“Today, violence is overwhelming,” says Susan Agrillo, also known as the standup comedian Suzie Sexton. “Sometimes we feel powerless to do anything about it.”

Agrillo, whose sister was murdered more than 35 years ago, determined to do what she could. She founded Comedy for Charity, an annual variety show that benefits local nonprofit organizations working to prevent violence in Tucson. This year’s beneficiaries are Ben’s Bells and the YWCA of Southern Arizona. Sexton also has donated 200 tickets to low-income veterans. The show, “Laugh ‘til It Hurts: An Evening Dedicated to Violence Awareness and Prevention,” is at 6 p.m., Sunday, April 22 at the Fox Tucson Theatre. Tickets are $25 at the door or through foxtucson.com.

“Ben’s Bells Project is teaching kindness skills, helping us behave in a manner antithetical to violence,” Agrillo says. “The YWCA offers programs to prevent domestic violence and sexual violence against women. “A portion of the funds also goes to The Send a Kid to Camp/Arizona Daily Star Sportsmen’s Fund to provide positive life models for kids at risk.

Sexton recruited cartoonist David Fitzsimmons to emcee the show, which includes Tucson expat comedian Henry Barajas, Estrogen Hour founder Nancy Stanley, attorney and comedian Elliot Glicksman, Agrillo’s Suzie Sexton alter ego, and your humble Laughing Stock scribe, Linda Ray. Viva Dance Company, Centre Stage Tap and a juggler from Twilight Productions bring the variety.

Barajas says he’s returning a changed man. “I’m a much different person and comic since I left,” he says. “My experience has broadened my perspective. I have less material about my ‘man boobs’ and more about life as a ‘terrible Mexican.’”

Headlining the show is Jason Love, whose name could hardly be more appropriate to its mission. Love is a clean comedian and musician with a national reputation, including appearances on HBO, Comedy Central, America’s got Talent and more than 20 other national broadcasts. He’s also performed on Broadway, and appeared at corporate events hosted by Google, Chevron, Farmers Insurance and Costco.

Love has entertained troops overseas and has performed on cruise lines. His clips are played daily on Pandora and Sirius XM, and his nonprofit organization. Love & Laughter, provides free shows to cancer support groups.

Hi, I'm Apple Juice!

I am a 2-year-old girl who can’t wait to meet my fur-ever family! I came to HSSA as a transfer from another shelter so they don’t know much about my past. They do know that I am a very sweet girl who is going to make someone very happy. I would do best in a home with a mellow playmate.

I tested positive for valley fever, but that doesn't mean that I don't deserve a home. Valley fever is a manageable condition and HSSA will even send me home with a 6 month supply of medication.
I would do best in a home with older kids. Bring any dogs or kids to meet me at HSSA Main Campus at 635 W. Roger Rd. For more information give an adoptions counselor a call at 520-327-6088, ext. 173.

See you soon,
Apple Juice (521799)

It was an unlikely twist on the evening of Saturday, April 14, as a cavalcade of maroon-clad fans poured into the airy entrance of the Tucson Arena.

The twist, which seemed impossible a few years ago, was the thought of playoff hockey happening in the heart of the second-largest desert in North America.

More than 10,000 people found their way to the venerable arena to catch the final regular season home stand of the Tucson Roadrunners’ regular season.

The Roadrunners, in their second season of existence, clinched the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division crown on Friday, beating rival San Diego 3-2, thanks to an improbable off-balance goal by Swedish winger Mario Kempe.

Not to be outdone, the Roadrunners came back and clinched the last hurdle in their way the following night, earning the top spot in the AHL’s 15-team Western Conference in a 6-3 win.

The team, under first-year coach Mike Van Ryn, finished the regular season with an eye-popping 42-20-6 record.

They enter this week’s opening round of the playoffs with a red-hot 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games, winning three straight games against San Diego to cap off the season.

Van Ryn’s squad finishes the regular season with the second-best road winning percentage (.750), allowing the fewest goals of any of the league’s 30 teams on the road (78).

Tucson has a legitimate shot at making a deep playoff run, thanks to a youthful front line of Dylan Strome, Mike Sislo and Michael Bunting—who scored 68 goals combined this season.

They enter this week’s opening round matchup against fourth-seed San Jose with a full gust of confidence at their backs, seeking to become the first Tucson team to win a conference championship since the Tucson Sidewinders won the Pacific Coast League crown in 2006.

Van Ryn expects a battle against the Barracuda, the lone team that the Roadrunners had a losing record against in the 68-game regular season.

“It's going to be a be a hard-fought series. I mean, they've played us well all year,” Van Ryn said. “I think we’ve got to be ready for them. And we’ve got to put together maybe a better game plan than we have in the past, and our executions got to be better. And we're getting to work already on it. So, we just go to be ready to go. And we've got guys rested now, and we'll try to give them our best.”

