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A firefighter is taking the City of Phoenix to court because of a pasta-related prank gone too far, that he felt led him to be sent to an undesirable gig:

[Frank] Cheatham, a deputy chief shift commander with 24 years on the job, claims he "admonished" supervisors for "specifically, two depictions of a penis and testicles-openly displayed in the workplace at Fire Station 1." This was in November 2009.
Cheatham says the graffiti created a sexually hostile workplace and he "admonished the supervisors at Fire Station 1 that such drawings were inappropriate and would not be tolerated in the future."
Then came the retaliation, Cheatham says in the complaint.
"Soon thereafter, Chief Cheatham received a large brown envelope in interoffice mail containing two small pieces of pasta, one of which resembled a penis and the other of which resembled a vagina.
"The piece of pasta resembling a vagina had Chief Cheatham's first name ('Frank') written on it.
"Soon thereafter, in February of 2010, Chief Cheatham began hearing rumors in the Department that he would be removed from his position as Deputy Chief Shift Commander of South Shift Command.
"In March of 2010, Chief Cheatham was officially informed by telephone by his supervisors at the Phoenix Fire Department that the Department had in fact decided to remove him from his position of Deputy Chief Shift Commander of South Shift Command and involuntarily transfer him to the Department's 'Safety Division.'
"Chief Cheatham's job duties at the Fire Department's 'Safety Division' are undefined, do not involve the supervision of firefighters, do not require him to exercise his management skills, and leave him with little to do all day."

The director of The Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services resigned and an assistant he hired was fired Wednesday after Arizona-Sonora News Service published an article where the new hire said menstrual cycles might be too problematic for women to be in combat.

While Joey Strickland resigned after the article on the new hire, former Tucson lawmaker Terri Proud, a spokesman for the governor’s office said it’s fair to say the Governor’s Office was concerned about her remarks.

"It's fair to say that we voiced concerns regarding our learning of a recent hire of his via the news media,” said Matt Benson, spokesman for the Governor’s Office.

Hiring Proud in the first place went against specific instructions from the Governor’s Office. Benson said the governor had warned Strickland not to hire Proud.

“Col. Strickland was given very specific instructions about a year ago to avoid hiring this individual. He chose to do so anyway and unfortunately that individual’s questionable judgment was on display this week with some ill chosen public remarks regarding women in the military," Benson said.

Benson didn’t say why the Governor’s Office didn’t want Proud hired.

Proud has a reputation for being controversial. She gained national attention during her time in the Legislature for a viral email exchange where she said women who want abortions should have to watch one first.

Proud, whom Strickland hired to start in May as an administrative assistant, told Arizona-Sonora News Service, “Women have certain things during the month I’m not sure they should be out there dealing with. I don’t know how to address that topic in a very diplomatic manner.”

The comment was taken “way out of context,” Proud said.

Proud said the comment wasn’t intended to bash anyone, though that appears to be how the comment was taken. She posted on Facebook that the firing apparently came after activists called the Governor’s Office.

Benson said he didn’t have a feel for whether or not the governor was getting many calls about the issue.

"I don't have a problem with women being on the front line if that's their choice," Proud said. "I'm not going to sit there and say no you don't have that right. I was making a funny comment, ‘What are they going to do?"

How menstrual cycles are handled is a curiosity she has, Proud said, noting that whether or not that hurdle is being addressed is a real issue even if it isn’t talked about. Women are designed differently than men and need to have their needs met on the front lines, she said.

Proud said no one had called her to ask her about the comment, she was just fired.

"For the Governor's Office to do this because of an article that was written is asinine. It's wrong," Proud said.

Strickland said he wasn’t emotionally ready to talk about the job loss yet.

Benson said Gov. Brewer is grateful for Strickland’s service and that the department will now be going in a different direction.

Deputy Director Robert Barnes will be stepping in for Strickland in the interim.

Strickland had been with the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services since 2008, according to his LinkedIn account.

Proud said she is “absolutely devastated,” about losing the job, especially since she fought for women veterans during her time at the Legislature with her bill that created a specialty license plate for female veterans. The license plate doesn’t just raise awareness, she said, but gives money to help homeless female veterans.

