Thumbs up, down from the Yuma Sun

• Thumbs up to Jax, the drug-sniffing canine with the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office. The dog recently helped find drugs worth $2 million concealed in a vehicle on a routine traffic stop.

• Thumbs up to Tadeo A. De La Hoya, city administrator in San Luis, who was recently elected to a second term on the board of directors of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. Congrats!

• Thumbs up to the U.S. Border Patrol agents stationed in Wellton who recently arrested one of the Yuma Sector’s top five most wanted individuals.

• Thumbs up to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, which is holding a life jacket exchange program at Martinez Lake on Aug. 25. The event encourages boater safety, and will help ensure that boaters have the appropriate gear on board.

• Thumbs up to LeBron James, who just opened a new school devoted to challenged youths in Akron, Ohio.

• Thumbs up to the new teachers who are now a part of our classrooms across Yuma County this year! Welcome to Yuma – we’re glad you are here! (And to all our teachers and administrators – welcome back!)

• Thumbs down to a report by the Yuma Metropolitan Planning Organization that found Yuma County is only receiving about 3 percent of statewide gas tax revenue, despite the fact that residents here pay about 12 percent of the total revenue. Officials noted that the numbers still need to be confirmed, but if that’s the case, hopefully, they are able to remedy this disparity.

• Thumbs down to the broken irrigation pump at Smucker Park, which left vegetation looking brown and thirsty. Fortunately, new equipment is in place, and the park’s landscaping is expected to bounce back.

• Thumbs down to the massive wildfires burning in California in what the Associated Press dubbed “an endless summer of flame in the Golden State.” Our thoughts are with our neighboring state.

Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down are compiled by the Yuma Sun editorial board, based on recent events, happenings and activities around Yuma County and the nation, and will appear on Fridays in the Yuma Sun.