A bill that aimed to give Tucson a sense of closure after the January 2011 shooting died last week and there have been no shortage of reminders for Tucson about community violence in the days following.

A heap of records came out of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday; former mayoral candidate Shaun McClusky is garnering national attention for attempt to curb community violence by handing out shotguns in high-crime neighborhoods; and on March 22 the University of Arizona had its own shooting scare.

HB 2570, by Rep. Ethan Orr (R-Tucson) and Rep. Victoria Steele (D-Tucson) aimed to increase community awareness of mental health issues by taking $250,000 from the general fund to expand the Arizona Department of Health Services’ Mental Health First Aid program.

The bill passed out of the House (54-4) smoothly, but it didn’t get on the agenda for the Senate Health and Human Services Committee in time because the committee's chair, Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, didn't like the bill's cost. Orr said he met Barto, R-Phoenix, and chatted about her concerns. Orr said he was willing to amend the bill so that it was only a symbolic call to support for more mental health awareness in hopes of hammering out more funding for the program in coming budget talks.

The only trick was that there wasn’t enough time to get that amendment in, Orr said, so he offered to make changes by the time the bill got to the Senate Appropriations Committee. After talking with Barto, Orr and Steele got consent from everyone on the committee to add the bill to the agenda late. Because of the bill's tardiness to the agenda all committee members had to approve in order to hear the bill.

Everyone was on board until it came time to actually hear the bill.

In committee, Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix, asked if the bill had been amended and since it hadn’t she asked if she could pull her consent. Sen. Judy Burges, R-Sun City West, followed suit, effectively killing the bill.

Orr called Yee’s decision to withdraw “a surprising breach of protocol.” He said he thinks it is possible that she withdrew her consent because of personal reasons over one of her bills that they didn’t see eye to eye on. He said he wished that she had spoken to him before it came time to hear the bill.

Yee said it wasn’t personal and that it was just because there wasn’t an amendment and she thought there was going to be one. She said she pulled her consent because she was honoring Barto’s decision to not hear the bill while it had a fiscal impact.

Oddly though, Barto said she wanted to hear the bill and move it on to Appropriations. During the committee, Barto tried to appease Yee by suggesting they do a verbal amendment and pointed out that the whole reason the bill is assigned to Appropriations is because it involves money and that the fiscal impact could be cut out in that committee.

Barto’s take on Yee’s explanation that she was standing by her?

“I guess she doesn’t want to give you any other information about it,” Barto said.

“You know there is nothing you can do when members object and you need to have their cooperation to have a bill heard. I’m not going to impune my members.”

While the bill may be done, Orr and Steele are still seeking out ways to bring the idea back and insist the effort is far from finished.

The setback hit Orr much harder than he expected.

Orr was visibly shaken the day after the bill was sacked. He was emotional when Tucson Weekly first spoke to him about what happened, noting that he needed to take time to compose himself, stating that it was “Gabby’s bill.”

Orr said he could almost barely function after the bill was bumped because of how personal his attachment to it had become.

“Many people from Southern Arizona, myself included, saw this as a way to help people get closure for what happened and to do our small part to make sure it never happens again,” Orr said.

Orr said he doesn’t think Yee understood the emotional meaning the bill had for those in Southern Arizona.

“We all suffer from PTSD a little bit,” Orr said. “These were our friends. I didn’t start out emotionally attached to this bill, I thought it was good policy, bipartisan and I love it, but it became to me my way of honoring my friends that were dead.”

Folks, the votes have been counted, celebrities have been eliminated, and we're finally ready to move our Tucson Weekly Celebrity Showdown Round of 16 — just in time for the Wildcats to play in today's Sweet Sixteen game against Ohio State today.

We totally planned it this way.

So, who's going to be moving on to the next round, and who will be heading back to their lovely homes, hanging their heads in defeat?

