Cover Story
Of Men and Wolves
Toward the end of her life F521 was slowing down. She stayed in one location for many weeks. Her grandsons visited her often. The two young Mexican wolves may have tried to mate with F521, or perhaps they were bringing her food. F521 wasn’t able to kill game like she once was able to do.…
Celebrate 25 Years of Cup Cafe on Saturday
You might go there for the award winning cast iron baked eggs, the bloody mary bar, a Cuban sandwich or a piece of pie, but no matter which way you slice it, Hotel Congress’ Cup Cafe (311 E. Congress St.) has become a Tucson institution over the past 25 years. Now it’s time to celebrate.…
Yes, The Dentist Who Killed Cecil the Lion is an Asshole but PETA is Going Too Far With This ‘Execute Him’ Thing
I don’t understand what the Minnesota dentist, Walter James Palmer, gained from killing, beheading and skinning Cecil the lion. What a useless investment of $50,000 (that’s allegedly about how much this guy paid to kill Cecil). CNN reported that the dentist and his guides—a professional hunter and a land owner, both residents of Zimbabwe— lured…
AZ Republic Targets Tuition Tax Credits
The AZ Republic recently published at least six articles and columns about Arizona’s Tuition Tax Credit program, and there may be more coming. Reporter Alia Beard Rau deserves credit for being at the forefront of the Republic’s work on the issue. For anyone who wants to dig deeper into the issue, I link to the Republic…
The Final Chapter of Pinhead
In the vast and twisted world of the horror gene there is a diverse and potent selection of ingredients to induce a nightmare. From slashers, to the supernatural, to creature features, zombies and all things beyond the grave, horror is a creative insight into the subjective nature of fear. Hell can look and feel like…
Development Proposals for the Ronstadt Transit Center Making Progress, Is Everyone Really OK About It Though?
Phase II of development proposals for the Ronstadt Transit Center downtown were unveiled last week during a public meeting. Despite what we may have read or heard, not everyone is a fan, though. Development plans bring fear of gentrification. We’ve already seen long-time Tucson characters like The District (and others) shutter over high-as-hell rent. While…
Arizona Has Lowest College Completion Rate In the Nation!!! (Or Not.) A Lesson in Reading Results
A Cronkite News story headline screams, “Arizona posts lowest college completion rate, highest default rate.” An Associated Press headline is equally dire: “Report: Arizona tied for lowest college graduation rates nationwide.” To give Cronkite News its due, after its headline grabs you with its partial truth, the article does a good job of breaking down the…
City of Tucson Hosting Special Day in August to Reduce Backlog of Arrest Warrants
The city of Tucson is going to host a special day next month to try to tackle a backlog of more than 40,000 arrest warrants—most stemming from failure to appear in court. These warrants total about $120 million in uncollected fines, City Councilman Steve Kozachik says on his weekly newsletter. On so-called Warrant Day—happening Saturday,…
Leo Needs a Home
Hi everybody! My name is Leo and I’m on the hunt for a new family. I am the perfect dog, if I do say so myself. I’m great on a leash, a perfect lounger and I’m already house trained. What more could you want? I’m not too picky when it comes to my new home.…
More Thoughts on Harper Lee’s Two Versions of Racism in America
When I wrote my earlier post comparing Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird with her just-released earlier novel, Go Set a Watchman, I was relying on a number of reviews and analyses I had read about the new book. I hadn’t gotten my own copy yet. Since then, I’ve read Watchman, which reinforced the…
Sample Russian Beer and Cuisine at Special Kalina Dinner
There’s still some time left to try out Downtown Kitchen + Cocktail’s limited time Around the Globe menu foray into Moscow, but, in case you didn’t get your fill of unique Russian fare in that menu tasting (or if you mess up and miss it completely since it ends on August 3), you should head…
You’ve Got One Week
Time flies. Vote now.
Zona Politics: Bernie Sanders Speaks! Plus: Ash and Rogers Talk Sanders, Trump, Planned Parenthood & More!
Zona Politics Eps.35 from Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel on Vimeo. On this week’s episode of Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel: Journalist Jose Antonio Vargas has a one-on-one conversation with Sen. Bernie Sanders about his presidential campaign during last week’s NetRoots Nation conference in Phoenix. (Special thanks to Five Steps Forward/NetRoots Nation for sharing their…
Listen to Matt Rendon of The Resonars’ New Psych Project Called Butterscotch Cathedral
Between recording some of my favorite locally made records released this year at his studio Midtown Island and fronting the pioneering Tucson rock group The Resonars, Matt Rendon’s also got a little something else up his sleeve. Rendon’s new project, called The Butterscotch Cathedral, is a high-concept full psych experiment that, from the first listen,…
Another Good Thing
In an effort to end the week on a high note, here’s another good thing to follow the Couple of Good Things I posted about yesterday. By the way, I was accused by a few commenters of being kinda Pollyanna-ish in that post, making too much of a big deal about small advances. One commenter said, “Let’s not step…
Look at all These Cool People Doing Their Best of Tucson Ballot
Vote. Everybody is else is doing it. You have until next Sunday. Vote.
