Tim Vanderpool News Today

Tim Vanderpool is a Tucson-based journalist reporting on border and environmental issues.

Residents and activists blame the administration and Congress for failing to fix the environmental damage—and for building new barriers.

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Thursday 10 STRING BEINGS. Violinist Willie Royal and guitarist Wolfgang "Lobo" Fink team up to "make music that soothes and invigorates." In other words, they rev up their loyal following with incredible virtuosity, blending a vast array of styles from across the planet. Their latest release, Wild Heart, is a hypnotic brew of gypsy, flamenco, jazz, Mexicali blues, Cuban swing, Cajun zydeco...you get the point. The dynamic d...

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Thursday 17 BORDER LINES. Divisions of geography, politics, identity and gender continue their rapid reshuffling as we barrel towards the millennium. Today, novelist and poet Demetria Martinez hosts Women, Identity and Borders, a showcase of satirical and humorous short films by women offering a poignant look at where were headed. Included are "The Orientation Express," a funny animated piece by Frances Leeming, which uses cu...

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Thursday 1 SWING ON BY. The non-profit Tucson Swing Dance Club has worked up a sweat locally by promoting dance steps going back to the 1920s, growing out of moves like the Lindy and Jitterbug. Today, are exploding all over American dance floors, and theyve swept across the Old Pueblo like a whirling dust devil. Get wind of these goings-on this and every Thursday, with West Coast Swing lessons and social dances for greenhorns...

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Thursday 14 BEANS SCENE. At the ripe old age of 29, Eleanor (nicknamed Bean) is finally escaping Boston, her beer-chugging paramour, and a terribly boring job, all for a chance at self-discovery as she travels across America. Moving from city to city, she relies on friends to help her get on down the road in Sleeping With Random Beasts, by Tucsonan and first-time novelist Karin Goodwin. See this weeks Books section for detail...

One Of Arizonas Greatest Environmental Champions Folds His Tent And Moves To The Beltway. By Tim Vanderpool EXPECTING A government to enforce its own laws doesnt sound so revolutionary. Then again, most folks dont live in Arizona, where, 17 years ago, a tradition of good ol boy politics and ramshackle pollution policies sparked a one-man insurgency by the name of David Baron. During his long stint as assistant director and lead environmental attorney at the Arizona Center for Law in the Public...

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Thursday 7 DEATH WATCH. Tucson can be a scary town, with endless drive-by shootings, car-jackings, robberies and other random acts of violence. Uncovering the roots of such malaise would probably employ a small army of shrinks and sociologists. But to the rest of us, there is just something terribly wrong with this picture, plain and simple. Local photographer Amy Zuckerman chronicled the lives of 15 families wounded by the m...

Playing It Close To the Edge In The Haunted Sierra Madres. By Tim Vanderpool RANDY GINGRICH IS living proof that death can be a tough gig. Death of a forest, death of a culture, death threats, death of innocence--theyre all daily fodder in Mexicos haunted Sierra Madre Mountains, just like the scent of ripe Chihuahuan poppies and the crack of gunfire. Its a ruggedly remote highland where the pale rider wears a narcotraficantes poison grin, totes a clear-cutters buzz-saw and doesnt take kindly t...

Our Favorite Kitchen-Table Populist Is Coming To Town. By Tim Vanderpool JIM HIGHTOWER IS Thomas Paine in a Stetson, Michael Moore with a drawl, a bona- fide populist for modern times who lacerates corporate greed and political corruption with down-home humor. This week the tall Texan brings his bulls-eye perspective to Tucson for a special dinner benefiting the Pima County Democratic Party and Southern Arizona Central Labor Council. Hell also attend a reception sponsored by the National Write...