This time 'round, we've got former Wildcat, local business owner and current NBA star Derrick Williams taking on world-renowned, locally-grown music legend Linda Ronstadt; UA men's basketball coach Sean Miller (whose stock might be affected by the results of today's game) against Olympic swimming medalist and swimsuit model Amanda Beard; Today show host Savannah Guthrie against Arizona football head coach Rich Rodriguez; retired astronaut (and narrow victor over the Ooh-Aah Man!) Mark Kelly against culinary superstar Janos Wilder; former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords against local purveyor of fine dining Mr. An; college basketball coaching legend Lute Olson against Tucson's weather superstar Chuck George; Arizona Wildcats softball superstar Jennie Finch against former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona; and the woman responsible for the mid-'90s avalanche of sparkly, rainbow-covered goods, Lisa Frank taking on champion of natural eating and health, Andrew Weil.

So who ya got, Tucson? Voting for this round ends next week — by then, we'll see who's made it to the Round of Eight, and who'll be consoling themselves drinking one of our finely crafted local brews.

Vote here!

For once it would be great to travel outside Arizona and not have folks look at you in pity when you tell them you're from Arizona. Even saying you're from Tucson doesn't offer much coverage in terms of pity, extreme empathy or sadness. I'm not sure what it is, but perhaps Shaun McClusky's not-so-brilliant scheme is simply to make sure his political future is now sealed with the crazies. (Read Jim Nintzel's recent post here.)

Today, Thursday, March 28 at 11 a.m. there's a press conference at the South Tucson City Hall, 1601 South 16th Ave. with Mayor Jennifer Ekstrom, joined by Daniel Hernandez, Jr., Pam Simon, Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, and Jocelyn Strauss, head of the newly formed Tucson chapter of Moms Demand Action.

More than 100 events across the country are planned for today, Thursday, March 28 as part of the National Day to Demand Action to end gun violence organized by Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

A bi-national team of researchers from 13 institutions conducted interviews in six Mexican cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. The information from their interviews and surveys are part of a new study to be released today during a press conference in the UA Marshall Building, Room 311, on Park Avenue and University Boulevard, 10 a.m.

From the press release:

Tucson, Arizona—On Thursday, March 28th, researchers from the University of Arizona will be presenting a groundbreaking new study that answers key questions about immigration and border security. The study surveyed over 1,100 deportees and explores their experiences crossing into the U.S., being apprehended by U.S. authorities, and returned to Mexico. Each survey contained 250 questions and took about one hour to administer with randomly selected individuals at ports of entry and in migrant shelters in Mexico. The bi-national team of researchers from 13 institutions conducted interviews in six Mexican cities all along the U.S. Mexico border. The study’s methodologically rigorous statistics shed light on:

Who is being deported?
Family ties
Work and life history
Intentions to return to the U.S.
What is the crossing experience like?
The trek through the desert
Women’s experiences
Robbery
Kidnapping
Drug Cartels
Labor Exploitation
Payment withheld
Working for less than minimum wage
Debts incurred from crossing the border
Immigration Enforcement and Border Security: Do these programs make the border safer?
Due Process and U.S. Authority Treatment
Operation Streamline
Immigration Detention
Lateral Repatriation (ATEP)
Secure Communities and Interior Enforcement

Come this Friday, after a week of “invitation only” soft-opening days, the new Five Palms Steak and Seafood will be open to the public. The multi-concept operation is located at the previous home of the Terra Cotta Restaurant at 3500 E. Sunrise Drive.

After extensive renovations by owner Nino Aidi, the “three concepts in one building” is complete. There is the main Five Palms Restaurant; Nino’s Bar & Grill; and Dovino’s Wine, Cigar and Gourmet Shop. For hours or further information go to fivepalms.com or call 615-5555 for reservations.

Federal representatives are moving forward with immigration reform.

Congressmen hope to have drafted immigration reform legislature by the end of April. While they originally hoped to have this done by April 8, complexities of workers programs and an equitable visa system have delayed the process, according to CD-3 Rep. Raul Grijalva.

An accelerated DREAM Act, family unification, strengthening the border and improving the trade and commerce relationships with neighboring countries are priorities in the discussion, Grijalva said, as well as a workers program and equity in issuing visas.

