Time for another checkpoint alert, with the purpose of deterring folks from driving under the influence.

Next one up is on Saturday.

If you happen to drive through one, you also get a snazzy little informational pamphlet that outlines the dangers of driving while drunk or hopped up on drugs.

What: Sobriety checkpoint

Who: Tucson Police Department

When: Saturday evening

Where: “Within the city limits”

Why: “Our goal is to reduce the number of collisions that involve impaired drivers and lower the injuries and deaths associated with these types of collisions.

“By conducting the checkpoint, we will be able to increase the awareness of motorists about the dangers of impaired driving, deter those who may be impaired from driving, and detect and investigate DUI offenses at the checkpoint.”

All quoted info herein from a Tucson Police Department news release.

I happen to be a fan of sobriety checkpoints. It aims to nip the problem in the bud by hopefully deterring impaired driving in the first place.

Before anyone cries about tax-payer money being wasted, it must be noted that checkpoints are paid for by grants awarded specifically for that purpose.

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What do you think?

Do folks hate checkpoints as much as some hate photo enforcement cameras?

Get out your wallets, for the tax man cometh.

With a healthy hike in taxes, the city is planning to increase the cost of utilities, phones, gym memberships and even using a tanning salon.

Why we have tanning salons in a place where it rarely rains is another issue altogether.

Get ready to pay more in city taxes, Arizona Daily Star

Tucsonans can look forward to a jolt from pretty much all their monthly utility bills after the City Council informally gave the go-ahead to a wide array of tax increases on Wednesday aimed at balancing a proposed $1.3 billion budget for next year.

The list includes 2 percent more on home and cell-phone bills and electric and gas bills. Water bills will go up 10 percent, garbage pickup fees 3.5 percent, and bus fares will be hiked as well.

Other new taxes include a new levy on gym memberships and tanning salons, and visitors will pay an extra $1 a night to stay in city hotels and motels. Read story: www.azstarnet.com/metro/294724

Some of these hikes – like a 10 percent increase on the water bill – are fairly steep.

This is also painful at a time when money is tight for pretty much everyone.

It’s always frustrating when we are forced to pay more for services that have not been improved or otherwise merit a higher cost.

The Beatles, Taxman:

If you drive a car,

I’ll tax the street.

If you drive to city,

I’ll tax your seat.

If you get too cold,

I’ll tax the heat.

If you take a walk,

I’ll tax your feet.

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Is raising taxes across the board an ideal way to deal with the city budget crunch?

What are other ways the city could instead generate money?

Using a tie-out for a dog is illegal in Pima County. But apparently some school employees thought it was OK to use the same concept on a special-needs student.

Student routinely restrained to fence

Five Tucson Unified School District employees were put on notice after an investigation revealed that a special-needs student at Sabino High School routinely was left restrained to a fence by his backpack from when the bus dropped him off for school to when teachers came to take him to class.

The bus monitor involved said the exceptional-education student, whose feet remained on the ground, was attached to the spoke of the fence so he wouldn’t fall over or wander away while he waited for his escort…..

In a written explanation in the district’s investigative file, monitor Thomas Giacoma noted that for most of the school year he had used the fence and nobody voiced disapproval, adding it was done in full sight of everyone at the bus bay, from teachers to bus drivers, supervisors and students. Read story: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/294757

Using the monitor’s logic, anything we do, no matter how atrocious, is OK if it’s in “full sight” of others.

Don’t forget Kitty Genovese was reported as murdered in “full sight” of New Yorkers peeking out their windows when they heard her blood-curling screams for help

Nobody did a thing to help.

Skeleton crew

Here at TucsonCitizen.com we try to honor reader requests – as long as the requests don’t involve sticking sharp objects in our eyes or playing in traffic.

The term “skeleton crew” has been kicking around for some reason, with several folks pointing out such a concept was right up my alley.

Then this request popped up:

“Time for some artwork of the skeleton crew, Ryn Gargulinski?”

I couldn’t resist.

The use of the word “skeleton” to mean “bare outline” was first recorded in 1607, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Terms using this meaning popped up soon after, such as skeleton key and skeleton crew.

I’d hate to meet someone with a skeleton brain.

