Nearly two-thirds of Arizonans, including more than 50 percent of Republicans, would be willing to pay an additional $200 in state taxes annually to better fund K-12 education, according to a new poll.Why are respondents willing to dig into their own pockets to support our children's educations?
Respondents overwhelmingly chose K-12 education as their top priority, and 50 percent said Arizona high school graduates are not as prepared as students in other states. Almost three-quarters of those polled said Arizona spends fewer tax dollars on K-12 education than other states, and almost 80 percent said the state doesn't spend enough.Those are amazing numbers. Even if the poll is a bit skewed and overstates the pro-education sentiment by 10 percent, it's still an impressive show of support for education, a sign that Arizonans understand that we need to spend more money on schools.
Tags: Arizona , Education , Morrison Institute for Public Policy , Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication , taxes , Arizona legislators
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Leonard Nimoy died today. Damn:
Most widely known for his performance as half-human, half-Vulcan science officer Spock on the classic sci-fi TV show “Star Trek” and its many subsequent film and videogame incarnations, Nimoy was also a successful director, helming “Star Trek” pics “The Search for Spock” and “The Voyage Home,” as well as non-“Star Trek” fare; an accomplished stage actor; a published writer and poet; and a noted photographer. He also dabbled in singing and songwriting.
But despite his varied talents, Nimoy will forever be linked with the logical Mr. Spock. Spotted by “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry when he appeared on Roddenberry’s NBC Marine Corps. skein “The Lieutenant,” Nimoy was offered the role of Spock and co-starred in the 1965 “Star Trek” pilot “The Cage.” NBC execs liked the concept but thought the pilot too cerebral, so they ordered a second pilot of the Desilu production with some script and cast changes (only Nimoy made it through both pilots). The series finally bowed on NBC in the fall of 1966. After three seasons, it was canceled in 1969 but would go on to be a hit in syndication, spawning films and other TV iterations and gaining a huge following of fans known as Trekkers or Trekkies.
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The Department of Homeland Security is moving closer to a shutdown, meaning Southern Arizona Border Patrol agents and other DHS employees will be expected to work for vouchers or be furloughed. Talking Points Memo reports:
House Republican leaders are refusing to support legislation that funds the Department of Homeland Security without imposing immigration policy restrictions, a sign that the department is headed for a partial shutdown Friday night.
The legislation is all but guaranteed to pass the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have championed it in an agreement to bring up immigration bills separately. Even conservative firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has signaled he won't hold up the "clean" DHS bill ahead of the Friday midnight deadline to avert a shutdown.
But in the House, it's a very different story. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), facing a rebellion from his members, isn't ready to swallow the standalone DHS bill just yet, and is exploring options to continue fighting President Barack Obama's initiatives on immigration.
"We want to stop the president's immigration actions with regard to immigration," Boehner told reporters Thursday. "It's outrageous that Senate Democrats are using Homeland Security funding for blackmail to protect the actions of the president. ... We're waiting to see what the Senate can or can't do, and then we're going to make decisions about how to proceed."
Among members of Arizona's Southern Arizona congressional delegation, Democrats Raul Grijalva and Ann Kirkpatrick support a clean funding bill without amendments targeting the Obama administration's recent executive actions on immigration, while Republican Martha McSally has declined to say whether she supports a clean funding bill. McSally voted to attach the amendments to the bill, but wrote in the USA Today yesterday that the Homeland Security funding shouldn't be attached to the fight against the expanded program to shield up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. But she also declined to tell the Weekly if she would support a clean funding bill.
Tags: Arizona's Southern Arizona , Department of Homeland Security , Harry Reid , Southern Arizona Border Patrol
I walked into Goodness Juice Bar near the UA campus with some preconceived notions. "Surely," I thought in a flurry of booze hauteur, "a juice bar can't possibly be making good cocktails." After all, half of their drinks are made with flavored vodkas. For someone who doesn't judge a dive bar by its slummy digs, I quickly began to eat (er, sip) my words at this juice bar.
Moving past the loud house/trance music pumping through the speakers, the bar itself was curiously well-stocked with en vogue liquors like Buffalo Trace as well as local spirits like Arizona Distilling Co.'s Copper City bourbon. Clean, bright and shiny, the bar is visually appealing. The bartender on duty was personable and accommodating. I felt bad for being judgmental almost immediately.
The Watership Down ($7) looked like the most health nutty of the just under ten drink menu, so that of course was the one to get with its beet juice, lemon juice, basil and pickled carrot garnish. It uses Pimm's, and like most of the drinks, Demerera simple as the cocktail base. The drink was tart and lightly sweet with a nice earthy quality from the beet juice. The best part is the carrot, which adds the perfect, albeit, spicy kick at the end of the drink.
While Goodness gets props for serving a tasty drink, I was curious to see if the drink itself was really that healthy since it is being served at a juice bar. Breaking down the drink's recipe, my nearest estimate puts the drink right around 130 calories, which, for the amount of flavor you get from the Watership Down is pretty impressive. (A normal margarita is over 150 calories.) Plus the health benefits of beet juice (potassium, iron, magnesium, fiber, vitamins A, B, and C, etc.) pretty much speak for themselves.
Overall, the drinks, which run at about $7 or $8 per, are reasonably priced and from what I tasted are actually worth the stop. Plus maybe you can trick yourself into thinking it was actually somewhat healthy. The bar, located at 1011 N. Tyndall Ave., is open Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. until close and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. until close.
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