For the seventh year in a row, Mercado San Agustin is giving Tucson the opportunity to shop one-of-a-kind and handmade wares from local vendors, rather than buying generic mall junk. With over 50 vendors slotted to sell scarves, jewelry, art, and other tchotchkes on Friday, Dec. 19 through Sunday, Dec 21, the Mercado’s Nicky Freegard says it will be the biggest vendor turnout in the event’s history.

Freegard says size isn’t everything this year, though, as the event will also feature new artists. While live entertainment and food trucks aren’t on the roster for 2014’s Holiday Bazaar, there will be plenty of shopping to keep you occupied and tenants in the Mercado, including Agustin Kitchen, Seis Kitchen, Stella Java, and La Estrella Bakery, will be open during the event to serve hungry patrons. Blu Wine & Cheese Shop is also offering special Christmas packages for sale.

Vendors include Lila Clare Jewelry, Power & Light Press, Collected Artifacts, Allegiant Leather, Popcycle, Seams To Sew, BICAS art, and more. Tucson baker Bavier Garst will be baking holiday pies on site for sale as well.

The Bazaar runs Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. on all three days at 100 South Avenida del Convento. The event is free to attend.

If I wrote, "The market mechanism just doesn't work in education," I'd expect two responses. Some people would nod their heads in agreement, and others would say, "Typical garbage from that America-hating socialist who doesn't think our children should be able to escape our failing public schools."

But what if the person who said that began her statement by saying, "I actually am kind of a pro-market kinda girl. But it doesn't seem to work in a choice environment for education"?

The "pro-market kinda girl" is Margaret Raymond, founding director of the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, usually known by its acronym, CREDO. It's part of the Hoover Institute, not exactly a wild-eyed liberal think tank, and it's funded by pro-privatization, pro-charter types like the Walton Foundation (That's the WalMart family). One of the major missions of CREDO is to study and promote charter schools. Raymond is married to Eric Hanushek, who also works at the Hoover Institute and is one of the deans of the conservative "education reform" movement.

For all her pro-market, pro-charter leanings, Raymond appears to value serious research, which is why I've read her two CREDO studies on the effectiveness of charter schools with interest. They compared similar students in charters and "traditional" — read, "school district" — schools. In the first study, charter school children came out slightly behind "traditional" school students in achievement. In the more recent study, charter school students came out slightly ahead. Actually, both studies were pretty much a wash. It's like saying charter school kids are taller or shorter than "traditional" school kids because their average height differed by a quarter of an inch.

If you've ever wondered just how Joe Pagac paints those murals outside of Rialto Theatre, wonder no longer. The muralist just posted his most recent wall transformation in a time lapse video on YouTube. Be warned, though— once you start watching, you may not be able to stop.

The mural itself is promoting Chicha Dust's glow-in-the dark Tropidelica cumbia party on New Year's Eve and The English Beat's show on Friday, Jan. 9. As far as promoting shows go and just advertising in general, this is probably the least obtrusive way to do it. 

Anyways, without further ado, here's the video:

Congressman Raul Grijalva is sounding the alarm on the dangers facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths who are in U.S. custody after being apprehended when they entered the country without documentation. Here's the press release from Grijalva's office:

Today, Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) led 59 House Democrats in sending a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell expressing concern over the lack of adequate protection against discrimination and sexual assault for unaccompanied minors in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The lawmakers urge HHS to implement robust Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) regulations alongside guidance to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth from discrimination.

“The unaccompanied minors seeking shelter here risked life and limb to escape violence and poverty in Central America,” said Rep. Grijalva. “Too often, they find themselves exposed to new threats of discrimination and sexual assault once they’re here. These attacks are completely preventable with adequate protections, and HHS has the moral responsibility to ensure those precautions are in place.”

The letter, which particularly focuses on LGBT youths, reads in part:

While less than 10 percent of the general youth population identifies as LGBT, they account for approximately 19 percent of children in foster care and an estimated 15 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system. Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicates that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth in juvenile correctional facilities are almost twice as likely to experience sexual victimization as their heterosexual counterparts. Furthermore, research shows that many of the facilities which ORR contracts to provide care for unaccompanied minors are located in states without adequate protections for LGBT youth.