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Have you ever worked on a skeleton crew? Did you enjoy it? Did it creep you out?

What are the benefits and drawbacks?

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard Tuesday dropped his attempt to keep the printed version of the Tucson Citizen alive.

Goddard filed the suit May 15, claiming Gannett Co. Inc., owner of the Tucson Citizen, and Lee Enterprises, publisher of the Arizona Daily Star, were attempting to silence a news voice in a community in violation of the Newspaper Preservation Act.

Gannett announced that day that it would no longer publish a print version of the Tucson Citizen but would continue a modified Web site of daily commentary and opinion with a weekly insert of editorial content appearing in the Arizona Daily Star.

Goddard had sought a temporary restraining order to keep the Citizen printing and force Gannett to sell it but U.S. District Judge Raner Collins denied the request May 19, saying it was unlikely the AG’s case could succeed.

Collins left the door open for Goddard to refile the case but Tuesday’s action closes it.

“At this point, it was highly unlikely that any outcome of the litigation could lead to the reopening of the Tucson Citizen, elimination of anti-competitive activity or a reestablishment of competitive voices in the Tucson newspaper market,” Goddard spokeswoman Anne Hilby said in a news release Wednesday.

This mule train snakes down the Grand Canyon, much like the Brady Bunch did when they visited for a series of episodes.

In addition to worrying about important things like sparkler laws, Arizona elected officials are spending time making sure Arizona keeps its claim as the “Grand Canyon State.”

While the nickname has been used for years, it’s never been made official.

Are we the Grand Canyon State or not?, Capitol Media Services

PHOENIX — Arizona may soon officially become what many residents have always thought it was — “The Grand Canyon State.”

With only two dissenting votes, the state House voted Tuesday to officially lay claim to the nickname that has adorned everything from license plates to paperweights for decades. HB 2019 now goes to the Senate.

“I’m just disgusted that we’re voting on things like that instead of actually doing the work of the budget,” said Rep. Steve Farley, (D-Tucson), pointing out lawmakers have yet to adopt a budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins in five weeks. “I think we have other priorities right now.” Read story: www.azstarnet.com/metro/294567

Making the nickname official is important, however ill-timed it may be, since other states could swipe the cute little phrase.

After all, Florida stole New Mexico’s former moniker as the “Sunshine State.”

North Dakota tried to rip off New Jersey’s the “Garden State” by simply calling themselves the “Peace Garden State.”

Those that don’t get their nicknames in writing may also easily get stuck with stuff like Missouri’s the “Show Me State.”

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What nickname would you give Arizona if it couldn’t keep the “Grand Canyon State?”

Every morning I will post my top 10 stories I’m digging that day with a little commentary to go with each. Here’s today’s list:

1. McCain: Both parties to blame for US woes – Arizona Daily Star “We Republicans let spending get out of control, and we paid a very heavy price in the election,” McCain said, adding that Republicans “are in step 1 of a 12-step program. We’re still in denial. We need to move on from that.”

If he had picked Colin Powell for veep, or someone similar, i.e. competent, McCain would be president today. Is he young enough to lead his party out of the wilderness? I think he’s the only guy who can do it but time is not on his side. If not him, then who? Lindsey Graham? I’d vote for him. It sure ain’t Mitt Romney.

2. AZ bill: US med plan optional – Arizona Daily Star Christie Herrera, who works for the American Legislative Exchange Council, said the measure is needed to preclude the kind of “socialized medicine” being considered in Washington, which exists in some other countries.

Oh, come on, get off the socialized medicine schtick. We already have socialized medicine for the very old and the very poor. It’s everybody in the middle who is screwed. We need a single payer system in this country with an opt out for those who can afford to choose private plans. A couple of years ago my employer-subsidized insurance plan changed and my family was forced to change all of our doctors because they weren’t providers on the new plan. I tried to buy private insurance to keep our doctors, but every insurance plan had stiff pre-existing condition clauses that refused to pay for chronic health problems for at least a year and never for some of my wife’s health problems. So we changed doctors. Then the plan changed again a year later as the company shopped around for a cheaper plan yet again. I wasn’t a proponent of a state-run single payer insurance plan until I got screwed by our nation’s broken health care system. Now I am. We need to decide in this country if health care is a right or a privilege. To that end, see below.

