Thanks to the odd storm that seems to be sweeping through Tucson and Southern Arizona right now, the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality has issued an "air quality advisory."

What that means is that, if you have sensitive lungs or heart disease, you may not want to venture outside unless you've got a handy-dandy breathing mask on to filter out the various particulates that are streaming through our skies right now.

On the bright side, hey, we've got rain coming tomorrow. So that's cool, if you're into being wet and kinda cold.

The Arizona Republic digs through CPS emails that reveal an agency that is struggling to meet demand as the number of foster kids hit an all-time high:

State officials acknowledge a current-year CPS budget gap of up to $35 million, about $27 million of it because of the growing number of foster kids and the need to place more children in group homes and shelters.

The state has seen a 25 percent increase in the number of kids in foster care this past year, hitting a record 14,500 children last month, as worker caseloads continue to be two and three times state and national standards. The influx and a shortage of foster homes mean more children are living in group homes and shelters, which cost the state up to four times as much as placing kids in foster homes.

Officials maintain the shortfall has not led to any reduction in services to families, including supervised visits and parent-aide services. They say the budget gap will be filled with $20 million in federal block-grant funding intended for a variety of social services.

But internal memos and interviews with service providers, attorneys and others show parents and children are limited to one visit per week even though Maricopa County Juvenile Court judges routinely ordered two visits weekly for babies and children 3 and younger.

CPS also has drastically reduced the use of parent aides, who had been supervising most weekly parent-child visits. That task that now falls to CPS case managers and assistants, known as case aides, even as the number of foster children continues to rise.

“It’s true that there’s no reduction in dollars, but there is a reduction in services if you look at the fact that everybody isn’t able to get services,” said Ron Carpio, a vice president for TERROS, which runs the Families FIRST substance-abuse program in Maricopa County. “They can’t keep up with the visits.”

So while out finalizing my Holiday shopping, I decided to warm up with a cup of coffee. I stopped into Black Crown Coffee Co. at 4024 E. Speedway, formerly The Safehouse Espresso Bar. I visited “The Safehouse” once or twice when it was under that name. Back then it was dirty, smoky, and scary! Black Crown Coffee Co. on the other hand is clean and inviting. The decorum I would describe as “urban barnyard” with chicken wire around the staircase and barn red pain on the paneling. Also knowing that this place has an almost cult like following that volunteered many hours to do the refurbishing work (as mentioned here) makes it even more welcoming. There was a noticeable influx of regulars while I sat there for sure, greeting everyone and knowing each other by name. Also local artist’s work is given wall space, which is another thing that I found endearing.

The coffee was good. I can’t say it blew me away, but in all honesty, it takes a lot to do so. My disappointment was the service. I asked the barista where his beans came from, (I like to know such things, I’m a nerd like that) and he gave me a look of apathy and pointed a thumb at the bean roasting machine over his shoulder and said, “Right there”. Uh, really? So I clarified my question and still received a very abbreviated answer. Ok not much of a talker, fine. I’m used to receiving a cappuccino is a white porcelain mug of some variety, so I was a bit taken back that it came in a tall white paper cup. In this day of eco-awareness and the proximity to the University I would think they might try to save some trees?

For a place with free Wi-Fi, the ability to get various caffeinated concoctions, and some upstairs lounging couches this place isn’t too shabby.

Ever since they stopped showing Emmy-winner Will Vinton's A Claymation Christmas Celebration on TV each holiday season, I've felt a little lost without a televised holiday special to call my own. However, any network TV Christmas special which includes the line "He needs a penis" and possibly includes racing vibrators is bound to be a perennial favorite for the Gibson family. Well, maybe not the whole family, but definitely me.

Because I am a terrible person, I don't generally find myself all that interested in stories about the environment. Yes, I try to do the right sort of things — reusing, recycling, I've been known to carpool and use public transportation, we bought a high MPG car, etc. — but I tune out a bit when the news switches over to news of that sort. I hope the world doesn't collapse upon itself during my lifetime or that of my children, but I also have a remarkably short attention span when it comes to that stuff. Again, I realize this is a fault of mine.

So, I wasn't terribly interested in seeing Chasing Ice, a documentary about the melting of the ice caps opening at the Loft this weekend, but geez, watching this footage of a chunk of iceberg nearly the size of Manhattan break off is pretty compelling film-making, right?

Despite what you may have heard on the radio, Tucson City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich is not opening a restaurant in Louisiana.

“I’m not opening a restaurant in New Orleans and I don’t live there or own any property there,” says Uhlich, whose second term on the Tucson City Council comes to an end in 2013.

The New Orleans restaurant rumor was a big topic of discussion on the morning radio show of right-wing provocateur Garret Lewis.

Uhlich, who has not yet said whether she’ll seek re-election to the Ward 3 seat, has been doing some work in the New Orleans area—and she says she has been doing that for years.

Uhlich heads up the Center for Economic Integrity, a non-profit organization she founded after leaving her job running the Primavera Foundation, a local non-profit dedicated to helping Pima County’s homeless.

Apparently, management at the Kansas City Star doesn't want to have the blood on their hands regarding the firing of one of two reporters.

According to a report from media-watchdog Jim Romenesko's blog, reporters Karen Dillon and Dawn Bormann have been told that one of them has to go, and that they have to make the decision. From the story:

“Dillon has seniority, so she has the option of taking it or not taking it,” says a KCConfidential.com source. “And if she does, Dawn gets laid off. Dawn’s a great person but I think Karen will vote in favor of herself because she’s got teenage kids at home.”

An interesting thing to note is that Dillon is apparently the person who originally broke the news of the public indecency arrest of Paul "Pee-Wee Herman" Rubens back in 1991, recognizing his name while scanning through the police blotter in Sarasota, Fla.

