The trial against a group of immigration rights activists—who accomplished shutting down the Operation Streamline proceedings for a day two years ago—began this morning. As the group attempts to defend their actions in court for the next couple of days, they and their attorney Margo Cowan, don't want any attention to be taken off Streamline or the consequences it brings to the lives of undocumented immigrants.

A few of the defendants, among them Sarah Launius, Maryada Vallet and Paula McPheeters, traveled on Saturday to the Kino Border Initiative comedor in Nogales, Mexico to speak to migrants who were streamlined and then deported. They hope to share their testimonies in court. 

The 16 activists who were arrested that day (12 of whom appeared in court today—according to Cowan, two of those absent want plea bargains) are facing several charges, including criminal trespassing, obstructing government operations, obstructing prosecution in the second degree, resisting arrest and being a public nuisance. 

Some of them will be testifying tomorrow, and they expect a resolution by then, too.

"We want the trial to be about the people on the bus, not the people under the bus," said defendant Steve Johnston after leaving court this afternoon.

The music portion of South By Southwest gets underway this week and Heather Hoch and I will be bringing regular updates from the music festival as time and sobriety allows.

In the meantime, though, you can listen to some of the best bands that will be there thanks to NPR's annual Austin 100 list, which offers 100 songs from some of the best artists performing there this week.

Download the free mixtape here.

If you're looking for an upscale dining experience on the cheap, Maynard's happy hour menu is the way to go. Served Monday through Saturday from 4 until 6 p.m., the downtown spot offers up deals on pizza, poutine, mussels and more from the kitchen and cocktails, beer and wine from the bar.

Good news, theater fans! Arizona Theatre Company is offering our readers a 50 percent discount on tickets for their remaining Romeo and Juliet shows. 

You can get your tickets online or by calling the box office at 622-2823. TWEEKLY is the promocode.

An overview of the production from Arizona Theatre Company:

ATC’s first ever production of Shakespeare’s poetic masterpiece.

Jealousy. Prejudice. Betrayal. And the chance that true love could actually conquer all. Romeo and Juliet comes to vibrant life through the inventive talents of award-winning director Kirsten Brandt and designer David Lee Cuthbert, whose state-of-the-art scenery, lighting and projections bring new life to the warring world of the Capulets and Montagues. Romeo and Juliet like you’ve never seen before!

“Bold, ambitious, and stirring...Brandt has become a disciplined and inventive theatrical storyteller.” – San Diego Union-Tribune

And and excerpt from our review of the play:

Brandt's places the tale in the 1960s, a time of cultural revolution in the United States and in Europe as it was rebuilding after WW II and forging an identity less closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church. It seems legitimate enough, and the new context does allow for some touches many of us recognize (and are actually quite fun, like the bright orange Vespa that silently motors across the stage from time to time.)

But the story works here, as it would in many settings, because it is a universal one. Young love rashly crosses boundaries set by parents; the lovers challenge the feuds of families they had no part in creating; the blood-bought and blind loyalty to familial or political or sectarian alliances set us against each other and inevitably cause us great harm. It is always tragic, just as it is in the particular story of "Romeo and Juliet."

Overall, this is a fine production which allows the story to unfold in all its horrors: brutal murders taking the lives of members of both the Montague and Capulet clans; Romeo's avenging the death of his cousin and being banished just after he and Juliet have been married in secret; and the plot hatched by the Friar that goes horribly awry, resulting in the deaths of two teenagers who have vowed to look to the future, refusing to cling to the past.

Porchfest is hitting the homes of the Blenman-Elm neighborhood on Sunday, March 29 and the line-up of bands was just announced. Some of the many scheduled acts include Cadillac Mountain, Celeste Amadee, The Shameless Fits, Sonoroan Sound Society and Louise Le Hir, who will be releasing a new album next month. (Stay tuned to TW for more details on that release.)

The full event will fun from 4 until 7 p.m. with a bike valet and food trucks stationed at Grace St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Click on the map below to enlarge the image and check out the full schedule.