3. Health-care issue hashed out – Arizona Daily Star The notion of making health care in the United States a right rather than a privilege touched a nerve in Tucson on Tuesday night. About 1,000 people filled the auditorium at Sahuaro High School for a town hall meeting focusing on national health-care overhaul — twice the number expected by organizers from the Tucson office of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

If health care is a privilege, stop requiring hospital ERs to treat everyone who comes in the door. If it’s a privilege, eliminate medicare and medicaid, why should old and poor people get government health care and the rest of us don’t? If it’s a privilege, let people get the health care they can afford, and if they can’t afford any, tough, the more people dying from cancer, the flu, heart and lung disease at an early age will help with Baby Boomers breaking the Social Security bank. Or, we can call it a right, create a government system that relieves employers of the crushing burden of health insurance subsidies.

4. Ariz. drop in smoking is largest in nation – Arizona Daily Star That same year, voters agreed to make smoking more expensive, raising the state tax on cigarettes by 82 cents a pack. That brought the total state levy to $2 per pack.

Great. This is good news. Except for all those programs being funded by the smoking sin tax. Now that the sin tax is having its intended effect, the money it generates will fall, providing less money for the health care programs it funds. However, while the tax income is falling, the demand for the program will remain high well into the future. Classic example of why social engineering might sound good but ultimately fails and ends up costing more than doing nothing.

5. Awash in drugs, America remains a ‘dealer’s dream’ – Arizona Daily Star This array of consumers is providing a vast, recession-proof, apparently unending market for the Mexican gangs locked in a drug war that has killed more than 10,780 people since December 2006. No matter how much law enforcement or financial help the U.S. government provides Mexico, the basics of supply and demand prevent it from doing much good.

We have met the enemy and he is us – Pogo.

6. Bill legalizing sparklers clears a major hurdle – Arizona Daily Star As part of a political compromise, lawmakers agreed to allow city councils to declare the use of sparklers illegal within their own limits. But cities could not bar stores from selling the items or consumers from buying them.

Dear legislators, listen to me very carefully . . . PASS A BUDGET!

7. Wife of Ariz. treasurer dies after childbirth – Arizona Republic Dean Martin liked to refer to the child as “LT,” for “Little Treasurer,” and made up a baby outfit bearing the words, “Deposits up front, withdrawals in back.”

What a horrible tragedy. My condolences to Dean Martin and his family and my best wishes to the recovery and health of his new son.

8. U.S. consumer confidence soaring – Arizona Republic A widely watched barometer of confidence unexpectedly rose to the highest level since September, buoyed by an unexpected surge in the stock market, bringing hope that the job market might turn around and the belief that the worst of the recession is behind us.

Really? Nobody called me and took my poll. My confidence is still in the crapper. But maybe that’s because I’m typing this in an empty newsroom, having escaped the layoff ax by mere inches.

9. Cardinals’ Boldin dismisses agent – Arizona Republic Anquan Boldin took a major step in trying to resolve his contract dispute with the Cardinals and repair his image with fans by firing agent Drew Rosenhaus, a move some teammates applauded Tuesday.

Hallelujah. Now, if all the other athletes would fire Rosenhaus maybe sanity would return to professional sports. (Yeah, right, but it’s a good first step).

10. Restaurants cross lines as they struggle through recession - USA Today The fallout looks — or tastes — surreal. Many of the food innovations appear to be the opposite of some chains’ founding principles, and carefully honed brand image. Could sushi at Taco Bell(YUM) be next?

I learned a very disgusting lesson early in life – never order spaghetti at a Chinese restaurant. Same goes for tacos at a burger joint and burgers at a chicken joint.

A tall, muscular Egyptian is looking for the perfect match.

Ideal person will have a large yard, fun-loving nature and a sense of humor.

The mystery Egyptian is the massive Sphinx, the only statue left at Magic Carpet Golf, 6125 E. Speedway Blvd.

The rest of the concrete giants have found new homes, thanks to Tucson artist Charlie Spillar. Spillar was recently honored by the Mayor and City Council for his statue adoption efforts.

