Wal-Mart says it's looking out for Tucsonans this year with the Consumer Choice initiative, which--if passed by voters on the November ballot--would bust the city’s ban on grocery sales at Big Box stores. Good ol’ Wally-Mart says it’s unfair that the city is blocking it from undercutting grocery stores that have union workers and pay decent wages.

We’re hearing whispers from City Hall that the proposed proposition may face a legal challenge, because it involves zoning law, which isn’t subject to the initiative process.

Pete Zimmerman, the political consultant handling the initiative drive, says he thinks the effort is on solid legal ground.

“I’m not a lawyer, but our lawyers think otherwise,” says Zimmerman, who remains hopeful that his signature gatherers will have enough petitions to make the ballot. “We’re operating from a standpoint that this is a restraint-of-trade issue.”

More on the initiatives in next week’s Skinny.

Had to laugh today at Pima County Democratic Party chairman Vince Rabago's explanation of why the Democrats didn't field a mayoral candidate.

As Rob O'Dell of the morning daily reports:

Rabago said there's not as much energy in this race as in 2005 for the Democrats because the party now has a solid majority on the council, whereas in 2005 they were the minority with three seats out of seven on the council.

There is also not one big, driving emotional issue this year, Rabago said, unlike 2005 when outrage from the raising of the garbage fee inflamed the passions of voters.

Last time we checked, that garbage fee was still in place, despite the fact that, as Rabago points out, the Democrats now control the council and the 2005 candidates, Nina Trasoff and Karin Uhlich, railed against it. Funny how that's no longer an issue, isn't it?

While state lawmakers have gone home for the weekend, leadership may have finally made a budget deal.

We're told that House Speaker Jim Weiers, who had tried to push through $60 million in tax cuts in the House budget plan, is settling for about $3 million. If that's the case: What a victory! I'm sure the members of his caucus are happy they stuck around for the last month while that was carved out.

Lawmakers will have a chance to approve the package when they get back to work next week.

The roster is finally set for this year’s city elections with yesterday's deadline to file petitions.

Mayor Bob Walkup’s moderate ways appears to have won over Democrats, seeing how they were unable to scare up a candidate to challenge him. And, sadly, Bruce Gerowitz, who sells hot dogs outside of a Speedway strip club, decided against running as an independent.

So that leaves Dave Croteau, a Green who made the legalization of pot the centerpiece of his campaign against Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, as the only guy who’s willing to take on Walkup.

We’ll just go ahead and congratulate Bob on his re-election right now.

But, with the retirement of City Council members Carol West and José Ibarra, we will see some changes by the end of year.

In Ward 1, where Ibarra is stepping down after three terms of steady political self-destruction, the GOP failed to field a candidate. That means the primary, which will be limited to Ward 1 Democrats, will decide the race between Regina Romero and Ken Green.

Romero has the Grijalva political machine at her back; hubby Ruben Reyes works as an aide to Raul.

Green is a pastor and president of the A Mountain Neighborhood Association.

Over in Ward 2, where Carol West is retiring after two terms, we’ve got a Democratic primary as well: Rodney Glassman vs. Robert Reus.

Though he’s just turned 29, Glassman already has a lengthy political resume, including a stint as an aide in Grijalva’s congressional office.

Reus, who owns an art shop on Fourth Avenue, doesn’t have the same kind of political connections. The thrust of his campaign revolves around changing the current form of government to give the mayor more power and go for an alderman-style council—a topic he has often brought up at council meetings and on his public-access TV show.

Even Reus admits that he’s the underdog in the race because Glassman has more name ID, more organization and more money.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Lori Oien in the citywide general election. Oien, a native Tucsonan, has been active in the Bear Canyon Neighborhood Association.

Finally, in Ward 4, Councilwoman Shirley Scott is facing a challenge from Republican Dan Spahr as she campaigns for a fourth term. Spahr, a financial planner, is making his first run for public office.

“I have always, my entire life, been a servant,” says Spahr, who moved to Tucson about four years ago. “I’ve always been doing things to help out other people. This is next step in the journey."

Spahr says he wants to develop a “faith-based” effort that will team up the police and church groups in the fight against crime. “I call it “servant evangelism,” he says.

We’ll tell you more about the candidates in next week’s Skinny, but if you want to see them for yourselves, they’ll all be on display at a Nucleus Club form at 5:30 p.m. tonight at the Viscount Suites, 4855 E. Broadway Blvd.

