Looking for something to do on Friday night without hitting the bars? Head to lululemon’s Girl’s Night Out event at La Encantada on Friday, Jan. 29. This free event offers attendees aromatherapy, eyebrow advice, pastries, alcohol, and general wellness-centered endeavors. "#GNO" starts at 6 p.m. and promises raffle prizes along with marked-down and full-price lululemon apparel. Show up early, though, because according to lululemon's Facebook page, around 500 people plan on attending. Find more on lululemon athletica Tucson’s GNO event page.

In lieu of the federal government's plans to continue apprehending and deporting immigrant families from Central America, the Guatemalan consulate in Tucson is hosting a legal forum this weekend to ensure Guatemalan and Central American citizens are prepared to face any interaction with immigration officials.

The Department of Homeland Security raids began on the first weekend of 2016, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents coming to the homes of more than 120 asylum-seekers to arrest them. These immigrants were denied refuge in the U.S., and were later issued removal orders.

Oftentimes, immigrants do not have immediate access to legal counsel, and they end up complying to orders that they don't must obey, and that could further harm their cases—many times resulting in their immediate deportation. 

"The problem with any type of legal situation that involves immigration is that, for instance, your neighbor or friend turns out to be an 'expert' in law and tells the person affected what to do, without really knowing anything about [immigration] laws," Guatemalan Consul in Tucson Carlos Enrique de León López says.

At the legal clinic, local immigration attorney Claudia Arévalo will discuss everything from the importance of showing up to court dates, whether ICE agents have the right to enter a person's home or not at the event of a raid, and what undocumented parents of U.S. citizen children should do with their kids in the case they are deported. 

The Tucson Jazz Festival is treating Tucsonans to an awesome lineup of free jazz today, including two outdoor stages and shows inside a bunch of clubs. There's really no reason not to go, unless you're stuck working. Check out the full lineup of today's MLK Jazz Fiesta here.

Our very own Margaret Regan, author of Detained and Deported, will be a keynote speaker at this weekend's Sahuarita Border Issues Fair at the Good Shepherd United Church of Christ, 17750 S. La Canada.

The fun starts tomorrow night and continues on Saturday: 

The Border Issues Fair Concert, 7 p.m., Friday, Jan. 15, will feature Lance Canales & The Flood—a roots-blues influenced Americana trio from California’s breadbasket, where Canales lived the life that so many songs have been written about since the birth of roots music – hard labor, one room shacks and taunting ghosts whispering of a better life. Canales’ guttural vocals combine a hard-edged storytelling approach beneath a stripped down, foot-stomping, acoustic instrumentation. Opening act will be the Ambos Nogales, border singer-songwriter, Pablo Peregrina. Tickets $20.

The Border Issues Fair will begin with registration at 8 a.m. Saturday, January 16.. Donation $10 at the door. There will be three keynote addresses. The first, by Margaret Regan, journalist and author of “Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire” and longtime contributor to the Tucson Weekly, begins at 9 a.m. “Detained and Deported” was recently named a Top Pick in the 2015 Southwest Books of the Year competition.

Jennifer Johnson, Washington D.C, border policy advisor for the Southern Border Community Coalition, gives the second talk. Dr. Abby Wheatley, border activist and researcher, gives the third lecture, “Reframing Life and Death on the Arizona-Sonora Border."

Donations: Please bring belts and warm hat, gloves and jackets for those in the desert.

The YWCA of Southern Arizona announced today that scholarships for an eight-week business planning course are now available for women veterans, and other "underserved" entrepreneurs in the community. 

The Women's Business Center of Southern Arizona, the Connie Hillman Family Foundation, as well as the U.S. Small Business Administration, are sponsoring the aid for the program, which focuses on businesses that are in the planning stages, young companies or already-established businesses that need a revamp, according a press release from the YWCA.

The program, offered by the WBC for more than two decades, covers market positioning, management, marketing—and other tools that are "critical to running a successful business." By the end of the course, the entrepreneurs have to complete an official business plan.