—Bethany Barnes is the Don Bolles Fellow for Arizona-Sonora News Service

Late last night, the Bisbee City Council voted in favor of an ordinance in which the city would legally recognize same-sex civil unions, becoming the first city in Arizona to do so.

And state Attorney General Tom Horne, an exemplary champion of the sanctity of marriage, has sworn to fight Bisbee's resolution.

From azcentral.com:

The City Council pushed aside legal warnings from the state’s attorney general and a conservative advocacy group and voted 5-2 to become first city in the state to offer civil-union certificates for all couples that would extend to same-sex partners some of the same rights as married couples within the Bisbee boundaries.

The ordinance, which goes into effect in 30 days, would cover joint property ownership, property inheritance, guardianship and adoption rights.

...

City Attorney John MacKinnon defended the move, saying the civil-union ordinance “does not change state laws” and that the state had no legal standing to fight it.

Arizona voters in 2008 approved a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. However, two years earlier, voters rejected a broader version that would have barred the state and local governments from creating or recognizing “a legal status for unmarried persons that is similar to marriage.”

Horne's response, released prior to the Bisbee vote:

“The ordinance seeks to change seven separate State statutes within the boundaries of the city, dealing with issues such as community property, inheritance of property, and appointment of personal representatives,” Horne said in a news release. “The only proper way to change a statute is through the Legislature, not through actions of the City Council ... I emphasize that I am not expressing any opinion on the policy of the ordinance. My job is to enforce the laws that exist and I am obligated to respond to complaints from state legislators.”

It's good he doesn't have strong feelings on the idea of same-sex marriage then, since that seems to mesh perfectly into his ideas about marriage in general.

A former Tucson lawmaker just hired to coordinate a female veterans’ conference isn’t sure women belong on the front lines, at least partly because combat is no place to be dealing with menstrual cycle issues.

Terri Proud, a one-term state representative, was recently hired as an administrative assistant with the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services at a salary of roughly $40,000, said Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services spokesman Dave Hampton. The conference is one of several responsibilities she’ll be undertaking, he said.

When asked about women on the front lines, Proud said that is a tough issue she didn’t want to talk about.

She said her position is drawn partly from her family’s military background and partly from biology.

“It would have been hard for me if my mother had been in that position,” Proud said, referring to her mother's time as an emergency-room nurse in the Army. “I understand that women want to be on the front lines, and they want to do their service and women are very strong. We’ve really come far through the years. We’re extremely strong.”

Beyond that, she said, “Women have certain things during the month I’m not sure they should be out there dealing with. I don’t know how to address that topic in a very diplomatic manner.”

When asked what topics she hoped to address at this spring’s fifth annual women veterans conference, said she wants to look at the challenges female veterans face with homelessness.

Proud’s comments surprised many.

"It's amazing that a women would make that type of a statement," said Tara Jones, founder and president of the National Women Veterans Association of America. "She's a woman for Christ sake, does she not have one? Does that prevent her from being able to her job?"

Jones is familiar with the type of conference Proud would be coordinating, she used to work for Veterans Affairs and run similar conferences for women.

Jones said hearing a remark like this is disheartening and can delay changes that female veterans need to see happen, such as the expansion of gynecological care. Not all VA centers offer health care for women, meaning that someone could wait several months before getting life-saving care for disease such as breast cancer and ovarian cancer, she said. Veterans Services needs people who are savvy about those kinds of issues and the conversations that can hinder them, she said.

Jones said that comment makes her think Veterans Services needs to catch up to the women its serving. She noted that women who serve must contend with challenges that are much more complex and physically demanding than a monthly cycle and they’ve been doing that for hundreds of years.

"It seems as though she is about to get acclimated to an area that she has no knowledge of," Jones said.

Proud garnered national attention for her controversial takes on issues during her time at the Legislature. She had an email exchange where she wrote that women who want abortions should have to watch one first and was in the public eye for sponsoring a bill that put a high school elective course about the Bible on the books.

Proud noted that she knows the military environment well because she comes from a military family. She said she has a history of raising awareness about women in the military. During her time in the Legislature, she passed a bill creating a specialty license plate honoring female veterans.

Awareness is her big goal with the conference, Proud said.