Here's to hoping that this "Hunger Games"-like exercise comes to an amicable end soon.

Later today, we'll reveal the final Get Out of Town! roster—including a healthy, if at times unhinged, dose of reader submissions.

We were only able to run a fraction of the reader submissions in the package, so to whet your figurative whistle, here are a few more submissions.

People Who Text While Driving
I want everyone who texts, talks, plays games, looks for directions or does anything to do with a cell phone or electronic device while driving to Get Out of Town! You know who you are, and you probably would have killed or maimed me by now if I weren't so diligent in my determination to not let any such thing happen to me. I don't have a car, so I walk and ride my bike, and I would like to prevent myself or anyone else in the vulnerable position of having to travel on Tucson streets with little protection from getting hurt! So Get Out of Town, mindless and inconsiderate electronic-device-while-driving-users!
—Vicky Murphy

The Arizona Daily Star
This is another example of how low the Daily Star has sunk. I was getting it on the weekends only and was informed that we "weekenders" had to pay for and receive the Wednesday newspaper as well. It's not that the Star had any special journalistic issues in the Wednesday edition; we had to buy it because there were more ads in that edition. They are like the beer companies who try to improve sales by creating gimmicks for their containers, instead of improving their product. One can even compare the Daily Star to John McCain: They have both deteriorated so much over the years that they have become sad shells of what they once were.

—Dave Rollins

Non-Arizonan Wannabe Politicians
There have been too many politicians or wannabes lately who are not even Arizonans. The two prime examples are Frank Antenori and Martha McSally. Antenori moved here and ran for office immediately. How could he possibly know what the citizens in our community wanted or needed? As the results of the recent election show, we don't want his bloviating obstructionism, radical-right pandering and blowhard bullying.

Similarly, McSally came straight from many years spent in Germany and ran for office on arrival. She didn't have a clue about Arizona reality. Obviously, these people and their ilk are recruited by outside interest groups to infiltrate our state and to thwart our local concerns and priorities.

Voters should mandate a minimum residency for candidates. Out-of-town politicians: Get Out of Town!

—Sandra Almasy

Last night, the Range talked with Sylvia Campoy, the Mendoza representative for the district's decades old desegregation complaint (Fisher-Mendoza v.Tucson Unified School District) after last night's TUSD governing board meeting, where she said she was floating and even turned around to say thank you to the board as she left the board room.

Why, you ask?

One of last night's items for the board's regular agenda was, “Fisher-Mendoza v. Tucson Unified School District — Approval of or Objection to the Proposed Unitary Status Plan/Consent Decree.”

When it came up, board member Mark Stegeman read a board resolution approving of the unitary status plan. What he was referring to was the latest incarnation of the plan put together by deseg special master Willis Hawley and released Monday, Dec. 10.

However, Stegeman also wanted to add to the agenda the district's objection, as well as a list of other objections.
Board member Adelita Grijalva said during the meeting that she would really like to vote yes on the deseg plan, because there are a lot of items in the plan she agrees with, but she could not do that if the objection to culturally relevant core courses remained in Stegeman's motion before the board.

Board president Miguel Cuevas asked Stegeman if he was willing to split his motion in half, first bringing forth a motion on the deseg plan before them, then bringing second motion on the objections.

Stegeman agreed. The board voted 5-0 to approve the unitary status plan — keep in mind the plan, with objections still filed with U.S. District Court Judge David Bury remain and the plan must go through final approval before Bury. That's the next step.

Stegeman then brought the second motion regarding the objections; namely, the objection that the TUSD legal team filed last month against the MAS classes being returned as core curriculum classes for literature and social studies.

That resolution was defeated 3-2, with Grijalva, Cuevas and Alexandre Sugiyama voting no, and Michael Hicks and Stegeman voting yes.

But later, after most people in the board room left for the evening — it was a long board meeting that went past 11 p.m. after a long executive session — Stegeman brought the second motion on the objections up for a revote. Hicks asked to go into executive session and when the board came out the second motion returned to the board. This time, the board's vote against the objections was unanimous — 5-0 against, with Hicks and Stegeman changing their vote.

Regarding the first vote, Campoy told the Range it was important became of the message it sends to Bury. “The court is going to know that the vote was 5-0, because let's say it was a 3-2 vote or split, it wouldn't have been as strong,” she said. “It's much more likely the judge is going to back us.”

Why the public change in heart?

“I honestly believe that all of the studies have had a cumulative impact on those three board members. Each of the studies have shown that these courses have had a significant impact on all students — achievement and graduation rates. That's finally reached the level of consciousness. … Something good is going on with these courses. A lot has to be attributed to that,” Campoy said.

“Also people showing up at all of these forums … all of these board meetings saying, 'We want these courses,'” we want these teachers.

But while MAS supporters and others like Campoy are flying high last night and this morning, others looked at Grijalva's Facebook status update posted late last night:

Unfortunately the TUSD board vote tonight regarding Culturally Relevant Courses only voted down an ADDITIONAL objection to CRC's as core classes. The initial objection filed by TUSD still in effect. This issue will be rectified at 1st meeting with new board in January.

So here we are, and where is that? The Range is making a few calls and will have more on the deseg plan this afternoon.

After the jump take a look at a video from Three Sonorans on last night's meeting and vote.

This week, Cynthia and Bobby review Avengers Arena, a book wherein Marvel's youngest heroes are forced to fight each other to the death on a planet called "Murder World."

Man, Marvel has really toned down their stories since that Disney merger.

What's next? Tea parties?

Check out the video and the cover below the jump!