Van Ryn said his team’s confidence has gone through the roof during the course of the regular season, coinciding with their continued success.

“Coming in, I think we just were like, ‘Oh, let's try to make it in the playoffs, and give the young guys a taste of what that's like’,” Van Ryn said. “And you know what? They just kept growing. I think from day one, they bought in. We pushed them hard, and they accepted.”

That drive to succeed has resulted in a regular season few will forget, including winger Tye McGinn, who’s scored 10 goals this season.

McGinn is impressed by the team’s ability to weather the highs and lows of the season, and how they’ve coalesced as a unit entering the month-and-a-half-long marathon that is the AHL playoffs.

“Our forecheck is very strong and we turn over a lot of pucks and that goes a long way,” McGinn said. “It's tough for teams to break out in it. As you could see against San Diego here last couple games, it really wore them down. And I think our team is very strong with that and it's going to be an exciting first run.”

That excitement was mutual for the 4,000-plus fans that stuck around after Saturday’s finale to watch members of the team skate around the rink, tossing T-shirts to the legions of converts.

It’s a bold new era for the Roadrunners and the city alike, with the wonder of playoff hockey coming for the first time at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25.

Van Ryn is well-aware of the gut-churning anxiety that playoff hockey presents, playing 26 postseason games during his 12-year NHL career.

He’s ready to see what his players are capable of when pressure reaches its fever pitch, and the luxuries of the regular season go out the window.

“This is what you worked for all year. The division championship and winning the west is all great, but it's the playoff wins,” Van Ryn said. “It's trying to win that trophy at the very end is what matters. And that's what you strive for.”

Dr. Auggie Romero, principal of Pueblo High School, got screwed by the TUSD board majority when it decided in a 3-2 vote not to renew his contract at the April 10 board meeting. Very likely, current and future Pueblo High students lost out as well.

The story behind the vote against Romero is both simple and complex, depending on how it's told, and it tends to come out differently depending on who's telling it. Let me try and reduce the story to its essentials.

Two years ago, Romero changed the course grades of 6 seniors at Pueblo High from F to D in the last days of the school year, which allowed them to graduate (Actually, one student didn't graduate because he failed another class). In doing so, Romero violated state law and TUSD district policy, both of which state that a principal is not allowed to change a grade given by a teacher. On the surface, that's the primary issue which led the board majority to decide not to renew his contract, though they didn't discuss the issues much before the vote. More on the reasons behind their decision later.

However, the story is more complicated than that, as you learn when you read the 13 page report on the grade changing incident produced by the law firm, DeConcini, McDonald, Yetwin & Lacy. You can read it on the KGUN9 website.

According to the report, the six students complained to Romero that the teacher had not allowed them to make up work they had missed, which led to them failing the class. The report substantiated their claim and said the teacher violated district policy by refusing to allow them to complete the make-up work. Romero gave the students the opportunity to complete the assignments they missed. After their work was graded, each of the students had enough points to pass the class. That's when Romero changed their grades from F to D in violation of state law and district policy.

The law firm's report came to the conclusion that "Dr. Romero was not flouting the law or policy intentionally. I think he believed that the students in question were in fact denied the opportunity to complete the assignments and that, by allowing them to do so, he was simply providing them the opportunity that their teacher should have provided to them under district policy." The report recommends "Dr. Romero be directed not to change students' grades in the future, regardless of the reason." It also recommends that Romero be counseled on better ways to handle similar situations in the future. No further actions are suggested.

Teachers waved “Red for Ed” signs as passing cars honked their support before school on Wednesday, April 11.

Forming a wall of of red shirts, roughly 40 Amphitheater High School educators took part in a walk in to demand better wages and school funding from the state legislature.

Every Wednesday morning, educators across the state have been holding morning rallies, or “walk ins,” outside their schools. The Red for Ed movement, which began in early March, is calling for a raise for educators and additional funding for schools.

Facing mounting pressure, Gov. Doug Ducey announced on Thursday, April 12, that he would give teachers a 19 percent raise over the next three years, but Arizona Educators United (AEU), the grassroots coalition of educators that launched Red for Ed, isn’t settling for a vague promise that addresses just one of their demands.

Jason Freed, president of the Tucson Education Association, said Ducey’s promise is a “step in the right direction but still far from the finish line.” Educators want more details about the proposed raises. They’re asking for a 20 percent raise for teachers and competitive pay raises for all education support staff, such as librarians, bus drivers, counselors and teachers’ aids.

“None of us are OK with excluding other educators,” Freed said. “The governor hasn’t lived up to the expectations that people have.”

