Cover Story
Tucson Perfection
Dale Lopez is the quintessential Tucsonan—hard-working, easygoing, moderately Hispanic.
The TUSD Magnet Schools Dilemma Continues: Will There Ever Be a Gray Area?
The federal court that’s been dealing with Tucson Unified School District’s desegregation lawsuit is getting quiet a few letters from parents, and others, concerned with the future of eight magnet schools. With the support of the TUSD Governing Board majority, many parents argue that the court, as well as the plaintiffs in the suit, need…
Casa Video Top 10
These days, isn’t every weekend a Netflix binge weekend? It’s cold outside, take-out is delicious and, well, that’s reason enough for me. But as tempting as it is to rediscover whatever old show is streaming this month (I may have rewatched all of House, M.D. because the guy who wrote the Hamilton musical is in, like,…
McSally “Analyzing” Refugee Legislation in Congress
The U.S. Congress is now moving forward with legislation to address the uproar over allowing Syrian refugees (or, in the case of Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, refugees from anywhere in the world) into the United States. The New York Times reports: Congressional Republicans increased pressure on the White House on Wednesday to halt a program…
Mad About Ducey’s ‘No Syrian Refugees Allowed in AZ’ Comments? Well, There’s a Protest in Tucson Thursday
There is a protest in Tucson Thursday afternoon over Gov. Doug Ducey’s recent comments on Syrian refugees. On Monday Ducey—and more than a dozen more governors from around the country—said he does not want new refugees to resettle in Arizona. He also called on Congress and President Obama to “immediately amend federal law to…
Grijalva: GOP Lawmakers Are Destroying the Coal Industry By Denying Climate Change
Congressman Raul Grijalva takes to the New York Times opinion page to challenge Republican lawmakers over their reluctance to help modernize coal-burning power plants: It’s not that simple, and my colleagues help no one by pretending otherwise. Coal companies are struggling largely because domestic coal is not economically competitive with the country’s cheap and abundant…
Pima Supervisors Add Gender Identity, Expression to County’s Employment Non-Discrimination Policy
The Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to add gender identity and expression to the county’s non-discrimination policy. The effort, pushed by the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance and Service Employees International Union of Arizona, was in the works for five months. During the May discussions for the new Memorandum of Understanding—an annual meeting…
Learn How to Save Food and Save Money at Free Seminar
The main image here might not get your appetite going, but sometimes food isn’t just about perfect plating. Like yellow-helmeted sentries lined up in a row, dozens of food waste containers await pickup. However, unlike much of the food that’s discarded in this country, the contents will be composted rather than joining crowded landfills. In a…
Tucson City Council Votes To Appeal Ruling That Election System Is Unconstitutional
The Tucson City Council voted 5-0 yesterday to appeal the recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the city’s election system is unconstitutional. Council members Shirley Scott and Paul Cunningham recused themselves from voting on the decision because they are the targets of a lawsuit filed in Pima County Superior Court to strip them of…
Diane Douglas Back in Tucson for 2 Visits as Part of ‘We Heard You’ Tour (Tell Her What You Think About State’s Education)
Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas is visiting Tucson this week for two forums, where constituents can tell her what they think about the “AZ Kids Can’t Afford to Wait!” plan she unveiled early in October. In the 156-page plan, Douglas put forward several proposals—including demanding the state to invest $400 million on teachers and…
Immigration Rights Activists Demand Release of 2 Palestinian Asylum Seekers from an Arizona Detention Center
Two Palestinian asylum seekers have been imprisoned for one year in an immigration detention center in Florence, Arizona—one could be deported at any time, and the other’s fate is in limbo, according to the immigrants’ rights advocacy group Not One More Deportation. The organization, with the help of the UA’s Students for Justice in Palestine,…
Let’s Watch Baby Tapir Tolivar Run Around the Reid Park Zoo
Channel 12 brings us cute footage and some fun facts about Tolivar, the Baird’s tapir calf that was born at Reid Park Zoo in August.