Want to give the Sphinx a whirl?

E-mail Charlie Spillar at cspillar@q.com.

An Indiana funeral home that had its license revoked three years ago apparently left a few things behind — like four dead bodies, according to The Associated Press.

4 bodies left behind in vacant Ind. funeral home, The Associated Press

GARY, Ind. — Church leaders who bought a defunct Indiana funeral home in a tax sale have stumbled upon four bodies that had been left behind in the vacant building…..

Lake County Coroner David J. Pastrick and his staff found one body in the bag, then another in a burial box and finally two more in caskets.

None has been identified.

Pastrick says the bodies may have been there since 2006, when the funeral home’s business license was revoked after several people filed complaints.

Read story: www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/294607.php

It’s no surprise the place went out of business, but it is an awful surprise that the former owners could apparently be so crass.

Funeral homes are entrusted with more than just our money. We fully trust them to do the right thing for our dearly departed. Evidently, not all of them do.

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Have you had a particularly harrowing experience with a funeral home? What happened?

What about those that have met or even gone beyond your expectations?

Past "Music under the Stars" concerts at Reid Park have attracted more than 7,500 listeners.

Free concerts that have been a Tucson summer staple for 50 years have hit a sour note.

The Tucson Pops Orchestra may not have enough funding to keep the “Music under the Stars” program going.

The orchestra says the city government is not giving the program any more money, either.

“Music under the Stars” is at risk, Tucson Pops Orchestra site

…It is one of the few remaining city events where citizens of all ages and backgrounds come together in a safe environment.

The new realities:

• The cost per each concert in the park is $13, 000

• This year’s funding of $27,000 is a significant reduction from the $35,000 the Pops has received in prior years.

• The last two concerts of the spring season scheduled for June 7th and 14th will most likely be cancelled due to lack of funding.

• The current budget proposal before the Mayor and council calls for ZERO funding for the Pops in 2010.

• For the first time, the city is treating the Pops as an “outside” agency. This is a reversal of 50 years of policy which included the Pops as a program within the Parks and Recreation Department.

The Pops urge folks to write letters or attend the city’s 2 p.m. budget meeting Wednesday (today).

More info: www.tucsonpops.org/

The free concerts are one of the events that help make Tucson’s summers special. Heck, you can even bring your dogs to the things.

When budgets get crunched, art, cultural events and music tend to get bumped. This is a shame, since those are some of the things that make life worth living.

By no means should money be scraped away from public safety or other vital entities, but there should be a way to fund the arts.

Ideas, anyone?

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Are you a “Music Under the Stars” fan?

Are the free concerts worthy of saving or do you think money should be allotted for other things?

How important is art, culture and music in the grand scheme of life?

Tucsonans, and the entire state, may soon get the go-ahead to play with fire.

Or at least play with sparklers and other small, spinning, smoking and burning objects.

Bill legalizing sparklers clears a major hurdle, Capitol Media Service

PHOENIX — Arizona is halfway to making sparklers legal.

By 34-21, the state House voted Tuesday to make it legal for stores to sell and Arizonans to use sparklers. HB 2258 would also legalize cone fountains, ground spinners and toy smoke devices.

The legislation now goes to the Senate.

If approved there, odds are it will become law. Gov. Jan Brewer, who said she played with sparklers herself while growing up in California, is on record saying she believes the current restrictions make no sense. Brewer said she allowed her own children to play with sparklers in Mexico. Read story: www.azstarnet.com/sn/byauthor/294569

Well, if the governor’s done it, and her kids have done it, by all means the rest of us should follow suit.

I am not much of a fan of sparklers after I accidentally burnt down the neighbor’s picnic table umbrella with one.

There went my entire summer’s allowance.

These devices can be neat, but they can also get into the hands of pranksters and rabblerousers who will use them for annoyance and destruction.

Then again, those types would get their hands on them whether they were legal or not.

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Are you a fan of sparklers, cone fountains, ground spinners and toy smoke devices?

Do you lay awake at night wishing they were legal to sell and use in Tucson?

Health care remains a hot topic, as evidenced by the 1,000 folks who showed up for Tuesday’s town hall held by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

It was all about gathering opinions, and plenty were heard.