We received an updated schedule from the Crossroads 6 Grand Cinemas after the paper was printed. Crossroads is at 4811 E. Grant Road. Their phone is 327-7067.

The Lives of Others will screen Friday-Tuesday at 3:50 and 6:40 p.m.; Wednesday at 6:40 p.m.

Here are a few events that were received too late for inclusion in our print issue.

• Saturday, June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon

  Joel D. Valdez Main Library

  101 North Stone Ave.

  Lower level one meeting room

  Business Workshop. A free workshop, "Information Power for Small Business" will cover how to use market analysis for developing a winning business stragegy. Learn sources you can use for locating suppliers and competitors, identifying potential customers and tracking industry trends. Registration required. Call 791-4393 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; e-mail BizNews@pima.gov or go online at www.library.pima.gov/research/business/#upcoming.

• Saturday, June 16 at 7 p.m.

  Proscenium Theater

  Pima College West

  2202 W. Anklam Road

  Comedy Show. Native American comedy duo James Junes and Ernest Tsosie, III of the Navajo Nation will perform stand-up, sketch and prop comedy, along with musical parodies. Clean family show. $15. Call 206-6986 for info.

• Tuesday, June 19 at 6 p.m.

  Lovin' Spoonfuls

  2990 N. Campbell Ave., Suite 120

  Tucson Rabbit Rescue. Help establish a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, no-kill, domestic rabbit rescue, shelter and adoption center for the Tucson area. Call 325-SPOON for info.

• Wednesday, June 20 from 10 a.m. to noon

  El Dorado Audiology

  1200 N. El Dorado Place, Suite D415

  Hearing Loss Seminar. Learn how to develop coping strategies and better understand hearing loss. RSVP at 885-0234. Free.

Just an FYI that I am going to be traveling to Portland, Ore., for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' annual convention today. So, too, will be blogmaster John. In other words, this puppy's gonna be without a baby-sitter for a good chunk of the day.

We'll check in with updates from Portland and the convention as much as we can in between all the various activities. In the meantime, don't get too hot!

This week's cover story by Dave Devine details what it's like to go to the emergency room in Tucson.

As bad as it is here, it's worse in Los Angeles, where at the Martin Luther King Harbor Hospital, a woman was writhing on the floor with blood coming out of her mouth—and the video monitor shows the janitor cleaning around her. Calls to 911 were ignored because she was already in the ER.

I mentioned earlier that David Gonzales, U.S. marshal for Arizona, said over the weekend that the justice system is "just absolutely crumbling" under the weight of illegal immigration cases.

Gonzales made the comments at last weekend Investigative Reporters and Editors conference up in Phoenix, where he joined Paul Charlton, the U.S. attorney for Arizona who was forced out as part of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' purge*, on a panel to talk about immigration stories.

One other point both men made: When you're hiring Border Patrol agents by the thousands, you're going to have corruption problems.

Case in point: A crew of National Guardsmen have been busted smuggling illegal immigrants into the U.S., according to the Associated Press:

Three National Guardsmen assigned to the Texas-Mexico border were accused of running an immigrant smuggling ring after 24 immigrants were found inside a van that one of them was driving, a U.S. attorney said Monday.

The three, arrested late Thursday and Friday, were arraigned Monday on a federal charge of conspiring to transport illegal immigrants.

*Can we call it Gonzo's purge? After all, he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he couldn't remember a thing about it.

Here's a revelation that the Pentagon probably wants to file under Don't Ask/Don't Tell: The military spent $7.5 million to develop a bomb that would turn enemy troops gay.

KPIX of San Francisco reports that Edward Hammond of Berkeley's Sunshine Project used the Freedom of Information Act to nab the background documents:

"The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soldiers to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistibly attractive to one another," Hammond said after reviewing the documents.

"The notion was that a chemical that would probably be pleasant in the human body in low quantities could be identified, and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical, the notion was that soldiers would become gay," explained Hammond.

The Pentagon told CBS 5 that the proposal was made by the Air Force in 1994.

"The Department of Defense is committed to identifying, researching and developing non-lethal weapons that will support our men and women in uniform," said a DOD spokesperson, who indicated that the "gay bomb" idea was quickly dismissed.