Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Do you love chimichangas? I mean do you really love chimichangas?
If you grew up in Tucson during the late ’80s to early ’90s, there's no doubt you saw commercials for the beloved all-you-can-eat Mexican restaurant of yesteryear: Gordo's Mexicateria.
John Henry's Bar in downtown Tucson played tribute to Gordo's famed commercials by recreating one to announce the limited-capacity reopening over Memorial Day weekend.
"I've always had an affinity for TV ads and radio jingles growing up. Being a Tucson kid, I can still remember the Golf 'n Stuff song in its entirety," John Henry's Bar co-owner Sean Humphrey said. "Gordo's whole line of, "Do you like chimichangas?" has such a super-Tucson feel and I fell in love with it."
Humphrey said he wanted to remind Tucsonans of a "happier times pre-COVID." Tyler Lidwell of Tyler Lidwell Videography LLC, who shot the Tips For Tucson video last month at John Henry's, signed on to film the commercial.
"I wanted to do an ad for my spot, something that was retro and pay homage to another Tucson establishment to remind people of happier times Pre-COVID," Humphrey said. "Tyler and I talked about filming it for a week and then shot it one day in about an hour-and-a-half."
If you grew up in Tucson during the late ’80s to early ’90s, there's no doubt you saw commercials for the beloved all-you-can-eat Mexican restaurant of yesteryear: Gordo's Mexicateria.
John Henry's Bar in downtown Tucson played tribute to Gordo's famed commercials by recreating one to announce the limited-capacity reopening over Memorial Day weekend.
"I've always had an affinity for TV ads and radio jingles growing up. Being a Tucson kid, I can still remember the Golf 'n Stuff song in its entirety," John Henry's Bar co-owner Sean Humphrey said. "Gordo's whole line of, "Do you like chimichangas?" has such a super-Tucson feel and I fell in love with it."
Humphrey said he wanted to remind Tucsonans of a "happier times pre-COVID." Tyler Lidwell of Tyler Lidwell Videography LLC, who shot the Tips For Tucson video last month at John Henry's, signed on to film the commercial.
"I wanted to do an ad for my spot, something that was retro and pay homage to another Tucson establishment to remind people of happier times Pre-COVID," Humphrey said. "Tyler and I talked about filming it for a week and then shot it one day in about an hour-and-a-half."
Friday, May 22, 2020
We've come to the end of another work week, and to the beginning of Memorial Day Weekend. Let's take a look at the stories we've covered today.
- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona topped 15,608 as of Friday, May 22, according to the morning report from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
- The travel forecast for this Memorial Day weekend is fuzzy – just another victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- If you have Medicare and want to be tested for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Trump administration has good news.
- Good news, book lovers, the Pima County Public Library is switching to an auto-renew system this summer that will automatically renew your checkout instead of instituting a late fee.
- On the heels of a pair of impressive performances this week, the Gaslight Music Hall in Oro Valley is hosting another two drive-in concerts next Wednesday and Thursday.
- The Grand Canyon will reopen on a limited basis for Memorial Day weekend, a move critics call “premature” during the COVID-19 pandemic and “tone-deaf” in the face of startling infection rates in the neighboring Navajo Nation.
- The YMCA in northwest Tucson reopened its doors to the community on Wednesday with added safety precautions and limited hours to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- The arts and crafts community around Cathey’s Sewing & Vacuum stores have kept busy during quarantine by sewing tens of thousands of masks for local hospitals, first responders, and law enforcement.
- A former White House aide won a $3 million federal contract to supply respirator masks to Navajo Nation hospitals in New Mexico and Arizona 11 days after he created a company to sell personal protective equipment in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Courtesy photo
The YMCA in northwest Tucson reopened its doors to the community on Wednesday with added safety precautions and limited hours to prevent the spread of COVID-19. They plan to open their other locations using a similar strategy in the coming weeks.
Visitors will notice the Y's cardio, circuit equipment and free weights are open for use while high-traffic spaces such as group fitness, locker rooms, gyms and pools are not available yet. They are encouraging all members to bring their own gym towel and water bottle.
The northwest Y, located at 7770 N. Shannon Road, has a newly installed touch-less entry system using the Y mobile app. Members will be asked to sign a waiver and take a "Health & Safety pledge."
All staff members that interact with members will be required to wear a face mask. Members are encouraged to wear masks, but it is not required. The capacity inside the building will be limited to ensure social distancing between members, and sanitation stations have been installed so that members can wipe down equipment before and after use. The Y is also limiting use of their facilities to 60 minutes for each member.