“I think (the conference) is going to create a lot more awareness in the state about the women and their role,” Proud said. “It is definitely going to give a lot of exposure and support to the women vets in Arizona.”

Jones said she hopes the conference will give Proud a chance to become more aware about issues facing female veterans. She said it would be great if Proud could share her view at the conference and start a dialogue. She added that she hoped that conversation wouldn’t star a riot — something she said is a very real possibility. While Jones said she is aware of the importance of being political correct, that’s not typical of the female veterans’ movement. Proud can expect other female veterans to unabashedly counter her opinion, Jones said.

Hampton declined to comment on Proud’s remarks.

—Bethany Barnes is the Don Bolles Fellow for Arizona-Sonora News Service

At least, that's according to the results of a poll released by Public Policy Polling, detailing a number of conspiracy theories that American voters, for whatever reason, appear to believe to varying extents.

For instance:

- 37% of voters think that global warming is a hoax;

- 20% believe that there's a link between childhood vaccines and autism;

- 14% believe in Bigfoot;

- 5% believe that Paul McCartney died in 1966;

- 13% (including 50% of my ex-girlfriends' mothers) think that Barack Obama is, in fact, the Anti-Christ;

- 4% believe that lizard people are trying to work their way into power;

- and 28% of voters believe that a secretive, powerful group, is conspiring to control the world — a "new world order," so to speak.

So there you have it. A sizable number of the people Public Policy Polling called on a given day at a given time are completely insane. What I'd love to know is how many people answered in the affirmative regarding the lizard people question, but also said "9/11? Pfft. No way that was an inside job."

Hit the link above for PPP's post on their website, and check out the full results here.

Here's a snippet from that profile:

Then she learned that the majority of African-American, Latino and American-Indian students take their first steps into higher education at community colleges. Yet getting a teaching position at the nearby community college did not come easy.

Possibly anyone else who received 14 rejection letters from the Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City would have taken that as a definitive answer. But not Harris.

After receiving her 14th rejection letter, she called the college’s human resources director, who told her that her application did not show any community college experience, only university experience. They needed to know that she could relate to the college’s students, she was told.

So the next time she applied, Harris made sure to mention that she had designed a supportive educational services program, which still at exists at University of Kansas, to help less-advantaged students.

“I was involved in integrating the college and doing what I could to ensure that minority students were treated fairly and they had the support they needed,” she said.

Here's the PCC press release on tonight's choice:

Veteran Educator Chosen as PCC’s New Interim Chancellor

Dr. Zelema Harris has more than 30 years’ experience at community colleges

Tucson, AZ — Dr. Zelema Harris will serve as the next Interim Chancellor of Pima Community College.

Dr. Harris is expected to start work on April 15 and remain in the post until a permanent Chancellor is chosen.

A native of East Texas, Dr. Harris has been passionate about community colleges since her first job in Kansas City in 1976.

“I’m committed to doing everything I can to get people into the door but not only that, to ensure that they have the opportunity to be successful,” she has said.

From 2007 to 2011, Dr. Harris served as Chancellor of St. Louis Community College, Missouri’s largest community college system.

She also served as President of Parkland College in Champaign, Ill. and President of Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City, Mo.

Dr. Harris’s contract was unanimously approved Tuesday night by PCC’s Governing Board. She was among five candidates interviewed last week by the Board and representatives of College employee groups.

Board Chair Dr. Brenda Even said Dr. Harris was a “superb fit” for PCC and has the experience and qualifications to lead the College into the future. “We look forward to having Dr. Harris with us as we all pull together,” Dr. Even said.

Dr. Harris’s biography and résumé can be viewed on the College website. PCC will post Dr. Harris’ contract when it is complete.

• Courtesy of the UA School of Theatre, Film and Television
• UA students Erica Renee Smith, Caitlin Stegemoller, Sydnee Ortiz and Max Tzannes star in "Nine."

The Tony Award-winning musical Nine has made its way to Tucson, courtesy of the University of Arizona’s Repertory Theatre, and you now have a chance to win a pair of tickets to the show.

Two lucky winners of the Theatre’s Facebook “Night Out” contest on Wednesday, April 3, will receive a $50 gift certificate to Tavolino Ristorante for a pre-show dinner with their plus-one before the performance on Saturday, April 27. No specifics as to how the winners are selected are currently up on the Facebook page, but interested parties can continue checking the page here.