“We’re talking about protecting kids who are being specifically targeted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Grijalva continued. “LGBT youths must receive affirming and culturally competent care. They deserve the dignity of housing assignments consistent with their gender identity, and adequate preventative and response measures to keep them safe from harm. These kids have traveled thousands of miles in search of safety — allowing them to be victimized once they’re in U.S. custody is completely unacceptable. I urge Secretary Burwell to take the steps necessary to keep these kids safe.”

Last night Tucson’s chapter of the United States Bartenders’ Guild awarded bars and bartenders based on an industry vote. Categories like best dive bartender, best volume bartender, and best rookie bartender recognized those behind the stick for their specialties.

The big awards—best bar and best bartender—actually went to the same establishment this year. Hotel Congress was chosen by the food and beverage industry voters as the best bar with Congress’ Keith Caywood voted to be the best overall bartender. Congress’ David Clark was also recognized as the best craft bartender that evening.

We’d have to agree somewhat over here at the Tucson Weekly, seeing as Barb Trujillo of Congress won as our best bartender for the 2014 Best of Tucson awards. The bar and club also won best club for live music, best nightclub, best place to dance, and best signature cocktail (the Ghost Orchid).

The Arizona Legislature’s efforts to make it harder for women to use medication to terminate their pregnancies hit another roadblock today as the U.S. Supreme Court kept the law on hold pending trial.
The 2012 law created new regulations that required doctors who prescribed the abortion-inducing drug Mifeprex to use protocols that were laid out when the FDA first approved the medication, which limited the use of the drug to the first seven weeks of pregnancy.

Since the drug’s approval 14 years ago, doctors have learned that not only is it safe to use up to nine weeks into a pregnancy, but a lower dose of the drug is effective. Reverting to the old protocols would require that patients make an additional trip to the doctor—a serious problem for women who live in rural areas—and take more medication than needed.

In June, the Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals put the law on hold, saying that attorneys for Planned Parenthood “have introduced uncontroverted evidence that the Arizona law substantially burdens women’s access to abortion services, and Arizona has introduced no evidence that the law advances in any way its interest in women's health.”

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld that injunction today.

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said that the court “did the right thing today, but this dangerous and misguided law should never have passed in the first place.”

“Politicians are not medical experts—but politicians have written this law with the ultimate goal of making safe, legal abortion hard or even impossible to access,” Richards continued in a prepared statement. “We are pleased that the courts are recognizing that these unconstitutional laws hurt women and block access to safe medical care.”

Approximately half the women in Arizona who seek abortions use the medication option rather than a surgical procedure. And until another state law required the same facilities for dispensing the medication as performing a surgical abortion, Planned Parenthood could offer medication abortions in Yuma and Prescott. (Because of those restrictions, abortion services are now only available in Tucson, Maricopa County and Flagstaff.)

Tucson Weekly has more background on the state's legal fights over abortion rights here.

The funny thing about Tucson is it’s never not ice cream weather. That’s good news for Dominic and Kristel Johnson who just opened their first stationary Isabella’s ice cream shop in Rincon Market. Their large converted Model T “T-iosk,” as they’ve named it, sits inside the market.

Previously, the couple ran a small fleet of Model Ts outfitted with large freezers to sell their handmade, all natural ice cream. Kristel Johnson says the idea came from the couple’s desire to make a “not creepy ice cream truck” that they could send their daughters to.


Two years after the initial concept was formed, the trucks were born and about a year and a half after that the couple was approached by Maynard’s Market to begin making flavors for the restaurant. At that time, the couple had to make all of their product on Cuisinart machines in their kitchen. After a Kickstarter campaign helped them raise $15,000, the couple moved their operation into a larger production facility, which is good because Whole Foods, Safeway, and several local restaurants and markets are stocking their ice creams.

Currently, the Rincon Market location has 15 flavors on hand, including cinnamon, prickly pear, lavender vanilla, and spicy chocolate with cayenne pepper. Kristel says in the past she’s made custom ice creams and sorbets including whiskey bacon and caramel, kale-apple-ginger, celery, and a pineapple and bell pepper.

