After seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark, 12 year-old Eric Zala got the idea to remake the movie, shot for shot, as an experiment with his buddies. Over the course of the next six years, they did just that, doing a remarkable job of recreating the legendary Spielberg film note for note.

This film captures the creative team as they set out to film the one shot they never got: the massive airplane explosion after the fight with the big bald Nazi. There’s a lot of fun stuff about the making of the movie, including the time the boys almost burned a house down. They also almost burned one of the actors, suffocated another with a plaster mold on his face, and used a little puppy instead of a monkey for the infamous Nazi salute monkey scene.

The film includes interviews with director Eli Roth and Aint it Cool News founder Harry Knowles, major champions of the project. At the documentary’s center are the boys getting back together 25 years later to film that final airplane explosion, with actual big budget props. It’s a fun movie about being a fanatical fan boy, and how being a geek can sometimes pay off. Sometimes.

(Available for rent on iTunes during a limited theatrical run).

Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas will be in Tucson Tuesday and Wednesday. According to her news release:

Superintendent Douglas will discuss the initiatives in her “AZ Kids Can’t Wait!” plan and will give those in attendance an opportunity to provide feedback on Arizona’s K-12 education system. She will also ask the public for their thoughts on how Arizona can best implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the new federal education law that will replace No Child Left Behind.

Here are the dates, times and places.

Leading Change Conference
JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort, Room Tucson F
3800 W Starr Pass Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85745
6:30-8:30 p.m., Tues., June 28, 2016

Pima County Public Library — Main Library
101 N. Stone Ave., Tucson, AZ 85701
6:30-8:30 p.m., Wed., June 29, 2016

Since the U.S. Supreme Court continued to block two relief programs for undocumented parents and youth, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich hopes the High Court's 4-4 non-decision will help the state in a lawsuit debating the legality of offering DREAMers—who qualify for 2012's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals—in-state tuition at public universities and community colleges, according to Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services.

The Arizona Board of Regents granted DREAMers in-state tuition at public universities in May 2015.

Arizona was one of 26 states in a lawsuit led by Texas that challenged President Barack Obama's 2014 executive actions on immigration—one program granted parents of U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident children a renewable three-year work permit and temporary permission to stay in the U.S.; the other got rid of age restrictions to apply for DAPA, so youth who didn't qualify for the 2012 version could have applied for a work permit and deportation relief as well.

The Supreme Court's tie on the case let stand an injunction imposed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to block DAPA and extended DACA. Even though Arizona is under the jurisdiction of a different federal appellate court—the Ninth Circuit—Brnovich is exploring the possibility of having the non-ruling help his in-state tuition debacle.

What it probably won't have any effects on is the continuing battle to deny driver's licenses to DREAMers. Even though the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously agreed in April that DREAMers absolutely have the right to issue driver's licenses in Arizona, and they have been able to do so since December 2014, the state continues to fight it. 

Brnovich said Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling may not help Arizona win its separate claim that the state is entitled to deny licenses to drive to DACA recipients. He said there are separate legal issues involved beyond the president’s authority to enact deferred action programs.

He said, though, it increases the chance the nation’s high court will take up the Arizona case. And Brnovich said that makes whoever is president in 2017 — and whoever that person chooses to fill the court’s vacancy — particularly critical to the future of the Arizona law.

The article says an attorney with the National Immigration Law Center doesn't think the Supreme Court's split decision on DAPA and DACA II will have any effect on either one of Arizona's lawsuits because both cases deal with recipients of 2012's DACA, which was not affected by the lawsuit brought forward by the 26 states.

Hi, I'm Stash!

I'm a sweet 5-year-old boy and I need a new home. I have good history with kids in my previous home and am an all together well-behaved dog!

I hope that in my new home I will get ample play and exercise time and all the snuggles I deserve!
If you're interested in taking me home contact the Humane Society of Southern Arizona Main Campus during regular business hours at 327-6088 ext. 173 to check on my availability and exact location!

