Lilly Hiatt performed at the New West Records BBQ at Threadgills on Thursday, March 19.

Still reeling from the devastating loss of missing Miley Cyrus' surprise performance at Fader Fort on Wednesday night (read: heavy sarcasm), I headed out Thursday determined to see as much as possible. 

After some free BBQ (it's everywhere), I caught some of Juce's set at The Main II, which was an unexpected treat because the soulful UK pop group was a great way to start the day off with some dancing. You can't help but get excited for those times where you're walking down the street and discover a gem like that randomly.

You're probably not looking forward to May and the onslaught of summer, but the good news is there'll be at least a little relief from the heat in downtown Tucson then. That's because The HUB is opening an ice cream specific concept at 245 E. Congress St. right before summer hits.

The HUB's Ice Cream Factory will have more flavors of ice cream than the restaurant currently carries, but, also, milkshakes, floats, ice cream cakes and ice cream sandwiches. The in-house crafted and churned ice cream is designed by pastry chef Irene Cohen and will include seasonally rotating varieties. The forthcoming spot will also offer vegan and gluten-free options.

To stay up to date with The HUB's new ice cream spot, follow the new spot on Facebook.

There have been several anti-Common Core bills that have been dropped this legislative session. House Bill 2190 is the sole survivor of that group, and, after passing the state House last week, it has now cleared a Senate committee. 

The bill passed with an amendment that would allow the state Board of Education to have a say in adopting new standards. A previous draft of the bill said that the board's only duty would be to administer the standards to public schools, while a new committee—the Arizona Education Standards Steering Committee—would have the responsibility to acquire them without any input from the board (unless the committee and Legislature were OK with it).

The legislation also asks the state to redevelop assessments.

During the hearing yesterday, supporters and opponents of the College and Career Ready Standards—from politicians to teachers and even a fifth grader—shared their insight.

Common Core haters have constantly argued that they are too federally driven, and the the feds have no business sticking their nose in educational methods used by states. Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas based her campaign on recalling the standards.

Proponents say it will help kids be better prepared for college, and that the standards foster critical thinking. Also, they said a lot of money has already been spent in rolling out the standards at schools.

If it passes the state Senate and becomes law, the state would time-travel back to 2010 to use the standards that were in place back then, until new ones are set up by 2017.

By Aug. 1 of that year, the board and the established committee would need to have adopted new standards for English language arts, American history, science and math. Through the process, the two would have to consult with the Arizona Board of Regents.

Two other anti-Common Core bills—SB 1305 and SB 1458—did not get lucky in the Senate, so whether this one will, who knows. 

Last year, efforts to kill the standards failed, including a bill that was vetoed by then-Gov. Jan Brewer.

More than 40 states have adopted Common Core. The Board of Education adopted them in 2010.

The Arizona Foodist finalists have been announced for 2015 and some Tucson favorites are up for awards this year. 

For restaurants, The Coronet is in the running for Emerging Restaurant of the Year and Agustin Kitchen and Cup Cafe are in the running for Best Breakfast Dish for their AK Poutine and Cast Iron Baked Eggs, respectively. Both Pizzeria Bianco and Diablo Burger are getting a nod for their multi-locational endeavors.

The beverage community made a pretty great showing this year too with bartender Aaron Defeo and Casino del Sol getting nominations for the Master Mixologist and Outstanding Beverage Program categories. The three month old Tough Luck Club is also in the running to win best cocktail for the Tough Luck Cup.

While it's admitterdly a bummer that Tucson didn't garner any nods for Food Pioneer, Top Chef and Outstanding Restaurant Concept, it's absolutely insane that a town that inches nearer and nearer to the 1,000 mark for food trucks and food carts didn't get recognized in the Outstanding Food Truck category. 

The winners for the 2015 Arizona Foodist Awards will be recognized at a four course dinner event on Thursday, April 23 at 6 p.m. at the Showcase Room in Tempe. Tickets and more information on the ceremony, including a full list of finalists, can be found on the Arizona Foodist website.

Howe Gelb brought a new version of Giant Sand—featuring Thøger T. Lund, Gabrielle Sullivan and Winston Watson—to the New West Records party on Thursday, March 19. Giant Sand celebrates its 30th birthday with the release of Heartbreak Pass on May 5.

Here's "Transponder" from the album.

When the Walton Foundation—the ultra conservative WalMart fortune foundation which pours close to two hundred million a year into "education reform"—teams up with the Gates Foundation—Bill Gates' reasonably apolitical foundation which believes that every problem has a business model solution and also spends hundreds of millions on education initiatives—to put on a conference about education, it's worth taking notice. On March 10, the two groups hosted  "Bonds and Blackboards: Investing in Charter Schools" in New York. The purpose of the get-together was to let investors know they can make money lending to charter schools.

