As the calendar goes, I figure Labor Day is to Arizonans what Memorial Day is to most everyone else in the country. It’s the three-day holiday weekend that marks the time when people can come out from being forced shut-ins due to awful weather. The difference of course, is that when Memorial Day comes, people elsewhere are looking forward to three months of playing outdoors, we Arizonans have nine months ahead of us before the weather turns bad again.

Maybe that’s why I’m looking forward to some new things we’re adding to the pages of your regional business journal, Inside Tucson Business.

Such as:

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• The seven months since Steve Emerine’s untimely death has proven just how irreplaceable he is. By now, though, I hope you’ve noticed we’ve got several people who are writing opinion columns on a regular rotating basis. All of them bring with them unique credentials to comment on matters affecting the Tucson region.

Carol West is an independent-thinking Democrat — so much so, in fact, she became an independent after being elected to the Tucson City Council as a Democrat.

Roger Yohem has also come back to write an opinion column every other week he calls Business Notebook. I really missed him after he stopped writing his “Laugh in the Fast Lane” column. You might recall those were mostly about odd things that had happened in the past.

Mike Boyd, former Pima County supervisor, is sounding off on a regular basis. Last week’s column about the Rosemont Copper mine really stirred some reaction.

We’re also adding regular opinion pieces by Joe Higgins and Chris DiSimone, who host “Wake Up Tucson” at 6 a.m. weekdays on the Voice, KVOI 1030-AM. Talk about tracking the local power structure, they’ve got it nailed. Look for their first column next week.

• Sales advice has been missing since Jeffrey Gitomer’s column went away in February. Several people told me they didn’t miss Gitomer so much, but they did miss having a dedicated feature on sales. To that end look for Sales Judo, a twice monthly column by Tucsonan Sam Williams starting in the Sept. 21 issue.

• Women business owners and leaders have some unique issues they face and those will be addressed in a regular monthly column that will start in the Sept. 28 issue, thanks to the efforts of the people at the Greater Tucson Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.  

Add these to our ongoing features including the twice monthly CEO Inner-Views by Gary Hirsch and monthly columns by Southern Arizona Better Business Bureau President Kim States, business management coach Sharon Youngblood, the members of the Public Relations Society of American Southern Arizona chapter, Arizona Small Business Association regional director Suzette Colley, technical watchdog Lee LeClair and our monthly diversion to outdoors with Lee Allen.

And we’re working on even more.      

Contact David Hatfield at dhatfield@azbiz.com or  (520) 295-4237.