If the spirit of the season is so strong in your household that you haven't yet gotten rid of your Christmas tree, time is running out to dump it for free at one of the city's TreeCycle spots. If you don't drop it off by Sunday, Jan. 11, you're stuck with it for another year.

Here are the details about the TreeCycle Program, via the city of Tucson:

Once again, residents can recycle their Christmas trees through the City of Tucson’s TreeCycle Program. The program begins on Friday, December 26, 2014 and continues through Sunday, January 11, 2015. TreeCycle sites are located throughout Tucson and Oro Valley (see list of TreeCycle sites below).

Please remember to remove all ornaments, decorations and tree stands before dropping off at the TreeCycle sites. Remember to Tree Pool! Bring your neighbor’s tree— fewer trips means cleaner air.

Additionally, from January 2nd through January 11th, 2014, the City of Tucson will have Merry Mulch (wood chips) from shredded Christmas trees available for pick-up at Udall Park, Randolph Golf Course, and the Los Reales Landfill. Bring your own container and take home some free wood chips for your garden.

TreeCycle locations here.

Local music lovers and barflys alike will be sad to hear that, as of Saturday, Jan. 31, the District Tavern will be closed for business—at least as its known now.

The District’s owner Noel Chester says the battle to keep her bar open in its current location actually began three and a half years ago when her landlord—downtown developer Scott Stiteler—sent Chester a memo saying her property had doubled in value.

Since then, according to Chester, the two have been going back and forth on numbers—raising her rent price from around $15 per square foot to $30 per square foot.

“He told me that if I couldn’t talk to him about that number, then we didn’t have anything to talk about,” Chester says.

Despite trying to negotiate, Chester says Stiteler informed her the 30-day negotiation period for her lease was up and she’d have to leave. After her attorney’s proposal that she stay in her current location on a month-to-month basis until Stiteler found a new tenant was denied on Dec. 17, Chester assumed the District was doomed to shutter.

“As far as I was concerned, it was finished,” she says.

However, this is, according to her, where things start to get pretty messy between them. On Christmas Eve, Chester says she received an email on behalf of Stiteler with a new deal. According to her, he would allow her to stay in her current location until March 23. However, under this agreement, she says he demanded that she leave her bartop in the building after she vacated, sign over the District’s business name and branding to Stiteler, and agree to a gag order so she would not speak to the press about the agreement.

“At best, I thought it was unethical to send that on Christmas Eve,” she says. “At worst, it was unspeakable.”

UPDATE: Upon reading the email mentioned, it was actually sent on Dec. 22. It also required a disparagement clause, not a gag order as previously reported— the key difference between the two being that a disparagement clause is a contract-specific term that prohibits speaking publicly in a negative manner.

Chester says she feels that Stiteler’s plan was to keep the District running—just without her.

“What they really want is my name, my bar top, and— I don’t know, come to your own conclusions, but it seems they want my business without me here,” she says. “I can’t say for sure, but I do know how it makes me feel.”

After that, Chester overheard that an employee at Good Oak Bar was saying that Stiteler would hire her to take Chester's place as future manager of the District. Chester says she then went into Good Oak and approached the employee.

"I told them that they will burn in hell before they get the District," she says. "It was a metaphor not a threat ... bad people go to hell."

Despite that, Chester hasn't had any resolution for her soon-to-close bar. She says when she opened her bar over a decade ago, Stiteler wasn’t her landlord and the entire feel of downtown was different then. As someone whose resume includes bartending at local spots like Hotel Congress since the ‘80s, she says she’s seen the city change.

“I know a little bit about downtown and what’s always been so extraordinary to me is that it’s so diverse,” Chester says. “To gentrify it and then say you’re making it better by pushing out diversity is worse than sad.”

Although Chester admits business has been slower for her in recent years, she doesn’t see the redevelopment of downtown as a main reason for that. She does, however, see the growing centralization of the city’s dining nightlife into one area as a bain for businesses on Fourth Avenue and beyond.

“There hasn’t been this population boom they thought there would be,” Chester says. “They’re draining clientele from one area to another now. What is that going to do? Who is that helping?”

After several attempts to reach Stiteler for comment, he did not return our calls. However, we hope we to talk with him in the future about his plans for The District space. As far as Chester, she says her plan now is to find a new job because she currently doesn’t have anywhere to move her bar.

Editor's Note: This post was changed from its original format to include new information.

The School Resource Officer program is alive again—after now six years—at some of Tucson Unified and Amphitheater school districts' middle and high school campuses. Officers started rolling back into eight facilities today.

The resurrection of the program concerned a lot of people, sparking protests over how SROs would deal with enforcement of Arizona's immigration law SB 1070—would they be allowed to interrogate a student over his or her immigration status?

There was a lot of back and forth on the deal between Tucson Police Department and the two school districts. Before it was finalized, the Tucson City Council ordered to add a clause in the contracts specifying that an officer could not look into students' immigration status. 

