Cover Story
Place Yer Bet$! You Can Now Gamble on Sports in Arizona
Let’s say that you’re involved in a series of coin tosses and you have a certain amount of money with which to wager. On each toss of the coin, you wager half of the money in your possession. Just by chance, over a series of tosses, you alternate wins and losses. After an even number…
Arizonans join hundreds of female athletes opposing strict abortion law
WASHINGTON – Nine Arizonans are among the more than 500 female athletes who signed on to a brief to the Supreme Court this week challenging Mississippi’s restrictive new abortion law. The Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi joined seven University of Arizona swimming alumnae and hundreds of other club, collegiate and pro athletes who…
Border communities face another month of ‘nonessential’ travel limits
WASHINGTON – The ban on nonessential travel on land crossings between the U.S. and Mexico will be extended another month, a “disheartening” development for border towns and businesses that have already had to cope with the travel limitation for 18 months. “It’s very disheartening to have it extended again,” Douglas Mayor Donald C. Huish said…
Arizona expects 1,600 Afghan evacuees to arrive through March
[image-1] The federal government has notified Arizona that it should expect 1,610 Afghan evacuees to arrive through the end of March, according to the state Department of Economic Security. DES administers the Arizona Refugee Resettlement Program, which partners with the federal government to service refugees as they adjust to making Arizona their new home. The…
Republican AGs urge Biden administration to give up on vaccine requirements
WASHINGTON — More than 20 Republican state attorneys general are threatening to sue the Biden administration over its mandate that large employers require their employees to either be vaccinated against the coronavirus or undergo weekly testing. In a Thursday letter, the 24 AGs pushed the administration to remove the requirement that would affect nearly 80…
Arizona audit spreading mistrust in election process across the country, officials warn
PHOENIX – The mistrust in Arizona’s Nov. 3 presidential election and the months-long audit it spawned is quickly spreading across the country, with politically driven efforts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan and Texas, the executive director of Secure Democracy said Wednesday. Secure Democracy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to improve U.S. election…
High Anxiety VA sending mixed messages for vets about cannabis use to treat PTSD
Despite increasing legal access to medical and recreational cannabis in states across the U.S., veterans face unfair treatment and stigmatization because the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs refuses to recognize marijuana as a viable treatment option. While the VA has embraced the federally illegal status of the drug, agency policy does not allow discrimination against…
Editor’s Note: What’s My Line?
Back in my misspent youth, my eyes lit up when I saw a sportsbook had opened at the Vina del Mar resort down in Rocky Point’s Old Port. It seemed like a little slice of heaven—a dark cavern filled with banks of TVs where my older brothers and the rest of our crew would hunker…
Wave Goodbye? Latest AZ COVID wave may have peaked
The delta wave of COVID cases may be hitting a plateau in Southern Arizona but health officials warn that hospitals remain crowded. “We appear to be plateauing or perhaps starting to go down,” said Dr. Francisco Garcia, director of the Pima County Health Department. “And although we are not yet ready to have a party,…
The Skinny: Jibber Jab: Arizona Republicans lose their marbles over new vaccine requirements from the Biden Administration
President Joe Biden finally came down on the unvaccinated last week. Biden announced a plan requiring anyone working for a company with more than 100 employees who hasn’t been vaccinated to be tested weekly to ensure they are not COVID-positive. Biden announced similar requirements for federal contractors and anyone working in health care facilities that…
Danehy: Lessons learned from morning talk shows
Isaac Asimov once inadvertently summed up the essence of right-wing talk radio when he wrote about what he called “the cult of ignorance in the United States.” There is “a strain of anti-intellectualism” in our culture and politics that is “nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good…
Bound by COVID: Three books by Tucson authors nearly vanished beneath the waves of the coronavirus
Lawrence J. Taylor had a great launch plan last year for his book Tales from the Desert Borderland. The novel is set across the desert southwest, from California and Baja California to Arizona and Sonora, and Taylor had arranged to introduce the book right on the borderline, in the Mexican Consulate in Nogales, Arizona. And…
Scared Silly: Malignant is enjoyable junk-food horror
Director James Wan has certainly had his moments when it comes to horror. The original Saw was almost good, while the first two Conjuring films and Insidious were legit scary. With his latest, Malignant, he (thankfully) takes a break from Aquaman and returns to his happy horror place with mixed results. It’s a balls-out crazy…
City Week: Weekly Picks
Editor’s Note: While we are delighted to see Tucsonans once again gathering for fun events, we are also aware that the new Delta variant is circulating and case counts in Arizona are on the rise. Please consider getting vaccinated against COVID if you haven’t yet and following CDC guidance, which includes wearing masks at crowded…
XOXO: “Rockin’ in the Free World,” safely…
Mark your calendars… Thursday, Sept. 16 The staggeringly fantastic indie pop of Perfume Genius permeates into every part. On Club Congress Plaza. Staging queer stories against a wistful Americana backdrop, L.A.’s Hand Habits lend support… Plagued by postmodern anxiety, All Time Low pump out their energetic, punk-glazed confection. At Rialto Theater. Tempe alt-rockers The Maine…