Lots of love,
Stash (826147)

As a bright-eyed, eternally optimistic student of theatre in Tucson, a coveted spot on Arizona Theatre Company's stage was considered the peak of success during four years of actor training at the UA School of Theatre, Film and Television.

One of my most memorable acting experiences happened as an understudy in ATC's God of Carnage, a role I was egregiously unprepared for, yet one that hurtled me into a new phase of growth and appreciation for my craft at the time. ATC's understudy programs for young actors are crucial first steps into the realm of professional theatre and towards the golden ticket of an Actor's Equity Card. Not to mention Summer on Stage, Student Matinees and Cafe Bohemia, programs which foster youth performance and new works of theatre by up-and-coming playwrights. 

Now, facing its 50th year serving southern Arizona's theatre community, ATC might not see the curtain rise for its 2016-17 season. Without the $2 million necessary to keep its doors open by Friday, July 1, ATC will consider canceling the upcoming shows to reorganize, despite sustained efforts by private donors to keep the doors open. 

Although ATC's recent seasons left the company in the black by the end of the fiscal year, 2016's recent fundraising efforts to bring the business out of a substantial debt has reached a "critical juncture" according to a press release sent out Monday to donors and subscribers.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is proposing to start collecting foreign travelers' social media names and handles. 

The new field in certain customs forms would read, "Please enter information associated with your online presence—Provider/Platform—Social media identified." It would be optional to fill out, and would appear for people not required to have a visa to travel in and out of the U.S., according to a post on Slate. The proposal by CBP was first spotted by The Hill, though.

Citizens of 38 countries, such as Denmark and Switzerland, can stay in the U.S. for 90 days without applying for a visa.

"Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide [the Department of Homeland Security] greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set which analysts and investigators may use to better analyze and investigate the case," CBP says.

The proposal launched on June 20 and is open to public comment until Aug. 22.

When you're shifting funds around in a revenue-neutral situation, you're going to create winners and losers. It's a zero sum game, so when one party gets a dollar more, another party gets a dollar less. The most important question when you discuss those kinds of funding shifts—really, the only important question—is, who are the winners and who are the losers?

That's the situation we're facing with Ducey's Classrooms First Initiatives Council which I wrote about last week. Ducey has tasked the council with coming up with a new formula for spending the state's K-12 education dollars without adding a penny to the overall budget. During its public meetings, it has listened to lots of arguments and proposals from actors on all sides of the education debate, but when it all comes down to dust, the arguments and proposals mean little. All that matters are the recommendations the council sends on to the governor. And it's not the fine, fancy logic and language the proposals are couched in that's important. It's who wins and who loses.

I want to try to inexpertly pick apart some of the possible proposals the council will put forward to see how they shift the flow of money. I say "inexpertly" because the proposals are general, without specific details, and the devil is always in the details, and also because I don't claim to know all the complexities of our very complex system of education funding. So consider this the beginning of a conversation we need to have before, not after, the council's proposals make it to the governor's desk and he sends them on to the legislature.

The buzz word at the most recent council meeting was "equity," and as is true with most buzz words, it's best to ignore it when you're trying to figure out what's going on. Basically, "equity" means being fair and even-handed. In education, that means giving every student as close to an equal chance of getting a quality education as possible, even if it costs more to educate some students than others. That's a great idea which most people talking about education say they agree with. But when everyone uses the same term, no matter what side of the debate they're on, the term is rendered meaningless. It's like "freedom." Everyone is for it, but it takes on different meanings depending on who's talking about it.

So let's look at some of the more prominent ideas in front of the council and try to figure out what they mean in terms of who gets more money and who gets less. The rest of this post gets pretty deep in the weeds, so here's the short version for those who want to leave early. The way I read the proposals, charter schools will be the winners, along with school districts with high income students. Districts with low income students will be the losers.

The Tucson Pima Arts Council is inviting you to celebrate your favorite artists and organizations by nominating them for 2016 Lumies Arts and Business Awards. 
TPAC honors "luminaries" each year for the profound impact they've made on Southern Arizona communities through the arts. 

