Here's an Arizona civics question: Who are the six most powerful political people in Phoenix? A clue. The answer isn't Ducey, Biggs, Gowan, Cathi Herrod and the two Koch Brothers.

The most powerful people in Phoenix are any six House Republicans who band together and refuse to vote for a bill being pushed by Ducey, Biggs, Gowan, Cathi Herrod and the Koch Brothers. The Arizona House has 60 members, so it takes 31 votes to pass a bill. Republicans have 36 seats. That means if six Republicans decide to join with 24 Democrats to oppose a bill, the result is a 30-30 tie, and the bill goes down.

That's what happened to the Ducey-Biggs-Gowan budget proposal to cut $21 million from K-12 education. A group of Republicans joined together and said they wouldn't vote for it. Just like that, the money was restored. That should have been the beginning. Instead, it was the end. The Mighty 6 decided it was enough to bring the education budget back to zero, no increases, no decreases. They folded their tent, voted for the budget and went home.

Apparently, funding health insurance for Arizona children wasn't important enough for six Republicans—any six Republicans, it didn't have to be the same group—to join hands and say, "No KidsCare, no budget." All the arguments were on their side. Every other state accepted the federal children's insurance plan, every one of them, majority Republican and majority Democrat, hardcore conservative and hardcore liberal. The insurance program wouldn't add a penny to the state budget since the Feds pick up the tab. It would boost the state economy to the tune of almost $80 million in federal money. And it would mean 30,000 kids could see a doctor and have their medical needs attended to. And yet, there weren't six House Republicans who would stand up and say, "Our children's health is too important to end the legislative session without guaranteeing them access to health insurance. No KidsCare, no budget."

Last week we talked about the plethora of ridiculous holidays we "celebrate" each day of the year, but I think I just found my favorite one: World Naked Gardening Day takes place this Saturday, May 7.

From wngd.org:

Gardening has a timeless quality, and anyone can do it: young and old, singles or groups, the fit and infirm, urban and rural. An elderly lady in a Manhattan apartment can plant new annuals in her window box. Families can rake leaves in their back yard. Freehikers can pull invasive weeds along their favorite stretch of trail. More daring groups can make rapid clothes-free sorties into public parks to do community-friendly stealth cleanups.

Why garden naked? First of all, it's fun! Second only to swimming, gardening is at the top of the list of family-friendly activities people are most ready to consider doing nude. Moreover, our culture needs to move toward a healthy sense of both body acceptance and our relation to the natural environment. Gardening naked is not only a simple joy, it reminds us—even if only for those few sunkissed minutes—that we can be honest with who we are as humans and as part of this planet.

Just watch out for the cholla and don't let your neighbors see. 

On Tuesday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave final biological approval to the proposed Rosemont copper mine, saying the only known jaguar in the United States, El Jefe—and other species living in the Santa Rita Mountains—will be able to coexist with the mine.

In the same opinion—which is a rewrite of a 2013 report—Fish and Wildlife acknowledges that the mine will significantly impact the habitat of many of the species in the area. Fish and Wildlife had to issue a revised biological opinion after a rare video of El Jefe roaming the mountains near Tucson surfaced earlier this year.

Fish and Wildlife says several methods will be adopted—such as hiring a biologist to monitor wildlife in the Santa Ritas and setting up a program to remove invasive species—to help mitigate any negative impacts Rosemont has on the species.

The Center for Biological Diversity was appalled by Fish and Wildlife's approval of the mine.

The Rosemont biological opinion has gone through multiple iterations. It was first released more than two years ago and then retracted. The conclusions regarding the jaguar in the final document released today remain largely the same as in the previous version. Documents obtained by the Center through the Freedom of Information Act showed that, in four different drafts of the previous document, agency scientists concluded that the mine would cause unacceptable harm to the jaguar, but their conclusions were reversed at higher levels of the agency.

“The agency charged with protecting America’s most vulnerable wildlife thinks it’s just fine for a foreign mining company to harm our only known jaguar,” said Randy Serraglio, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “This outrageous decision, which was contradicted by the agency’s own scientists, will not withstand judicial scrutiny.”

It's May 4, known by many pop culture geeks as Star Wars Day (it's Cinco de Cuatro for the rest of us). 

