

Pinto said he’s not just looking for guests seeking a survivalist experience. “We want to cater to as many people as possible,” he said.

Those who don’t want to rough it can sleep in large, handmade canvas tents outfitted with rustic furniture, beds, heating and even miniature libraries. When guests wake up in the morning, hot showers await them and meals are catered.

But in keeping with the theme, the heating is by woodstove, the showers are solar-powered, and the food is made from as many local ingredients as possible. Sometimes the cuisine even includes acorns and barrel cactus, which Pinto teaches can also be used as lip balm.

Pinto has a deep knowledge of Arizona’s Sky Islands, a region in southeastern Arizona where a diversity of environments and climates come together. In a metal barn at the entrance to the resort that serves as his “nature science school,” Pinto teaches guests survival skills like how to make a gourd into a water jug and find edible cactus. Guests can also learn about herbal medicine and paint animal skulls with mineral paint.

Pinto said he and his wife want to demonstrate what nature has to offer a technological world.

“The reason I think people come,” he said, “is because we offer a palette of activities that range from relaxing to adventurous, and which help connect them with nature in a primitive way.”