On Friday, Sept. 21, Weekly World Central noted the same-day deadline for court-appointed desegregation special master Willis Hawley's deseg plan came and went, while U.S. District Court Judge David C. Bury had yet to respond to a Sept. 19 extension request from all parties involved in the process.

Observers noted to the Range that the lack of response from Bury said a lot — that maybe he wasn't too happy being asked to give the process more time after the last order made it pretty clear this was it.

Yesterday, Bury shot all that chisme down when he issued an order with a whole new set of deadlines that take this process into December.

Here's the order:

MENDOZA___F__9_24_12__Order.pdf

New deadlines:

Nov. 1, Hawley will provide all parties with a revised version of proposed plan, and because of public comment requirements, objections from the parties has to be prepared and mailed to translators for Spanish translation by Nov. 1.

Nov. 9, Hawley's plan and the objections have to be filed with the court in English and in Spanish and simultaneously released to the public. Until this time, the proposal, objections and negotiations continue to remain privileged and confidential.

Nov. 28, the state can file any objection re: Mexican-American studies classes, "if such a component is included" in the plan.

Nov. 26-28, the plan will be made available for public review and comment at each school and on-line, with public hearings occurring during this time period.

Dec. 10, the revised plan will be filed with the court, identifying any changes, if any are made during public comment process.

Dec. 14, state and parties file responses to any objections and changes made to the plan during the public comment process.

"It is further ordered that there SHALL BE NO FURTHER EXTENSIONS OF TIME."

Fin.

According to a press release from those fine folks at the U.S. Labor Department's OSHA, the U.S. Postal Service processing and distribution center in Tucson was cited for a safety violation for the "improper operation of a powered industrial truck."

Slam.

OSHA delivered a $70,000 "proposed penalty" to the post office:

Press release:

OSHA’s investigation of the facility, located at 1501 S. Cherrybell Stravenue, was prompted by a complaint that an untrained, uncertified supervisor had operated a powered industrial truck during an evening shift. The truck, which is used to move large quantities of mail, requires training and certification to operate. When two of three certified truck operators did not report for their shift, a supervisor without training or certification operated the truck, exposing workers to potential injuries. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

“Training and certification for powered trucks is required to prevent injuries and save lives, and it should be a top safety priority for all USPS facilities,” said Zachary Barnett, director of OSHA’s Phoenix Area Office.

Violations of OSHA’s powered industrial truck standard are among the top five types of violations most commonly cited by OSHA in fiscal year 2012.

The U.S. Postal Service has 15 business days from receipt of its citation and penalty to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Phoenix office at 602-514-7250.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

At Madonna's concert in Washington, D.C. last night, she had a very important voting message: Re-elect for the Black Muslim in the White House.

The kicker here is that there is not currently an elected black Muslim in the White House. Just some guy named Barack.

From a video of her performance posted on Gawker:

For better or for worse, alright, we have a Black Muslim in the White House, okay?

Oh boy. The Hill has a bit more:

“You all better vote for f—-ing Obama okay,” she told the crowd at Washington's Verizon center.

Later in the show, Madonna took off her shirt and pulled down her pants to show she had “OBAMA” written in all capital letters across her lower back.

“When Obama is in the White House for a second term I'll take it all off,” she said to cheers and whistles from the audience.

Oh Madonna. I know that you long for better, more controversial, more lucrative times, but validating something that's been thoroughly debunked time and time again probably isn't the way to do it.

For video of her ranting, check out Gawker.

For more of The Hill's coverage, check them out here.

Considering how prevalent bicycle theft in this town, it makes sense that we should take a bit of time to figure out why so many bikes disappear from their rightful owners. While there are a number of good reasons (aside from "bike thieves are joyless, soulless humans with unsatisfying lives"), Priceonomics decided to take a look into why thieves make the effort to run off with people's t/rusty steeds.

