Before the first commercial airline flight departed Tucson International Airport Thursday (Aug. 10) morning, security screeners had already snapped into action all the way to the point of preventing anyone from carrying a cup of coffee on board a plane n even if they had just bought the coffee only steps away in the airport.

Such security measures were the order of the day after British authorities arrested 24 people near London in a terrorist-style plot to simultaneously blow up 10 airliners headed to the United States. Authorities said the plan was to use liquid explosives disguised as beverages or other common products that would detonated using devices disguised as portable digital music players or cameras.

John Sides, federal security director in Tucson for the Transportation Security Administration, said he couldn’t guess how long the stepped up security measures would remain in effect.

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“Let me put it to you this way, normally we are not a 24/7 duty station here in Tucson,” Sides said. “But we’ve been told that we are going to be that way for the foreseeable future.”

Perhaps the most noticeable change airline passengers will see at Tucson is that all carry-on baggage will be searched at the gate and any liquids, including drinks bought in the airport will be confiscated. Passengers arriving at the airports with any liquids, including shampoos or gel products, are advised to put them in checked luggage as they will not be permitted through the initial security screening.

Security wait times at Tucson International Airport normally don’t exceed about 15 minutes he said but on Thursday, he said it took as long as 40 minutes to get some passengers through.

(More on new airport security measures, page 30)

Providence Service buying workforce development firm

Tucson-based Providence Service Corporation is spending $7.8 million cash to acquire Innovative Employment Solutions, a workforce development services firm from Ross Education LLC, St. Clair, Mich.

Providence, which provides social services through government-sponsored programs such as welfare, juvenile justice, Medicaid and corrections, views “workforce development as a significant opportunity to enchance our relationships with our clients,” said Fletcher McCusker, chairman and CEO. “Historically, Providence has done the counseling and stabilization required for our clients to become productive, only to turn the job training and placement over to another workforce development organization. Typically, the key to keeping our clients off welfare is a job and our entry into this market will allow us to continue to work with our counseling clients on into their job readiness and placement.”

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