The only major Tucson-area newspaper not hacking the living daylights out of itself has a new issue out and online. Feel free to comment on the issue here!

I should have talked about Battlestar Galactica: Razor last week, after it aired on Sci-Fi, but hey: The DVD just came out yesterday, so it's still timely. Right?

BSG: Razor was a big event on my Thanksgiving weekend. Former TW staff writer and Viper pit member Saxon Burns--who is now seeking his fortune in sunny Los Angeles--was back in town for the holiday and stopped by for the screening, as did Dave Maass, another former TW contributor who is now working for the Santa Fe Reporter.

We all agreed: This was a return to top form for Galactica.

The story was undeniably multi-layered, with flashbacks within flashbacks, so if you hadn't seen Seasons 1 and 2 of BSG, you were probably a little lost. I don't want to go all geek squad and get into how cool it was to see Admiral Cain deal with the original Cylon attack and its aftermath, or the depth of the characterizations or even how cool the Cylon lesbatron kiss was. So I'll just say that it really captured the excitement of the first two seasons of BSG, which got a little lost somewhere along the line in Season 3, when the Cylons got religion, and the show lost a big chunk of its dramatic tension. Oh, and those special effects looked really sweet on my relatively new 48-inch Sony.

Plus, there was a love letter to the original series with those old-school Cylons.

In short: Loved it.

Maass has more on it here.

A couple of weeks ago, I pulled into my neighborhood Safeway strip mall to pick up a couple of things before work. Parked next to me was a beat-up old van with two women who were smoking up a storm. There was also a baby in one of those carrier things. I felt bad for that baby. Basically, the baby was trapped; forced to breathe all that awful secondhand smoke.

A little while later, as I was coming out of the store, the two women were walking in--still smoking! Well, I don't know what came over me, but I said, "You shouldn't be smoking around that baby."

Needless to say, they were shocked. And then the one woman told me it was none of my business. I told her it was. (I kept on walking though, they looked kind of tough.) She then said something about me not paying for it. (The kid? The doctor bills?)

By that time, I was getting in my car. I wish I had said something about, "It takes a village ... ."

Hindsight is 20/20, I guess.

When I told people about it, their reaction was positive, although they also said something about putting myself in danger.

Anyway, now one of our state legislators is trying to make it child abuse to smoke around kids. I'm not sure how laws would change anything, but I do know I'm glad I did what I did.

Maybe this "mother" will think about it. Maybe she'll complain to somebody about the crazy bitch at the grocery store trying to tell her how to live. And maybe someone will actually say, "You know, that crazy bitch is right."

Maybe.

Well, lots of stuff is going down at the Star.

Here's what we (i.e., media guru John Schuster and I) know for sure:

• Levi Long, who was recently arrested for doing, well, this, has resigned.
• The Star is hacking the crap out of the paper, cutting all sorts of wire services and syndicated columns; eliminating the Saturday op-ed page, BYO Brain and Mapping the News; merging the Monday biz and Accent sections; and trimming the Star 200, among other things.

Here's what we have heard, but don't know for sure:

• Rumors are popping up that the Star has laid off a handful of people, or will be laying off a handful of people. Let me reiterate: These are JUST rumors. We have not confirmed this.

Let us know if you have any info. Thanks!

UPDATE (11:25): A source informs us that Star executives held an emergency meeting early this morning to discuss all these cuts. It's believed there will be a Star staff meeting soon to discuss all this.

Best of luck to everyone over at the Star. It sucks when stuff like this happens.

Sooner or later, the next Tucson Weekly Club Crawl(TM) will welcome spring. I think its nicey-nice the fall event had a tejano music stage, and should continue in that tradition. May I suggest a couple of alternatives, however, for those who enjoy other Latin music?

First, let me say that mariachi, tejano and ranchero are wonderful genres that always get me longing for the young Vicente Fernandez to ride up on a silver and black leather-saddled horse and rescue me while all those horns, guitarrons, chicken scratch rhythms and accordions play in the background. A girl has to have a fantasy, but knowing it's just not going to happen, I've moved on to other rhythms. 

Enter my latest music obsession that has nothing to do with Vicente, but is still Latin nonetheless: Javier Garcia. Garcia was born in Spain from an Irish mother and Cuban father. Lucky for us he learned the guitar and moved to Miami as a youngster. Check out Javi, as I will now call him, singing "Me Gustaria," "Tranquilla" and "La Rumba." 

Now, if you like how Javi makes your hips feel, but think he's just too darn positive and happy, check out the next group I'm listening to right now: Sergent Garcia via France. The first Sergent Garcia CD I bought was Un Poquito Quema'o in 2000. My favorite song on the album is "Camino De La Vida." They don't have it on YouTube, but check out "Jumpi." Like Javier Garcia, the band's sound is Cuban-influenced, as well as flavored by hip hop. It's also highly political in many a good way that little Javi isn't. Radio Chango gets to the point about Sergent Garcia on their Web site. I just bought La Semilla Escondida and another CD, Sin Fronteras.  

Sergent Garcia is no Javier Garcia, and will not rescue me like a Vicente Fernandez fantasy, but I figure putting both Garcias in my CD changer may rescue my hips and, lately, my soul.

The Tucson Police Department's photo-radar van will be in the following areas on Wednesday, Dec. 5:

• 9:30 to 1:30 p.m.: On Campbell Avenue near Broadway Blvd.
• 2 to 4 p.m.: Near LM Prince Elementary School, 3700 N. Stone Avenue
• 4:30 to 8 p.m.: On 14th Avenue between Grant Road and Glenn Street

The Tucson Police Department's photo-radar van will be in the following areas on Tuesday, Dec. 4:

• 9:30 to 1:30 p.m.: On Craycroft Road near 22nd Street
• 2 to 4 p.m.: On Sarnoff Drive near Kenyon Drive
• 4:30 to 8 p.m.: On Kenyon Drive near Sarnoff Drive

The entries continue to pour in for Project White House, the first-ever Tucson Weekly presidential campaign contest!

Full details on our Reality Journalism undertaking can be found here, but in a nutshell: We’ll help you get on Arizona’s Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot and cover your campaign if we decide that you’re newsworthy. All you have to do is fill out a simple, two-page form. No fees, no signature gathering.

Is this a great state or what?

Just this morning, we met Daniel Kingery, who just sold his Willcox Laundromat and set out across the country to launch his ’08 campaign. Kingery’s first stop: Weekly World Headquarters to get his nomination form notarized.

Kingery is the type of candidate who comes up with innovative solutions for vexing problems. Here’s just one example: When he had trouble with government officials who wanted to shut down a junkyard he was running in New Hampshire, he declared it a “cultural facility” and hired some strippers to perform.

Anyone who can transform a junkyard into a strip club deserves serious consideration from voters. Learn more about Kingery at his Web site.

Don’t miss your chance to be part of Project White House. Entries are due by midnight, Friday, Dec. 7. Get your platform together now!

According to several sources who have contacted the Weekly, the Explorer has been sold, and several employees--including star reporter Eric Beidel and editor Dan Stebbins--have been let go.

One source, who did not want to be named, says the new owner is Randy Miller. Google him, and you'll see he has a history of taking newspapers and watering them down to increase profits.

More to come from John Schuster in this week's Weekly.

The Tucson Police Department's photo-radar van will be in the following areas on Monday, Dec. 3:

• 7 to 9 a.m.: Near Henry Hank Oyama School on La Cholla Boulevard near Starr Pass Boulevard
• 9:30 to 1:30 p.m.: On 22nd Street near Wilmot Road
• 2 to 4 p.m.: Hollinger Elementary, 150 W. Ajo Way