Check Out Katterwaul’s New Video for “Sound of My Name”
Looks like local rock quartet Katterwaul is getting a little national love this morning, as CMJ premiered the video for the band’s new single, “Sound of My Name.” The song is one of nine tracks on the band’s first full-length LP, 15 Forever, which was released via Commercial Appeal Records in September 2015. In a…
Into the Mild: Amman, Jordan Protests Against ISIS
Amman, Jordan — February 6, 2015 In February, ISIS released a video of a captured Jordanian pilot being brutally murdered. Outrage grew in the small country throughout that week, until Amman’s main Imam called for protests following the Friday prayers at noon. King Abdallah, a fighter pilot and former head of Jordanian special forces (which…
Parents, Rejoice: LEGO Has a Plan to Protect Your Feet
Some whimsical news out of France: LEGO has heard your midnight cries and is working to protect your venerable feet. Well, not your cries unless you’ve been crying in Europe. According to Huffington Post (and their hopefully reliable translators!), 1,500 LEGO customers who fill out the company’s Christmas wish list will win a pair of foot-savin’ slippers.…
Cinema Clips: Jafar Panahi’s Taxi
Filmmaker Jafar Panahi is not allowed to make films in his native Iran. He’s got about 15 years left on that sentence. Plus, he can’t give interviews or travel. His ideas are too dangerous, you see. Even though he’s forbidden from making movies, he’s still churned out three in the past four years, each of…
Koa Needs a Home
Hi I’m Koa! If you’re looking for a really god boy with manners and skills I might be the perfect pet for you! I am seven years old and am great on a leash. I also know how to sit and shake. I’m very gentle and love snuggles! I’m sad that my previous owners couldn’t…
Nika Kaiser Searches for an Expanded Sense of Reality at Her Upcoming Video Exhibit
Local visual artist Nika Kaiser has a penchant for the supernatural, and she expresses it clearly both in her video and photo works. In the past, she’s made music videos for Human Behavior, Gabriel Sullivan, Prom Body and more, but now with her recent video exhibit, Kaiser will showcase both her newest work and the…
Tucson Immigration Attorney: I don’t Think Ducey Understands How Refugee Resettlement in the US Works
Local immigration attorney Rachel Wilson is afraid that Gov. Doug Ducey doesn’t really understand the refugee resettlement process in the United States. As reported earlier, Ducey said he does not want new refugees coming into the state, since it has been confirmed that at least one of the Paris massacre suspects came into Europe posing as…
City Manager Ortega Picks Christopher Magnus as Tucson’s New Chief of Police
Tucson City Manager Michael Ortega has announced that he’s picked Christopher Magnus, police chief of Richmond, Calif., as the city’s new police chief. The Tucson City Council will have to approve the choice at tomorrow’s meeting. Over the weekend, Dallas Deputy Chief Malik Aziz withdrew his name for consideration as police chief. Aziz was the…
Ducey May Not Want to Accept New Syrian Refugees—But Does He Have That Authority?
Given that at least one of the suspects involved in the massacre in Paris on Friday snuck into the country posing as a Syrian refugee, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey—and more than half a dozen more around the country, including Texas and Louisiana—announced today that he won’t accept any new refugees to be resettled in the…
Ducey: No New Refugees in AZ
In the wake of Friday’s terror attacks in Paris, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is joining other Republican governors in Alabama and Michigan to block refugees from being place in the state. Ducey is going further than those other governors, who want to only block Syrian refugees; Ducey wants to block refugees from anywhere in the…
Yob Is the Prescription to Your Metal Ennui, Which Is Why You Need to See Them at Club Congress
Metal is a tough realm for the uninitiated. The litany of tangental sub-genres alone (doom, thrash, death, black metal, Depressive Suicidal Black Metal… yes that’s a real one) can be a daunting rabbit hole. These divisions have been carved out through decades of innovation and collaboration. At this point there are well-worn paths for new…
The Food and More of the Crush pARTy at Tucson Museum of Art (SLIDESHOW)
The Crush pARTy returned to the Tucson Museum of Art on Sunday, Nov. 15 to offer up tastes of about 40 different local restaurants. The cuisine ranged from Greek to French to Indian to Japanese and more, with more samples than any one person could possibly eat. Like any food fest, my advice for those…
Councilman Cunningham Says GOP Challenger Who Wants Him To Leave His Seat Vacant “Must Be Out of His Mind”
In the wake of a federal appeals court decision last week declaring the city of Tucson’s election system unconstitutional, two Republican candidates who lost their campaigns for City Council by at least 11 percentage points said Friday they were filing suit to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election. Kelly Lawton and Margaret Burkholder,…
NACA Indigenous Food Symposium Offered a Celebration of Native Foods
Enticing aromas wafted throughout the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum over the weekend where food lines were staffed by white jacketed servers, all of them named chef. The fourth annual Celebration of Basketry & Native Foods, “Celebrating People, Land, and Food,” was a resounding success according to Nephi Craig, founder of the Native American Culinary Association. “This…
Let’s Support Education, With Vegetables
Sixty pounds of produce sounds like a lot, but you don’t really get a clear picture of that number until you go to a Produce On Wheels Without Waste (POW WOW) event. A $10 contribution gets you 60 pounds of produces, like tomatoes, squash, eggplant and melons. Usually it’s all good stuff, and sometimes a little…
TUSD Board Gives Go Ahead to School Expansions
Several Tucson Unified School District campuses may be enlarged to create room for more students in more grade levels in the approaching academic years. A total of five proposals were put to a vote by the TUSD governing board on Tuesday night, with four of the actions passing unanimously. The proposed expansion to Sabino High…
Casa Video Top 10
Anyone else super stressed out this week? We’ve got three paychecks until Christmas. It’s time to make health insurance decisions. Some of us have to figure out what kind of gifts to give to our mothers as a wedding gift*. There’s a lot going on. So, how are we gonna deal with the pressure? We’re…
Tucson’s Hybrid Election Process in Midst of Court Battle
Earlier this year, the Arizona Public Integrity Alliance and a number of individuals sued the City of Tucson over its hybrid election process for city council members. The district court decided in favor of the City of Tucson, but a three judge panel at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision on Nov.…
AZ Residents Can Now Download Mobile App to Record Interactions with Law Enforcement (Thanks ACLU)
Thanks to the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, there is now a cellphone app that lets you record video of law enforcement activity and right away submit it to the local ACLU for review—just in case someone’s rights may have been violated. Nearly 40 people have been killed by police so far this year…
Let’s Remember Nowhere Man and A Whiskey Girl
Every year since the passing of Nowhere Man and A Whiskey Girl’s Derrick and Amy Ross, we’ve written about the people they’ve left behind and the work they’ve done to make sure the husband-wife music duo are not forgotten through a benefit show for the Southern Arizona Lupus Foundation. This week, in a mini music…
Get Your Fill of Mesquite Pancakes at Event to Benefit the Preservation of Desert Ecosystems
Celebrate the bounty of the Sonoran desert, get a good breakfast and help support sustainability practices all in one go by heading to the Edible Shade Mesquite Pancake Breakfast. The event, which benefits the initiatives of the Watershed Management Group, will offer insight into what the organization seeks to accomplish over your desired amount of…
Cinema Clips: The Assassin
There’s something intoxicating about a movie that excels being something you did not expect. A Taiwanese film set 1,000 years ago and called “The Assassin” brings to mind a lot of high-flying action, and while there is some here and there, this is a moody, deliberate, and fascinating picture. Hou Hsiao-Hsien is a director you…
Media Watch
There’s always a trickle down public interest in the electoral process. The race for president dominates headlines, followed by the U.S. Congress, then governor and other state legislative races, and then the eventual crumbs left for local and regional contests.