Health-care issue hashed out, Arizona Daily Star

Tucson transplant physician Dr. Khalid Khan said he thinks more changes in the health-care system should be happening locally.

“To me, health care has to be a right — I am from Europe. But it is not easy,” he said.

Ashton Banker, 23, who identified himself as a student, angrily left the meeting before it was over. “I cannot stand the idea of socialized medicine,” he said.

Without change, Arizonans’ health-insurance premiums will increase from 7 percent to 15.5 percent of their income by 2016, Giffords said.

Read story: ww.azstarnet.com/metro/294584

Health insurance is a necessity. An unforeseen disaster can wipe out an entire savings and plunge someone deeply in debt.

But it is also over-priced and can get ridiculous, making folks jump through hoops to get approval for procedures, doctors or reimbursement.

The cost of some procedures, too, can be ridiculous. Anyone who has stayed in a hospital and later looked at the bill would agree. Doctors sometimes charge a sky-high hourly rate to stick their head in the door for a millisecond. A single hospital aspirin has been known to cost more than an entire bottle does at the drug store.

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What’s your take?

How should health care be funded? What would make it affordable?

Have you ever gone without health insurance and hoped for the best?

Some people can’t be trusted. The lot includes those high on heroin, those standing in a doorway with a bloody butcher knife and anyone who hates animals.

One commenter continues to whine about the number of animal stories here.

We are unsure if this person hates animals, but we know he or she doesn’t like reading about them.

Thus we offer some tips for those who don’t appreciate the animal posts:

1. Don’t read anything with the following words in the headline: dog, cat, rat, puppy, kitten, bat, pet, horse, bird, budgie, snake, lizard, capybara, salamander, boa, potbellied pig

2. Also avoid headlines that contain the words “fuzzy” or “furry,” unless it’s a post about mold.

Quick animal facts:

• Kids who abuse animals often grow up to abuse people

• An estimated 63 percent of American homes have some type of pet, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association

• Animals have been successfully used for therapy, companionship and service, helping those who have limited capabilities live a fuller and more independent life

• The Wrestler star Mickey Rourke is so devoted to his Chihuahua, Loki, that he dedicated his recent Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor to the dearly departed pooch

• Happiness is a warm puppy

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Do you trust people who hate animals?

Yes, I very much wanted to ignore the Mike Tyson story that’s all over the Internet because, basically, he’s a jerk.

But I still feel for him once I read what happened.

His 4-year-old daughter is fighting for life after being strangled by a cord hanging from the family’s treadmill, according to a report in the Arizona Republic.

4-year-old daughter of boxer Mike Tyson critically injured

Boxer Mike Tyson’s 4-year-old daughter was in extremely critical condition at St. Joseph’s Hospital on Monday night after police said she was found with a cord or rope around her neck.

Police said they believe the girl was playing near some exercise equipment in an activity room Monday when she accidentally got tangled in a cord or rope hanging from a treadmill. The case is being treated as an accident.

Police said they think the girl’s 7-year-old brother was watching television and her mother was busy cleaning in another room when the incident happened. Read story: www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2009/05/25/20090525hanging0525-ON.html

Take this as a cautionary tale.

Our homes may have more dangers than we think, even though we may chuckle at the warning label attached to venetian blind cords that say they are hazardous.

Another caution is to always know what your youngsters are doing.

More kids have also been taken to the emergency room after being crushed by large furniture, TVs and entertainment units.

Read story: blogs.findlaw.com/injured/2009/05/kids-injuries-from-falling-tvs-furniture-the-problem-and-prevention-tips.html

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Have you discovered any hidden – or obvious – dangers in the home?

How do you make your house safe for kids?

Every morning I will post my top 10 stories I’m digging that day with a little commentary to go with each. Here’s today’s list:

1. University construction plan in doubt – The Arizona Republic The delays mean students and faculty may have to endure worn-out facilities and the schools can’t expand certain programs or keep up with student growth for a while.

A state paid for stimulus plan left in the budget lurch. The state is in a fiscal crisis and all pots of money need to be considered, but this pot was considered earlier this year and left alone because it draws from lottery money. Two motivations are at work here, a desire to steal every cent from every program to try and balance the budget without a tax increase and an animosity toward public education of any kind.

