Cover Story
Chico and the Monkey
A new security safe is the most potent symbol of Louie and Susan Pope’s life today. It cost $750, and when the couple goes for an after-supper walk, or on a dawn horseback ride in the Chiricahua Mountains, they load it up with household valuables. Susan puts her purse inside, as well as jewelry, small…
Save The Insurance Companies!
Hollywood to the rescue! Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell
We Know We’re in Trouble If Joe Wilson Starts Carrying a Cane Around
You think today’s Congress is splintered on a partisan basis? It ain’t nothing compared to the atmosphere before the Civil War. We were just talking with a friend about the time that Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina smashed a walking stick over the head of Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts: Here are some details…
NYT on Border Fence: “There’s No Good Way of Gauging the Effectiveness”
The New York Times opines on the wall between the U.S. and Mexico: Auditors reported last week that the high-tech, 28-mile “virtual” section of the fence was running a mere seven years behind this month’s planned opening. Initially, designers talked of using off-the-shelf technology for the radar, cameras and other sensors, but problems cropped up.…
Poll: Obama in Az
Public Policy Polling has a survey of Arizona’s attitudes toward Barack Obama. The numbers: 47% of voters there give Obama good marks for his work so far and an equal 47% express disapproval. His reviews are predictably polarized along party lines with 80% of Democrats but only 17% of Republicans approving of him. Independents split…
Who Are These Fed-Up Tucsonans?
A new political ad is up on YouTube targeting Democratic Tucson City Council members Nina Trasoff and Karin Uhlich, who are both up for re-election in November. We hear the ad also aired during the UA football game on Saturday, but we didn’t see it ourselves. Anyone else out there catch it? Here’s a wrinkle:…
Chamber Opposes Public Safety First Initiative
The Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce has come out against the Public Safety First Initiative that will appear as Prop 200 on the city of Tucson’s Nov. 3 ballot. Two other local business heavyweights, the Tucson Association of Realtors and the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, are funding the initiative. In a press release, chamber…
Friday Roundtable: Downtown Hotel, State Budget and the Return of Fife!
We review the week, after the jump. BTW: Arizona’s Illustrated political forums start at the end of this month. I’ll be joining Bill Buckmaster for the Ward 3 debate between Democratic Councilwoman Karin Uhlich, Republican challenger Ben Buehler-Garcia and Green Party candidate Mary Decamp on Wednesday, Sept. 30; and for the Ward 5 debate between…
TUSD’s Elizabeth Celania-Fagen: 21st-Century Sustainable Outcomes and Ethnic Studies
TUSD Superintendent Elizabeth Celania-Fagen stops by Arizona Illustrated’s Friday Roundtable to explain what “21st-century sustainable outcomes” are, after the jump…
Clean Jobs, Bright Ideas
I know there are certain groups of people out there who say global warming is a farce. No scientific evidence for it, they say. Fuck the polar bears, they say. While idiots ignoring the effect fossil fuels have on our environment plunge their heads ever deeper into the sand, other groups, like the Alliance for…
Eastside Nimbus Update
Damn you, Arizona Daily Star! Your story claiming that the new Nimbus Bistro and Brewery would be opening Monday at 6464 E. Tanque Verde Road had me ready to fake a bout of swine flu so I could call in sick and attend the opening, but it turns out you were wrong! Dan Multhup, director…
Thought You Should Know
In my Currents piece this week on the Michael family and their challenges to get proper medical coverage for their daughter who struggles with bipolar disorder, I mentioned they had an appeal hearing in front of an administrative judge today. Tera Michael called me this evening (Thursday) to let me know that the judge rejected…
Lines in the Martian Sand
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona The latest snapshots of Mars taken by the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab’s HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
If You Think This Budget Year Is Bad…
Here’s a tidbit I missed when I was writing this week’s story on the state budget: The latest estimate from the Joint Legislative Budget Committee puts next year’s budget shortfall at more than $2.5 billion. And you thought the billion dollars they still need to cut this year was bad…
Tucson Life Cache Potluck Meeting Not Happening
We were notified by the event organizer that the following meeting, appearing on page 26 in the Sept. 17 issue, will not take place. Tucson Life Cache Potluck MeetingWard 6 City Council Office3020 E. First St. A group working to establish a local currency to create a sustainable local economy meets at 7 p.m., Tuesday,…