If you're looking to inject a little Jedi love into your day pick up a copy of The Force Awakens, embark on a 15.5 hour marathon of all seven movies and (we should have known someone was going to make this) enjoy a Star Wars Hamilton parody video:


May the Fourth be with you. (And also with you).

Our bat-wielding Wildcats will be facing Oregon State in three games this weekend and you (plus three pals) could be there! 

Enter below to win tickets. We'll call winners on Thursday.

With the state budget still very much in flux, it looks like there might be enough money to bring the education budget back to zero—no increases, no cuts. The earlier net $21 million cut to education seems to have been negotiated away, though nothing is written in stone until it's written into law. Also unwritten is whether roads and the Health Insurance Trust Fund will have to take a hit to add the money the Republican leadership wanted to steal from the education budget—which, it can't be said too often, is still $350 million lower than demanded by the law voted in by taxpayers in 2000.

Our universities are getting some money added to the budget, though that's certainly not a case of Republicans getting generous with education. What's being added is nowhere near the $100 million taken away from the universities last year, and $5 million of the money is earmarked for the "economic freedom schools" set up by the Koch Brothers.

Meanwhile, according to Howard Fischer's coverage this morning, it looks like there's enough money lying around to increase the budget for a few items. For instance, we have $26 million to create a new Border Security Strike Force. And there's another $17 million for the folks who run our private prisons to put in a thousand more beds.

I was ready to call you all cheaters, but that would have been a hot take. 

The first round of Best of Tucson® voting wraps up May 15, and I've started going through the ballots in preparation. Turn out, ya'll are pretty bad at reading directions.

I came across a lot of "N/A" and "?" votes. Investigating, I expected to find ballots with only a few genuine answers and a bunch of "N/A"'s bumping the number of responses over the 30 category minimum. I was ready to throw out some ballots.

Instead, I found a stack of ballots that had been properly filled out—with the notable exception of "N/A" being filled in for absolutely every category voters didn't have an opinion. That's a lot of extra typing. 

(As I seem to type on this blog at least once a week)(And as it says in the rules of the ballot), You only have to vote in a minimum of 30 categories in Best of Tucson®. Don't know where the best place to buy a piñata is? Leave that category blank and let the rest of the Old Pueblo weigh in. 

Vote local, share the link with your friends and fans, and don't stress about typing something in for all 191 categories.* 

In the Feb. 25 issue of the Tucson Weekly, we explored the reasons why it seemed local rapper Lando Chill was poised to blow up on a national level with his debut LP For Mark, Your Son. Now the artist is one step closer to that, having been signed to indie hip-hop label Mello Music Group. Chill will be in good company as the label backs Open Mike Eagle, Oddisee, L'Orange, Kool Kieth and more. 

However, with the announcement, Chill also released a music video for his new single, "Coroner," which is a crowd favorite at live show and was produced by Headlock's Tom Johnson. Johnson also makes a cameo in the video as a liquor store clerk, along with some familiar venues like PDQ Records and the 4th Ave. pedestrian bridge. 

"Coroner" visually paints the picture of heartbreak through some pretty intense (and surprisingly realistic), gory special effects, while the mellow tune is as smooth and earworm-worthy as any of Chill's most recent work.

The video, which was directed by Malcolm Critcher, is also up for the $1,000 cash prize at Loft Cinema's Golden Gong Year End Showdown. The event will pit the year's best locally made shorts against one another on Friday, May 6 beginning at 9 p.m.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona says the Tucson Police Department deliberately prolongs traffic stops in an effort to enforce a section of SB 1070 and check people's immigration status—which is in violation of TPD's own policies and constitutional rights, an ACLU of Arizona press release says.

The organization sent a letter to new TPD Chief Chris Magnus today demanding the department to change its SB 1070 enforcement procedures, based on a review of TPD's traffic stop records from June 2014 to December 2015, which, according to the ACLU of Arizona, showed "constitutional problems" in most of the stops reviewed—85 out of roughly 110 cases where TPD got Border Patrol involved. Many of the stops were over minor traffic violations that "led to unlawfully prolonged detention, including transport to Border Patrol custody," the press release says.

More than a dozen records revealed immigration checks producing false positives, or “hits,” resulting in extended detention of U.S. citizens and other lawfully present individuals. In some cases, families with young children were detained roadside in order for the parents to be handed over to Border Patrol agents.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently said in the case Rodriguez v. United States that any traffic stop lasting longer than seven or eight minutes past the time needed to address the alleged violation is unconstitutional. TPD data shows the department's routine stops last anywhere between 15 minutes to three hours to wait for Border Patrol to show up. Most of the stops reviewed by the ACLU of Arizona were between one and two hours long, the press release says.

The letter highlights more than twenty case examples, including:
A mother driving her two children to school was stopped and found to have a suspended license, for which she could have been cited and released. Instead, TPD detained her until Border Patrol arrived to take custody, over an hour after the officer’s immigration check and one hour and twenty minutes after the stop was initiated.

Two individuals stopped for speeding identified themselves as “DREAMers.” The officer advised them “they were being detained as they had provided no evidence of being in the US legally” even though that is not a crime and gave the officer no authority to detain them. The officer requested Border Patrol respond to the scene. Border Patrol arrived but declined to take either subject into custody and the stop was concluded—one and a half hours after it was initiated.

A driver was stopped and found to have a suspended license. The officer conducted an immigration check, which indicated the driver was undocumented. Border Patrol arrived and determined the driver was a U.S. citizen—one hour after the immigration check was initiated. TPD cited and released the driver four minutes later.

Records also showed that TPD officers have not received specific training on the department's immigration policy since July 2014. At the time, the ACLU of Arizona says, TPD agents merely took a 12-page online training course.

Last year, former TPD chief Roberto Villaseñor announced changes to TPD's SB 1070 enforcement rules—the police would not get involved with immigration enforcement unless those detained have felonies on their records, are affiliated with a gang, are identified as terrorists, or pose a threat to national security. The changes better matched the Department of Homeland Security's criteria, and President Barack Obama's 2014 immigration executive action, which reinforced that the government should focus on deporting criminals.

The letter sent to Magnus details policy changes recommendations and demands Magnus to launch an immediate review of TPD's immigration policy and to "implement all necessary changes to ensure officers are not exceeding the lawful scope of their authority," as well as to limit Border Patrol involvement and oversight in routine traffic stops.

The ACLU of Arizona also submitted a letter to the Department of Homeland Security asking for an investigation into Border Patrol’s "improper involvement" in TPD traffic stops," the press release says.

Added after publication:
Magnus sent a statement on Monday afternoon that said he plans to meet with the ACLU next week. 

"I plan to give thoughtful consideration to the issues raised in the letter with an eye toward identifying any opportunities to improve our training, policies, and practices...Information in the ACLU letter will be of value in our evolving efforts to retain and further strengthen a trusting relationship with all members of the community, as we endeavor to fairly enforce the law," the statement said. 

I haven't seen any news from Monday's legislative session, so this post is based on Friday's budget stalemate, where Ducey and the Republican leadership proposed a budget that would mean a $21 million net loss for our schools, and enough House Republicans balked at the cuts that the votes weren't there to pass the budget. The somewhat-moderate Republican holdouts told the leadership: replace the school money, and show us the new language so we know what we're voting on, and then we can talk about passing the budget.

Leadership looks like it may be ready to make a deal and replace the funds, which means, barring other problems brought up by Republicans, we may be seeing a budget shortly. But if you think the new money is going to come out of the budget surplus, which is $600 million and counting, think again. In the AZ Republican version of robbing Peter to pay Paul, they plan to rob road funds and Health Insurance Trust Fund money to pay the schools.

The increase would be covered with cuts to several areas, including a $9.5 million decrease in the amount the state will get for roads, a $5.2 million cut in the amount counties and cities will get for roads, and a $21 million transfer from the Health Insurance Trust Fund.

This is the heart of the matter. Along with the $600 million, and counting, budget surplus, there's $430 million in the rainy day fund. That's a total of one billion, $30 million. And they're not even willing to round it off to an even billion to give back the money stolen from schools in the current budget proposal (which, or course, is still $350 million lower than the taxpayers demanded in 2000). Nope. If they have no choice but to replace the money they cut from schools, they plan to cut something else so that billion dollar-plus pot of money stays right where it is and keeps growing. That'll allow Ducey to say, "We're taking more tax dollars from the hard working people of Arizona than we need. It's time to give some of it back" — after which he'll whisper, "Give it back to corporations and my rich friends and supporters, that is. Screw the [suppressed laughter] 'hardworking people.'"