It seems as if stealing bikes shouldn’t be a lucrative form of criminal activity. Used bikes aren’t particularly liquid or in demand compared to other things one could steal (phones, electronics, drugs). And yet, bikes continue to get stolen so they must be generating sufficient income for thieves. What happens to these stolen bikes and how to they get turned into criminal income?

. . .

Criminal activity (especially crime with a clear economic incentive like theft) could therefore be modeled like any financial decision on a risk reward curve. If you are going to take big criminal risk, you need to expect a large financial reward. Crimes that generate more reward than the probability weighted cost of getting caught create expected value for the criminal. Criminals try to find “free lunches” where they can generate revenue with little risk. The government should respond by increasing the penalty for that activity so that the market equilibrates and there is an “optimal” amount of crime.

. . .

Bike thievery is essentially a risk-free crime. If you were a criminal, that might just strike your fancy. If Goldman Sachs didn’t have more profitable market inefficencies to exploit, they might be out there arbitraging stolen bikes.

Ooh, burn.

For more, including where profiles of bike thieves and where they tend to fence their ill-gotten goods, take a look at Priceonomics.

[Priceonomics - What Happens To Stolen Bicycles?]

Talk about a complete metamorphosis of Tucson's downtown. Driving around down there the other day I couldn't believe how many buildings have gone up and how few empty storefronts there are. It almost looks like, shudder, a real city down there.

We all have our own opinions about these things, but one thing is for sure: The progress appears to know no limit. I've been writing about food for the Tucson Weekly for close to four years now and it seems like every other week there's some new bar or restaurant making a go if it downtown.

The newest tidbit I've picked up is what looks like the preliminary work for a new restaurant in spaces at 312 and 300 E. Congress Street, where those science exhibits have been for the past year or more. A liquor license has been applied for under the name Proper, and it's a Series 12 license, which is for restaurants.

We'll let you know more when we know more.

I finally got a chance to see Iron Sky last night—and it's the most looney bit of cinema I've seen since Bubba Ho-Tep. The description from The Loft:

"In 1945 The Nazis Went To The Moon. In 2018 They Are Coming Back."

In the last moments of World War II, a secret Nazi space program evaded destruction by fleeing to the Dark Side of the Moon. During 70 years of utter secrecy, the Nazis construct a gigantic space fortress with a massive armada of flying saucers. When American astronaut James Washington (Christopher Kirby) puts down his Lunar Lander a bit too close to the secret Nazi base, the Moon Führer (Udo Kier) decides the glorious moment of retaking the Earth has arrived sooner than expected. Two Nazi officers, ruthless Klaus Adler (Götz Otto) and idealistic Renate Richter (Julia Dietze), travel to Earth to prepare for the ultimate invasion. As the final hour looms closer and the Moon Nazi UFO armada darkens the skies, ready to strike at the unprepared Earth, every man, woman and nation alike, must re-evaluate their priorities. Can the Earth possibly survive this all-out attack by the Moon Nazis? See the SS sci-fi action/comedy extravaganza of the year and find out for yourself!

There are a lot of influences in this movie, including Dr. Strangelove, Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, Game Change, the Ilsa film series and even a little bit of The Watermelon Man. All I can say is that I got a big kick out of it. The run at the Loft ends on Thursday night, so you've only got a few more nights to check it out on the big screen.

We've done a bit of reporting on the efforts of Arizonans for a Brighter Future to knock out the incumbents on the Pima County Board of Supervisors here and here. To recap: ABF is a non-profit business league funded with dark money and headed up by developer Mike Farley, who is unhappy with the current Board of Supervisors and Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.

ABF is now funding Restoring Pride in Pima County, a political committee that is presenting a series of web videos called "The Pima Bunch." The debut episode, which you can watch above, promises to reveal a web of cronyism behind the power structure in Pima County.