According to the TPAC their seven awards include:

Arts Education Award: Awarded to an individual or organization that has demonstrated excellence in arts education and/or youth work. May apply to a program for youth and/or adults.
Arts and Cultural Advocate: Awarded to an individual or organization that has significantly contributed to the Tucson and Pima County cultural community and has raised the visibility of Southern Arizona's arts and culture sector. This may include work through direct advocacy efforts as well as promoting the value of the arts.
Business Award: Awarded to a private-sector business that actively supports and promotes local arts organizations, programs, and individual artists through advocacy and/or community outreach and involvement initiatives, such as work-place based gallery exhibitions, volunteerism, scholarships, and a variety of other activities that promotes the value of arts and culture in our community.
Artist Award: Awarded to an individual artist who has demonstrated excellence, originality, and ingenuity in the local arts and culture sector.
Arts Organization Award: Awarded to a public or private arts organization that has demonstrated excellence in serving the people of Tucson and Pima County. This may include exemplary work across disciplines, as well as advocating for and promoting the value of arts and culture in Southern Arizona.
The David Hoyt Johnson Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts: Awarded to an individual, organization, or arts administrator who has demonstrated excellence, resilience, integrity, and resourcefulness in the arts and culture sector.
Emerging Artist or Arts Organization: Award to an individual, collective, or organization with three years or less of operating experience that has demonstrated excellence in Southern Arizona's arts and culture sector. May apply to a program for or by youth.

Winners will be announced and nominees will be honored at the their gala event on Friday, Sept. 16 at the Rialto Theatre. 

For more information and to nominate and individual or organization click here. 

Nominations will be accepted until Monday, August 5. 

Former Arizona governor Jan Brewer continued to make the Grand Canyon State proud with her spirited defense of presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump and her complaints that whenever Republicans try to get something decent done in this country, Democrats call them "racists" and "bigots." She did concede that Trump's comments that the federal judge who released damaging documents related to a lawsuit against Trump University was kinda-sorta racist, but Jan let everyone know that "I don't believe that Donald Trump meant in the manner in which he said it"—even though Trump said it repeatedly in different settings. But hey, Trump's campaign manager said today that "we have a candidate who doesn’t need to figure out what’s going on in order to say what he wants to do," so maybe it is just best to not take anything he says seriously.

BTW, there's probably a speaker spot available to Jan at the Republican National Convention.

Two members of Tucson’s local media scene have found themselves in a deeply troubling situation after taking their 4-month-old daughter to a local hospital, where cocaine was found the child’s system.

On Sunday, May 15 around 11 a.m., Somchai P. Lisaius, former crime reporter for KOLD News 13, and his wife, former KGUN 9 reporter and local journalist Krystin R. Lisaius, took their child to the Oro Valley Hospital, after observing that the child was “wabbly,” “became limp,” was “unable to wake up” and that her “eyes were rolling” into the back of her head. Krystin Lisaius described the child as “ragdoll-like,” according to the police report from the Oro Valley Police Department.

While at the Oro Valley Hospital, the Lisaiuses refused to allow hospital staff to perform a blood draw on their child. Sometime later, the parents left with the child against medical advice, but agreed to have her transferred to Banner University Medical Center for further evaluation. The child was transported to Diamond Children’s Hospital via a Golder Ranch Fire District ambulance around 1 p.m.

While at Banner, the parents were once again uncooperative and did not allow a toxicology screen on the child.

After previously denying the use of cocaine, Krystin Lisaius admitted to using the drug by “snorting it” through her nose with Somchai Lisaius and a friend named "Thomas" on Saturday, May 14 while at their family home after hosting a barbecue earlier in the day. She also told a UMC social worker she had been breastfeeding the child. She stated that she didn’t think the baby would be affected after 12 hours had passed. She also refused all lab tests on the child except a heel blood stick, body scans and physical exams.

In the presence of representatives of the Office of Child Welfare Investigations and Department of Child Safety, Banner UMC staff conducted a urinalysis as well as a toxicology screen that showed the presence of cocaine in the child’s system. An OVPD officer performed a blood draw analysis on Krystin Lisaius after obtaining a search warrant.