A few weeks ago, there was a protest outside the City Hall, before the City Council approved the amended deal—the one mentioned at the meeting concerned TUSD. Now, we know that cops can't interrogate anyone on their status, unless vital to a criminal investigation or with a parent, guardian or attorney present.

Still, some people were unhappy that cops were being allowed back in the school. At the council meeting that Tuesday evening, some argued the funds—$2.2 million—should be invested in other educational areas.

Talking about SB 1070, last month, Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor announced the department would scale back on immigration status checks during arrests—only people suspected of threatening national security, having gang affiliations and/or previous felony convictions would be asked about their status.

The City Council is expected to look into how TPD has been enforcing SB 1070. At the last meeting I attended, the council members said they'd discuss that in the beginning of 2015. The first meeting of the year is today, but I didn't see anything related to SB 1070 on the agenda.

We'll see where that goes.

After to speaking to several TUSD sources, they said Superintendent H.T. Sanchez and Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas are meeting today, Wednesday, and Douglas will release a statement after their meeting. That could be later today or very, very soon.

I had a nice conversation with Tucson Unified School District Superintendent H.T. Sanchez earlier this afternoon, where he confirmed that he and incoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas will be meeting "soon."

I then got an email from Arizona Department of Education spokeswoman Sally Stewart, saying Douglas, who beat outgoing schools chief, John Huppenthal, from a chance at a second term in last year's primary election, and Sanchez's offices were "scheduling a meeting."

Douglas will not comment on the recent news that Huppenthal said some of TUSD's culturally relevant classes violate state law until that meeting happens.

In the meantime, Sanchez is very positive about getting to chat with Douglas on that and other issues.

"I have a lot of hope for her and for her administration," he said. "In her campaign, she talked about local control and that parents and communities should have a greater say on what happens in the classroom. I'm not going to prejudge her or assume she'll carry the same badger as her predecessor."

Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether TUSD will modify the classes in question.

If by March 4 the district hasn't done whatever state education officials order, they face losing 10 percent of the state aid they get every month.

During our conversation, Sanchez reinforced his support for TUSD's culturally relevant curriculum.

He definitely stands with his district, what it teaches and the classes taught from an African American and Mexican American perspective that have been under a magnifying glass for the last few days—you know, like the ones Huppenthal was terrified by because of Rage Against the Machine's presence.

On Jan. 12, the suit seeking to overturn HB 2281, the Jan Brewer 2010 law designed to outlaw Mexican American Studies and the one TUSD allegedly is violating again, is heading to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

If the court rules that HB 2281 is unconstitutional then all will be calm at TUSD.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is at the White House today to talk to President Obama about immigration, trade and what the two countries could do with this Cuba situation.

I guess the main focus of the meeting, according to an article by The Washington Post, is Obama is looking to recruit Mexico, and other Latin American countries, to promote some sort of political and social change in Cuba (Even though none of them are really that good of role models politically? Hmmmm. Maybe Uruguay - their president is bad ass.) Now that the U.S. is moving toward rebuilding a relationship with the country, everyone wants the communist government of Raul Castro, Fidel Castro's brother, to head toward a democratic reform. 

Obama's move to stop shunning Cuba was an act of good faith, and maybe that'll persuade the Castro brothers to compromise. As long as they don't ask Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio for help, negotiations should go smoothly. 

Also in the talks was a plan for Peña Nieto to help spread the word of Obama's recent immigration changes, which could affect as many as 4 or 5 million people, two-thirds of which are Mexican citizens, the article said.

What I really hoped Obama would bring up (since Peña Nieto has chosen to ignore this "elephant in the room") is the abduction and possible murder of the 43 Ayotzinapa students. 

They have been missing since the end of September and Peña Nieto hasn't really been vocal of the fact that the local government of the state of Guerrero, the police (both local and federal) and drug cartels worked quite harmoniously in this. He met with the students' parents, but lately he's been saying that it's time for the country to move on.

He's on a high dose of several hallucinogens if he thinks the Mexican people are ready to move on any time soon. Is he fucking kidding?

There needs to be global pressure for this guy to grow a pair and accept his role on letting Mexico get this deep in the shit hole. He's chosen not to speak about it much, while protests after protests take place in his backyard, demanding for him and his telenovela actress wife to evacuate immediately.

From The Washington Post article:

Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to Obama Monday urging him to press Pena Nieto to take the case and “a broader pattern of abuse and impunity” in Mexico more seriously. Obama administration officials responded that Obama plans to raise the issue of strengthening Mexico’s law enforcement and judicial institutions during the visit, which includes an Oval Office meeting followed by a working lunch.

There's been an ongoing community investigation—I say community, because people in the region have done as much work as the authorities—with forensic teams from Argentina and other countries. Apparently, the FBI is also involved in the investigation and American scientists are doing some DNA research, as reported by NBC News.

So far, only the ashes of one student have been identified.

Allegedly, members of a Guerrero drug cartel burnt the bodies after the police turned the students over.