A Couple of Good Things From the Feds
The U.S. Department of Education is giving Arizona a $20 million development grant for early childhood education. That’s a very good thing. There’s little argument that getting kids in educational situations before kindergarten is valuable for their educational and social development. Even Gov. Ducey agrees: “Research shows that a quality early childhood education experience can…
Help the Humane Society Win $5k—We’re in Second Place!
If you Like the Humane Society of Southern Arizona on Facebook, then you already know that our fair city has been nominated as a “Top City for Pets” by PetSmart’s Pet360.com. The winning city (we’re one of five finalists) will receive a $5,000 dollar donation for a local animal shelter. That’s pretty cool, right? Well,…
Public Brewhouse Explores the Science of Brewing at Newly Opened Bar
In case you missed it, Tucson’s craft beer scene is still on a seemingly unstoppable trajectory. Arizona Beer House is opening on July 24, bringing craft beer to the east side, and it seems locally brewed beer is cropping up in every Tucson neighborhood. If you’re in the Ironhorse neighborhood, for instance, you might have…
Is Arizona Wasting Taxpayer Money When Drug Testing Welfare Recipients?
In 2009, Arizona became the first state to impose a drug-test rule for Welfare recipients (when there is a reasonable cause that is, which according to USA Today “reasonable cause” means you confess you’ve used drugs in the past 30 days.). Since then, about 87,000 people have been tested, and guess how many came out…
Prizes, Prizes, Prizes—Get Going on Your Summer Passport
Last week, we talked about something called the “Summer Passport,” a scavenger hunt of sorts, dreamed up by our advertorial team. This week, they handed me the prize list. You can read your way through the whole thing below but it’s, uh, a lot. Here’s the deal: Pick up a Weekly and flip through until…
Dust Devil
In the Tucson Mountains In front of me the Big Cat rises And soft wind fills with voices of ancient ones. Their presence echoes in rocks above And joins sounds of other species: Flying over, Digging in, Running by, They are here, living and dead, breathing —Laura Martinez
Pleasure Activist
Tools to pleasure the clitoris are not restricted to any one body part or object. Basically, as long as it’s safe, sane and consensual, anything goes.
Take the Power Back
After a 60-plus-people protest and a handful of screaming matches in the middle of El Rio Neighborhood Center, Barrio Hollywood residents decided last week that voting rights in its neighborhood association are now exclusive to people who live in the barrio. Meaning, if you’re a Barrio Hollywood business or property owner whose home is rooted…
Danehy
When the new Horizons spacecraft zoomed past Pluto last week, it brought back feelings that I hadn’t experienced in a long while. I’m one of those Baby Boomers who was blessed/cursed to have lived through the 1960s, a mostly awful decade, but one that had a killer soundtrack.
Tiny Triumph
After a shocking directorial exodus and a series of rewrites, Marvel’s Ant-Man makes it to the screen as a reasonably enjoyable piece of summer fare thanks to the total charmer playing the title character.
Director/Curator Faceoff
For this tightly focused exhibition of about 40 objects from the museum’s rich permanent collection, each chose about 20 favorite pieces. Promoted as a director/curator “smackdown”–visitors can vote with their dollars for the vision of the one or the other – the show gives an inkling of what to expect from this new team as…
Seeds of Growth
Determining the ripeness of a vegetable isn’t the only skill that the children participating in the Best Day Ever Kids Garden Project are learning. Here, kids from preschool to high school are learning about hard work, nutrition, seeing a project from start to finish, economics and social skills.
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: Why is it so easy to escape from Mexican prisons, and why is it always accomplished the day before execution?
Media Watch
Zona Politics begins season 2 this Sunday and Star 1330 Rises Again
Opinion MMJ Part I
The Arizona Department of Health Services has announced that it will accept petitions from July 27-July 31 to add new debilitating conditions to those already approved by the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.
The Man in the Mirror
The Rogue Theatre seems an appropriate place for revealing a new adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s only novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Christopher Johnson, a regular on Rogue’s stage, but directing here for the first time, adapted this version.
B-Sides
FREAKS FOR LOVE, WET HOT on the BLOCK PARTY, and LYLE LOVETT NEAR MISS?
The Skinny
Gov. Ducey orders investigation into Planned Parenthood Arizona; PPA officials say there is nothing to investigate and Tucson voters will decide the fate of Tucson’s red-light cameras
Margaret Regan at Raices Taller
For the 6 to 9 p.m. closing event of the Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery and Workshop’s Chubasco, Tucson Weekly contributor Margaret Regan will read from her book “Detained and Deported.”
Top Tucson Albums of 2015 … So Far
It’s been a good seven months for local music.
Police Dispatch
A young man got himself banished, for no apparent reason, from what was apparently his most convenient convenience store from which to shoplift.
Kubrick’s Fear and Desire
A free screening of Stanley Kubrick’s first feature film, “Fear and Desire,” takes place at MOCA.
Police Dispatch
Two neighbors got in a serious fight for a frivolous reason using very primitive—but lethal—armaments, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report
The Other Atticus
The Loft is celebrating the release of Harper Lee’s second novel, Go Set a Watchman.
Editor’s Note
We’re not sure why people continue to elect politicians who vote for policy that goes against the best interests of their constituents and the interests of the people of Arizona.
Nature/Nurture
Hip-hop legends build their empires upon authentic foundations. The outliers who enjoy longevity in the rap game never stop grinding and provide opportunities for the next generation.
