U.S. District Court Judge David C. Bury issued an order on Wednesday, Feb. 29 that Mexican-American studies classes do not have to be reinstated immediately based on a letter he received Feb. 23 from the court-appointed special master Willis D. Hawley.

Bury's order was in response to a petition filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund based on the TUSD Jan. 10 decision to suspend the classes claiming the move was "out of compliance with the Post Unitary Status Plan."

Hawley, the court-appointed special master charged with developing and putting into place a unitary status plan for Tucson Unified School District,wrote in his letter that he acknowledge that the TUSD governing board decision represents "a violation of the Orders of the Court," and offered recommendations on what action the judge may way to pursue. However, Hawley wrote he does not recommend that Brury reinstate the MAS classes at this time.

"Such reinstatement would further disrupt the education of of the students involved and would impede the development of the Unitary Status Plan," Hawley wrote.

He continued that in his UPS will include "effective strategies for moving forward to ensure a quality education for all of the district's students, the majority of whom are Mexican American. "To place the focus on the USP process, you may want to direct all parties, once again, to participate fully in developing the USP as described in your September 14 and January 6 Orders."

Bury wrote in his order that "some provision in the PUSP were not implemented or only partially implemented by the District, and that on January 10, 2012, the District Governing Board adopted a Resolution to discontinue classes offered by (MASD). This Resolution discontinued courses that had been approved as part of the PUSP."

Then he notes the resolution was in response to State Superintendent John Huppenthal's order prohibiting the classes and threat to take away $4.9 million in state funding.

You can read Brury's order here MALDEF_filing.pdf and Hawley's letter here special_master.pdf.

Another installation of the popular Tucson Food Truck Roundup events takes place at the Tower Theatres in Marana tonight, and a whopping 30 trucks are attending. There's more information on the event here.

It should also be noted that tonight's event will be the last chance to dig into a kimchi quesadilla or fried-rice burrito from popular food truck MaFooCo. We're truly sorry to see the truck go - the owners and the food are wonderful - but it certainly was delicious while it lasted.

Tonight's event takes place from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Bon appetit!

While I was a little iffy on the artistic value of Metalachi when I first heard them in May of 2011, I think I've warmed to the novelty of a pseudo-mariachi band covering metal tracks, mostly because if you're going to spend money on a show, the least you can ask is for the performance to be entertaining, right? Well, on their way back from SXSW, Metalachi will be making a stop at The Rock on March 18th. While that should be an entertaining show, I think I might hold out for their show here on May 3rd at Casino Del Sol, considering that concert will probably be free and the drinks are cheaper out there. Either way, if you'd like to hear a horn and violin heavy version of "Crazy Train", you're in luck.

Recently, I was excited as a person who loves both trivia and 90's rap to read a blog post that spent an absurd amount of time and effort to discover what day was the subject of the Ice Cube track "It Was a Good Day", but in a new interview, the man himself seems almost intent to destroy the quest for answers entirely. Take that nerds!

The original research shows that it's Jan 20, 1992. Someone else thinks it's Nov 30, 1988.
I think I had a good day on both of those days. You know.

Is this your Carly Simon, "You're So Vain," song? That you'll never admit when it was? Then you'll auction the answer off some day to one guy who, under contract, can't reveal the day?
Nah. You know — it's a song. It's a fictional song. It's basically my interpretation of what a great day would be. Do you know what I'm saying? So, you know, it's a little of this and a little of that. I don't think you can pinpoint the day.

So you're saying it's a collection of good things from multiple days?
It could have been all of those days.

So it's a conglomerate of your perfect day?
Yes.

If you've ever wanted to have the opportunity to speak freely and frankly with members of local law enforcement — and with some level of anonymity — the Pima County Sheriff's Office is giving you that chance.

At 9 a.m. Tuesday Sgt. Kenneth Coultas from PCSO's Personnel Unit will host a live discussion via the department's Twitter and Facebook accounts for anyone and everyone interested.

The scheduled topic is 'Careers in Law Enforcement,' but if this online chat is like any other I've been involved with, it's likely to devolve into a variety of other topics, not all of which are of a positive tone.

A news release issued by PCSO spokeswoman Dawn Barkman said participants will be asked to stay on topic, and to submit unrelated questions in writing through the department's Web site, but we all know that's not going to be adhered to by the question askers.

Blue Sky Deliveries is a new service that delivers food from food truck Animal Farm, Ethiopian eatery Cafe Desta, Delectables on Fourth and Bacon and Craeggs. It uses eco-friendly tricycles to get the job done from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The business delivers to downtown and the university area and charges $3 per order plus a 15 percent gratuity.

There's more on Blue Sky Deliveries here.

If nothing else, you can say this guy died doing the stupid, life-risking thing that he loved:

A Sri Lankan man has died while trying to set a record for the longest time spent buried alive, police said Monday.

Police said Janaka Basnayake, 24, buried himself over the weekend with the help of family and friends in a trench sealed with wood and soil in the town of Kantale, about 137 miles (220 kilometers) north of Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo. A local newspaper reported that the trench was 10 feet (3 meters) deep.

Basnayake was buried at around 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Police said that when he was brought to the surface at 4 p.m., he was unconscious and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Dr. D.G. Costa of the Kantale hospital said a post-mortem could not determine the cause of death and further medical investigations are being conducted.

I attended a nifty cooking demonstration yesterday afternoon at the foundation for Intercultural Dialogue/Turkish Cultural Center. This tiny, hidden spot is a bit of a Tucson gem. They have classes not just in cooking but also in Turkish painting and learning Turkish. On occasion they’ll have lectures on Turkish culture and international topics. There’s also a book club, Turkish coffee night and soccer game nights (where they watch soccer, not play.)

Anyway, yesterday’s class was all about Mexican food. Two women, Maria Uhlmann and Marta Ortiz demonstrated how to make empanaditas, green chile and cheese crepes, an easy chicken and potato dish, pastel tres leches and chocoflan (also called impossible cake). Weirdly, in all my life I’ve never had chocoflan but earlier this week, a co-worker at my day job brought in some chocoflan that his wife had made.

There was a small crowd, mainly young women members. They had a video camera and a big screen so we could see how everything was made. It was great fun, and next month, they're taking on Japanese cuisine. I can't wait.

If you’re interested in more info about any of the classes or other events, check out their website: www.fid-az.org

You'll have to act quickly and enter nowish, but we have a pair of tickets to see Steve Aoki and Datsik as part of the Deadmeat tour at the Rialto Theatre on Thursday, March 8.

Just go to our contest page, press a button, and we'll draw a name Monday night to be notified by email. Good luck!

Steve Aoki's new album, Wonderland, is available now on iTunes.

A busy week for Arizona Illustrated's Political Roundtable: Democratic strategist Rodd McLeod and Tucson Tea Party founder Trent Humphries talk with Arizona Public Media's Andrea Kelly and me about Mitt Romney's next step, John McCain's criticism of Super PACs, Sheriff Joe's press conference about President Obama's birth certificate, state Rep. Daniel Patterson's political problems in the wake of domestic-violence allegations, Congressman Jeff Flake's border-security issues and whole bunch more. We barely had time to touch on the Arizona Legislature!