Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Spring has sprung, which means the world will soon be filled with new kittens and puppies—many of whom will, one way or another, find their way to an animal shelter.
To make room for these impending new arrivals, Pima Animal Care Center is waiving adoption fees for the last six days of March on animals 6 months and older.
From the press release:
“We’re approaching the time of year when we can take in more than 60 pets a day,” said Justin Gallick, executive director of community engagement at PACC.Fees are waived starting Friday, March 24 so spend Thursday talking your spouse/landlord/mom into the idea, and then go find someone to love.
Free adoptions will be honored at PACC’s shelter, 4000 N. Silverbell Road, and its four offsite PetSmart adoption centers, where they have cats and kittens available for adoption seven days a week. While this special only applies to pets ages 6 months and up, folks can still get half-off puppies and kittens if they sport UA gear. Their normal adoption fee is $50 without the discount.
As always, all adopted pets will come spayed or neutered, with age-appropriate vaccinations, microchip and a free vet visit, too. A standard $16 license fee applies to all adult dogs.
See the list of adoptable dogs and cats on PACC’s webpage.
In the GOP race, Cruz got 24.9 percent, or 131,972 votes, and Kasich only 10 percent, which is a little more than 53,000 votes.
Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders got 39.9 percent, or 163,368 votes.
Here in Pima County, Trump got 44 percent of the votes, and Clinton 57 percent vs. Sanders' 41 percent.
It was a messy damn primary election in the Grand Canyon state, and it's very hard to accept these results. Someone I know called it "Florida 2000 type shit."
I showed up to my polling place at the Armory Park Center and waited in line two minutes. There was one person in front of me and two behind me. Thankfully, the political party I have been registered in since I became a U.S. citizen four years ago hadn't been changed to "independent" overnight. Within five minutes, I voted, got my "I voted" sticker and went back to work.
But then I saw people's "updates" on Facebook—thousands of voters in the Phoenix area waited in line up to five hours. Some left, some stayed and ordered pizza, others were still in line way after polls closed at 7 p.m.
A friend of mine showed up to his polling place in Tucson only to find out a mysterious force had deleted his switch from independent to Democrat. He was sent home. It turns out numerous voters, who switched from independent to Democrat (or Republican. But most complaints appear to be coming from voters switching to Democrat, according to several reports) could not vote. In Arizona, independents are only allowed to vote in the general election. Many who thought had switched were turned away and given provisional ballots.
Tags: #florida2000typeshit , arizona primary , hillary clinton , donald trump , raul grijalva , voter fraud , voter suppression , maricopa county , pima county , phoenix , tucson
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Eating out can get expensive really quickly, but on Saturday, March 26, you can go to a place where every dish you could possibly order is just $5. The touring Five Dollar Food Festival seeks to keep dishes cheap across the U.S., so you can afford to try as many as you possibly can. With a whopping seven stops in the metropolitan Phoenix area, the festival tour will make it’s only Tucson stop on Saturday, to offer a wide array of dishes, paired with live music, beer and more to keep you entertained throughout the event.
The festival at this time includes a diverse line-up of vendors offering everything from Japanese takoyaki (deep fried octopus dumplings) to Mexican tacos and chicken to artisan chocolates and more. Local food truck favorites such as American Flying Buffalo, Bugaloos soft serve and Don Pedro’s Peruvian Bistro are also slotted to attend the festival with craft beer and margarita options if you should get thirsty. Live music and performances will also be on display during the event.
The Five Dollar Food Festival will run from noon until 7 p.m. at the Kino Sports Complex (2500 E. Ajo Way). Tickets are available for $5 and all dishes will be $5 as well. The event itself is cash only, but you can buy your admission online in advance and find out further information on the Five Dollar Food Festival by visiting the festival's website.
Tags: five dollar , food , festival , events , cheap , tucson , food trucks , Image
You've probably heard before about the nation's rape kit problem: Rape kits often go untested or are destroyed before the case has been closed.
That's right. We put sexual assault survivors through a long and invasive exam to gather evidence before putting that evidence in a box, never to be opened again. Luckily, we're seeing some progress.
My new favorite late night TV host, Samantha Bee, dives into the issue in the video above.
Tags: rape kits , samantha bee , feminsim , rape survivors , Video
Only a couple days later, Trump himself proved us right in the crudest manner possible—blaming Brussels for being attacked by terrorists shortly after said attacks occurred.