Hot and Not So Hot
It is easy in Tucson to find a Mexican restaurant slinging burritos, enchiladas and tacos with some refried beans and Mexican rice. However, it is hard to find ones that have truly outstanding food. Most restaurants seem afraid of bringing a little heat; they cater to Scoville-unit-fearing tourists more than locals. Well, Little Mexico Steakhouse…
Downing
The health-care reform debate has stirred strong emotions, but all the attention has been paid to the fury and fear on the right. Take it from me: There’s plenty of both on the other side. The fear and rage come with the thought that desperately needed reform may once again be subverted by the giant…
Noshing Around
‘Man V. Food,’ Meet Lindy’s on Fourth The Travel Channel’s popular show Man V. Food is slated to film an episode at Lindy’s on Fourth (431 N. Fourth Ave.; 207-6970) on Friday, Sept. 25. The show’s star, Adam Richman, will try to finish the eatery’s infamous O.M.F.G. burger—a gut-busting behemoth boasting 12 patties and 12…
Guest Opinion
Last summer, I had a fascinating conversation with my grandmother about her memories of the Great Depression. She told me about a married man in her small town who knocked up two women on the side; one woman was kicked out of her parents’ house, and the other was rendered permanently sterile by an illegal…
Little Piggies
Four legs good. Two legs bad. Simple enough. This, of course, is the credo of the animals who overthrow Farmer Jones and establish their own domain, aka the Animal Farm. The Rogue Theatre is presenting an adaptation of George Orwell’s novella as the first show of its season, and the inaugural production at its new…
Police Dispatch
MAN NEEDS WALLET WEST VALENCIA ROADK AUG. 17, 7:31 P.M. A man carrying a substantial wad of cash accused deputies of sleeping with a woman who had allegedly stolen from him, a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report stated. Deputies reported to the restaurant where the man said the theft had occurred. The reportee, a Caucasian…
Happy Music
Mele Martinez grew up doing Mexican folklorico dance in Tucson. But now her heart belongs to Spanish flamenco. “I’m Mexican American,” she says, “and I did folklorico as a kid. As I got older, I wanted something more sophisticated. Flamenco is pretty hard to say no to.” Martinez, now co-director of Flamenco del Pueblo Viejo…
Wear Your Legwarmers
Well, Best of Tucson® is finished. Adam Kurtz, Irene Messina and I spent some quality time at Weekly World Central last Saturday and put the final touches on the issue. I have to say, it looks damn fine. Look for it on a distribution rack and/or computer screen near you next Thursday, Sept. 24. If…
Shower Power
Kate Beckinsale’s career has officially hit a pothole. Before the boring Antarctica mystery Whiteout, she was in two straight-to-DVD ventures: Nothing but the Truth and the deplorable Fragments. Whiteout should’ve probably suffered the same fate. It’s not completely awful, but there is no real reason to see it—except for a Kate Beckinsale shower scene that…
Now Showing at Home
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Creepshow (Blu-Ray), Gladiator: Sapphire Series (Blu-Ray)
Top Ten in Movies
Casa Video’s top rentals for the week
Oh My God: The Night Undoes the Work of the Day (Split Red)
On its sixth full-length, due for a Sept. 29 release, this Chicago-based combo continues to juggle eccentric art rock, grimy blues and pop songcraft in unusually affecting ways. The duo of singer-bassist Billy O’Neill and organist-singer Ig (aka Iguana)—assisted by utility players—have created a disarmingly emotional statement of 10 songs that explore the struggle and…
Puppets With Weapons
What the world needs now, thought the producers of 9, is a really cute version of Terminator. Like, a Captain Kangaroo sort of thing, only with killer robots that have murdered everyone on Earth. But to keep it upbeat, there will still be a tiny vestige of humanity in the form of adorable puppets who…
Mailbag
The City Needs to Hold Developers Like Michael Goodman Responsible “Welcome to Goodmanville” (Sept. 3) clearly illustrates the conundrum that providing housing for University of Arizona students has become. The university has never acknowledged the burden it puts on the community; in fact, it just proudly admitted the largest freshman class ever. The city of…
Golden Silvers: True Romance (XL)
The debut album from London’s Golden Silvers is a mélange of Saturday-morning cartoon pop, rock opera and disco dance party. With such an epic sense of scale—including numerous references to Greek mythology—it would be easy for the ebullience to turn arch and off-putting, but the Golden Silvers are a band that just wants you to…
Ask a Mexican!
