The Loft's streaming series continues this week with a wide range of cinematic treats for you to enjoy at home. No doubt, this week's offerings are some of the most eclectic, interesting, and entertaining looking films of the series so far.

Here are the six new films now available for streaming...visit their website for details on how to order:



Lake Michigan Monster


This one looks nuts. Absolutely nuts. Made with a an oddly retro look, it looks like a hallucinatory cousin to the recent The Lighthouse, a movie that already made you feel like you were on acid when you were watching it.

The Cuban


Academy Award winner Louis Gossett Jr., having a nice recent comeback (sweet appearance in The Watchmen) stars as an aging musician with dementia.


The Fight


A new documentary from the makers of Weiner and RBG chronicling the court fights involving your dopey President's many attacks on your civil rights. For more info on The Loft's screening for this film, see Jeff Gardner's write-up here.


Rebuilding Paradise


A couple of years ago, I drove through the wonderful Paradise, California on a quick trip to the west coast. Beautiful place. A week later, it had all burned to the ground. Director Ron Howard's documentary tells the story of the community's recovery efforts.


Days of the Whale


Two graffiti artists create a tagged art collective in Medellin in this drama from director Catalina Arroyave Restrepo.


Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind


Holy cow, somebody has finally made a documentary about Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot! I've been on a Lightfoot kick recently (I often command Alexa to provide me with his tunes when I'm in dire need of settling down). Artists (Including members of Rush!) reflect on the now 80-year old's contributions to musical history. 

PHOENIX – Six months after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Arizona, the disease is well on its way to becoming the third-leading cause of death in the state this year, following cancer and heart disease, according to state data.

As of Friday, July 31, the Arizona Department of Health Services reported 3,694 deaths from COVID-19, which was first reported in the state on Jan. 26. That number has grown by 631 in the last week alone.

If COVID-19 deaths continue at the current pace, that would put the disease squarely between cancer, which killed 12,097 Arizonans in 2018, and accidents, which killed 4,211 people that year, the most recent for which state mortality numbers are available.

A health department official cautioned against reading too much into the numbers at this time, however, noting that the cause of death will not be official until analysts can review death certificates, something that is not likely to happen until late 2021.

“Final death certificate information can take weeks or months to collect, depending upon the complexity of each case and whether testing or autopsy is required through the medical examiner,” said Holly Poynter, the department spokesperson, adding that final counts “tend to be lower than the counts produced” by daily reporting.

But other health experts in the state said the disease could “easily” become one of the biggest killers in the state this year.

Editor’s Note: Coronavirus has devastated Native American communities and put a spotlight on some long-standing problems in Indian Country that have made this pandemic that much worse. But at the grassroots level, everyday heroes have stepped up to help.

PHOENIX – When the sun is up, he’s up and ready to hit the road by 8. Flatbed trucks are loaded with brimming barrels of water, and the teams take off – up and down the burnt orange washboard roads that crisscross the Navajo Nation Reservation.

Zoel Zohnnie grew up on a ranch in these vast lands, knowing what it’s like to live without running water, knowing what it means to drive for miles to fill up at a community water station and then haul it back home.

“For some families, it’s a whole day of leaving home, waiting in line, coming back, unloading,” he said. “Just to drink water and have water for living.”

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona climbed past 174,000 as of Friday, July 31, after the state reported 3,212 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Pima County had seen 16,167 of the state's 174,010 confirmed cases.

A total of 3,694 people have died after contracting the virus, including 459 in Pima County.

Maricopa County had 117,293 of the state's cases.

Hospitals remain under pressure, although they report a slight decrease in the number of Arizonans hospitalized with COVID-19-related symptoms. The report shows that 2,302 COVID patients were hospitalized yesterday in the state, down from a peak of 3,517 on July 13. That’s the lowest number of hospitalized COViD patients since June 23, when 2,270 people were in hospital beds.

A total of 1,195 people visited ERs yesterday with COVID symptoms, the lowest that number has dipped since July 28, when 1,225 people sought help in ERs for COVID symptoms. That number peaked at 2,008 on July 7.

A total of 719 COVID-19 patients were in ICU beds yesterday, the lowest number since July 3, when XXX COVID patients were in ICU. The number of COVID patients in ICUs peaked at 970 on July 13.

TRAILING IN POLLS, TRUMP SAYS HE WASN'T SERIOUS ABOUT ASKING FOR DELAY IN ELECTION

As he trails Democrat Joe Biden in the polls, President Donald Trump yesterday said he wasn’t really serious about delaying the election, although he expressed concern that allowing people to mail in ballots during a pandemic would lead to massive fraud and lawsuits that could linger in the courts for years.

“Do I want to see a day change?” Trump said during his daily coronavirus briefing. “No. But I don’t want to see a crooked election.”

Trump had started the day with a tweet asking if the election should be delayed.

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This spring, as the coronavirus spread and international travel bans grounded flights, Gebrish Weldemariam got a layoff letter from his airline catering job at Dulles International Airport.

He’d been working as a driver making more than $18 per hour for Flying Food Group, ferrying in-flight meals between the company’s kitchen and gated planes waiting on the tarmac. Between overtime at the airport and a part-time job driving buses on the side, Weldemariam felt that times were good. Last fall, with his wife expecting a fourth child, the family bought a house not far from the airport, allowing him to be nearby to help care for his oldest son, who has Down syndrome and needs constant attention.