Not in the Bank
Picture yourself as a humble small-business owner. You arrive at work one fine, crisp Tucson morning to a surprising letter from your bank. It says you have two weeks to get any and all the assets out of your account before they freeze it indefinitely.
Danehy
It’s not my fault! I ran out of gas! Aliens stole my money! Has a year passed already? I forgot my wallet! Are you sure I didn’t pay you? I had a flat tire!
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Negrita: What’s that saying—pendeja is as pendeja does?
Pleasure Activist
The distinction between “vagina” and “vulva” is very important, and the fact that “vagina” has become an ubiquitous term while the word “vulva” is still mysterious and unrecognized- is very telling.
Native Noshing
When life gives you acorns—make stew.
B-Sides: Rainer Fest
Some of Tucson’s most prominent musicians are coming together for a special reason.
Glowing Gentle Giants
Witness the night sky set aglow with a dozen hot air balloons at Tubac Golf Resort and Spa
B-Sides: XIXA
Although XIXA (formerly known as Chicha Dust) has been playing around town and around the world for a while, the band is now getting ready to put out their first LP on Barbes Records next year.
Speak Out
Floosies.
B-Sides: Sound + Noise
With movie screenings, pool parties and local bands all on display alongside visual arts, the museum is establishing itself as a place for art of any kind and drawing in the community in inventive ways.
Poppin Tags
Do you troll around thrift shop’s weekly looking for that one-in-a-million, one-of-a-kind find?
Takes a Village
Get rural in Tucson with the UA’s College of Life Sciences’ Tucson Village Farm Harvest Festival at Tucson Village Farm.
The Past Comes Alive
Party like it’s 1899.
Editor’s Note
Some alternative newsweeklies still struggle on how to have a more diverse staff, as well as cover diverse communities because they often don’t reflect the staff.
Gears on Pointe
It also involves “steam-powered stuff before electricity.” Not to mention goggles and corsets and nail-studded bracelets.
Dust Devil
Menus change. Entrees come and go like sous.
Bogged Down
Get ready to see double this season with a pair of productions of the same Greco-Irish tragedy, By the Bog of Cats by Marina Carr
Police Dispatch
A criminal-law student engaged in criminal behavior after assaulting a Halloween corn-maze clown and “troll”—displaying behavior more frightening than either of them.
Art Tours
Art fans can travel to the far corners of Tucson this weekend on a hunt for artists’ studios.
Police Dispatch
A man discovered an innocent cactus disgustingly mutilated and dumped in the desert—perhaps someone’s sick idea of a joke.
Kissing Disaster
The emotional stuff is what drags the movie down. Yes, it was welcomed in Skyfall, but this film feels like it is trying too hard. There are certain things we don’t need to know about James Bond and his past. The past the film paints is a completely unnecessary one.
Moving Forward
The big stunner of the night had to be the lopsided defeat of the $815 million county bond package.
New Roots: Houndmouth
A listener might not independently divine all of that from a cursory listen to Houndmouth’s music, but once you know it, you can sit back and enjoy the stew without trying to pinpoint the ingredients.
Fair Warning
Does the street fair really need 1,500 porta-potties?
Bonus Tracks: Modern Baseball
Brendan Lukens has always compared his band Modern Baseball to a journal for him and co-songwriter Jacob Ewald.
The Skinny
Did Supervisor Ally Miller deceive the IRS about her use of a county-provided vehicle?
Keeping the Faith: Remembering Nowhere Man and a Whisky Girl
The loss of Amy and Derrick Ross, also known as the band Nowhere Man and a Whisky Girl, still hurts, although eased a bit by time.