This morning, in wake of tragic Islamic State-led attacks on the Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, Trump told an anchor on Fox News that Brussels is "a disaster city," among other insensitive slights, according to reports from Slate. He blamed the bombings in Brussels on poor border enforcement and said they occurred for the same reason the November 2015 attacks in Paris did—failure to weed out and deny ISIS-affiliated people the right to immigrate (so, in Trump's eyes, basically any Muslim person).
Trump continued to snub Brussels, calling it "horrible" and a "horror show" on CBS and again when he told Matt Lauer on Today that America itself needs to be "very vigilant" about who we allow into our country, he took a step over the unspoken line.
Tags: donald trump , paris attacks , brussels , brussels attacks , political correctness , nofilter , Video
Yes, she’s a bit of a stalker, but it’s Sally Field doing the stalking, so it winds up being kind of cute.
Directed by Michael Showalter (The Baxter, Wet Hot American Summer), the film mixes goofy comedy with some of a darker variety.
Field, who hasn’t had a chance to shine in a comedy in a long while, gives us a multi-dimensional character to go with the laughs. Greenfield is excellent as the object of Doris’s desire, and he actually has a palpable chemistry with Field.
You never really know if something might happen between Doris and John, and even though Field is thirty years older, hey, it’s Sally Field.
Showalter, who co-wrote the film with Laura Terruso, put together a nice supporting cast including Stephen Root and Tyne Daly.
Showalter didn’t get his due with his sweet and funny feature-directing debut, The Baxter. His movies show he can go beyond the realms of outrageous comedies and deliver material with a dramatic oomph…while still managing to be a bit silly.
New York's new State Chancellor of Education is Betty A. Rosa, a former New York City principal and superintendent. Unlike our Superintendent of Public Ed, NY's Chancellor isn't elected by the voters. She was elected by her fellow members of the State Board of Regents, a 17 member board elected by the state legislature. Her predecessor was big on state testing and instituted some of the nation's first Common Core-based tests.
Rosa takes a very different position on tests.
Dr. Rosa has criticized the new, more difficult tests that the state introduced under her predecessor, Merryl H. Tisch, as part of its transition to the Common Core standards. She has suggested that the tests were designed so that many students would fail, giving policy makers a chance to point to a crisis in the state’s schools. On Monday, she said that if she had children in the grades taking the exams, she would have them sit out the tests, as the parents of more than 200,000 students did last year.At the end of last year, the Regents put a four year moratorium on using student test scores in teacher evaluations.
After a fifteen year run beginning with No Child Left Behind, the national nightmare of our high stakes testing mania may have crested. We may be moving toward a saner view of the value of standardized testing in education. The opt out movement, which is part of the reaction to the overemphasis on testing, is very large in New York and growing across the country. Two bills allowing parents to opt their children out of state testing were knocked down in the Arizona legislature this year, but the issue will keep on popping up. Our new law allowing schools to choose from a cafeteria menu of tests indicates a skepticism toward the one-size-fits-all testing regimen.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story misgendered Merryl H. Tisch. This version has been corrected.
Tags: New York Chancellor of Education , Betty A. Rosa , Standardized testing , Opt out
Monday, March 21, 2016
Hi I'm Penelope, the pocket pitty!
I'm still living in the shelter and it's been over 3 months!
The Humane Society of Southern Arizona staff cannot believe that I haven't been adopted, I'm the sweetest little girl and love to give nice kisses.
Don't forget that I'm deaf so I need a home who understands that I'm a little different from other dogs. But I still give lots of love!
Please come adopt me today!
Lots of love,
Penelope (818382)
Donald Trump stopped in Tucson for a campaign rally on Saturday, March 19, ahead of Arizona's March 22 presidential primary. Trump's rally drew both supporters and protesters—with the two groups literally coming to blows at one point during the event.
Trump was welcomed by former Arizona governor Jan Brewer, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former state senator Frank Antenori.
Well, another year of SXSW has come and gone with tons of panels, swag bags and, of course, live music. This year, seven different Old Pueblo artists headed to the festival to show off the diversity of Tucson's music scene. Playing alongside national and international acts for crowds of folks devoted to live music certainly had some perks for local bands this year, while some played official showcases and others were added on to unofficial events.
To find out more about Tucson's showing at SXSW 2016, check out the March 24 issue of Tucson Weekly. Until then, though, here are some of the best things I saw at SXSW 2016:
Tags: sxsw , tucson weekly , whoops , katterwaul , xixa , lemon drop gang , b4skin , dawn richard , santigold , open mike eagle , michelle obama , peaches , Image , Slideshow
