Campus rape is a difficult issue, for all kinds of reasons—victims sometimes have spotty memories as a result of alcohol consumption or because they were drugged against their will; there may not witnesses; sometimes it boils down to a he-said/she-said situation; and pursuing charges can be even more traumatizing for a victim. That shouldn't be read as an excuse to ignore claims of rape, but as an acknowledgment of the difficulty of proving it in a court of law. (And it's not a new issue; more than a decade ago, contributor Vicki Hart took an in-depth look at the issue for the Weekly.) Rolling Stone's recent disgraceful reporting on the topic didn't help matters any, either.

Filmmaker Kirby Dick has dug into the topic with The Hunting Ground, which opens tonight at the Loft Cinema. Dick will be there both tonight and tomorrow to introduce the film at the 7 p.m. screenings. Here's the Loft's description:

So what's been happening the past few weeks I should know about, and maybe write about? I've been traveling in southern Spain, and the reason you go there isn't to follow current events, though thanks to the miracle of wireless-in-every-hotel, I kept up a bit. The main lure of the area is getting a glimpse of the area pre- and post-inquisition. When it comes to Spain, I learned in school that in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. It wasn't until later I learned the date was also a marker of the worst kind of intolerance: 1492 was a very bad time to be a Jew, and a bad time to be a Muslim too. It was also later that I learned, when the Muslims were in control of the area, it was a hotbed of learning, culture and art. The Alhambra, above, is a wonder. The time is known as the Golden Age of Jewish Culture, when Jewish learning blossomed alongside Muslim learning. Walking through the Muslim palaces and mosques, seeing a small pre-Inquisition synagogue — one of three still standing in Spain — was educational and awe inspiring. And rubbing the feet of a statue of The Rambam (the name given to the scholar/philosopher/physician Maimonides [If you didn't before, next time you watch The Big Lebowski, you'll get John Goodman's reference]) is supposed to grant you luck and impart wisdom. I usually don't go in for the rubbing-for-luck thing, but in Córdoba, I rubbed his feet every time I passed.

So . . . if you think I missed something important in the news, give me a heads up in the comments, preferably with a link,

Last night in Tempe, the Arizona Foodist Awards announced their winners among the list of 2015 nominations. Hotel Congress' Cup Cafe was recognized for their popular breakfast dish: cast iron baked eggs.

The dish features two eggs, ham, leeks and gruyere cheese that are baked in cream and herbes fines in a cast iron pan and served with a side of potatoes and toast. The $11 plate is served at Cup Cafe daily from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The cast iron baked eggs were also one of TW's 100 Essential Dishes this year, and, if you haven't checked those out, you have some reading and subsequent eating to do.

Although Agustin Kitchen, The Coronet, Casino del Sol's Aaron Defeo and Tough Luck Club were all nominated for various awards this year, Hotel Congress was the only Old Pueblo joint to get a nod in 2015. There's always next year, right?

It's that time again! Friday morning and I was handed a stack of baseball tickets for games this weekend!  Four tickets for each game!

So, if you want to see the Wildcats do their thing against California this weekend, enter below. I'll draw winners at 1 p.m. You have to be able to pick the tickets up from our office near the Foothills Mall sometime before we lock the doors at 5 p.m.

The nonprofit Try Freedom Stories has a new documentary about the UA's groundbreaking work in training doctors to help with medical crises around the world. As the organization explains:

The documentary gives us an in-depth look at global health and how the program at the UA is different. Their approach focuses on the community and local institutions that are already in place and avoids the common trap of foreign doctors "parachuting in" during a medical crisis. From 1982 through 2013, this course has graduated 669 participants, who have gone to over 70 nations to practice medicine in developing and remote areas.

Guacamole is important to me. So important, it seems, that when someone saw the Best Guacamole section on their Best of Tucson® ballot, he put my name down*. 

But, I'm not going to make guacamole for you, dear Tucson Weekly/The Range reader. That would be weird. Know what else is weird? That there doesn't seem to be a frontrunner in this Best of Tucson® category. I mean, I get it. We're lucky to have a lot of guacamole options. So many options! But where is it best? Where do you take your sad, midwestern relatives to show Tucson off? We need to know.

So, go vote! If you feel strongly, take all of your friends to your guacamole holy place, buy them a few bowls and convince them to second your vote.

