Today, the Department of Justice filed an appeal and a request for a stay of a Texas federal judge's preliminary injunction from last week that blocked President Obama's Nov. 20 immigration actions. 

If granted, both would allow for two relief programs—one for parents of U.S. citizen and legal resident children and the other an extension to 2012's DACA—to proceed even though a lawsuit brought forward by 26 states, including Arizona, to kill the orders for good remains in court. 

Last Wednesday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services planned to start accepting applications for the extended DACA—a renewable three-year work permit and deferred deportation that no longer has age limits to apply, meaning certain undocumented immigrants younger than 15 and older than 31 can also sign up. Shortly after Hanen's ruling, the agency said it will not accept anything until the block ends.

Applications for DAPA, which has similar guidelines and benefits as DACA, aren't scheduled to go through until some time in May. 

Republicans are also trying to stop the programs with a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Senate Democrats have continuously blocked it, but Congress has until the end of this week to make a decision because DHS runs out of money Feb. 27. 

While this sorts out, Tucson immigration rights advocates have urged people who may qualify for both DACAs (the first version IS NOT affected by Hanen's block) and DAPA to continue gathering documents and inform themselves on the requirements even if their applications aren't accepted yet. 

Curt Prendergast of the Nogales International updates readers on the ongoing problem that Arizona's international businesses are having with major banks pulling out of border communities:

On Feb. 10, Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, both Arizona Republicans, called for a hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to examine the banks’ pullout from states bordering Mexico. More locally, a Nogales delegation spoke at the Arizona Senate’s Financial Institutions Committee on Feb. 4.

The senators’ request came after several large banks reduced or eliminated their branches in Nogales and elsewhere along the border in recent years. In Nogales, Banamex USA, a subsidiary of Citigroup, closed its branch, while JP Morgan Chase closed one of its branches, and Bank of America pulled out entirely. In addition, Chase closed about 2,500 commercial accounts in Mexico in 2013.

Owners of cash-intensive businesses have expressed “serious concern” about the bank closures, McCain and Flake wrote to the senate committee on Feb. 10, citing “burdensome regulatory compliance costs and the potentially indiscriminate application of anti-money laundering regulations.”

Tucson has been extra beautiful the last few days, and that might have you wanting to spend sometime outside.

But, if you're the cautious type, Saguaro National Park West has you covered. This afternoon at 2:15 p.m., the park will lead a 45 minute Sonoran Secrets to Desert Survival walk, which will help "identify the most common hazards the desert, uncover survival strategies of native plants and animals, and acquire practical tips to ensure your safety while exploring the Sonoran Desert."

So grab some water, head down to the park, and when you're survival study section is all done do some exploring on your own.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich is ready to continue the legal fight to strip DREAMers off driver's licenses.

Last month, U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell made permanent a December preliminary injunction that allowed young immigrants under President Obama's DACA program, which in 2012 granted hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought here as children renewable work permits, social security cards and relief from deportation, to start getting licenses. That decision was thought to have made it official that Arizona cannot prohibit DREAMers from applying for driver's licenses.

Brnovich yesterday filed a notice of appeal to overturn that ruling.

Apparently, the state is still very interested in spending millions (they've already spent about $1.5 million in legal fees) to carry on former Gov. Jan Brewer's torch, saying driving is "a privilege not a right," and that the discretion of granting licenses should be up to the state not the federal government—words all too similar to Brewer's arguments.

Since 2012, federal courts continuously ruled against Brewer's executive action, which she announced the same day the DACA program went into effect. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has even said in the past that the policy is likely unconstitutional and that it shouldn't proceed.

In Dec. 17, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy rejected a last-minute appeal by the state, and that's when Campbell issued a preliminary injunction that let roughly 22,000 Arizonans under DACA start applying for licenses five days later.

The permanent injunction could now head to the 9th Circuit and maybe event to the U.S. Supreme Court, as Brewer intended it to during her final days as governor.

The only other state to deny DREAMers licenses is Nebraska.

Earlier today, Gov. Doug Ducey got rid of the requirement to pass the AIMS test in order to graduate high school, and this might have officially ended the beef for now between Ducey and Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, because she was very happy about that decision.