Equity in visa distribution refers to a concern that has come up with proposals to issue visas based on people's expertise. These proposals would benefit those with high-tech skills, but create disadvantages to those without.

"As much as I admire the college educated and the technical expertise that they might bring to this nation...I don't think we should sacrifice the historic character of visas, which is family unification, in order to shift that to them. But that's a big demand that my Republican colleagues are making," Grijalva said.

An accelerated DREAM Act would allow students to go through an accelerated citizenship process rather than having to wait as long as others applying for permanent residency.

Yesterday, Grijalva spoke about the direction immigration reform was taking, at a meeting hosted by Border Action Network at The Pueblo Center in the south side of Tucson. Attendees were able to voice their concerns and ask the congressman questions about immigration reform.

Grijalva emphasized that the legislation wouldn't be perfect and wouldn't satisfy everyone's needs. The request for border security has been consistent in the discussion and will likely be part of reform, he added. An audience member questioned the need for more militarization of the border and what the cost of strengthening security would be.

"At the end of the day a decision needs to be made and that's the step where I'm preparing myself because I know at the end of the day it won't be entirely what I want but I also have to think what will [positively] affect the maximum amount of people," Grijalva said in Spanish.

Tea Leaves, which was self-published earlier this year by Tucson author Andrew Sandner, features 50 life lessons, each accompanied by short prose and an illustration, drawn by Victoria Hollins. After finding its way to the Weekly's booth at this year's festival of books, we caught up with Sandner to find out how Tea Leaves came to be.

What was the inspiration for Tea Leaves?

Originally, the inspiration for the book came from wanting to help kids gain the confidence and mental courage to standup to bullying, or at the very least, to shrug bullying off if it happened to them. But it morphed into a manual on prosperity and becoming a well refined person thanks to a book I had been reading (and still read) called The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian. Gracian's blunt, Machiavellian prose inspired the writing style. I wanted the book to be aesthetically pleasing as well, and that's where John Tenniel's art in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland provided the inspiration for the illustrations. I wanted to capture that "cartoonish/Victorian-esque" feel that helped catapult Carroll's wonderful story into the children's classic it is, and will forever be.

Is this your first self-published book?

Yes.

What is the self-publishing process like?

Self-publishing is a lot of fun, but a lot of hard work. You wouldn't think it so; write and print, right? But everything is up to the self-publisher. Writing, editing, layout, formatting, print decisions, cover design, web-design, social media presence, promotion, etc. Obviously you can hire out some of these jobs, which is recommended, especially when it comes to editing, and web-design if you have no experience, but it is up to you to actually get it done one way or another! I am told that self-publishing is becoming more popular than traditional publishing amongst traditionally published authors these days because of the amount of control the author has on the process now. I would say to anyone who is thinking about self-publishing to go for it. Jump in with both feet and learn all you can about the process. Once your book is in print, it becomes part of your legacy, and consequently part of literary history forever. And that is pretty cool to me.

• Eddie Basha

The Basha family released this statement yesterday:

It's with the heaviest of hearts that my family and I share news we'd hoped never to have to share: Eddie passed away today.

We want to share with you just how much Eddie loved Bashas', its members and its customers. From our earliest childhood, he always reinforced to us the importance of our members and giving back to our community. Some of his fondest times were being with Bashas' members and customers, whether at the office, the Distribution Center or in the stores.

To us, and to many of you, Eddie was always larger than life, and he gave his heart and soul to Bashas' Family of Stores. Ironically, Eddie never saw himself that way. He considered himself to be a Bashas' member, no different than any other, and he considered all Bashas' members to be a part of his family.

During Eddie's lifetime, he faced many challenges, the last few years being among the most challenging. But his desire to serve the people of the state he loved so well, and to take care of the members that he cared for so much, always gave him strength in the face of adversity.

It is our collective strength that has seen us through difficult days. This strength will continue to move us forward, even though we have suffered such a tragic loss. As a family, we want to thank you for your devotion, thoughts and prayers.

