Safety Not Guaranteed is based on a semi-famous classified ad from a Copenhagen newspaper, which doesn't exactly seem like the richest source material, but at least based on this first trailer, it reminds me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in its weirdness, low-key humor and tenderness and I loved Eternal Sunshine..., so I'm in. Plus a cast that includes actors from Parks & Recreation and The League is exactly the sort of thing I'm interested in.

Safety Not Guaranteed is scheduled to come out in theaters on June 8th somewhere; hopefully arriving in Tucson at or around that date as well.

Joey Burns of Calexico—the local indie-rock collective which is wrapping up a new album over at Wavelab Studios these days—stopped by Arizona Illustrated last night to talk about the upcoming Festival en el Barrio, which is moving this year to the streets of El Presidio Neighborhood, which falls inside the birthplace of Tucson way back when the Spanish first built a fort here.

We named the Festival en el Barrio our Best New Festival last year because it's an amazing afternoon in downtown. Calexico will headline the show, but there's lots more on the bill, including Megafaun, Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta and Grupo Fantasma. You'll be able to dine at the food trucks and your ticket gets you free admission to the Tucson Museum of Art. On top of all that, the festival benefits KXCI, which is one of the best non-profits we can think of in this dusty cowtown.

So get a ticket today, why don't you?

Democrat Richard Carmona caught a break earlier today when attorney Don Bivens dropped out the Democratic primary.

Here's the statement from Bivens, former chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party:

The continuing head-to-head competition of our Democratic primary is draining resources that we will need as a party to win the U.S. Senate race in November. While I am confident we would win this primary, the cost and impact on the party I’ve spent my life fighting for could diminish our chance to achieve the ultimate goal: winning in November.

Carmona's response:

Don Bivens is a cornerstone of the Arizona Democratic Party and will remain so for years to come. An agent of change for our state, Don knew how great of an opportunity we have to win this seat and knew that it would take a strong and united effort to do so. He and his team ran a strong race that showed a great deal of respect for the nominating process which in turn has improved our party's chance of success in November.

I thank Don, his family and his campaign team for their selfless service to the party and eagerly anticipate working with them to move Arizona forward. He will be an integral player in any winning strategy and I look forward to working with him in the months ahead.

Democrats are looking at Arizona as a possible pick-up in the U.S. Senate because they believe Carmona has appeal to Arizona's independents and Democrats. As a result, Carmona has a lot of support from the Democratic establishment, from the White House on down. Still, Pima County Democratic Party chairman Jeff Rogers tells us he was surprised to hear that Bivens had decided to abandon the race.

Carmona will most likely face Congressman Jeff Flake, who is clobbering his GOP opponent, Wil Cardon, in every poll The Range has seen.

The most recent Public Policy Polling survey gave Flake an 11-point edge over Carmona.

Carmona has also picked up a key staffer: Adam Kinsey, the former executive director of the Pima County Democratic Party, has landed a job with the campaign after his plans to work for Democrat Nan Stockholm Walden evaporated when she decided to defer to Ron Barber and stay out of the Congressional District 2 race.

Carmona also picked up the endorsement of VoteVets.org Political Action Committee earlier today. The press release:

SB 1474, the "guns on campus" legislation that stalled earlier this month, has been pulled off of life support by state Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City.

From the Arizona Daily Star:

"In reality, I think it's an election year question,'' [Gould] said. "There were some legislators that were feeling weak-kneed about it,'' [he] continued. "The universities were putting a full-court press on them because they knew if I could get the bill up to the governor, the governor would probably sign it.''

Later on in the story, he disputes the costs of gun lockers purchase and installation that gun lobbyist Todd Rathner claims made state legislators skittish about the bill.

Again, from the Daily Star:

"You don't have to remodel the front of a building to put a gun locker up,'' [Gould] said . . . The reason they oppose it is that liberals run the university system,'' he continued. "Liberals don't like guns. They don't want guns on their playground.''

As with last year's bill that was vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer, expect someone (since Gould isn't running for re-election) to come back with a similar bill next year — though perhaps without the gun locker provision.