They will be open until 8 p.m. today, and will have limited operations Monday through Friday from 6 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. The Y will be closed for part of the afternoon for extended cleaning.
The Y is still offering virtual workouts on their website, tucsonymca.org.
All staff members that interact with members will be required to wear a face mask. Members are encouraged to wear masks, but it is not required. The capacity inside the building will be limited to ensure social distancing between members, and sanitation stations have been installed so that members can wipe down equipment before and after use. The Y is also limiting use of their facilities to 60 minutes for each member.
They will be open until 8 p.m. today, and will have limited operations Monday through Friday from 6 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. The Y will be closed for part of the afternoon for extended cleaning.
The Y is still offering virtual workouts on their website, tucsonymca.org.
Tags: COVID19 , Coronavirus , Gyms , Opening , YMCA , Social Distancing , Image
PHOENIX – The Grand Canyon will reopen on a limited basis for Memorial Day weekend, a move critics call “premature” during the COVID-19 pandemic and “tone-deaf” in the face of startling infection rates in the neighboring Navajo Nation.
The opening, from Friday to Monday, is just the second at the park, which was completely closed to visitors on April 1 to stem the spread of the virus. The park also opened for four days last weekend on a limited basis.
Entry will be allowed to the South Rim from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m., with visitors who are in the park by then allowed to stay until sunset. Food service, bike rentals and a limited number of trails will be available, while residential areas, sit-down restaurants, visitor centers, museums, shuttle buses and some roads will remain closed.
The park said in a statement that it will follow state and federal guidelines for health safety, encouraging social distancing by limiting groups to 10, with park rangers ready to step in if needed.
“We’re encouraging people to recreate responsibly and to read up on any national park that they are going to, to find out what is open and closed,” said Lily Daniels, a spokeswoman for the park.
But critics said there is no reason to rush the reopening of the park.
If you have Medicare and want to be tested for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Trump administration has good news.
Medicare covers tests with no out-of-pocket costs. You can get tested in your home, doctor’s office, a local pharmacy or hospital, a nursing home or a drive-through site. Medicare does not require a doctor’s order for you to get tested.
Testing is particularly important for older people and nursing home residents, who are often among the most vulnerable to COVID-19. Widespread access to testing is a critical precursor to a safe, gradual reopening of America. When a vaccine for COVID-19 is developed, Medicare will cover that, too.
For Medicare beneficiaries who are homebound and can’t travel, Medicare will pay for a trained laboratory technician to come to your home or residential nursing home to collect a test sample. (This doesn’t apply to people in a skilled nursing facility on a short-term stay under Medicare Part A, as the costs for this test, including sample collection, are already covered as part of the stay.)
Medicare covers tests with no out-of-pocket costs. You can get tested in your home, doctor’s office, a local pharmacy or hospital, a nursing home or a drive-through site. Medicare does not require a doctor’s order for you to get tested.
Testing is particularly important for older people and nursing home residents, who are often among the most vulnerable to COVID-19. Widespread access to testing is a critical precursor to a safe, gradual reopening of America. When a vaccine for COVID-19 is developed, Medicare will cover that, too.
For Medicare beneficiaries who are homebound and can’t travel, Medicare will pay for a trained laboratory technician to come to your home or residential nursing home to collect a test sample. (This doesn’t apply to people in a skilled nursing facility on a short-term stay under Medicare Part A, as the costs for this test, including sample collection, are already covered as part of the stay.)
The travel forecast for this Memorial Day weekend is fuzzy – just another victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the first time in 20 years, AAA has canceled its Memorial Day travel forecast as COVID-19 has affected the way it collects data for its survey. Experts say the traffic is not likely to be anywhere near the 43 million Americans who traveled for the holiday last year, but after that it’s anybody’s guess.
“I think people just don’t know. I think people in the industry don’t know either,” said Eileen Ogintz, a family travel columnist. “It is just hard to gauge what is going to happen.”
That’s true for all aspects of summer travel, with restrictions and concerns over COVID-19 likely to force Arizonans to look for alternative summer vacation plans.
AAA Arizona spokesperson Aldo Vazquez said travelers should be prepared for varying COVID-19 guidelines if they are going to other states. That includes traveling with masks and hand sanitizers and double-checking their preparations.
“Many travel providers – airlines, hotels, cruises – they have also altered their itinerary and adjusted policies in response to the pandemic,” Vazquez said. “A lot of them are being very flexible right now in terms of working with you to kind of help you in the event that there is something that happens given the state of affairs.”
