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CAUSE FOR JUMPING / P. 33 From Uptown to Downtown, covering Chandler like the sun.
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Inside This Week
Chandler may pay off cop-fire pension debt BY KEN SAIN Arizonan Managing Editor
NEWS............................. 16 Chandler business owner probes car safety data.
COMMUNITY............. 28 Chandler Unified dives into e-sports competition.
D
awn Lang, Chandler’s deputy city manager and chief financial officer, had just dropped what she clearly thought was a large number on the city council. Leading the discussion during the council’s second budget workshop, Lang indeed gave them a big number. Staff was suggesting the Council make a one-time payment of $70 million toward its Public
C Chandler thespians dig ‘Secret Garden.’ KIDS CAMP......................................25 COMMUNITY................................ 28 BUSINESS........................................ 33 SPORTS............................................ 36 GETOUT.......................................... 38 CLASSIFIEDS.................................... 41
Safety Personnel Retirement System debt. “I don’t see any jaws dropping,” Lang said. In fact, council members seemed to think the number was too small. “Is it a better value for us to add more to the $70 million — if we have it, that’s the first question — and just get this paid off much sooner?” Vice Mayor Matt Orlando asked.
see PENSION page 8
If Chandler opted to pay down its entire police and fire pension liability, it would then only be responsible for an estimated $2 million a year to keep the fund current. (City of Chandler)
Actor saves the day for his Chandler alma mater BY KEN SAIN Arizonan Managing Editor
GETOUT....................... 38
Sunday, April 2, 2023
FREE | chandlernews.com
asey Likes should be well past any stage fright at this point of his career. However, a sudden return earlier this month to the stage that launched his career made him a little nervous. “I might have had a moment with a trash can,” he said. “I had to relieve myself of my nerves.” That’s an unexpected reaction from the star of “Almost Famous” during its first Broadway run and the man who was just announced to be cast as Marty McFly in the
Broadway debut of “Back to the Future, the Musical.” Also the man who portrays KISS bassist Gene Simmons in “Spinning Gold,” a new movie currently in theaters. But Casey’s return to the Chandler Center for the Arts stage to perform in the Chandler High play was unscheduled. He had attended the Chandler High production of “Anastasia” on March 3. His mother, Stephanie Likes, is theater director at the school, where he graduated in 2020.
see ACTOR page 6
Casey Likes, a 2020 Chandler High School alumnus and star of the Broadway version of “Almost Famous,” works with his younger siste Claire, a Chandler High freshman, as he conducts a workshop at his former school, . (David Minton/Staff Photographer)
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