[Earlier: Off Target]

From Rivera's Facebook yesterday:

...according to my legion of critics, by putting responsibility on what kids wear instead of how people react to them I have obscured the main point that someone shot and killed an unarmed teenager, and I began today’s program with a sincere and heartfelt apology to anyone I may have offended by my crusade to warn minority families of the danger to their young sons inherent in gangsta style clothing; like hoodies.

Keep in mind that he's still not repentant in his belief that hoodies are "gangsta" clothes, or that he feels that Martin was asking for trouble in wearing a hooded sweatshirt while being a black male. But I think this is as good as it's going to get, folks.

[Earlier: Geraldo Rivera, Semi-Officially U of A's Most Embarrasing Alumnus?]

Big news out of the State Capitol today. From The Arizona Republic:

The bill failed in the Senate on a 13-17 vote, but House Bill 2625 is not dead. Barto fought unsuccessfully for her bill, and then vowed to bring it back for a revote.

"Religious freedom is under serious attack, and heathcare is the latest venue for that attack," Barto said. "HB 2625 does not remove Arizona's contraception mandate, but provides a much more meaningful exemption for religious exceptions. ... Even Jesus, under Obama's definition of a religious employer, would not qualify because he served people of other faith," she said. Asked if the bill is about healthcare or entirely about religion, she said, "This is definitely about the fight to preserve our religious freedom and our First Amendment guaranteed-right for freedom of religion.

[azcentral.com]

Yes, there was a time when Nine Inch Nails weren't too-cool-for-school soundtrack creators, nearly invisible to the promotional process of the modern music industry. Instead, they were lipsyncing on a show called Dance Party USA and Trent Reznor had his hair in a ponytail.

You might not have actually realized that the Major League Baseball regular season actually kicked off in Japan last night (especially since Spring Training is still going on here in the States), but the Mariners' 3-1 extra-inning victory over the Oakland A's was also a nice win for Tucsonan/former bartender at The Hut Tom Wilhelmsen, who put in two innings of no-hit work in relief of starter Felix Hernandez. For more on Wilhelmsen's improbable story, check out a great ESPN feature from last year which includes a mention of the Magic Carpet tiki statue in the lede.

Brilliantly, Major League Baseball prohibits the embedding of game highlights, but if you'd like to see Wilhelmsen in action, head to the Mariners' website, which has a story on his enjoyment of Tokyo and a brief clip of his relief work.

There's still time to register for the first annual event, "Let's Get Better Together: A Quality Look at Behavioral Health Care in Arizona."

The April 6 forum at Sheraton Tucson Hotels and Suites will discuss building a health care system for those who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Queer, according to a press release from the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona.

Also in the press release:

According to Healthy People 2020, research suggests that LGBT individuals face health disparities linked to social stigma, discrimination and denial of their civil and human rights. Discrimination against LGBT persons has been associated with high rates of psychiatric disorders, substance abuse and suicide.

The event will feature keynote speaker, Susan Stryker, who is the director of the UA's LGBTQ institute.

March 31 is the last day to register for the April 6 event.

In the nature of journalism collaboration, here is the story done by Roque Planas, a young reporter from Fox News Latino who was just in Tucson to cover this event.

Why, you may wonder, would I post something from a News Corps. outlet on the Weekly? Well, TW's Mari Herreras was among Roque's main resources for backgrounding the his coming series. Contributor Julian Ybarra also spent nearly three days working with Planas as the camera guy.

Read on...
——————————————-
Arizona Official Considers Targeting Mexican American Studies in University
By Roque Planas, Fox News Latino

An Arizona official who led the effort to suspend Mexican American studies from Tucson public schools is considering taking his fight to the state university system.

Arizona’s superintendent of schools, John Huppenthal, says Tucson’s suspended Mexican American studies curricula teaches students to resent Anglos, and that the university program that educated the public school teachers is to blame.

“I think that’s where this toxic thing starts from, the universities,” Arizona Superintendent of Schools John Huppenthal said in an interview with Fox News Latino.

Read More here.