If you're not too familiar with what happened, this VICE video does a great recap:

Huppenthal's parting shot at TUSD's Culturally Relevant Curriculum made Rolling Stone, not because of its attack on the ethnic studies courses, but because Hupp mentioned a Rage Against The Machine song and KRS-One's discussion of the nature of hip-hop. None of that is news to Tucsonans — it's been all over the media — but this comment at the end of the article could be an important bit of information.

Sally Stewart, the spokeswoman for the state's Department of Education, said that Huppenthal's replacement, Diane Douglas, would "keep the ball rolling" and follow up on her predecessor's notice. Douglas' chief of staff did not reply to requests for comment from the Republic on Friday.

I have my doubts that Douglas will want to jump into Hupp's (and Horne's) battle this early in her tenure, but if it's in the Rolling Stone, I guess it's gotta be true. But then again, the information comes from a Dept. of Ed. spokesperson, not Douglas' new Chief of Staff, Michael Bradley, a longtime political operative whose job seems to be to temper the Douglas we saw on the campaign trail — to the extent we saw the invisible candidate, anyway. Until the word comes from Douglas or Bradley, it's not official.

I listened to the Rage Against The Machine song Hupp referenced, "Take The Power Back." Strong, thoughtful lyrics. There's plenty of substance in the in-your-face words, well worth study and analysis in a high school class, both for their historical/political context and their musical/literary quality. Here's part of the song Huppenthal didn't mention, which can be read as a justification for the courses Hupp and his friends condemn.

Here's your chance to see a cinematic classic for free! The Loft's Essential Cinema program continues with L'Avventura at 7 p.m. tonight. You can find the details here.

Here's the Loft's description of the film:

One of modern cinema’s trailblazing works, and often cited as one of the greatest films ever made, L’Avventura is a gorgeously shot tale of modern ennui and spiritual isolation, wrapped inside a tantalizingly ambiguous mystery involving a young woman’s disappearance during a yachting trip off the coast of Sicily.

Federal Judge David Campbell today said workplace raids ordered by Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery are probably unconstitutional and should stop immediately, until a final decision is reached on the issue.

This preliminary injunction in the suit Puente v. Arpaio prohibits Arpaio and Montgomery from enforcing two Arizona laws that have been used to convict hundreds of undocumented workers, charged with identity theft for using fake or stolen IDs to get jobs, as reported by The Associated Press today.

Arpaio enjoyed sending his troops to random locations, where he suspected there would be undocumented workers. He arrested a lot of people that way.

From an American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona press release:

Judge Campbell concluded that these workplace raids cause irreparable harm and that plaintiffs are likely to succeed with their legal challenge. He ordered an end to the workplace raids.

"This comprehensive and careful court order should be the final nail in the coffin for these unconstitutional raids," said Dan Pochoda, senior counsel for the ACLU of Arizona.

“This is an enormous victory for our community,” said Carlos Garcia, executive director of Puente, a Phoenix-based human rights group that is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Arpaio and Montgomery are being stripped of the tools they use to illegally terrorize immigrant workers and families. We hope that justice will continue to prevail, that not one more worker is arrested for providing for his or her family and that the racist, anti-immigrant machine for which Arizona is known is dismantled completely.”

Arpaio also recently lost a chance to move forward with a lawsuit against Obama over his recent immigration action, which protects many undocumented parents of U.S. citizen or legal resident children from deportation.

His 2014 didn't end right, and 2015 is starting shitty, too.

Sorry, Joe.

The list-making mecca Thrillist released a list of the most iconic restaurants and each state and Arizona's title went to El Charro.

Though the article says that the list makers searched for more that just which restaurant was oldest, factoring in "tons of research, awkward cold calls, and several cross country trips," you kind of have to wonder if the research went much further than that one New York Magazine article that listed El Charro as the state's top food destination a couple years back. Certainly, there are many other favorites for nostalgic Mexican eats around town and in the state.

While it's cool in any case that Tucson got a shout out on Thrillist, which local joint do you think deserves the badge most iconic? Is it El Charro?

Keep in mind, your choices, according to Thrillist, have to have opened at least since 1985 and "still be a crowd favorite" (Read: Have a high rating on Yelp?).

Republican Doug Ducey may have been sworn in as governor earlier today, but write-in gubernatorial candidate J.J. Johnson says he's the real winner of the race. Shane Dale of the Casa Grande Dispatch reports:

He received the most votes of any write-in candidate in this year’s Arizona governor’s race, and the fifth-most votes among all candidates.

But Casa Grande resident J. Johnson says he did much better than the numbers indicate, calling the certified vote count a fix perpetrated by a “criminal cartel” that has commandeered the state’s political system.

“I believe I am the governor. Let’s just say that,” said Johnson, who received 1,520 votes, according to the official count by the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.

“I would actually guess that I received somewhere in the area of 500,000 to 550,000 votes, and that’s based upon street polls, based upon the numbers extrapolated. There’s absolutely no way that the person that they say won got 800,000 votes. That’s impossible.”

Johnson is considering continuing his political career but he worries it could cost him his life: