Tuesday, June 2, 2020
It’s unclear how much impact the 8 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew had on the situation – and it’s unclear how strictly it will be enforced.
Response from law enforcement agencies around the state ranged from departments that said they do not expect to enforce the curfew to others that said they would if needed, while citing exemptions that will allow people to be out after curfew.
“We aren’t actually enforcing that curfew,” said Mark Crandell, chief deputy of the Greenlee County Sheriff’s Office.
More were like officials in Mohave County, who recognized the curfew but in a statement said they do not expect to have to enforce it over the next week.
“As the governor stated in his press release, this is a tool for law enforcement to address potential lawlessness,” Mohave County Sheriff Doug Schuster said.
“Having said this, this order will not interfere with the otherwise legal movement of our citizens, regardless of time of day, and the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office will continue to actively address criminal behavior brought to our attention,” the statement said.
We've checked in with more than 100 local restaurants to find out which are now open for dine-in service, which are still only offering take-out, and which are planning on opening in the near future. As plans are rapidly updating, email [email protected] or comment on this article if you'd like your restaurant added to the list or if you know of a change in information. Support local business!
FOURTH AVENUE/ UNIVERSITY
● 4th Avenue Deli — Take-out available, and delivery through Postmates and Uber Eats. Dine-in service not available yet.
Hours: Monday - Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m
Phone: (520) 624-3354.
● Boca Tacos y Tequila — No date for dine-in service to be reopened yet, however outside patio is available. Take out or curbside pick up; bocatacos.com; delivery is by ondaguey.com within five miles.
Hours: Daily 12 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Phone: (520) 777-8134.
● Brooklyn Pizza — Take-out and delivery through DoorDash, GrubHub, UberEats, Postmates and brooklynpizzacompany.com. Tentatively planning to reopen dine-in service in June.
Hours: Daily 11 a.m. – 11 p.m
Phone: (520) 622-6868
● Caruso’s Italian Restaurant — Dine-in services are only provided through reservations and call-ahead only. Take-out available.
Hours: Tuesday - Thursday from 4 p.m to 8 p.m.,
Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m
Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Phone: (520) 624-5765
● Cheba Hut — Curbside pick-up with chebahut.com and delivery through DoorDash. Dine-in service not available yet.
Hours: Daily 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Phone: (520) 495-4719
● Crooked Tooth Brewing Co. — Take-out and delivery only. No dine-in service available yet.
Hours: Monday - Friday 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Phone: (520) 444-5305
● The Dutch Eatery and Refuge — Dine-in services available with reservations recommended. Take-out and delivery through GrubHub, DoorDash, Uber Eats and thedutchtucson.com.
Hours: Daily 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Phone: (520) 792-6684
● The Drunken Chicken — Limited dine-in service with seating inside and outside. Take-out and online ordering via thedrunkenchickenaz.com. Delivery through GrubHub and Postmates.
Hours: Daily 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (520) 617-0000
● Exo Roast Coffee/El Crisol Bar — Exo Roast Coffee reopened on May 30. Take-out only, and shipping of coffee and products on www.exocoffee.com.
Hours: Daily 7 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Phone: (520) 777-4709
● Frog & Firkin — Dine-in services available, as well as take-out and free no-touch delivery daily from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Hours: Daily: 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (520) 623-7507
● Fuku Sushi — Take-out and delivery through GrubHub, Uber Eats, Postmates and Eat Street.
Tentative plans to reopen dine-in service in the first weeks of June.
Hours: Sunday - Thursday 11 a.m. to Midnight, Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Phone: (520) 798-3858
● Gentle Ben’s — Dine-in service available. Take-out and delivery service through GrubHub, Uber Eats and www.gentlebens.com.
Hours: Monday - Thursday 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.,
Friday and Saturday 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Phone: (520) 624-4177
● Jimmy’s Pita and Poke Bowl — Dine-in service available for both UA and NW locations. Take-out and delivery through DoorDash, GrubHub, Postmates and https://www.jimmys2go.com/.
Hours: 10 a.m. – 9 p.m (until 8 p.m. at NW location)
Phone: UA location (520) 882-7482; NW location (520) 912-4972
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched from the Earth in September 2016 and is planned to return in 2023. The spacecraft, part of a NASA program, will collect rocks and dust from the surface of Bennu in order to better understand "the initial stages of planet formation and the source of organic compounds available for the origin of life." Since arriving at Bennu in December 2018, OSIRIS-Rex has mapped the asteroid's rocky and carbon-rich surface.
In studying Bennu, scientists have discovered that the asteroid is composed of fragments of larger bodies that shattered upon colliding with other objects. The small fragments then reaccumulated to form an aggregate body, which explains Bennu's extremely rough surface and a partially hollow interior.
Monday, June 1, 2020
- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona surpassed 20K as of Monday, June 1, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
- The secret, absurd world of coronavirus mask traders and middlemen trying to get rich off government money.
- Several leaders of the African-American community will be co-hosting a candlelight vigil to honor the memory of George Floyd from 6 to 7:45 p.m. tonight at The Dunbar Pavilion.
- If you were expecting a few summer celebrations this year in the form of Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance’s legendary food and drink fests, prepare to be disappointed.
- Despite promising trends last week, the Navajo Department of Health reported a spike in COVID-19 cases Monday, with 98 new cases and five additional deaths.
- Families looking to keep their children fed with the help of local school pantries recently received support in the form of a $25,000 grant from Fry’s Food Stores to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.
The funding will support the nonprofit’s 22 school pantry programs, located in eight school districts in two counties. The pantries provide food to families despite school closures, and many continue to do so through the summer.
As of Sunday, the total number of deaths on the Navajo Nation reservation was 246. Officials said 5,348 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, and they estimated 1,840 people have recovered.
“During this difficult time, we ask our citizens to practice preventive measures to minimize COVID-19 exposure,” Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer said in a statement. In addition to urging tribal members to disinfect items that come into their homes, wear masks and use hand sanitizer, Lizer said, “Remember to maintain a distance of at least six feet from others and allow elders and others at high risk of severe illness to move up in shopping lines to lessen their exposure of COVID-19.”
Navajo leaders urged tribal members to stay diligent because Operation First of the Month, a program in partnership with Basha’s food stores that allows elderly Navajo to shop safely when their monthly benefit checks arrive, is in effect.
In a June 1 statement, SAACA executive director Kate Marquez said the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the organization’s ability to raise funds and host programming. The nonprofit closed the Catalyst center in the Tucson Mall in the spring and has since shifted its efforts to streaming online resources, partnering with local companies to host virtual art exhibitions, and compiling care packages for local assisted living and veterans care facilities.
In addition to closing Catalyst, SAACA also canceled nearly every significant revenue-generating event since early March and expects that trend to continue through the fall.
“Although the organization remains in a bit of a holding pattern today, we want you to know that we spend most days making active plans for the future,” Marquez said in a company press release.
The Tucson 23 Festival, scheduled to take place at the JW Marriott Starr Pass, celebrates Visit Tucson’s campaign marking the “best 23 miles of Mexican food” in the U.S. The event brings together dozens of restaurants, breweries, and distilleries for a celebration of the Old Pueblo’s culinary traditions.
The World Margarita Challenge has been a venture alongside Tucson Originals Restaurants for the better part of a decade and pits the region’s most experienced mixologists against one another in a battle for alcoholic excellence.
Much like the margarita challenge, the Southern Arizona Salsa, Tequila & Taco Challenge allows guests to sample and vote on a wide array of delicious drinks (and food) in an effort to see how really prepares Tucson’s best taco.
SAACA aims to bring these events back in the future, and the organization said it will donate marketing resources for those projects back to the restaurants and chefs “who have generously supported our work for the past 20-plus years.”
In the meantime, the arts nonprofit is working to create short- and long-term changes to its programming and general operations to adapt to the fluid COVID-19 situation. That will includes developing a new calendar for 2020-21, capacity, sanitation and layout modifications to events and facilities, and creating new art experiences and opportunities for local artists.
“We will continue to communicate, collaborate and inform you as we move through these very difficult times ahead, continuing to make investments and decisions which will become more mission and vision-centric than ever before,” Marquez said.
Despite closures, SAACA is “cautiously” moving forward with some of its fall and winter schedule, including the Patagonia Fall Festival (Oct. 1 and 11), La Encantada Fall Fine Arts Festival (Oct. 24 and 25) and the Oro Valley Holiday Festival of the Arts (Dec. 5 and 6).
As for the Catalyst Arts & Maker Space in the Tucson Mall, SAACA will keep the facility closed to the public, including drop-in and group activities, through Sept. 1 or until further notice. Space will be available to smaller groups for private events and reserved classes later this summer. Private rentals will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Friday, May 29, 2020
- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona surpassed 18K as of Friday, May 29, with an additional 702 new cases reported yesterday, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
- After more than two months closed, Casino Del Sol, Casino of the Sun and Estrella at Casino Del Sol will reopen to the public June 3 at 8 a.m., the Pascua Yaqui Tribe announced this week.
- In both his public appearances and on Twitter, President Donald Trump has continued to rail against mail voting, and has accused Democrats of trying to rig the election.
- Eliminating high fives, coaching in groups of 10 people or less and administering regular temperature checks are among the recommendations the Arizona Interscholastic Association is endorsing for high school athletes as they begin practice for the fall sports season.
- In at least a dozen states, including South Dakota, Florida and Ohio, bills were introduced this year to make it harder for transgender minors to get medical treatment such as puberty blockers and other hormone therapies.
- Tucson Weekly asked the candidates running for Board of Supervisors seats this year if they approved of county decisions and if they would have done anything differently.
- After weeks of grim news as the pandemic tore through the Navajo Nation, the curve of positive COVID-19 cases has begun to flatten, President Jonathan Nez said Thursday.
The rate of hospitalizations peaked April 25, Nez reported during a town hall on Facebook Live, nearly a month ahead of the mid-May date projected to be the peak by the Navajo Area Indian Health Service projection rate.
“We did what it took, working together, all of us,” Nez said. “You stayed home, and that’s what brought these numbers – and the curve flattened.”
For weeks, the Navajo Nation has issued curfews and weekend-long lockdowns in an attempt to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. An eighth curfew has been called for this weekend.
Years ago, Howard began seeking treatment to help transition but found it difficult to find a doctor who respected the decision and Howard’s medical needs.
“I felt like I had to prove my identity,” Howard said. “Just being in a trans body … and existing in the world is already so difficult, and going to the doctor is just this whole super invasive experience.”
Legislation cropping up in statehouses across the U.S. could make that experience even more difficult.