Every newspaper in existence adheres to some type of style to make sure copy is uniform. Many newspapers, although not all, use the Associated Press Stylebook to guide those decisions, but every paper makes its own style decisions on certain word choices.

However, illegal immigrant is one of those words that's been problematic for some newspapers and writers for some now. Last year, in response to the conversations taking place in newsrooms across the country, the Society of Professional Journalists finally passed a resolution recommending newsrooms stop using "illegal alien," and even questioned the term "illegal immigrant," in stories on immigration when describing undocumented immigrants.

It wasn't that long ago that AP said it was going to stick by illegal immigrant, as did the New York Times (locally the UA's Arizona Daily Wildcat, recently announced it decided to use the term undocumented).

Today, AP announced it was no longer using illegal immigrant in the Stylebook. The AP announcement stated it was making "some changes in how we describe people living in a country illegally."

From AP's Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll:

The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term “illegal immigrant” or the use of “illegal” to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that “illegal” should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.

Why did we make the change?

The discussions on this topic have been wide-ranging and include many people from many walks of life. (Earlier, they led us to reject descriptions such as “undocumented,” despite ardent support from some quarters, because it is not precise. A person may have plenty of documents, just not the ones required for legal residence.)

Those discussions continued even after AP affirmed “illegal immigrant” as the best use, for two reasons.

...

Also, we had in other areas been ridding the Stylebook of labels. The new section on mental health issues argues for using credibly sourced diagnoses instead of labels. Saying someone was “diagnosed with schizophrenia” instead of schizophrenic, for example.

And that discussion about labeling people, instead of behavior, led us back to “illegal immigrant” again.

Phoenix, on their way to Coachella to promote their new album Bankrupt!, are stopping here at AVA for a concert on April 9. If you'd like to win a pair of tickets to the show, enter here. We'll draw a winner on Friday.

If you don't want to take your chances on missing the show, tickets are available now on the Casino Del Sol website.

Good luck!

Seriously, it's a legitimate prayer. Dear Lord and every other deity known to humankind, can't you just do the right thing and provide the Center for Arizona Policy some type of hole to crawl in? Perhaps one of those sink holes made from our destructive water practices? That would be perfect.

But maybe it would be better if you just paid her a visit, you know, one of those visions that folks over the years have said they've been given by you. I've never had one, but CAP's director is a self-proclaimed religious Christian, so I assume she believes these are possible - so make it happen.

Herrod's group issued a letter, written by Josh Kredit, their Legislative Counsel, to the Bisbee City Council, which I'm sure was waiting to hear her take on things. A summary: It would be unconstitutional for Bisbee to issue certificates, it'll get really expensive because someone will take Bisbee to court (likely CAP), and Bisbee will be surely engulfed in holy flames resulting from God's wrath at their collective iniquity. The last part was more implied than actually stated.

The vision: Stay out of Bisbee's business and focus on your own wack-a-doodle world, Cathi. You must have some long-neglected personal problems that need your attention. Get working on that, instead of continuing to make Arizona look like the place where all crazies come to live and die.

That would just be perfect.

Oh, and while I'm at it, please do what you can to help the Bisbee City Council do what's right in their vote tonight, and yes, as you and I know, it's legally recognizing civil unions, not being scared of crazy-land threats and having the guts to take them on if they come after them.

From the Associated Press:

BISBEE — A conservative Christian advocacy group says a former mining community-turned-artists’ haven in rural southern Arizona can’t legally recognize civil unions that would include same-sex couples.

A letter from the Phoenix-based Center for Arizona Policy says an ordinance scheduled for a Tuesday night vote by the Bisbee City Council would violate the Arizona Constitution’s ban on same-sex marriage, and would be the subject of a costly legal fight.

If approved, the ordinance would make Bisbee the Arizona city to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples, giving them the same rights in the city as married couples. The ordinance is reportedly more comprehensive than a Tucson measure enacted in 2003 that recognizes domestic partnerships.

Bisbee City Attorney John MacKinnon has said the ordinance’s approval would mean people in civil unions would be considered spouses in such matters as property ownership and guardianship in cases of illness.