The course is offered in English and Spanish. 

Scholarship applicants should submit a 300-word statement by Jan. 18:

• What's your business/ business concept?
• How will the course help you reach your business goals?
• How would a scholarship impact your ability to take the course?

The English program begins on Jan. 19, and the Spanish program kicks off on Jan. 20., at the YWCA's Frances McClelland Community Center, 525 N. Bonita  Ave. The regular cost is $300 per person.

Scholarship submissions should be sent directly to Victor Mercado, YWCA deputy director, via email at vmercado at ywcatucson dot org. For more information on the course call, 884-7810, or visit ywcatucson.org. 

Have next Monday off? Well, it's time to lace up your walkin' shoes because Saguaro National Park is waiving entrance fees for MLK Day. 

That sounds nice on its own, but those looking to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a more community-service driven way will also have their moment:

The park is seeking volunteers to help us pick up trash and litter along S. Freeman Road and S. Old Spanish Trail. This service event will be taking place on Monday, Jan. 18 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Monday. Tools, equipment, and protective wear will be provided to volunteers. Please come prepared wearing long pants, sun-screen, hats, and close-toed shoes, with personal snacks and a bottle of water. Additional water will be available for refilling bottles. Parking is available.

To sign up for this day of service, please email or call the park’s Centennial Volunteer Ambassador, Corina Yeh, at [email protected] or 733-8603 by Jan. 15.

In addition to this volunteer project, the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona will also be joining park staff in a service event removing invasive buffelgrass from park lands.

But wait, there's more!

Chances are, you found out on Monday which friends you could delete from your list if they were talking about anything other than the loss of rock legend and beloved weirdo David Bowie. You may have also seen some of the many tributes put out to honor the Thin White Duke. Well, aside from the already posted "Space Oddity" lyrics on Rialto Theatre's marquee, the historic venue and its across-alley bar, R Bar, are offering a full week of events to help commemorate David Jones. 

The events began last night with a special performance from Tom Walbank at R Bar and will culminate in a large mural painted on the side of the venue of Bowie and Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister from Tucson-based artist Danny Martin. Here's what the rest of the week has in store:

• Wednesday, Jan 13: The "Live and Rare" residency continues at R Bar with Tyler Akin, who has been asked to offer a tribute to the late rock 'n' roll god. The show begins at 9 p.m.
  
• Thursday, Jan. 14: DJ PhatSoul will be presenting a David Bowie video tribute set in addition to the hip hop and soul that comes standard on Thursday nights from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m.
  
• Friday, Jan. 15: Beginning at 5 p.m., the legendary Phil Davis will be performing during happy hour at R Bar for the first time with some soulful Bowie additions to his set. Davis will play until 7 p.m.
  
• Saturday, Jan 16: At R Bar, Clif Taylor will be spinning Bowie all night. Anyone dressed as any iteration of Bowie gets half-priced drinks. Over at Rialto, the "HEROES" tribute will feature live music, a Bowie dance party and the same dress-up deals as R Bar, hosted by KXCI's Cathy Rivers and Hannah Levin. There is a $3 cover for the Rialto event, which begins at 8 p.m.
  
• Sunday, Jan. 17: "Every Day Is Like Sunday" DJ night features DJ E_RUPT playing all your favorite Bowie jams with a screening of your favorite Bowie films. The weekly dance night runs from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m.
  

For more information on these and other Rialto Theatre events, visit the venue's website.

It's that time again, ballet fans! In the fall, Ballet Tucson gave us tickets to a few of their shows for the 2015-16 season.

It's time to give away a few pairs of tickets to the winter concert, Rhythms of the Americas. There are shows Feb. 5-7, and winners will be able to select which performance they attend. 

We'll get in touch with the winners at the end of the week (those not lucky enough to win can pick tickets up here). Then, stay tuned! We've got one more giveaway coming up in about a month.

To enter our Ballet Tucson giveaway, fill out the form here: 

It wasn't too long ago that the City of Tucson shut down Veinte de Agosto park over public health concerns from the Pima County Health Department.