For the first time in 20 years, AAA has canceled its Memorial Day travel forecast as COVID-19 has affected the way it collects data for its survey. Experts say the traffic is not likely to be anywhere near the 43 million Americans who traveled for the holiday last year, but after that it’s anybody’s guess.
“I think people just don’t know. I think people in the industry don’t know either,” said Eileen Ogintz, a family travel columnist. “It is just hard to gauge what is going to happen.”
That’s true for all aspects of summer travel, with restrictions and concerns over COVID-19 likely to force Arizonans to look for alternative summer vacation plans.
AAA Arizona spokesperson Aldo Vazquez said travelers should be prepared for varying COVID-19 guidelines if they are going to other states. That includes traveling with masks and hand sanitizers and double-checking their preparations.
“Many travel providers – airlines, hotels, cruises – they have also altered their itinerary and adjusted policies in response to the pandemic,” Vazquez said. “A lot of them are being very flexible right now in terms of working with you to kind of help you in the event that there is something that happens given the state of affairs.”
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona topped 15,608 as of Friday, May 22, according to the morning report from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County had 1,974 confirmed cases.
The coronavirus had killed 775 people statewide, including 174 in Pima County, according to the report.
In Maricopa County, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases had risen to 7,950.
Because symptoms can take as long as two weeks to appear after exposure to the virus (while some people can remain entirely asymptomatic), health officials continue to urge the public to avoid unnecessary trips and gatherings of more than 10 people, especially if you have underlying health conditions, and have advised people to cover their faces with masks in public.
With Arizona's stay-at-home order lifted, businesses are reopening across the state, some more cautiously than most. While Gov. Doug Ducey has praised the responsibility approach he sees Arizonans taking, local elected officials such as Tucson Mayor Regina Romero have warned that he is proceeding too quickly and Arizona may see a resurgence of the virus.
"I don’t want our economy to just re-open, I want it to remain open," Romero said. "That will not happen if there is a second wave of the virus and we are forced to shut down again."
Dr. Bob England, the director of the Pima County Health Department, said people who are vulnerable to COVID-19 should continue to take precautions.
"Just know that if you're vulnerable, if you're older, if you have underlying health conditions that put you at higher risk, then please, please, please hunker down for a while longer," England cautioned. England said last week that the results of reopening so many establishments wouldn’t be known for weeks as test results tend to lag behind the actual spread of the virus. “It will take a few weeks to know the impact of this so we won’t know until early June what all of this is doing to the epidemic curve,” England said in a recent daily briefing.
In other COVID-related news:
• The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 along party lines yesterday to revise the emergency health regulations they passed last week on party lines. The health regulations, related to the “best practices” strategies developed by the county’s Back To Business Task Force, came under fire from some members of the restaurant sector as well as local GOP state lawmakers, who asked Attorney General Mark Brnovich to look into whether the board was violating state law by enacting the regulations.
Pima County had 1,974 confirmed cases.
The coronavirus had killed 775 people statewide, including 174 in Pima County, according to the report.
In Maricopa County, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases had risen to 7,950.
Because symptoms can take as long as two weeks to appear after exposure to the virus (while some people can remain entirely asymptomatic), health officials continue to urge the public to avoid unnecessary trips and gatherings of more than 10 people, especially if you have underlying health conditions, and have advised people to cover their faces with masks in public.
With Arizona's stay-at-home order lifted, businesses are reopening across the state, some more cautiously than most. While Gov. Doug Ducey has praised the responsibility approach he sees Arizonans taking, local elected officials such as Tucson Mayor Regina Romero have warned that he is proceeding too quickly and Arizona may see a resurgence of the virus.
"I don’t want our economy to just re-open, I want it to remain open," Romero said. "That will not happen if there is a second wave of the virus and we are forced to shut down again."
Dr. Bob England, the director of the Pima County Health Department, said people who are vulnerable to COVID-19 should continue to take precautions.
"Just know that if you're vulnerable, if you're older, if you have underlying health conditions that put you at higher risk, then please, please, please hunker down for a while longer," England cautioned. England said last week that the results of reopening so many establishments wouldn’t be known for weeks as test results tend to lag behind the actual spread of the virus. “It will take a few weeks to know the impact of this so we won’t know until early June what all of this is doing to the epidemic curve,” England said in a recent daily briefing.
In other COVID-related news:
• The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 along party lines yesterday to revise the emergency health regulations they passed last week on party lines. The health regulations, related to the “best practices” strategies developed by the county’s Back To Business Task Force, came under fire from some members of the restaurant sector as well as local GOP state lawmakers, who asked Attorney General Mark Brnovich to look into whether the board was violating state law by enacting the regulations.
