Okay, so I play this game....sort of.

I like to track the cost of gas at gas stations I pass by everyday. I think it gives me a true idea of how bad it is.

There are two stations by my house on the corners of Campbell and Prince: One is a Chevron, the other is a Catalina Market.

They are usually evenly matched pricewise. One day, Chevron is 2 cents lower and another day, the market is.

Well, last week, in the morning, Chevron was at $3.95. Catalina at about $3.87. By that afternoon, chevron had risen to $3.99! The other stayed the same. That was a 12 cent difference!

But then out of the blue, Chevron dropped back to the same $3.87.

Was that price gouging?

Also a question: How can gas sell for $3.79 on the far Northeast side and $3.87 by my house?

Is that price gouging?  

You the Readers demanded it! Now here's a copy of the letter that City Councilman Steve Leal sent to City Manager Mike Hein calling for his resignation.

It's quite brief, so you might find it sketchy on the details.

June 18, 2008

Michael Hein

City Manager

Over time, I have lost the comfort level that I need for a viable working relationship with a City Manager.

Because of the significance of the issues at stake in our community it leaves me no choice but to ask for your resignation. I am, of course, prepared to follow and honor all the terms in your contract, and specifically the terms that relate to severance.

If you agree to submit your resignation, please confirm by signing below.

If this is not agreeable to you I will place your contract and its termination on the next Mayor and Council agenda.

Sincerely,

Steve Leal

Councilmember, Ward v

Whether Councilman Steve Leal has the votes to force out City Manager Mike Hein out remains to be seen.

As noted earlier, Leal today called for Hein's resignation.

Mayor Bob Walkup said today that he was behind Hein “110 percent.”

Hein also has solid support with Democratic council members Nina Trasoff and Rodney Glassman.

But his support remains weak among the other three Democratic council members. Shirley Scott, who was unavailable for comment today, has been upset with Hein over police salaries, while Regina Romero has been critical of the city manager over the progress of downtown redevelopment.

Ward 3 City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich may prove to be the swing vote. Last week, Uhlich was critical of Hein over a proposal to raise bus fares by a quarter. Uhlich said that Hein’s budget had reduced the general-fund subsidy for the bus service by about $4 million, which was the same amount of money that the fare increase was estimated to bring in.

Uhlich said today that she hadn’t made up her mind about Hein’s future.

“I think I’ve been clear about my frustration about getting very basic information that’s essential to making good policy decisions,” Uhlich said. “And that is a serious concern that needs to be addressed. Whether or not that means Mike has to go—I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

Uhlich says she wants to have a meeting next week to decide Hein’s future “in as professional and orderly way as possible.”

Hein is on vacation and unavailable for comment, although one council aide said today that the city manager would be cutting his break short and returning to Tucson to meet with council members.

Walkup defended Hein’s job performance, saying the city manager had done a good job of working cooperatively with Pima County since he was appointed to the job in 2005.

“As a result of that, we’ve moved forward on more regional initiatives that are of great benefit to the community,” Walkup says. “I absolutely believe in Mike and what he has done. We need to shore up a couple of things, but in my opinion, every one of the things that council members have mentioned is fixable by sitting down and talking about it and implementing corrective action.”

Trasoff, who was elected alongside Uhlich in 2005, also praised Hein’s management of the city. She added that “there are communication issues that need to be worked through, but I am extremely hopeful that can be done.”

The call for Hein’s ouster comes as the city is facing a tough budget year. Sales tax revenues are below projections, state budget funds could still be cut and a slowing housing market has stalled many downtown revitalization projects.

City Councilman Steve Leal has asked for City Manager Mike Hein's resignation.

In a letter to Hein, Leal says that he "has lost the comfort level that I need to for viable working relationship with a City Manager."

The Ward 5 Councilman says he'll put the question of firing Hein on the next mayor and council meeting agenda if Hein doesn't quit.

Developing...

The Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation is participating in the 13th annual national HIV Testing Day on Friday, June 27. Testing is free and confidential. The testing procedure is an HIV rapid test that produces results in 20 minutes. Testing locations are below. Call 628-7223 or visit www.saaf.org for info.

• Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation

  375 S. Euclid Ave.

  8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• COPE Community Services

  101. N. Stone Ave.

  8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• Native Images

  3045 N. First Ave. #A

  8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• Luz South Side Coalition

  3819 S. Evans, Ste. 304

  5 to 8 p.m.

• New Life Worship Center

  2568 Menor Stravenue

  5 to 8 p.m.

Feel free to comment on the issue's contents here. And after a brief hiatus, Gustavo's back with an all-new YouTube Ask a Mexican!

Who among us has not received your stimulus check yet?

According to the IRS Web site, my check was supposed to be mailed May 30.

Somewhere after digging deeper, I found that it said to allow two weeks. Also people are supposed to receive a letter saying how much they're getting. Personally, I think that's a waste of postage and paper -- but whatever -- our government encourages a wasteful socieity.

I have not received that wasteful letter yet, either.

I called 1-866-234-2942, and it encourages you to use the Web site, which doesn't really have much info on it. Even at 1 a.m., the tired recorded message says that the lines are busy, and there's a considerable wait which is B.S. Stay on the line.

You can enter some info, and it is supposed to tell you the status of your check, but it really doesn't.

The message blabbered on and said to wait 8 weeks ... until hell freezes over and then to check back.

I don't owe any back taxes, and I mailed my payment before April 15, so there should be no problem.

Today I read where some people are getting two stimulus checks. Some are errors, but some are correct because of a previous malfunction.

Oh, well ... by the time I get mine, you will all have spent yours.

The plucky Phoenix Mars Lander is continuing to bake a sample of Martian soil while scientists at the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab are still trying to riddle out exactly what sort of strange white stuff they've uncovered beneath the surface while digging with their robotic arm.

As you can see from the photo, the robotic arm has dug quite a ditch, now known as "Dodo-Goldilocks."

Here's the latest release from the Lunar and Planetary Lab:

NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs Deeper

One of the ovens on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander continued baking its first sample of Martian soil over the weekend, while the Robotic Arm dug deeper into the soil to learn more about white material first revealed on June 3.

"The oven is working very well and living up to our expectations," said Phoenix co-investigator Bill Boynton of the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Boynton leads the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA), or oven instrument, for Phoenix.

Phoenix has eight separate tiny ovens to bake and sniff the soil and look for volatile ingredients, such as water. This baking is performed at three different temperature ranges.

On Sol 18 (June 12), the lander's Robotic Arm dug deeper into the two trenches, informally called "Dodo" and "Goldilocks," where white material was previously found. This created one large trench, now called "Dodo-Goldilocks."

"We have continued to excavate in the Dodo-Goldilocks trench to expose more of the light-toned material, and we will monitor the site," said Robotic Arm lead scientist Ray Arvidson of the University of Washington, St. Louis. "If the material is ice, it should change with time. Frost may form on it, or it could slowly sublimate."

Sublimation is the process where a solid changes directly into gas.

The Dodo-Goldilocks trench is 22 centimeters wide (8.7 inches) and 35 centimeters long (13.8 inches). The trench is seven to eight centimeters (2.7 to 3 inches) deep at its deepest. The deepest portion is closest to the lander.

The white material is located only at the shallowest part of the trench, farthest from the lander, indicating that it is not continuous throughout the excavated site. The trench might be exposing a ledge, or only a portion of a slab, of the white material, according to scientists.

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

WEBLINKS:

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix

Which Republican candidate doesn't vote in primaries? Learn the answer at ScrambleWatch ’08!

Which Legislative District 29 candidate has a lousy voting record? Check out ScrambleWatch ’08 to find out!