"I congratulate the Legislature and Governor Ducey for removing this last vestige of high stakes testing," she said in a statement. "I hope this decision relieves much of the stress that parents and their children face when a high stakes test determines whether or not a student can graduate from high school. High academic standards and tests that provide information and accountability are very important, but placing all the responsibility and stress on individual students for the success of our educational system is unfair."

Either way, the state had replaced the AIMS with the AzMERIT (which Douglas isn't a fan of), but students still had to pass the reading, math and writing portion of the AIMS to get a high school diploma through Dec. 31, 2016. Since Ducey signed the legislation into law, as of immediately that is no longer the case. But they do have to pass a civics test, which was also signed into law by Ducey last month.

"Testing will still be available next week for those students wishing to take AIMS for scholarship eligibility or other personal reasons. Parents or families with questions about testing availability in these situations should contact their student's school," the Arizona Department of Education said in a release.

Now, Douglas is proposing legislation to review all state academic standards. There is a bill in the state Senate, SB 1305, which would establish a committee of teachers, parents and other education stakeholders to annually evaluate targeted standards. 

“As we move away from Common Core, it is important to do so in a deliberate fashion so that we stop the pattern of creating new standards only to abolish them every few years,” Douglas said in a statement. “This endless cycle leaves schools in a constant state of upheaval and causes undue stress for students and teachers.”

From ADE:

As part of the proposed review process, members of the committee would hold public meetings across the state. All public comment received at those meetings would be analyzed and used to generate proposed changes. Before submitting final recommendations to the State Board of Education, the committee would seek feedback at an additional series of public hearings.

“This process will ensure that the academic goals created for students are set by Arizonans, for Arizonans,” Douglas said. “I hope to partner with legislators, parents and educators to ensure as smooth a transition as possible so that teachers can get back to teaching and students can get back to learning.”

That bill made it through the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 12, and is now on hold until the entire Senate considers it.

The federal government can't detain Central American women and children seeking for asylum as a tactic to keep others from coming to the U.S., according to a federal court's preliminary injunction in a class-action suit filed in December by the American Civil Liberties Union, brought on behalf of asylum-seeking mothers and children who are being held at facilities around the country.

Since last summer, there has been an influx of women and minors from the region who head north to escape violence, sexual abuse and other detrimental conditions in their native countries. Many of them have been found to have "credible fear" of persecution, meaning asylum could be granted, the ACLU said. 

However, the Department of Homeland Security has continuously denied their release to send a message across the border that no more people should try to come here. 

"Locking up families and depriving them of their liberty in order to scare others from seeking refuge in the U.S. is inhumane and illegal," said Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, in a statement when the suit was filed. "The government should not be using these mothers and their children as pawns. They have already been through devastating experiences, and imprisoning them for weeks or months while they await their asylum hearings is unnecessary and traumatizing."

The group argued the Obama administration's "no-release" policy violated federal immigration law and regulations, as well as the Fifth Amendment, which "prohibit the blanket detention of asylum seekers for purposes of general deterrence."

With the suit, the ACLU hoped to invalidate that policy and ensure these type of cases get individualized reviews.

"In rejecting the U.S. government's argument that detention of the women and children was necessary to prevent a mass influx that would threaten national security, the court wrote that the 'incantation of the magic word 'national security' without further substantiation is simply not enough to justify significant deprivations of liberty,'" a press release from the ACLU said. 

If you missed last night's Arizona's Funniest Comedian competition at Laff's Comedy Caffe, you still have a chance to get some solid laughs in this weekend and this time it's all for a good cause. On Sunday, Auggie Smith will be joined by six local comedians at Borderland's Brewing Company for a comedy event to finish off Arizona Beer Week. 

The full line-up puts LA's Smith as the headliner with Tucson's Pauly Casillas. Opening up for the two are Ryan Malchow, Alex Kack, Andrew Horneman, Ben Dietzel and Josiah Osego.

Ryan Malchow, who helped organize the benefit show, said his reasons for doing so were pretty simple.

"I just wanted to bring a great act to Tucson to reward people for giving to a good cause," he says.

The night's proceeds go to the Gut Check Foundation, which is a nonprofit that that promotes education and research into the prevention and treatment of Clostridium septicum infections—an infection that can lead to life threatening damage of the GI.

You can catch Smith and more on Sunday, Feb. 22 starting at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 and available now through the Borderlands website.

