Bravo to Gov. Jan Brewer. The governor, a staunch Republican who no doubt cringes every time she hears the words “federal stimulus,” recently sent official notice to President Barack Obama that she will accept stimulus funds for our troubled state. Even if her convictions speak against the acceptance, we certainly understand that by taking the funds Brewer is just doing what she believes is right for the people of Arizona. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?
Boo to the freak-out that inevitably accompanies any tweak of any sort to the Holy Grail of college social networking, otherwise known as Facebook. The Web site’s redesign has rolled out worldwide over the past week and the response … well, let’s just say it hasn’t been all too positive. While it is a departure from the initial clutter-free charm of Facebook, it is not worth the uproar. Besides, it’s only a matter of months until everyone is finally used to the new version, only to be shocked — again — when the next iteration comes along and pisses everyone off — again.
Bravo to the Arizona Board of Regents for rejecting plans to wipe out the AIMS scholarship program — for now. While the regents were not quick to give the scholarship its blessings for long-term security, they did save the day for the thousands of high-school students statewide who have been working toward a tuition waiver to help them pursue a higher education. But at least if that didn’t work, the universities still could have lured them to campus with the upcoming higher tuition, housing and dining rates. Or not.
Boo to crime. Thursday’s front page saw a story about a salon on the western edge of ASU’s Tempe campus that was busted for being the site of a meth-dealing operation, and another story from the Polytechnic campus in which four men are accused of carrying out an armed robbery for drug-related purposes. All of this has us wondering one thing, other than the obvious concerns about safety: Where’s McGruff the Crime Dog? At this rate, we could use someone with the teeth of great potency necessary to take a bite out of crime.
Bravo to Gammage Auditorium. The gem of the Tempe campus is delivering an excellent season to the arts lovers in town, including hits like “The Lion King,” Spring Awakening” and, in July, “Wicked.” The latest visitor is the popular musical “Rent,” which will star two men who were both in the original Broadway cast and the 2005 motion picture based on the production. We would say Gammage is having a good year, but we wonder: Just how do you measure, measure a year?
Boo to President Obama. In filling out his presidential NCAA Tournament bracket with ESPN’s Andy Katz, Obama selected the Temple Owls to register a first-round upset over our beloved Sun Devils. While he certainly was pandering to the Jewish voters (we mean, come on, Temple?), Obama surely cost himself some support in the Valley. However, we feel like we can eventually forgive the president this one misgiving … at least he hasn’t choked on a pretzel quite yet.