The ice cream parlor sells ice cream sandwiches ($5), hand-dipped bon bons ($2), pints to go ($7), sundaes ($6.50), and freshly made waffle cones with one scoop for $3.50 and $6 for a double scoop. The cones, sundaes, and sandwiches are all fully customizable—and the couple doesn’t skimp on toppings if you’re the type who likes to load it up.

Kristel says she makes the bon bons with Belgian chocolate and uses liquid nitrogen to freeze them into perfect circles. In terms of chemicals, that’s the only one you’ll really find in Isabella’s products. Kristel explains that even the cream she sources is completely pure and without stabilizers, which is rare to find.

In order to have complete control over her product, she makes the caramel and chocolate sauces (which are vegan), all of the ice cream (which is gluten free), the sorbets (which are vegan), and pretty much everything else associated with their new parlor. The base of all of the ice cream is simple—just cream, milk, eggs, and cane sugar. She notes that she never uses peanuts in her facility, as many are allergic to them.

Dominic, who was once an Olympic track and field athlete, was in charge of remodeling the vintage Model T, chairs, and tables in order to give their area inside of the market and olde tyme feel for those finishing touches. 

Isabella's Ice Cream is open now at 2315 E. 6th Street inside Rincon Market weekdays from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. and later on the weekends.

An online auction to benefit the Lupus Foundation of Southern Arizona in memory of Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl, Derrick and Amy Ross, ends tonight at midnight. The auction and a two-venue evening of NMWG music last weekend was organized by friends of the late musicians to honor the one-year anniversary of their passing, but more importantly their musical legacy.

Link for the auction is right here, and there are plenty of wonderful things to get for yourself or those holiday people in your lives—lot of art made by many of our favorite Tucson artists and plenty of hand-crafted items. Get there now this rainy afternoson and help them end their fundraiser on the best possible note.

Zona Politics Eps.9 from Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel on Vimeo.

A sneak peek of this week's Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel: Mayor Jonathan Rothschild talks about bus fares, the future of Broadway Boulevard, what he's learned over his first term atop the 10th floor of City Hall and more. Then the Zona Politics roundtable panel of Republican National Committeeman Bruce Ash and former Tucson City Councilwoman Carol West talk about the fallout from the Obama administration's executive action on immigration, what Broadway Boulevard should look like and John McCain's criticism of the CIA's torture techniques, as outlined in the Senate Intelligence Committee report released this week.

So, the TUSD board voted for a total of $4.4 million in raises for district employees. That's a serious chunk of change, but it wouldn't be quite as serious if our schools weren't starved for funds. Every spending decision is going to be about robbing Peter to pay Paul — putting off spending for one aspect of the district that really needs money to spend in another — when the legislature insists of robbing our children of the money it takes to educate them. And I mean "robbing" literally. Our Republican-led legislature has been stealing from our schools to the tune of $317 million a year. And that doesn't even factor in our long-standing near-lowest-in-the-nation spending per student, which isn't thievery per se. It's more like a perfectly legal moral failure.

Forgetting whether you think the money is well spent, let's take a look at that $4.4 million and see how much it comes to, Tucson-wise. Here's a math problem for you. How much would each Tucson adult have to pitch in to cover the $4.4 million in employee raises?

Before I give you the figures you need to work out this little story problem, just make a quick estimate in your head, a ballpark figure: $20 per Tucson adult to cover the $4.4 million? $50? $100? More?

Here's the whole story problem, put in good math textbook form. "Tucson has a population of about 600,000, of which about 400,000 are adults. How much would every adult have to contribute to TUSD to cover the $4.4 million in raises it gave to its employees?"

Let's see. Ignore the 600,000 figure, that's just there to confuse you. Divide 4,400,000 by 400,000, and you get . . . $11. That's the answer. Eleven dollars a year. Less than a dollar a month per adult to cover all those raises.

Now let's move the problem out of a 4th grade math book and into the real world. We know the cost wouldn't be split evenly among all income groups. People who make $100,000 or more would probably pay somewhere between $30 and $60 a year — $3 to $5 a month — and low income Tucsonans would pay a few dollars a year, at most — a few cents a month. It's penny ante stuff on a city-wide scale.