2. Obama taps Ariz. for cadre of leaders – The Arizona Republic While Napolitano is serving as Homeland Security secretary, fellow Arizonans will be overseeing the national-highway system, regulating the use of pesticides to protect the environment, working to improve the health of American Indians and providing legal advice to the Air Force.

Good news for Arizona’s Republican party, while the Republicans in the Legislature risk angering every constituency in the state with its proposed draconian budget cuts, potentially handing the state’s mostly moribund Democratic Party a truckload of wedge issue for next year’s elections, Obama raids the state for the handful of competenet Democrats who could help his party capitalize on Republican missteps. While Republicans eat Arizona’s young, the Democrats eat their own. I love this state.

3. Workers now allowed to help deserted pets – The Arizona Republic That will be welcome news for the increasing number of cats, dogs and other pets who have been abandoned when their owners let their homes go into foreclosure.

Good for Gilbert. I understand that people getting evicted because of foreclosure are in a financial crisis, but take the damn dog with you when you leave or turn it in to a shelter. Otherwise, I’ve got no sympathy for you or your plight.

4. Back-to-basics junior high on way – The Arizona Republic The Chandler Unified School District is building its first back-to-basics junior high by going back to the future and remodeling a 1950s-era campus that was the district’s first junior high school.

The 1950s? Translation: Teach my kids the way I was taught, dang it. Rote memorization, reading the works of dead white guys, history that ignores anything bad. Learn ‘em good. Like me.

5. As funds for summer fun dry up, citizens pool resources – USA Today In Payson, Ariz., businesses and the city have pledged to pay up to $5,000 to reopen nearby Tonto Natural Bridge State Park on weekends. Residents will volunteer at the park to reduce the need for paid staff, Mayor Kenny Evans says

But will they support a tax increase to help pay for services that have fallen under the budget ax that other families might need? Or are they only willing to chip in their own money to serve their own self interest? Maybe we can have a new form of a la carte government in which each year state, cities and counties put up lists of departments and programs to fund and you can go through it and pick the ones you’re wiling to pay for and the amount your willing to pay. If you chose not to pay for police, the police department can purge your name from 911 list.

6. Dogs sniff out phones hidden by AZ inmates – Arizona Daily Star Inmates usually get or buy the cell phones from visitors, contractors who work at the prison and staff members who sneak the phones in, said Kenny Vance, a service-dog trainer for the Corrections Department.

This is cool, but it seems to be more of an indictment of DOC’s inability to stop smuggling and staff corruption. While the dogs are treating the symptom, the disease lies elsewhere. Where there’s a will, there’s a way (and a bribe).

7. Simple Chinese shoe strives to be hip – Arizona Daily Star The story is that Brandt decided to settle in Shanghai, China, after college in California, noticed the crew rebuilding his street wore identical, but cool, canvas sneakers, and tracked down the source.

They’re cool shoes. They’re pinko, commie shoes made in a country hell bent on destroying the world, but they’re still cool.

8. AZ centennial lags on funds, planning effort – Arizona Daily Star Officials say there are almost no funds for the centennial celebration in next year’s budget, and nothing is being raised by the agency in charge of planning the event.

Save the state first, then the centennial celebration. At least they’ve got that priority straight. See below.

9. Budget work will ‘get done,’ Brewer insists – Arizona Daily Star “We’re going to have a budget,” the governor insisted. “It’s going to get done.”

Yeah, right. The state needs roughly $10 billion to pay for all the things past Legislatures and voters have done. About two thirds of that $10 billion is protected from cuts by voter initiatives. That leaves about $3.7 billion available for cuts with the state facing a roughly $3.3 billion income shortfall. The Guv wants a tax increase on the table, the Legislature’s Republican leadership says no way, it’s cuts and budget tricks or nothing. We’re all doomed. See below.

10. Lawmakers fiddle around, ignore reality – Arizona Daily Star You begin to wonder whether the GOP leadership of Arizona’s Legislature lives in Cloud Cuckoo Land.

See, told you so. We’re all doomed.