Here's a taste of what Auggie Smith's set might be like:

The Arizona Senate voted 17-12 to advance a bill that prohibits women from buying health insurance coverage that covers abortion via the federal insurance marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act.

The legislation, which I wrote about in this week's Skinny, was amended to allow women to purchase policies that cover abortion in cases of rape and incest.

But SB 1318 blocks women from obtaining abortion coverage even if they pay extra for the policy on the assumption that the underlying policy is subsidized by the federal government, so even if the cost of the additional abortion coverage is covered by the woman who wants to purchase the policy, women are somehow enjoying a taxpayer subsidy if they choose to terminate their pregnancy.

The bill now moves the Arizona House of Representatives.

After less than a year of running Tru Vibe Lounge Hookah & Vapors, Adam Brock is putting his hookah and e-cigarette business up for sale, but not in the way that you might think. On Wednesday, Feb. 18, Brock posted an ad via Craigslist to help draw attention to the sale of his business, which is located at 22nd Street and Wilmot Road.

"It was more of just a way to make a public announcement quickly," he says. "I'm not dedicated to idea of it selling through Craigslist, but I'm hoping to make some contacts."

The lounge's LLC, along with all of the shop's assets, are on sale for a listed asking price of $25,000. Brock says the decision to sell came after about three and a half months of renovation to try to convert the head shop into a medical marijuana club.

"I can't afford to float it anymore because I had to close it during renovation," Brock says. "I've basically been living off of credit cards."

He says that in the future he hopes to open an MMJ patient lounge elsewhere, but it'll take time. Until then, interested parties can contact Brock through the Craigslist ad, which lists all of the following incentives in the asking price:

Fully Operational Business
Low Overhead
2 Entrances
Private, Enclosed Parking Lot
Split into 2 Rooms with a 3rd Room Reception Area
Lounge and Retail Can be Separated
Reverse Glass on 2 Doors
Possibly take over Insurance Policy
Central Alarm
Monitored 24/7
Motion Sensor and Panic Button
Intelligent Control Panel with Remote Access
Security Camera System
4 Cameras, Monitor and DVR
Internal and Cloud Storage w/Remote Access and Viewing
Air Conditioning and Heating and a Swamp Cooler
Private Office with 2 Doors
Internet and Phone via COX Business
Router set to Provide Free WI-FI
Sharp 207 Programmable Cash Register
possibly take over Card Merchant Services through Wells Fargo with Additional Operating Accounts
Accept Any Card/Chipped Card
Large Depository Safe - New in Box and Ready to Mount to Floor
Large Granite "L" Shaped Bar
4 Seating Booths
Several Couches, Chairs and Tables
Mobile Stage
Unisex Restroom
3 Large Stained Glass Mosaics
Ceiling Fans
Refrigerator and Bar Sink
Pepsi Cooler, Sparkletts Water and Coffee (w/Contract)
Several Display Cases
Existing Inventory
Many Hookahs, Shisha, Coals and Accessories
E-Cigarettes and Vaporizers
Smoke Shop Items
Signs, Banners, Flags, Open Signs
Next to a Friendly and Inexpensive Neighborhood Bar
All Needed Tax Codes are Current for 2015
No Restrictions on Hours of Operation

Annnnnnd, we're done! Thanks for playing, folks. I'll try to give you a little more notice next time.

Alright, folks! We only have this afternoon's tickets left! If you want them, please specify you mean the tickets for today. 

—
Alright, sports fans, hurry up! I was just handed a stack of Wildcat Tickets for this weekend and I need you to take them off my hands—the first game is starts at 3 p.m. today.

The first person to email me ([email protected]) about each individual game gets the four tickets for that game. You have to be able to pick the tickets up at our office, located near the Foothills Mall, before we lock up at 5 p.m. today.

I have four tickets for each game:

Arizona Wildcats Baseball vs. Rice — Day 1 TODAY at 3 p.m. (That's crazy soon, so hurry up).

Arizona Wildcats Basketball vs UCLA — tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Arizona Wildcats Baseball vs. Rice — Day 2 tomorrow at Noon.

Arizona Wildcats Baseball vs. Rice — Day 3 Sunday at 11 a.m.



So, email me! [email protected]! I'll update this post as the tickets get claimed. And, remember before you enter, you have to be able to pick the tickets up at our office, located near the Foothills Mall, before we lock up at 5 p.m. today. Good luck!