Ducey’s offer of a 19 percent raise for teachers is a moving target. Here are a few random thoughts, some of which may be out of date by the time this post hits The Range.

Did Ducey Blink?
Ducey didn’t just blink. His knees buckled, he reached for the white handkerchief in his breast pocket, straightened himself out, waved the kerchief over his head, put on his best smile and tried to pretend his offer of a 19 percent raise for teachers is what he wanted to do all along.

It wasn’t. The teachers forced his hand. Instead of demonstrating, patting themselves on the back and retreating to their classrooms, they refused to go away. They were out last week, they were out this week, and they’ll be out next week in ever growing numbers. It’s a rolling thunder sweeping across the nation, from West Virginia to Oklahoma to Kentucky to Arizona, and the storm is building in intensity. First the media covered the spectacle, then it covered the issues. (Lesson learned: If you want media coverage, earn it. Make a spectacle of yourself, then do it again. Say something outrageous, then say it again. That's catnip for journalists.) Nearly all the coverage has been on the teachers’ side, because the teachers are right and because they impressed the nation with their tenacity, their unity, their fearlessness.

If I sounds like I’m proud of the practicing members of my profession . . . you goddam betcha I am.

Did I See This Coming?
Nope. Didn’t even imagine this moment was possible, let alone that it could come this soon.

Should Teachers Cheer?
Absolutely. They won a big victory. They should cheer for a full minute. Hell, this is a biggie, make it ten minutes. Then get back to the business of guaranteeing increased funding levels for teacher salaries, for support staff salaries, for school repairs, for school supplies — for all the stuff the "Dismantle public schools" Republicans who run this state have refused to pay for.

Your Weekly guide to keeping busy in the Old Pueblo.

Festivals

Old Pueblo Playwrights New Play Festival. Have you ever written a play? If you have, you know it’s not easy, and if you haven’t, you can probably guess that it’s not easy. Take this opportunity to give some props to local playwrights while also enjoying their work. With six original plays showing over four days, you’ll see big plays, small plays, some the size of your head, with titles as relatable as “Dirty Laundry” and “The Stuff in the Garage” and as intriguing as “Kitchen, Spaceship, Chinese Restaurant.” Thursday, April 12 through Monday, April 16, with plays showing at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 7 p.m. on Sunday. Temple of Music & Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. $7 per day or $21 for an all-festival pass. Day passes available at the door, both available online.

Marana Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Festival. Isn’t it beautiful how sometimes a whole can be greater than the sum of its parts? Like two people falling in love, or when paints come together on a canvas to create a gorgeous work of art, or when you combine “blue” and “grass.” At Marana’s festival, they’ll be highlighting tons of local artists (such as The Sonoran Dogs, the Dust Devils and the Heather “Lil Mama” Hardy Band) throughout the festival, particularly in the free singer-songwriter showcase on Friday. Chris Jones and the Night Drivers, a bluegrass band that does a combination of only the best covers and original songs, will serve as the headliner. The venue at Gladden Farms Community Park includes lots to do for families and kids as well, such as sports fields, a playground area, a Ramada with a grill and a picnic area. 4 p.m. on Friday, April 13, 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 14 and 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, April 15. Gladden Farms Community Park, 12205 N. Tangerine Farms Road. $30 for a weekend pass, $20 for a pass to the Saturday or Sunday shows and free for the Friday concert. Kids 12 and under are free with a paid adult.

35th Annual Tucson Poetry Festival. Hard to believe that Tucson and its poetry festival are already on their jade anniversary. (Everyone knows 35 is the jade anniversary.) This year’s theme is “Poetry in Action.” Celebrate with a treasure trove of events, including a kickoff reading with Tere’ Fowler Chapman, Isaac Kirkman and youth poets from Spoken Futures. Also on the docket: A youth-only poetry workshop, a “Poetry as Resistance” workshop led by Fowler-Chapman and a workshop on “Occult and Freeing the Verse Through Archetype Using Astrology and Tarot” with Kirkman. The festival kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 12 and continues through Saturday, April 14 at Steinfeld Warehouse, 101 W. Sixth St., with workshops and readings at various times. Free.

Fest on Fourth. To gear up for the big event in May, the folks at the Tucson Folk Festival are throwing this outdoor music bash on Fourth Ave. with four stages at Magpie’s, BOCA Tacos y Tequila, Taggerty Plaza and Lindy’s on Fourth. Then, stay tuned for the acoustic lottery, in which 16 musicians will come together to create four brand new bands just for the night. Saturday, April 14 with Fest on Fourth from 6 to 9 p.m. and acoustic lottery from 9 p.m. to midnight. Various locations downtown and then at the Flycatcher, 340 E. Sixth St. $5 for acoustic lottery, with proceeds benefitting the Tucson Folk Festival.

Bicycles

GABA Spring Bike Swap. At the Greater Arizona Bicycling Association, Inc. their motto is “where cycling is more than just riding a bike.” These are people who celebrate the activity they love and the group of friends they’ve made doing it in equal parts. In keeping with this spirit of community, they like to throw the largest bicycle swap in the Southwest biannually, attracting more than 5,000 attendees and dozens of vendors. Head on down to sell or buy bikes and bicycle parts from others in the community. Even if you just have one bike you want to sell, feel free to bring it down, slap a price on it and walk it around the event (though if you’ve got more to sell, hopefully you’ve already reserved a vendor space). 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, April 15. 311 E. Seventh St. Free entry.

Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller told a radio show host this morning that she’d support a proposed half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements—but only if Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry agreed to resign from the top post.

Miller told Wake Up Tucson host Chris DeSimone that she would break her promise to voters to never support a sales tax if Huckelberry quit because she is convinced that the longtime county administrator has a “stranglehold” on the county and his removal would eliminate what she views as rampant cronyism in Pima County.

“It will eliminate that cabal, it will stop it,” Miller said. “There will be new people coming in. We’re seeing people retire left and right already. And we’re going to get new people in, and I believe the Board of Supervisors may—even if the same people stay in there—they would stand up and start doing their job. Because right now, they’re completely controlled by Chuck Huckleberry.”

Huckelberry told The Weekly he had a counteroffer.

“I’ll resign the day she’s recalled,” said Huckleberry, who expressed skepticism that Miller would follow through on her promise to support the tax even if he did resign.

“She has a habit of being untruthful,” Huckelberry said. “I think she’s lied once or twice before.”

Huckelberry said the offer to pass an ordinance if a county official resigned is something he’s never seen before in his 43 years in government, but he’s not surprised “because I’ve never seen a supervisor represent her district as poorly as Ally Miller.”

He added that Miller is out to create “false narrative” in order to “for purely political purposes to destroy the brand of Pima County. The brand of Pima County, in my opinion, is pretty strong.”

Miller had a few other conditions for her support of a sales-tax hike, including a promise that all the money from the sales tax go to road repair (she took particular exception to the idea that any money be spend on pedestrian walking signals or bike paths) and all projects go out for competitive bid (which is already done, as required by state law).

Wednesday, teachers "Walked In" all over the state. They gathered outside their schools before class, then walked into the building together. Lots of teachers. We'll have to wait for the news coverage and Facebook posts to know how many. The walk-in is in preparation for a possible walkout. Not a strike, not yet. A walkout. A show of solidarity. Maybe a prelude to a strike, maybe not.

The one near-strike I participated in was way back in the 1970s in a district outside of Portland, Oregon. I remember sitting in the band room after school with the rest of the faculty as the school's union leaders discussed our options with us. Unannounced, the principal walked through the door. "If any of you plan to go on strike," he said, looking around the room, "I want you to come to my office and tell me first."

His words set off a mild rumbling of fear inside my 20-something body. But when he opened his mouth to continue, one of the union leaders, a mild mannered older teacher, interrupted him. "We are holding a union meeting," the teacher said quietly but firmly. "It's after school hours, so we're on our own time. You are not allowed in here. I ask that you leave, now." The principal stood still for a few moments, then turned and left. If we weren't absolutely united before, we were when the door closed behind him.

The district settled with the teachers the next day, so the strike was averted. Otherwise, we were more than ready to walk. [This story isn't a knock on principals or administrators in general, by the way, many of whom are very supportive of their staff. It's just this one guy and this one situation I'm talking about.]

That near-strike moment came to mind as I listened to the way our "education governor" has responded to teacher activism. Ducey's tactic, like my principal back then, is divide and conquer.

Just last week, The Skinny advised y'all to keep on eye on Republican state lawmakers because they might try to find a way to prevent voters from deciding the fate of the expanded voucher program that GOP legislators and Gov. Doug Ducey tried to put into place last year.

Well, lookie here: the Arizona Republic reports that movement is afoot on that front:

A Republican state lawmaker is discussing with colleagues and outside groups a plan that could knock Proposition 305 off the November ballot before voters can decide the fate of Arizona's expanded school-voucher program.

The goal is to repeal last year's legislation that expanded the ESA program to all 1.1 million public-school students and replace it with legislation intended to address criticisms of the expansion, according to more than a half-dozen people familiar with the wide-ranging discussions.

The effort could backfire. Last year, Save Our Schools Arizona was able to gather enough signatures to force a referendum on the voucher plan. Making them go out and do it all over again with this kind of chickenshit dirty trick will energize teachers and other public ed supporters, which will make it even easier to turn them out in November—which is the last thing that Gov. Doug Ducey needs as he runs for reelection.