LEGO mania in Mesa/ P. 12
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INSIDE THIS WEEK
MPS still has millions in COVID funds to spend BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
COMMUNITY...... 14 Mesa family survive reality TV challenge.
BUSINESS............ 16 Down on the farm store in downtown Mesa.
Sunday, February 26, 2023
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
C
OVID-19 may be little more than a memory for most people, but millions in pandemic relief funds that school districts and charters in Mesa and throughout the state received directly or indirectly from the federal government are very much a part of the present, according to a new report by the Arizona Auditor General.
Arizona schools in total spent less than half of the COVID relief dollars awarded by the federal government by the end of the 2022 fiscal year. “Districts and charters reported spending just over $2.2 billion, or 48%, of their nearly $4.6 billion allocated relief monies through June 30, 2022,” the report states, adding the state Department of Education “had yet to spend/distribute almost $322 million, or 79%, of its discretionary relief monies as of June 30, 2022.”
Mesa Public Schools’ share of the remaining COVID dollars is over $177 million, or 60% of the $291 million in federal relief allocated to the district since the start of the pandemic. Mesa charter schools still have money to spend, too. Noah Webster Schools in Mesa has spent $3.6 million of its $4.2 million in relief awarded. BASIS Mesa has spent $409,000 of
see FUNDS page 3
Group hug
Cargo deal brings EV closer to Mexico BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
GET OUT.............. 26 Kevin Conquest, pipe major for the Mesa Caledonian Band, will help open the Scottish Games in EV. COMMUNITY .............................. 14 BUSINESS ................................... 16 OPINION ..................................... 18 SPORTS ...................................... 22 GET OUT ...................................... 26 CLASSIFIED ............................... 31 ZONE 1
BESTOF
2021
SINCE 1982 ROC #C39-312643
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hough Mesa sits about 175 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, the city took a step closer to becoming a portof-entry for goods to and from Mexico as the PhoenixMesa Gateway Airport Board approved a three-year deal to lease a hangar to Danish shipping giant DSV Air & Sea. The airport is governed by a board that also includes Gilbert and Queen Creek because of its regional importance. Officials said the hangar is a foothold for a larger partnership that could see DSV eventually lease as much as 1 million square feet of space at the airport and set up an import and export hub with TSA screening facilities.
see CARGO DEAL page 6
Group hugs were in order on Feb. 22 at Banner Desert Medical Center as Kannon Riecka, who’s virtually smothered in loves, thanks the oncology team that saved him while he was a cancer patient there. What provoked the lovefest was a $5 million donation from the James M./Cox Foundation to Banner for a blood and cancer center. For the story, see page 2. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)
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