The park for years has been occupied on-and-off by many of Tucson's homeless residents who congregate downtown. There aren't any bathrooms outdoors, so naturally the area eventually flooded with human waste. (That, as well as allegations of drug sales and other offenses, resulted in the city to close the park.)

Although the issue of outdoor bathrooms is constantly brought up in discussions about homelessness, not much has been done to make portable restrooms available to people who don't have a roof over their head. Until that's done, they will continue to have no option but urinate and defecate on the streets and parks. What would you do?

Miami recently installed portable bathrooms for its homeless population to use free of charge, and incidents with "open defecation" have decreased by 57 percent in six months, according to The Huffington Post. 

The Pit Stop program, which cost the city $500,000 has made a lot of residents happy. But Miami homeless rights advocacy group Miami-Dade Homeless Trust told the HuffPost that this is a temporary fix to the issue, and that could create excuses to keep people on the streets, particularly those who are chronically homeless, rather than focusing on housing. 

“If I’m making it easier for them to be on the streets, then I’m making it more difficult for my outreach staff to coax chronic homeless people off of the streets,” Ron Book, chair of the Homeless Trust, told The Huffington Post in May. “It makes an excuse for them to stay on the streets. I’m not into excuses.”

The portable restrooms are available downtown from 2 p.m. to around 9 p.m., the HuffPost says. The program was influenced by concerns from local business owners—a very similar situation to what we have in Tucson between the homeless  and the downtown merchants. 

At the latest meeting the City of Tucson hosted to talk homelessness (these have been happening on a semi-monthly basis thanks to Councilman Richard Fimbres since October, and it brings together Pima County, business representatives, homeless outreach workers, and houseless people to discuss solutions), Deputy Tucson City Manager Martha Durkin said installing "state-of-the-art bathrooms" would cost the city roughly between $60.000 to $140,000.

It would be a good investment, and options to make it more affordable for the city should be explored. 

There would be no more health woes over human waste, and it's a step closer to restoring respect and dignity for our fellow community members.

If you’re still anxiously considering whom to kiss at midnight to start 2016 off right, you’re on your own figuring that one out. However, if you’re wondering where to go this New Year’s Eve to get a hefty dose of live music, that’s another story.

Like the year before, Rialto Theatre (318 E. Congress St.) is throwing a trippy glow-in-the-dark dance party. However, unlike last year’s event, which featured local psych-cumbia band Chicha Dust, this time around the headliners will be local psych-cumbia band XIXA. Okay, so maybe it’s the same band, featuring Gabriel Sullivan, Brian Lopez and more, but rest assured, joined by DJ Dirtyverbs on the ones and twos, the night should offer plenty to move to. Plus, local artist Daniel Martin Diaz is slotted to decorate the stage with colorful lights to keep those eyeballs engaged. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show begins at 9 p.m. Advance tickets are $10, including party favors and a champagne toast for those 21 and over, on the Rialto Theatre website. You can also opt for the on-stage VIP experience for $50. The event is all ages.

Across the alley at Rialto’s little red bar, R Bar, you can spend an intimate evening with Tucson music legend Howe Gelb with Thøger Lund, who will be on deck to serenade you through two sets. With specialty cocktails, wine and craft beer, you can celebrate while you imbibe right. The R Bar party is included in the price of your Rialto admission ticket. It is a 21 and over event.

For a real change of pace, you can check out the Old Pueblo’s new favorite cover band, Mastodonna, over at The Flycatcher (340 E. Sixth St.). That’s right, if you’ve ever wistfully pondered what your favorite Madonna tunes could sound like when done in the ravenous metal styling of Mastodon, you can find out just before the clock strikes midnight. The concert will also feature Tom Heavy & the Party Makers (oh yeah, alright, it’s a shredding Tom Petty cover band) and DJs Bedlam and Clay Steele. The event kicks off at 8 p.m. and it is a 21 and over show. Tickets are $5 and include a free midnight toast.