“I have kids. I have a mortgage. I have two car loans,” Weldemariam said. “That’s why I work hard.”

Flying Food Group told him only that when business picks up, it would call him. Now, even with boosted unemployment benefits, he said he makes $600 less than a typical week when he was working. He’s worried he won’t be able to cover all of his monthly bills.

Flying Food didn’t just lay off Weldemariam. The Chicago-based company, one of the largest airline caterers in the country, has pink slipped more than 2,000 other workers since March. The cuts left the vast majority of its workforce out of a job at facilities in California, Chicago, Virginia and the New York City area, according to the union UNITE HERE, which represents Flying Food workers. Then in June, the Flying Food was approved to receive $85 million from the Trump administration from a pandemic relief program that was intended to preserve those very jobs.

The Marana Unified School District governing board today unanimously approved a plan to teach all grade levels remotely when school instruction begins Wednesday, Aug. 5.

MUSD Superintendent Dan Streeter said the district is working with the state Department of Education, the Pima County Health Department, Marana Health Center and other entities to ensure they are adequately prepared to begin the school year.

“Each of the superintendents throughout the county have been meeting with Dr. Cullen and Dr. Garcia and talking about what are those metrics that the governor referenced that make sense for a safe reopening in Pima County,” Streeter told the governing board.

Earlier this week, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry indicated that he, Health Department Direct Dr. Theresa Cullen and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Francisco Garcia believe school cannot resume in-person before Labor Day, Sept. 7, at the earliest.

While the district’s plan is remote learning-focused, Gov. Doug Ducey’s executive order for reopening schools specifies that each district must have an open learning center by Aug. 17 for “at-risk” students who need a place to go during the day. Special needs students will also have individualized schedules that may differ from the majority of the student body.

MHC Healthcare has been advising the district on what the proper protocols should be if positive COVID-19 cases are present on an MUSD campus, what contact tracing will look like and what the appropriate sanitary and face mask policies should be.

MUSD has also been working with Corgan, a national architectural firm, to perform “journey mapping.” Streeter said this will help the district identify each school’s high traffic areas, frequently touched areas, where hand sanitizer dispenser and handwashing stations should be established, and the best options for classroom layouts with physical distancing.

The latest film in The Loft Cinema's virtual screening series follows the work of the attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union. The Fight examines the struggle for civil rights when "a migrant mother is separated from her child, when a transgender soldier is at risk to lose his career, when reproductive rights and basic voting rights are under attack" and more. The Fight releases digitally July 31.

For more information, visit The Loft's website.

Since the Bighorn Fire dwindled through early and mid July, transportation workers have replaced more than 250 burnt guardrail posts, and aim to double that number.

According to the DoT, repair work will continue next week, including the repair and replacement of nearly 1,700 feet of guardrail. Speed reductions and lane restrictions will remain in place in areas where repair work continues. A closure order for lands managed by the Coronado National Forest in Mount Lemmon and the Upper Sabino Canyon remains in effect for public safety. The closure is in place because "the hazards to public health and safety are still present. The closure order is subject to change and the Coronado National Forest regularly assesses the conditions on the ground."

Dave Franco, brother of James, makes his directorial debut, based on a screenplay he co-wrote, with The Rental, a serviceable slasher film that shows the novice director can do a solid job creating a creepy vibe.

The film isn’t anything all that original, and you won’t feel any major sense of surprise when the story ends. You might, however, refrain from ever renting a vacation home on the Oregon coast anytime soon.

Charlie and Michelle (Dan Stevens and Alison Brie) are looking to get away for the weekend. They rent a fancy house and bring along Charlie’s brother, Josh (Jeremy Allen White) and girlfriend, Mina (Sheila Vand) for company. After an awkward meeting with the caretaker (Toby Huss, who is amassing a decent horror film resume with this and last year’s Halloween), the weekend gets off to a pleasant enough start. Then the drugs come out, and bad things happen. When Mina discovers a camera in the shower, justified paranoia reigns, followed by bodies piling up.

Credit Franco for keeping you guessing as to who is creating the bloody mayhem. The resolution i
irked me at first, but it’s growing on me. The performances put the film over the top, as does the effective score by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurrians. They definitely use sound to keep you on edge.

It’s a promising debut for Franco that, while owing a lot to past film’s like Luke Wilson’s Vacancy, manages enough coolness to warrant a rental if you are a horror aficionado.

Available for rental on iTunes, Amazon Prime, etc.

PHOENIX – Named for the biblical figure Joshua by Mormon pioneers who saw its outstretched limbs as a guide to their westward travels, the Joshua tree is an enduring icon of the Southwest.

In tiny Yucca Valley, California, the spiny succulents that once guided pioneers through the Mojave Desert still adorn the landscape, but as climate change threatens their future, residents are increasingly at odds over their preservation.

Some in the town of roughly 20,000 say that by listing the Joshua tree – which actually is a yucca – as threatened, new restrictions will negatively affect the town’s economy, while others view the protections as necessary to ensure the survival of Yucca brevifolia, which is native to the Mojave Desert.

In October, Brendan Cummings, the conservation director of the Center for Biological Diversity, filed a petition to have the western Joshua tree listed as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act.