CBS Sunday Morning looks at Gabby's ongoing recovery and her frustration with her struggle to find the words she wants to say. As they say: Gabby Giffords continues to inspire.

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wrote a column which appeared in the Star last week, Fraternity boys and the long shadow of racism. We've seen plenty of coverage of the vile song the Sigma Alpha Epsilon frat boys from University of Oklahoma sang on the bus—racial exclusion and lynching to the tune of "When you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." Robinson takes us into the possible future of these lads and others like them.

Now, I realize that these soft, pampered, privileged, ridiculous frat boys are not likely to attempt actual violence against black people. But they wouldn’t have to. The attitudes their words reveal can, and probably will, show themselves in other ways.

Let’s imagine the video never surfaced. With halfway decent grades, degrees from Oklahoma’s flagship university and the connections that Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s old-boy network could provide, the boys on that bus could be expected to end up in executive positions with the power to hire and fire. What chance would an African American job applicant have of getting fair consideration?

Or imagine that one of the boys ends up in the real estate business. Is he going to treat African American buyers fairly? Or is he going to find ways to perpetuate the unofficial redlining that sustains patterns of racial segregation in neighborhoods across the country?

Maybe one of those boys might have developed an altruistic streak — or failed to find a job in his chosen field — and opted to spend a couple of years in Teach For America. He would have gone into the inner city with the attitude that he was among inferior beings. The students, of course, would have picked up on his disdain and returned it in kind — thus reinforcing his prejudices.

The frat song and racist emails from members of the Ferguson police department are vile, but they don't do great harm in and of themselves. It's the attitude, and the acceptance of the attitude, that it's OK, and probably appropriate, to make fun of minority groups, and that attitude spilling out into people's daily and working lives that's dangerous. Racism is alive and well, and denying it, or focusing on a song or an email and moving on (Just some stupid kids, just a few cops with a warped sense of humor), helps keep the fires burning.

A hundred people, mainly students from Tucson High, PCC and UA, marched from Tucson High, held a rally at UA, then made a circle around the Festival of Books holding signs and chanting slogans, to a warm, receptive audience.

The Department of Justice's Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department has a few passages about the way the police department deals with juveniles, which I'm copying here. The first passage is about an incident on the street that, honestly, makes me shudder (Imagine if they were your kids), and second is about the way the resource officers assigned to two schools performed their duties. These are examples of the "school to prison pipeline" process that turns minor problems into criminal offenses, with immediate negative consequences for the students which can follow them for a lifetime.

The first passage:

In February 2014, officers responded to a group of African-American teenage girls “play fighting” (in the words of the officer) in an intersection after school. When one of the schoolgirls gave the middle finger to a white witness who had called the police, an officer ordered her over to him. One of the girl’s friends accompanied her. Though the friend had the right to be present and observe the situation—indeed, the offense reports include no facts suggesting a safety concern posed by her presence—the officers ordered her to leave and then attempted to arrest her when she refused. Officers used force to arrest the friend as she pulled away. When the first girl grabbed an officer’s shoulder, they used force to arrest her, as well.

Officers charged the two teenagers with a variety of offenses, including: Disorderly Conduct for giving the middle finger and using obscenities; Manner of Walking for being in the street; Failure to Comply for staying to observe; Interference with Officer; Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer; and Endangering the Welfare of a Child (themselves and their schoolmates) by resisting arrest and being involved in disorderly conduct. This incident underscores how officers’ unlawful response to activity protected by the First Amendment can quickly escalate to physical resistance, resulting in additional force, additional charges, and increasing the risk of injury to officers and members of the public alike.

zona3-12 4final from Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel on Vimeo.

On this week's Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel: Pima County Republican Party Chair Bill Beard and Pima County Democratic Party Chair Cheryl Cage talk about the impacts of the state budget, the job performance of the Tucson City Council (with Beard promising a slate of candidates emerging soon to take on the incumbents up for re-election this year), the legal fight over the Independent Redistricting Commission, the NRA's recent mocking of Gabby Giffords and more. Tune in at 9 a.m. Sunday on KGUN-9 or watch online above.