We'll see how persuasive this particular effort turns out to be. The key race is District 3, where Republican Tanner Bell wants to defeat Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson. Bell's most recent campaign-finance report showed that he didn't have much money to get his message out, but new reports are due this week. In the meantime, Arizonans for a Brighter Future is hoping to do at least some of Bell's work for him by attempting to drive up Bronson's negatives.

Speaking of potentially skewed polling, I present to you Unskewedpolls.com, where EVERY SINGLE POLL has Mitt Romney beating Barack Obama.

The source to each poll leads back to articles written for The Examiner — which will allow basically anyone with a keyboard to write for them so long as they have something to say. It's not unlike the sports news site/slideshow depository Bleacher Report which is regularly filled with enough hyperbolic shouting and misguided thinking that I'm surprised Bravo hasn't given it a show yet.

More interestingly, the writer for each story debunking the polls (Dean Chambers) is the same guy running Unskewedpolls.com.

So not only is he "unskewing" the polls that show Romney to be losing by working them out in a way that shows Romney to be ahead, but he's reporting the stories and citing his own work as his proof of the bias.

The best part for a guy debunking the myths and biases of polling is that he is using OTHER POLLS from Rasmussen Reports to "unskew" the polls he doesn't approve of — and Rasmussen's polls are the only polls that he hasn't "unskewed."

So, in the end, he's doesn't appear to be much different than a snake eating his own tail, while ignoring a mouse that he could actually feast on if he wanted.

Talk about skewed logic.

Casey Chimneystar Condit was about 13 years old when she began to question her sexuality. And like so many LGBT teens, Condit was afraid to voice those questions to her family.

One of Condit’s closest friends spoke to her about a youth-support group at Wingspan, Southern Arizona’s LGBT community center. “My friend told me about her experience going to the support group,” Condit said. “I started feeling the rumbling of bravery in myself, and I decided to try to go, too.”

After a lot of effort, Condit defeated her fears and finally attended one of the meetings. More than 15 years after taking that first step, Condit is now Wingspan’s acting director of programs.

“She is one of Wingspan’s many success stories,” said Cynthia Garcia, a member of the Wingspan dinner committee.

Wingspan has been around for about 24 years. The organization offers a safe haven for LGBT people who have been victims of bullying, are homeless or who don’t have support from their families. Some of the services the organization provides include anti-violence programs, the Homeless Youth Project, the Eon Youth Program and Senior Pride.

The 14th annual Wingspan Dinner will help raise funds for those services. “Another purpose for the dinner is community-building,” Garcia said, “for everyone to come together and celebrate the accomplishments of the LGBT community and our allied community.”

The dinner features David Morden of the Rogue Theatre as emcee; a performance by Palm Springs, Calif.-based comedian Shann Carr; and a keynote address by Susan Stryker, the author of many books on LGBT topics, including Transgender History. She is also a professor at the University of Arizona.

During the event, Wingspan also will announce the winners of its Community Awards. Dancing and casino games will follow the dinner

“I hope people who attend the event take away tremendous memories of a joyful night,” Condit said. “I hope they take away the message that Wingspan is a thriving organization working to grow in a sphere that we need the community to be a part of.”

Admission is $125; purchase tickets before Tuesday, Sept. 25, by calling 624-1779. The dinner takes place at 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 29, at the JW Marriot Starr Pass Resort and Spa, 3800 W. Starr Pass Blvd.

For those of you have been waiting to find out what the best things in Tucson are, we've got you covered.

This week's issue is the 26th annual Best of Tucson®, where we'll be announcing the best that the Old Pueblo has to offer as decided by both our readers and our staffers.

But we know that many of you hate waiting — you DEMAND to know where you should be going to get great Chinese food, jewelry, books and tortillas, and you need that information today.

Well, we've got your back there, too. In the lead up to the official Thursday release of BoT 2012, we're leaking bits of the best on our Facebook page. Interested in seeing what's there and finding out how to get more results? Then make your way over, and we'll do our best to satiate you 'til the full issue is released later this week.

[Facebook—Tucson Weekly]