With the explicit intent of helping investors "Learn and understand the value of investing in charter schools and best practices for assessing their credit," the event featured experts on charter school investing from Standard & Poor's, Piper Jaffray, Bank of America, and Wells Capital Management, among others.

[snip]

Hedge funds and other private businesses are particularly interested in the growth and success of charter schools. The growth of charter networks around the US offer new revenue streams for investing, and the sector is quickly growing. Funding for charter schools is further incentivized by generous tax credits for investments to charter schools in underserved areas.

"It's a very stable business, very recession resistant, it's a high demand product. There are 400,000 kids on waiting lists for charter schools ... the industry is growing about 12-14% a year," David Brain, former President and CEO at EPR Properties, told CNBC in 2012.

"It's a public payer, the state is the payer on this category," he added in support of the highly safe investing opportunities in charter schools.

As safe as an investment in charter schools may be, Ducey and the AZ Lege want to make it safer still by creating a $24 million pot of collateral, which Ducey calls the "Arizona Public School Achievement District plan," to guarantee the loans. Details about the plan have not yet been announced, but if I read it right, it's a win-win for charter schools and investors. The only ones at risk are Arizona taxpayers. The collateral brings down interest costs because the loans are secured. Great for charters. Investors know they'll get their money no matter what. Great for investors. But if a charter fails, the state is left paying off the loan and holding the bag. Not so great for the state budget and the taxpayers who fund it.

Germany's Milky Chance performs at the Radio Day Stage at Austin's SXSW festival.

All five suspects have now been named. They are: Gabriel Quiroga, 15; Jessica Good, 17;  Andrew Totten, 15;  Anastasia Lakin, 17; and Christopher Gibson, 18.


Original Story:

Five Flowing Wells High School students were arrested Wednesday on charges of Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder. Tucson Police Department say they conspired to kill a fellow student.

The students were allegedly planning to kill another student with a knife. The plan was thwarted when a student alerted school administration, who turned the case over to TPD detectives with the Special Investigation Division to conduct interviews. One of the suspects had a knife in his possession.

Police say the attack was planned because of an issue the group had with the target. One of the suspects is 18-year-old Christopher Gibson. The other four of the suspects are minors and their names are currently being withheld.

This is the second high profile arrest at the Northwest-side school. In January a Flowing Wells student was arrested for aggravated assault after a student was attacked outside the school The victim was hospitalized with injuries suffered in the attack. 

Sunrise has just cracked the Rincon Mountains, as Mark Homan and Madeline Ryder push one last sign into the soggy ground. It’s a series of signs, really, written in clever rhymes and leading to this crescendo: “Don’t Super Size Broadway.”

That would be Broadway Boulevard, the roadway roaring alongside us, dampened by rain and thick with early morning commuters. We’re here because, way back in 2006, voters approved plans to make Broadway eight lanes just between Euclid and Country Club Roads, as part of a sweeping, 20-year region transportation scheme.

To widening opponents such as Homan and Ryder, this plan is rife with potholes. For one, current Broadway-widening strategies are based on 25-year-old traffic projections that some considered flawed to begin with. There’s also the likelihood that such construction could lead to the demolition of more than 100 homes, businesses and historic properties.

Then comes the process itself. To give this pivotal project the veneer of public participation, Tucson’s transportation department convened a citizens task force to help devise the new alignment. It soon became obvious, however, that the task force’s major job was gnawing free sandwiches before each meeting, and offering thoughtful suggestions which city leaders could promptly ignore.

But Tucson officialdom was only one force buffeting these poor volunteers. Another was the Regional Transportation Authority, created by the same 2006 vote, and mandated to oversee the numerous road projects. Since the Broadway planning began, the RTA has largely busied itself with issuing veiled threats to the task force, lest its citizens opt to shrink the project’s massive footprint. Not to be left out of the scuffle, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry also threatened to withhold the county’s $25 million contribution if the project didn’t stay, well, super-sized.

And true to form, last month city transportation staffers released a plan that seems destined to please no one; while squeezing the project from eight lanes down to six, it still includes the demolition of nearly 40 buildings, many of which are historic. The Citizens Task Force will meet to review that plan at 5:30 p.m. today in the Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, 1200 N. Campbell Ave. The public is invited.

This morning, Homan smiles wryly as he inspects his roadside handiwork. He says money may ultimately achieve what mere citizen opposition so far has not, pointing out that the entire project is budgeted at $71 million, while just acquiring properties necessary for the expansion could cost more than half of that. And all before a shovelful of asphalt hits earth. Meanwhile, city planners are still swinging merrily down their six fat lanes. “I think they’re living in a parallel universe,” he says.