Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2009

Feb 26 - Mar 4, 2009 / Vol. 26 / No. 1

Raise Taxes Now, Cut ‘Em Later

The gist of Gov. Jan Brewer’s address: More spending cuts, a “temporary” billion-dollar tax increase and a promised tax cut that kicks in a few years down the road. The big question: Which taxes does she want to hike? The rumblings have been focused on a sales-tax increase, but Brewer was sketchy on the details…

Jim Nintzel

Our New Issue

The March 5-11, 2009, edition of the Tucson Weekly is online and ready for readers. Feel free to comment on its contents here!

Jimmy Boegle

Less Than Stimulating

I mentioned last week on Arizona Illustrated’s Roundtable that tensions were growing between Gov. Jan Brewer and Republicans in the Legislature. Daniel Scarpinato fleshes out the details in a piece in the morning daily. Brewer is set to give an address on her budget vision this evening (at the same time that Arizona Education Association…

Jim Nintzel

RTA Mysteries Resolved In April?

Election-integrity activists proved this week that when you want to know something, you get in a van and haul ass to Phoenix. What they wanted to know was the exact location of the 2006 Regional Transportation Authority ballots that were transported from a secure storage facility in Tucson to Phoenix on Tuesday, Feb. 24, after…

Mari Herreras

Pipe Dream

Attorney Chris Brooks, a friend of The Weekly, has launched a blog that is trying to make sense of local water policy. Check it out for a good round-up of what’s been going on with the city-county committee that’s been examining our water supplies. One big takeaway: Essentially they are asking – How far will…

Jim Nintzel

Mo’ Money Troubles

A new report from state budget experts shows a precipitous drop of nearly 31 percent in income-tax collections in January. Overall, the latest numbers from the Joint Legislature Budget Committee show that January’s revenues–which also include sales and corporate income taxes–dropped by 21.9 percent compared to January 2008. The total revenues were nearly $82 million…

Jim Nintzel

Trash Fee Hike: 60 Cents a Month?

We’ve mentioned a few times recently that City Council members may be asked to raise the city’s trash fee—a politically dicey proposition, since most of the current members have opposed the fee, or at least complained that it costs too much. (Or at least that it cost too much when Republicans on an earlier council…

Jim Nintzel

Love the Pigtails

And now for something completely different: Mayor Bob Walkup as Willie Nelson. The video–and yes, that’s Councilman Rodney Glassman alongside Walkup–was shot as part of Glassman’s annual Evening of Love Songs, a Valentine’s Day fundraiser for the Glassman Foundation. Proceeds from the event, which features a variety of heavy hitters singing their hearts out alongside…

Jim Nintzel

Water Pressure, Con’t: Dripping Toward Rate Hikes

As you may have heard, Tucson Water is still facing a financial struggle, caused by a combination of (a) the crash of the homebuilding industry, (b) the weather and (c) the ongoing economic crisis, which is making people think they should conserve water to save money. (I’ve been told that one woman called Tucson Water…

Jim Nintzel

Now Showing at Home

“Donnie Darko (Blu-Ray),” “W. (Blu-Ray),” “The Secret Policeman’s Balls,” and “The Passion of the Christ: Definitive Edition (Blu-Ray)”

Bob Grimm

Noshing Around

Game On Sports Grille Jay and Kim Thorpe have turned the old Chuy’s location at 6453 N. Oracle Road into Game On Sports Grille, which opened in mid-December. Everything on the menu is made fresh, said Jay Thorpe. Chef Eric Sutter–who trained with Emeril Lagasse for seven years–even brines the corned beef and spices the…

Adam Borowitz

Soundbites

VIRTUAL VIRTUOSOS We mentioned last week that local New Orleans-style brass band Crawdaddy-O was reuniting for a Fat Tuesday gig at Plush, and that it would be a fine idea not to miss it. That band, which always brought serious chops and an irreverence to whatever they did–who can forget that set of Jesus Christ…

Stephen Seigel

Danehy

Looking back on more than two decades of colleagues and hate mail

Tom Danehy

Live

Transmography, Standby Red 5, The Otterssey, Plush, Friday, Feb. 20

Linda Ray

The Skinny

BLAME THE OBSTRUCTIONIST DEMOCRATS Republican John Munger is offering a new spin for why the Republicans at the Arizona Legislature have to slash spending on kids, single moms, schools, universities, health-care programs, state parks and yadda yadda yadda. It’s the Democrats’ fault. Munger floated this theory last week during his monthly political face-off with Democrat…

Jim Nintzel

Rhythm & Views

From the first song on The Incident, you know this is no typical Celtic-music album: “Lamped” kicks off with a vaguely African beat–slightly altered through some Radiohead-esque distortion–along with piano chords and what sound like electric guitars, before it eases into its rambunctious fiddle-and-accordion melody. Strings, piano and jazzy sax then converge in a chamber-music-style…

Gene Armstrong

Rhythm & Views

Of all the so-called “freak-folk” artists, Alela Diane may be the least freaky. As evinced by her 2006 debut, The Pirate’s Gospel, Diane trades in warm, cascading ballads that resonate more as anachronisms than innovations, transporting you back to early 20th-century Americana rather than forward to some distorted moment where folk bleeds into other genres.…

Sean Bottai

Police Dispatch

The Absent-Minded Shoplifter West Valencia Road, Feb. 1, 10:30 a.m. A scatterbrained criminal ended up destroying his own property instead of making off with someone else’s, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. A Circle K store clerk stated that at 9:59 a.m., a dark-haired, 200-pound male entered his store and was acting very…

Anna Mirocha

Rhythm & Views

Named after a visual effect pioneered by comics legend Jack Kirby, Seattle’s Kirby Krackle is the musical brainchild of singer/songwriter Kyle Stevens and co-lyricist Jim Demonakos. With full-on rock arrangements, the band (with Stevens performing all instruments, including drums) specializes in pop-culture-savvy pop tunes, tackling everything from video games to superheroes to zombie flicks. On…

Jarret Keene

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