Thursday, May 21, 2020
Good evening! Here are the stories we covered for you today.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona topped 15,000 as of Thursday, May 21, according to the morning report from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted an untold number of events and businesses throughout the nation, the census continued quietly in the background.
For many musicians and performers out of work due to COVID-19, virtual performances have served as a mild bandage. But while performing in front of webcams may help ease the quarantine time, it doesn't replicate the community engagement found around Tucson’s stages and venues.
The endangered Gila topminnow is swimming in the newly restored pond at Agua Caliente on Tucson’s east side.
Local business owners still attempting to secure financial funding during the pandemic have less than a week left to apply for the City of Tucson's $1,000,000 dollar small business resiliency loan program.
About half of low-income Latino households and just as many Latino-owned businesses said they have not received any support from the massive COVID-19 relief bills, according to a nationwide poll released Wednesday.
A new survey finds differences in how Americans feel about water, and how those feelings translate into action.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Thursday to revise last week's emergency amendments to the county's health code for restaurants and bars after restaurant owners complained the new rules were too burdensome and Attorney General Mark Brnovich launched an investigation into the rules at the request of local GOP state lawmakers.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona topped 15,000 as of Thursday, May 21, according to the morning report from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted an untold number of events and businesses throughout the nation, the census continued quietly in the background.
For many musicians and performers out of work due to COVID-19, virtual performances have served as a mild bandage. But while performing in front of webcams may help ease the quarantine time, it doesn't replicate the community engagement found around Tucson’s stages and venues.
The endangered Gila topminnow is swimming in the newly restored pond at Agua Caliente on Tucson’s east side.
Local business owners still attempting to secure financial funding during the pandemic have less than a week left to apply for the City of Tucson's $1,000,000 dollar small business resiliency loan program.
About half of low-income Latino households and just as many Latino-owned businesses said they have not received any support from the massive COVID-19 relief bills, according to a nationwide poll released Wednesday.
A new survey finds differences in how Americans feel about water, and how those feelings translate into action.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Thursday to revise last week's emergency amendments to the county's health code for restaurants and bars after restaurant owners complained the new rules were too burdensome and Attorney General Mark Brnovich launched an investigation into the rules at the request of local GOP state lawmakers.
President Donald Trump signs the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security – CARES – Act in March. The $2.2 trillion economic stimulus package includes funds for businesses and individuals affected by the fallout from COVID-19, but Latinos say they are not seeing the money. (Photo by Shealah Craighead/The White House)
The survey of 1,800 Latinos across all 50 states oversampled residents of six states, including Arizona. What it found was 48% of Latino households making under $25,000 did not receive any support. The same was true for small Latino-owned businesses, half which reported not being able to receive loans under the original stimulus bill.
Businesses in Arizona are no exception, said Tanairi Ochoa-Martinez, director of Fuerza Local, a nonprofit that supports Latino-owned businesses in the state.
“I’ve worked with hundreds of businesses and I can count on one hand how many businesses have been approved and actually received those funds,” Ochoa-Martinez said of the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
That $660 billion program directed Small Business Administration loans to businesses hit by COVID-19 shutdowns, with the possibility that the loans would be forgiven if the money was used to keep workers on the payroll through the pandemic.
“We want to make sure our historically underserved businesses are benefitting from the financial assistance programs that are so urgently needed right now,” Mayor Romero said.
The city council is encouraging women, minority, veteran and disabled business owners to apply for the city's We Are One/Somos Uno Resiliency Loan Program before midnight on May 26. Over $300,000 has already been disbursed through the Business Development Finance Corporation to local small businesses since the program began in April.
“We want to make sure our historically underserved businesses are benefitting from the financial assistance programs that are so urgently needed right now,” Mayor Romero said.
Eligible small businesses are required to be located within the city limits, have a valid City of Tucson business license or they can be registered in good standing with the Arizona Corporation Commission. Businesses must also have a bank or credit union account —or willingness to establish one—and cannot have more than 50 full-time employees. Franchises are eligible for the loan program as long as it's locally owned and listed on the SBA franchise registry.
If eligible, small businesses, sole proprietors, 1099 contractors and 501(C)(3) nonprofit organizations which meet the eligibility criteria can receive direct loans at zero percent interest.
National chains are not eligible for the program.
For more information or to apply for the city's resiliency loan, click here. You can also contact the City of Tucson Small Business Hotline at 520-837-4100.
