Arizona Law

WASHINGTON - Mexican President Felipe Calderon's appearance Thursday before a joint session of Congress dramatically illustrated - and possibly reinforced - the partisan divide that has stymied progress on immigration law. Calderon sharply criticized Arizona's tough new immigration law and the United States' refusal to ban assault weapons, which are being used in the violent drug-gang shootouts in Mexico. Afterward, Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) said Calderon "crossed a line" by urging changes in gun policy, and Sen. John McCain, (R., Ariz.

Selig: We're OK with the All-Star Game in Phoenix Commissioner Bud Selig on Thursday turned down calls to move next year's All-Star Game from Phoenix because of a newly enacted Arizona law that empowers police to investigate a person's immigration status. Asked about such demands at a news conference, Selig defended baseball's record of inclusion and cited last month's report from the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports, which gave baseball an "A" for race and a "B" for gender hiring.

THE GAS TANK'S empty, moths are eating the upholstery, the wheels are falling off the bus, but in its wisdom and grace, City Council last week passed, 14-3, a feel-good, factually bad anti-Arizona resolution. It was like a zoo chimp throwing poop at those outside the bars. Council condemned Arizona's anti- illegal -immigrant bill, SB 1070, and called for an economic boycott. The resolution was sponsored by Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez, who said she'd talk with me about this on Friday, then didn't.

Philadelphia City Council showed off its internal differences Thursday in skirmishes over budget cuts and immigration. Council's most conservative Democrat, Joan Krajewski, joined Republicans Jack Kelly and Brian J. O'Neill in a rare dissent to two Council resolutions opposing the stringent immigration policy adopted in Arizona and being considered in Pennsylvania. Councilwoman Maria Qui?ones S?nchez proposed the nonbinding resolutions, which both passed, 14-3. One urges the Nutter administration to divest any business from Arizona and encourages businesses to reconsider conventions there.

How much progress can we stand? I was sitting at my local Starbucks, drinking a latte and planning my weekly trip to the local co-op, when Buzz Bissinger's column ("Perception of Nutter trumps performance," Sunday) informed me that the citizens of Philadelphia would have to deal with five more years of Mayor Nutter. This was quite disheartening. Philadelphians have already had to deal with a 30 percent drop in the murder rate, the end of John F. Street-era corruption, and Board of Revision of Taxes reform since Nutter took office.

If President Obama puts immigration reform at the top of his priority list, Congress should muster the courage to stop him. Obama risks slicing the number of Americans who trust the federal government from the already dismal 22 percent - as determined by a Pew Research poll - to something approaching negative numbers. And for good reason, because our federal immigration policy is not only broken; it's hypocritical. The president's idea of immigration reform is legalizing the immigration status of those who entered the United States illegally - after they pay a fine and endure other inconveniences - while lessening border enforcement.

For decades, the seven green acres of Elmwood Park were a staging ground for labor rallies by workers at Westinghouse, General Electric, and the Hog Island Shipyard. On Saturday, at a celebration and demonstration to mark International Workers' Day, labor officials and community leaders honored that history - and demanded better treatment and greater employment for American workers. About 100 people gathered at the Southwest Philadelphia park, sweating under an Arizona-strength sun and fuming about the new Arizona immigration law. That law requires police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they might be in the country illegally - a measure critics say will lead to abuses.

An Arizona jury found Tampa Bay tight end Jerramy Stevens guilty yesterday of driving under the influence of alcohol. Stevens, 27, a former Seattle top pick, was arrested in March after police stopped his car in downtown Scottsdale. Police said Stevens smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. Seattle let him become a free agent shortly afterward. Stevens went to trial on three DUI charges stemming from the March incident. Stevens faces a jail sentence of at least 30 days under an Arizona law for "extreme" intoxication, where a driver has a blood alcohol content of .15 percent or higher.