Bill Roe, chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, remembers Basha's many contributions:

We are all saddened by the death of Eddie Basha. Eddie’s life was a wonderful example of kindness, generosity and humor. He liked to refer to himself as your “friendly neighborhood grocer,” but he was so much more. Eddie was a champion of education. The entire state of Arizona benefited from Eddie and his wife Nadine's unwavering dedication to improving our education system. We wish to convey our sympathy and prayers to Eddie’s family. Tonight we all mourn the loss of an Arizona giant.

Gov. Jan Brewer remembers that he was "genuine in his beliefs and a gentleman in his actions":

• Image courtesy of Shutterstock

This story was co-produced with NPR.

Imagine filing your income taxes in five minutes — and for free. You'd open up a pre-filled return, see what the government thinks you owe, make any needed changes and be done. The miserable annual IRS shuffle, gone.

It's already a reality in Denmark, Sweden and Spain. The government-prepared return would estimate your taxes using information your employer and bank already send it. Advocates say tens of millions of taxpayers could use such a system each year, saving them a collective $2 billion and 225 million hours in prep costs and time, according to one estimate.

The idea, known as "return-free filing," would be a voluntary alternative to hiring a tax preparer or using commercial tax software. The concept has been around for decades and has been endorsed by both President Ronald Reagan and a campaigning President Obama.

"This is not some pie-in-the-sky that's never been done before," said William Gale, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. "It's doable, feasible, implementable, and at a relatively low cost."

So why hasn't it become a reality?

Well, for one thing, it doesn't help that it's been opposed for years by the company behind the most popular consumer tax software — Intuit, maker of TurboTax. Conservative tax activist Grover Norquist and an influential computer industry group also have fought return-free filing.

Intuit has spent about $11.5 million on federal lobbying in the past five years — more than Apple or Amazon. Although the lobbying spans a range of issues, Intuit's disclosures pointedly note that the company "opposes IRS government tax preparation."

The disclosures show that Intuit as recently as 2011 lobbied on two bills, both of which died, that would have allowed many taxpayers to file pre-filled returns for free. The company also lobbied on bills in 2007 and 2011 that would have barred the Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, from initiating return-free filing.

Intuit argues that allowing the IRS to act as a tax preparer could result in taxpayers paying more money. It is also a member of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which sponsors a "STOP IRS TAKEOVER" campaign and a website calling return-free filing a "massive expansion of the U.S. government through a big government program."

In an emailed statement, Intuit spokeswoman Julie Miller said, "Like many other companies, Intuit actively participates in the political process." Return-free programs curtail citizen participation in the tax process, she said, and also have "implications for accuracy and fairness in taxation." (Here is Intuit's full statement.)

In its latest annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, however, Intuit also says that free government tax preparation presents a risk to its business.

Roughly 25 million Americans used TurboTax last year, and a recent GAO analysis said the software accounted for more than half of individual returns filed electronically. TurboTax products and services made up 35 percent of Intuit's $4.2 billion in total revenues last year. Versions of TurboTax for individuals and small businesses range in price from free to $150.

(H&R Block, whose tax filing product H&R Block At Home competes with TurboTax, declined to discuss return-free filing with ProPublica. The company's disclosure forms state that it also has lobbied on at least one bill related to return-free filing.)

If by the end of 2013 you still can’t get enough of watching humanity meet its untimely end for the price of an admission ticket, first, you really need to kick that morbid habit, and second, you can rejoice in the fact that Independence Day director Roland Emmerich has announced not one, but two follow-ups to his 1996 blockbuster.

To refresh your memory, Independence Day ended with an oh-so-patriotic victory over a hostile alien race, but not before they burned every major city on Earth to the ground and did some other unnecessary, totally un-American things, like shoot strippers with ray beams and try to kill Will Smith.

The sequels, ID Forever Part 1 and ID Forever Part 2 - passing on the clearly superior title Independence Day: Forever Ever (Forever Ever?!) - pick up 20 years after the first film, when alien reinforcements respond to a distress call conveniently sent by the first wave of attackers before they were exterminated.

Emmerich spared a few plot details to Entertainment Weekly: