The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's annual Cool Summer Nights program is getting started this Saturday, May 21. 

This weekend's festivities include live music by the Napskippers and Mr. Nature's Music Garden, a free "How to Take Great Animal Photos" workshop, crafts and access to the International Society of Scratchboard Artists 5th Annual Exhibition. This Saturday also marks the first of the summer's four Full Moon Festivals. 

The fun continues each Saturday through Sept. 3, with each event running 5 to 10 p.m. Regular admission rates apply.

Here's the schedule for the rest of the summer (details can be found on the museum website):

Migrant justice organization Puente Human Rights Movement is demanding a federal judge to charge Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio with criminal contempt of court in a case that proved the sheriff's office racially profiled and unlawfully apprehended Latinos in immigration enforcement operations.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow found Arpaio and three of his top deputies guilty of civil contempt, saying they have not obeyed the court's order to stop profiling. "The Court finds that the Defendants have engaged in multiple acts of misconduct, dishonesty, and bad faith with respect to the Plaintiff class and the protection of its rights," the judge wrote, according to an American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona press release. "They have demonstrated a persistent disregard for the orders of the Court, as well as intention to violate and manipulate the laws and policies regulating their conduct."

The ACLU sued the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in 2007, and after three weeks of trial it was found that the sheriff's office violated constitutional rights engaging in unlawful traffic stops and racially profiling Latinos, the ACLU says. On October 2, 2013, Snow issued an order mandating "necessary changes by Arpaio and his agency to prevent continued misconduct and safeguard the community from future violations of their constitutional rights," according to the ACLU.

Arpaio and his top deputies continuously ignored the court's orders, which triggered recent contempt of court hearings.   

"Arpaio has terrorized the migrant and brown community for decades, this was only a first step in a long struggle for justice against his unchecked racist practices," Puente Movement says on a Facebook events page for a protest happening the morning of May 31 outside the Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. Courthouse in Phoenix. "We must rally and demand Judge Snow to go a step further and recommend criminal contempt charges be brought against Sheriff Arpaio."

"The Department of Justice has investigated and condemned Arpaio before, the U.S. Attorney and the DOJ have [for] long had enough evidence to ... bring charges and take receivership over the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office," Puente adds.
#ArrestArpaioNotThePeople

Looking for something fun, new and exciting? Then get your derby on and become a Renegade!

Renegade Rollergirls of Tucson, a free roller-derby league, is looking for their next generation of roller girls. 

Starting Monday May 16, there will be free skills and drills practices every Friday and Monday throughout the summer for those interested, curious and wanting to become a renegade roller.

All females 18 and older are eligible to play, and experience is welcome but not necessary.

Membership, travel and a uniform are all free but skates, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards and a helmet are required to participate in practice. Don't have the required equipment? You're still welcome to come and meet the team.

R.R.O.T. also offers advice about finding gear and has limited gear available for loan—if notified ahead of time.

Practices are held every Friday and Monday from 7 to 9 p.m. through Friday, July 29. You join throughout the summer—but you'll get more out of it the sooner you join.

Practices are at 3525 E. Pima Street, located at a hockey rink attached to the parking lot at the corner of Pima and Palo Verde. 

Interested? Check out the Renegade Rollers of Tucson website or the Tucson Renegades Recruitment and Info Facebook page for more information.

We have a very special cat looking for a home! Meet Cassandra.

This cutie had a litter of kittens and was fostered by one of our long-time supporters. All of her kittens have found their forever homes and we want sweet Cassandra to spend as little time as possible looking for hers!

Her adoption fees have been sponsored and she will stay in the Bonnie Kay Cattery located at PAWSH at Park Place Mall! If you're looking for a sweet, snuggly cat, Cassandra could be the perfect fit!

Contact PAWSH at Park Place at 881-7406 for more information and to check on sweet Cassandra's availability.

Susan Sarandon gets a fun vehicle she deserves with this fine directorial effort from Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend at the End of the World), who also wrote the clever and sweet screenplay.

Sarandon plays Marnie, a New Jersey widow who has moved to L.A. to be near her daughter, Lorie (Rose Byrne), a screenwriter dealing with the breakup of her latest relationship. Marnie has a bunch of money and a lot of time on her hands, so she calls her daughter constantly, brings her bagels, and basically drives her crazy. When Lorie heads back east to shoot a pilot, Marnie winds up befriending Lorie’s friends and making a few new ones, including Zipper (J.K. Simmons) and his chickens. Sarandon takes what could be a cliché character and makes her an endearing one, imbibing Marnie with a genuine warmness that makes her a welcomed “meddler” rather than a nuisance. Byrne disappears for a good chunk of the movie, but when she’s around, she and Sarandon have convincing mother-daughter chemistry. Simmons, normally the purveyor of brash, harsh and funny characters gets to show off his soft side, and Zipper is a real winner.

It’s a cute movie that isn’t too cute, and a must for Sarandon fans. Cecily Strong, Lucy Punch and Michael McKean have small but memorable roles among the strong supporting cast.

Family, friends and community members gathered at Jacinto Park when Girl Scout Troop 108 and Miracle Manor Neighborhood Association leaders to dedicated the new Mobile Library at Jacinto Park on 2626 N. 15th Ave. on Sunday, May 15.

“The [troop] selected our neighborhood because of the number of kids that live so close to an elementary school,” said Henry Johnson, the vice president of the Miracle Manor Neighborhood Association. This helps us promote reading between family members and their children and it serves “to help increase literacy among the community.”

Nine members of Girl Scout Troop 108 conducted a book drive, collecting books from friends and classmates.

“We wanted to promote reading as well as a feeling of community,” said Ryan G, age 10, one of the nine girl scouts from the troop. “We like to read and we wanted to make books available to people.”

Using money raised from cookie sales, the troop bought supplies, including an old cabinet from the Habitat for Humanity store and customizing it with a roof, using tarpaper and shingles. “I like being a Girl Scout because we get to do a lot of things together,” said Abigail, age 10, one of the nine Girl Scouts who built the mobile library and goes to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School north of Tucson.

“It’s really fun when you get to do stuff with your friends.”The library will remain at Jacinto Park where community members can come and get a book to read as the summer months begin. 

Apropos of nothing—no social or educational import whatever—I have to say I hate the word "impactful." Even when it sits silently on paper, it hurts my ears. Impactful. Ugh.

This isn't a case of word snobbery. I'm not a card carrying member of the word police. I agree with the statement I first read as a high school senior that the dictionary is a historian (an historian?), not a lawgiver. New words are great. Inspired slang is wonderful. "Ain't" is a word, and a good word at that. "I ain't got no pencil" doesn't mean I have a pencil (Language is communication, not math. Two negatives don't automatically make a positive. Everyone knows the speaker doesn't have a pencil—everyone, that is, except that persnickety English teacher who pretends not to understand). It's cute to answer a student's question, "Can I go to the bathroom?" by saying, "Yes you can, but you may not." It may be one of those teachable moments, though if the poor kid pees his/her pants, the only lesson will be that the teacher is a sadist. But in real life, everyone knows the sentence, "Can I go to the bathroom?" is a request to leave the room to relieve oneself.

This morning I read a short note in the Star about the death of actress Madeleine LeBeau at 92. I learned she had a "small but impactful role in 'Casablanca.'" Ironically, that ugly word, virtually devoid of emotion, is supposed to describe the visual and emotional impact (ah, much better!) of a closeup on LeBeau's face as she stands, tears in her eyes, during the spontaneous singing of "La Marseillaise" by the patrons in Rick's (Humphrey Bogart's) cafe to drown out some German soldiers.

Impactful. Who made that a word? To find out, I googled it. ("To google," by the way, is an example of "verbing," where nouns are turned into verbs. The trend surged in business circles a few decades back ["We need to dialogue about this"; "Let's calendar our next meeting"] and has become a vital part of our online world ["Bookmark that website"; "Email me"; "Text Me"; "I'm gonna blog about that"]). "Impactful" has been around at least since the 1950s, most probably created by academic writers, who love to invent clunky jargon to distinguish themselves from normal English speakers. Later it was picked up by business people who use newly coined words to make themselves feel like they're ahead of the curve, as if a new term is the same thing as a clever new idea. Gradually, it worked its way into art, dance and film criticism which, I guess, is why it was in the LeBeau obituary and turns up so often in movie reviews.

If blogging on this topic plays an impactful role in limiting the use of that awful word, my work here is done.

May 15, 2016 from Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel on Vimeo.

On this week's episode of Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel: Ahead of next week's vote on Proposition 123, we have Jason Freed, president of the Tucson Education Association, and Morgan Abraham, the chair of the opposition campaign to Prop 123, debating the pros and cons of the education-funding referendum. Then state Rep. Bruce Wheeler comes by to share his thoughts on the recently completed legislation session.

Tune into Zona Politics at 8 a.m. Sunday on the CW Tucson, Channel 8 on Cox and Comcast and Channel 58 on DirecTV, Dish and broadcast. You can also hear the show at 5 p.m. on KXCI Community Radio, 91.3 FM. Or you can watch the show online here.

Here's a rush transcript of the show:

Hello, everyone. I'm Tucson Weekly senior writer Jim Nintzel, your host for Zona Politics. Today, we're hosting a debate on prop 123, the education funding proposition that voters will decide this Tuesday, May 17. The proposition would increase withdrawals from the state land trust from 2.5 percent annually, to 6.9 percent annually for the next ten years to provide more funding for classrooms. All in all, proposition 123 would provide $3.5 billion in funding for schools over the next decade, or about $350 million a year. Joining me to debate their pros and cons of prop 123: Jason Freed, president of the Tucson Education Association, who supports the measure, and Morgan Abraham, chairman of the main opposition campaign to Prop 123. Thank you both for being here. Jason, let's start with you. Why do you think voters should support Prop. 123?

(Freed) We've got to start with the understanding, I think that we all agree in Arizona that we've done a poor job in funding public education in the state. We've done a poor job for a number of years, and so, we look and we realize, "We've got to fix this. We've got to fix this now." The "No" campaign is going to suggest this and that. They're going to talk about triggers. They're going to talk about taxes. You're going to talk about trusts. They'll tell you about the 49% trigger, which is actually, unfortunately, inconsequential, and we've not been close, anywhere close to that 49% any time in the recent past.

(Nintzel) When we're talking about 49 percent, we're talking about the idea that if 49 percent of the general fund goes to education, lawmakers do not need to increase education funding to adjust for inflation. We'll get to the details of that.

(Freed) Correct. Right. Right. And at this point we're at 42 percent. We have been for some time. And so when we look at it, we look at the reality, look at the reality of the situation and we say, "Education absolutely, desperately needs money." We know that. We know that we have a way to do this, to do this without raising taxes. We do this without somehow damaging the future, and the notion of anything to the contrary is actually, at this point, almost laughable. We have $5 billion in the trust fund that exists. That $5 billion when 123 passes will grow over the next ten years to $6 billion. And the "No" campaign is going to make suggestions on how that's—some interesting formula on how it's worth this and worth that. The reality is Arizonans understand that going from $5 billion to $6 billion, the account is still growing, and we're doing so in a sensible way, while making sure that we take care of public education for our kids.

(Nintzel) And Morgan, why are you opposed to the proposition?

(Abraham) First of all, we are on the same page, as far as money going to education. There's no question education and teachers need to be paid more. We see Proposition 123 as not any kind of win for education at all. Long term and short term. So we call it Three-Ts: triggers, trust, tax cuts. So triggers being that there are triggers built into this proposition that pull money for education, specifically one is the end-all, be all 49 percent trigger that prevents us from spending 49 percent of our general fund on education ever again.

The battle over Prop 123 rages on in the MSM, on Facebook . . . everywhere. No need to re-argue the issue here. It's been argued nearly to death by me and others, and by now most people have made up their minds. So far as I know, there's no polling available to predict the outcome. Anyone's guess is as good as mine. But a question as big as the May 17 outcome is, what happens May 18?

The May 17 vote must be seen as the beginning, not the end of the discussion about school funding. Whether the proposition goes up or down, whether some of the money voters demanded for schools in 2000 is restored immediately or in a few years or is tied up in endless lawsuits, at best it's a financial first step in what must be a concerted effort to give our schools the money they need to improve the quality of our children's educations. If passed, Prop 123 will put back about 70 percent of the funds taken illegally from schools. In other words, best case scenario, we'll still be 30 percent below the woefully low educational funding levels of 2009. This is nothing new. It began when the Republicans took over the state's government in 1966 and continued as they solidified their power. (At the end of the post is a graph of the decline in per student funding from an earlier post.)

I'm not sure what form the post-May 17 pressure will take, though there are some early signs of activism. I know right from the start, people have to stand in the way of Ducey's victory lap if Prop 123 passes, or refute his "It looks like voters don't want more money for education" lecture if it fails. Ducey wants to put the funding issue behind him as quickly as he can, and that can't be allowed to happen. 

So, what are we watching this weekend?

1. The Revenant