EVALUATING SB 1070'S ARGUMENTS

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Amer Taleb

Approximately two years after Gov. Brewer signed SB 1070 into law, the controversial immigration bill is finally headed to a place many people, since its inception, said it would; in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

On April 25th, Arizona and the federal government will battle it out in the nation’s most powerful courtroom, each explaining why the U.S. Constitution is on their side.

If they pass, the four contested sections of SB 1070 would require Arizona law enforcement to verify the citizenship of every person they detain if they suspect the detainee is in the country illegally, while strengthening an officer's power to arrest someone without a warrant. Also, being in the United States without permission or seeking work without authorization would become state crimes.

The federal government says all the sections are preempted, meaning they infringe on the federal government’s supremacy over states when both of them legislate on the same issue.

In 2010, most Arizonans favored SB 1070’s provisions, according a Morrison Institute-Knowledge Networks Poll. And from June 2010 to February 2011, the majority of Americans supported Arizona’s immigration laws, the Pew Research Center found.

The likelihood that the Supreme Court's decision will match public opinion remains unclear. But whatever the outcome, the precedent this case sets will be felt in courtrooms across the country for many years to come.

SB 1070 AND THE SUPREME COURT

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

SB 1070 author Russell Pearce will appear on Friday's Arizona Week to discuss the origins of and political fighting over SB 1070, Arizona's controversial immigration legislation.

Pearce, who was a member of the Arizona Senate when he wrote the legislation and pushed it through in 2010, has agreed to an interview as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on SB 1070's constitutionality.

Much of the legislation was put on hold in U.S. District Court, and that was upheld in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, leading to the state of Arizona's appeal to the Supreme Court. The court hearing will be April 25.

Also scheduled to appear on the program will be two law professors, the University of Arizona's Toni Massaro and Arizona State University's Carissa Byrne Hessick, who along with other colleagues wrote a lengthy discussion paper on SB 1070.

The paper, "A Legal Labyrinth: Issues Raised by Arizona Senate Bill 1070," dips deeply into the legal and constitutional roots of the arguments for and against the legislation. It includes analysis of the law under federal and state legislation and federal and state case law.

We also are seeking an interview with U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a Tucson Democrat who serves as protagonist in opposition to the legislation.

NOTHING LIKE A LITTLE RETAIL THERAPY

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

Consumers are now in charge.

Retailers who don't recognize that -- and step up to meet it with quality, speed and versatility -- will be left behind.

That was clearly a key message at the 16th annual Global Retailing Conference in Tucson this week.

At the same time, there was a clear message of optimism and hope that hard work, attention to consumer demands and details and the use of new technologies will push brave retailers to and through the next frontier.

Arizona Week explores the issues on Friday's program, including these interviews:

-- Martha Van Gelder, director of the University of Arizona's Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing, host of the conference.

-- Terry J. Lundgren, a UA alumnus and president, chairman and CEO of Macy's Inc.

-- Poppy King, self-proclaimed "Lipstick Queen" whose company by the same name has grown rapidly over 20 years in the specialty market of cosmetics, with lipsticks and lip glosses.

-- Kerstin Block, founder and president of Buffalo Exchange, a Tucson-based retailer specializing in vintage and second-hand apparel. She has grown the business from one location in the Old Pueblo to 44 across the West since its founding in the 1970s.

Watch their interviews on Arizona Week Friday evening at 8:30 MST on PBS-HD6, or on our website, www.azweek.com.

WITH PATTERSON OUT, NO HOUSE INCUMBENTS IN CURRENT LD 29

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

Neither House incumbent in Legislative District 29 is seeing reelection in the fall, leaving two open seats on the south side of Tucson in the upcoming elections.

Daniel Patterson resigned from the Arizona House this week. Rep. Matt Heinz, the other LD 29 House member, is running for Congress in the fall.

That means there are two open seats for potential candidates on the south side of Tucson. Of course, a replacement will be named for Patterson, but the appointed person will serve less than half a term before asking voters for support, assuming the appointed replacement also decides to run in the fall.

In other legislative districts, incumbents are facing the opposite problem. Redistricting has thrown some legislators into head-to-head battles with former allies.

On Tucson's northwest side, just such a situation cropped up when Sen. Al Melvin and Sen. Steve Smith were drawn into the same new legislative district. The new lines would pit the two against each other in a Republican primary if they both seek reelection in the Senate.

Instead, Smith is running for House in the same district, ceding the Senate seat to Melvin. The two have joined Adam Kwasman to run as a Republican slate for the three legislative seats in that district.

SHOP TILL WE DROP?

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

On Friday's program, focusing on retail consumerism as a spinoff of the Global Retailing Conferece under way in Tucson this week:

-- Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren, discussing how his company has grown its business, including double-digit percentage growth in online revenues, through and after the recession.

-- Cosmetics entrepreneur Poppy King, known as the "lipstick queen" on how she founded new product lines and made her way into business.

-- Buffalo Exchange founder and President Kerstin Block, on how she took a second-hand idea in Tucson and made it into a thriving chain of 44 stores flung across the country.

-- Martha Van Gelder, director of the University of Arizona's Lundgren Retailing Center, on what innovative ideas are coming from the retailing conference.

Watch online Friday at azweek.com or at 8:30 p.m. MST on PBS-HD6.

RUSLAN AGONISTES

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

And you thought Americans were litigious. A Russian woman sued the Bolshoi Opera for a million rubles in compensation for “the moral agony experienced when watching [a] performance” of Glinka's Ruslan ed Ludmila.