Just in case my many, many links to the survey didn't clue you in: commenting on this post doesn't count as a vote, you have to fill out (at least!) 30 sections on our ballot to officially have a say. You can, however, make a case for your favorite guacaloving institution below and help shape impressionable minds.

* I'd like to thank my Nana for teaching me how to cook and my boyfriend for voting for me when he didn't know what else to put. I shall celebrate this honor in the traditional manner: by eating 12 avocados by myself in under 3 minutes.

Hello there, Fair people. The Pima County Fair is wrapping up on Sunday night. So, if you want to make it to the top of that ferris wheel you had better hurry up. We've still got a few tickets to give away. Enter our drawing and let us know how many tickets you're interested in. We'll be giving them out today and tomorrow. Also, keep in mind that the tickets are hanging out at our office near the Foothills Mall. So, if you win you'll have to pick the tickets up from us—we're only open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Good luck!

Also, keep an eye out for our staff if you're going to the fair on Friday night. We'll probably be by the food.

A march in Phoenix to mark the anniversary of the anti-immigrant law SB 1070 will also be a celebration for the release of Nicoll  Hernández-Polanco, a Guatemalan transgender woman who was given asylum in the U.S. yesterday. She had been apprehended at all-male detention facility for the past six months.

Nicoll's case is one of many the Transgender Law Center has helped put at the forefront of the demand to stop detaining LGBTQ immigrants—several groups have asked the federal government to classify transgender asylum seekers like Nicoll as a "vulnerable group," meaning very likely to endure abuse in detention, as was Nicoll's case. 

While in the Florence immigration detention center, Nicoll was sexually assaulted by a detainee, physically and emotionally abused by guards and, during the first few weeks there, forced to shower with men.

From a Transgender Law Center statement:

The transgender and queer migrant community of Arizona and the nation celebrates Nicoll Hernandez-Polanco’s release. This victory was won by tireless hours of work from community members and Nicoll’s legal team. The #FreeNicoll campaign involved Mariposas Sin Fronteras, Arcoíris Liberation Team, Arizona Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project, Transgender Law Center, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and many others. Nicoll is ecstatic to be free and excited for the support she received.

Today Nicoll is free and her community marches for an ICE Free Arizona on the anniversary of the infamous anti-immigrant law SB1070 demanding that ICE and DHS immediately halt all detention and deportation of LGBTQ immigrants. Unfortunately, Nicoll’s experience is all too typical. While trans women make up only 1 out of every 500 people detained by ICE, they are a shocking 1 out of every 5 substantiated cases of sexual assault in detention. ICE has demonstrated over and over that they are incapable of detaining LGBTQ immigrants with even minimal levels of dignity and safety. As Nicoll states “LGBTQ people deserve respect and do not belong in ICE detention.”

Other organizers of today's march are Tucson's Mariposas Sin Fronteras, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, the Phoenix-based Arcoíris Liberation Team and AZ QUIP. 

The rally begins at 3 p.m. near the horse statue at the state Capitol. 

A few weeks back, we posted a video for Calexico's new single, "Falling From the Sky," that was shot inside downtown Tucson's Wavelab Studios. Now the band has a new video for the opening track on Edge of the Sun (which you should buy ASAP because it's great). This one reminds me more of a David Cronenberg film, as you'll see when you watch it.

The Weekly has been critical of Gov. Doug Ducey's push to cut taxes for Arizona's wealthiest while shortchanging schools, universities and social services, but we have to praise him today for reversing a policy that made it harder for gay couples to adopt children. Ducey did the right thing, no question, after the Arizona Capitol Times reported that, on the advice of Attorney General Mark Brnovich, the Arizona Department of Child Safety had in February reinstated a policy that blocked gays from adopting children. (The anti-gay policy had been dropped after same-sex marriage became legal last year in Arizona.)

Here's Ducey's statement:

I have made it abundantly clear since day one that my administration is unambiguously and unapologetically pro-adoption. With 17,000 children under the state’s care, we need more adoption in Arizona, not less. That’s why I feel strongly—as I have said many times before—that all loving families should be able to serve as foster parents and adopt. I also have said my administration will follow the law. Practices have been brought to my attention that do not match those priorities, therefore, I’m instructing the Arizona Department of Child Safety to immediately ensure that all legally married couples in Arizona are able to jointly serve as foster parents and adopt. All children deserve a loving home, and under my watch, I’m committed to making sure government encourages that.