We gabachos get differing reports regarding the Reconquista. Some say it’s a genuine movement that’s well underway. Others claim it’ll never happen, but it’s useful as a slogan that both antagonizes white America and energizes young Mexicans. Let’s say for now it’s a genuine movement destined for success. What would victory look like, culturally, politically,…
Live
The Thermals
Mental Fairness
Tera Michael could be a powerful cheerleader for health-care reform; after all, universal health insurance might give her family—including her husband and their two children—an opportunity to rise out of the debt caused by her family’s health issues. Michael, however, isn’t ready to rally for reform. She says her experiences give her little faith in…
T Q&A
Josh Flood
Nine Questions
Kendra Rutledge
Response Requested
A June letter about trees began Brian McCarthy’s frustrating saga with Tucson’s congressional offices. That saga recently ended with another letter—but McCarthy suffered through a lot of frustration in the interim. Three months ago, my friend McCarthy read an Associated Press article about an Army Corps of Engineers proposal. The story reported the Corps wanted…
Living in Their World
For Kip Berman, it was a pair of Saucony sneakers that signaled The Pains of Being Pure at Heart had come full-circle. In a surreal role reversal, Berman found himself on the receiving end of attention from the marketing agency he quit to pursue his band full-time. Just months before, he had spent parts of…
Top Ten in Music
Zia Records top sales for the week
Cuts and Bruises
The good news: More than two months into the fiscal year, the state finally has a budget in place. The bad news: The state is on track to spend about a billion dollars more than it will bring in, according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. And it doesn’t appear as if lawmakers are in…
Soundbites
HAPPY RETURNS Two shows this week—both at Club Congress—put faces familiar to Tucsonans back up on stage after a bit of an absence. WHAT MATTERS MOST IS HOW YOU WALK THROUGH THE FIRE For three years, from 2001 to 2004, Red Switch (later The Red Switch) was one of Tucson’s best and most promising bands.…
Barrio Stories
José Galvez’s career of paying homage to his heritage will place the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and his work at La Pilita Museum. This Sunday, he will be showing some of his black-and-white photographs and debuting Shine Boy, a book of photos and essays. Galvez, 59, won a Pulitzer Prize for documenting Latino communities in Southern…
Collector Crackdown
They called the operation Cerberus Action, after a mythical, hydra-headed canine that fiercely guards the underworld. The underworld was brought to light on June 10, when federal agents busted 23 people who allegedly looted archaeological sites in the Four Corners region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. Ranking among the largest crackdowns ever against…
J. Tillman: Year in the Kingdom (Western Vinyl)
With an unadorned and gallant style, J. Tillman makes dark and quiet folk music, laced with proverbial silver streaks and highlighted edges that give his songs surprising contrast and depth. Relatively unknown outside his role as drummer/harmony vocalist with the Fleet Foxes, J. Tillman is a prolific singer-songwriter in his own right; Year in the…
Restoring the West
Patricia Nelson Limerick wrote one of the founding documents of new Western history, 1987’s The Legacy of Conquest. That book, a thorough debunking of the romantic myths of the 19th century West, changed the way many people thought about the migration and settlement of Americans beyond the hundredth meridian, showing that manifest destiny, the myth…
The Skinny
TANGLED POLITICS Unable to find that elusive 16th vote in the Arizona Senate, Gov. Jan Brewer is now suggesting that she may run an initiative campaign to get her temporary one-cent-per-dollar sales tax on the ballot. The problem: Voters wouldn’t have a chance to decide it before November 2010, when lawmakers—and Brewer herself, if she…
Top Ten in Books
Mostly Books best-sellers for the week
Media Watch
Blake Rogers let go by The Mountain; Tribble, Joseph latest to leave Kvoa; Carr rejoins KGUN
City Week
Glassblowing and Suds Fall Fantastic Beer Tasting and Stein Event 4 to 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 19 Sonoran Glass Art Academy 633 W. 18th St. 884-7814; www.sonoranglass.org A mug, a glass or a stein—it doesn’t matter what you call it as long as it contains beer. Combine that beer with glassblowing (who wouldn’t?), and add…
Danehy
Last November, 7 million Californians voted for Proposition 8, which amended that state’s Constitution to make the legal definition of “marriage” as being between one man and one woman. It was shocking to many, especially since Californians also voted for Barack Obama in large numbers (although Obama has steadfastly said that he does not support…
Upcoming Events
Here are a few events worthy of further mention: Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.The Little Chapel, University of Arizona (First and Highland)Tom Miller, author of Trading With the Enemy: A Yankee Travels Through Castro’s Cuba, will share his expertise and answer questions about travel to the island. $5, includes talk, Cuban food and music…
Grijalva: “This Bill Fails to Meet the Basic Principle of Health Care Reform”
Congressman Raul Grijalva isn’t happy with the Senate’s health-care reform proposal. His statement: Today, the Senate Finance Health Care Reform bill was released by Senator Max Baucus. It is telling that Senator Baucus stood alone at today’s press conference. There was no “Gang of Six,” including the absence of Senator Snowe and no Democrats. Even…
