Good morning, it’s Thursday, August 19th and this is The Herald Review’s podcast, the Daily Chirp. We’re excited to bring you a closer look at top stories, events in the community, local history, sports, and more. 

Today - The Douglas Port of Entry is poised to become a state of the art facility with plans to shift all commercial trucks to a new port of entry just west of it.

Now, some local history.

Did you know that “El Jefe” is an adult, male North American jaguar that was seen in Arizona? From November 2011 to late 2015, El Jefe was the only wild jaguar verified to live in the United States. He was first recorded in the Whetstone Mountains in November 2011, and was later photographed over several years in the Santa Rita Mountains. He has not been seen since 2015 and it is presumed that he returned to Mexico, where the nearest breeding population of jaguars is located.

Today’s history is brought to you by Benson Hospital. The team at Benson Hospital is always working towards building a healthier community. For example, when the Benson Food Pantry needed a new home, they worked with them to find one, and their staff even helped them apply for grants to support the mission. You can learn more about everything they’re doing for our community by following them on Facebook at facebook.com/bensonhospital.

Now, our feature story.  

The Douglas Port of Entry is poised to become a state of the art facility with plans to shift all commercial trucks to a new port of entry 5 miles to the west.

U.S. Senator Mark Kelly explained that a new bill would dedicate $216 million for the new Douglas Port of Entry. $184 million of it would go towards rehabilitation at the current Douglas Port of Entry.

Kelly, who paid a visit to the Douglas POE in May, saw firsthand the condition of the aging port.

A consortium of partners including Douglas Regional Economic Development Corporation, Douglas International Port Authority, Douglas Industrial Development Authority and Cochise County have been working to improve the border crossing experience for goods and people. 

Efforts have focused on a two-port solution that would redirect commercial traffic to a new facility.

Officials say the Raul H. Castro Port of Entry is outdated, overburdened and in desperate need of significant investments to modernize.

In 2017, the port was the gateway for approximately 60,000 trucks, 3.5 million cars and 8 million people in two-way traffic - making Douglas one of Arizona’s principal gateways for trade and tourism with Mexico.

The continual flow of oversized and overweight trucks that support major mining and smelter developments in Cananea and Nacozari de Garcia, Sonora, disrupt cross border traffic for hours at a time and can pose a threat due to hazardous materials transported by tanker–trucks.

Rerouting the truck traffic out of the downtown area will allow the existing port to be dedicated to pedestrian, vehicular and bus traffic. 

And a modernized port will support expansion of the downtown business and retail sectors to serve the millions of visitors from Mexico that spend approximately $740 million per year in the community, Bisbee and Sierra Vista.

The new commercial POE will be located on county land 5 miles west of the city on 80 acres on James Ranch Road at the border.

Douglas Mayor Huish was happy to hear the news and said that they’re grateful that Sen. Kelly understands the unique needs of border towns like Douglas.

The state and the county will be responsible for the roads and infrastructure and they’ll definitely be able to use the additional funding in the bill to do so.

Cochise County Board of Supervisors member Ann English said that she’s ecstatic to see it in the Senate bill/ The county has been working for years to get the ‘two port solution’ for the Douglas ports. 

The county has already hired Stantec to provide the engineering plan for roads, sewer, fiber optics and water for the new port, she said.

Learn more about this story at myheraldreview.com

Thanks for listening, before we continue, a quick message from our sponsors, Prestige Family Living.

Next - Arizona Arts Academy, a new hybrid school in Hereford, was forced to close last Wednesday because of storm damage. But two local contractors came to the school’s rescue.

Aaron Kerr, the owner of Mr. Fix It of Sierra Vista, and Issac Niu of Niu Construction, purchased materials and sent crews out to the school property to repair the damage…. at no cost.

Brad Richardson, who co-owns the school with his wife, Darci, said they had three lightning strikes on the property. 

Richardson praised the employees of both contractors for going “above and beyond,” and doing what was needed to get the school reopened for the kids.

Every year, Mr. Fix It commits to a couple of community service projects. When Kerr saw the damage at Arizona Arts Academy, he immediately reached out to the Richardsons and offered to make the repairs.

And Niu Construction had eight crew members working on drywall repairs across the school campus.

 -- brought to you by our sponsors, Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative.

Blues in Bisbee will be here before you know it! Mark your calendars for September 18th for some great food, fun vendor booths, and of course awesome music. You won't want to miss this year's headliner, Blackcat Zydeco. 

Donnis Pearl Self, who was born in 1941 in Collins, Mississippi. Donnis was a proud mother of four children, fifteen grandchildren, and eleven great grandchildren. Donnis worked for the Civil Service at the Ft. Huachuca base in Sierra Vista for 25 years as a contracting officer. She loved spending time with her family, gardening, working on her puzzle books and passionately talking about politics. Donnis is very much missed by her whole family, she always had an ear to lend, experience to share, and always without fail an opinion to let you know about. 

Thank you for taking a moment with us today to remember and celebrate her life.

Thanks for tuning in to the Herald Review podcast today, join us again on Friday! And remember, the Herald Review is here for you with local news you can trust. For more information on any of the stories you heard about today, visit us at myheraldreview.com. Right now you can become a member starting at just $1.99 per week. We also encourage you to rate and review our podcast on Apple Podcasts!

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