It is with heavy heart that I say that Arizona Greyhound Rescue has another lost greyhound. This little gal, who never raced, had just spent the day at Ina Road Animal Hospital on at 7320 N. La Cholla Road and was going home when she slipped her collar and took off running. This happened on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. She miraculously crossed over Ina Road and has been seen around La Canada Drive. She desperately needs medical attention. She's a fawn (caramel color) female. Do not chase the dog.

If you see her or want to help in the search, please call 886-7411.

Her name is Lorraine and you can see her picture here (scroll down). Thank you. 

Yes, it's Wednesday afternoon, and that means the new edition of the Weekly is online! Have at it in the right-hand column!

-- Russell Pearce has done it again!

-- KOLD has named a new female anchor. According to this not-so-live, yet somewhat local and late-breaking, press release:

KOLD NEWS 13 COMBS NATION FOR NEW ANCHOR, BEST CHOICE ALREADY ON PAYROLL

Familiar KOLD NEWS 13 THIS MORNING anchor Heather Rowe promoted to 6:00PM and 10:00PM anchor, Monday, October 9. “We searched the country and found the best talent right in our own backyard,” said Michelle Germano, KOLD NEWS 13 News Director. KOLD NEWS 13 General Manager Jim Arnold proudly adds, “We looked at hundreds of candidates initially from as far away as Boston, Miami, and Portland (Oregon). The search for this position was unprecedented in KOLD NEWS 13 history.”  Germano shared the news with the entire KOLD NEWS 13 staff Monday afternoon. Two rounds of applause and cheers followed.  “I’m very excited to join the evening news team,” beamed Rowe.

-- And finally, the Star, under the header of "Desert Whispers: Observations About Southern Arizona," has taken Barbra Streisand to task for bitching out hecklers. OK then. WHAT does this have to do with Southern Arizona, and who gives a rat's ass anyway? I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Our morning daily's opinion page is one of the worst in the country. And the community's suffering for it.

Everyone knows we here at the Weekly blog like to smack around the Arizona Daily Star. It's, y'know, our job.

So it's only fair that we give them accolades when they do something superb.

And that's a fitting way to describe Greg Hansen's column today, in which he takes the UA to task for not declaring that quarterback Willie Tuitama will sit out the rest of the season after suffering two concussions so far this year. It was excellent and persuasive.

Whether it's a coincidence or not, I don't know, but earlier today, coach Mike Stoops said that Tuitama will not play against Stanford this weekend. That's a start.

Props to Greg Hansen, the best opinion writer at the Star. Too bad they can't get someone like him for their Op-Ed section.

I also was invited to some of the delicious festivities put on by the Tucson Originals. I went to the Grand Tasting on Saturday night and it was indeed grand.

After an exhausting day of early morning volunteerism, I dragged myself to the Grand Tasting, and it was well worth it, but I paced myself and only sampled a few white wines. The standouts were a Grgich Hills fume blanc and a  pinot grigio that I cannot remember. I normally drink red but for some reason opted for white. The food was outstanding—I loved the complexity of Feast's chipotle rabbit stew and Acacia at St. Philip's' golden gazpacho. Janos had something that was delicious, but I vaguely remember that it had raw fish, a candied jalapeno and coconut creme as ingredients. The Cup Cafe had the best chocolate-peanut butter pudding, and Agave's blueberry bread pudding was refreshing.

I wanted to hang around for the best margarita contest but my foodie partners Edie Jarolim and Rita Connelly were leaving, and in reality, I was fading fast. Apparently, Cuvee World Bistro won that competition.

The next day, Rita and I came back to watch the Copper Chef Competition which pitted Feast against Cuvee and brother Doug against brother Mitch. Jimmy already mentioned that it was fun, and I so agree.

As Jimmy mentioned, the secret ingredient was beef-a-lo, a mating of beef and buffalo. Other ingredients included unusual squashes and chili peppers from the Community Food Bank's garden; organic Willcox apples; Flavorbank spices; Tohono O'Odham mesquite flour; and jalapeno goat cheese.

The contestants had 30 minutes which expanded to about 45 minutes to make three dishes each. Try as I might ... I couldn't write them all down, but here's what my hard-to-read notes say—sweet potato raviolis, pan-seared b-lo, jalapeno goat cheese pancakes, seared b-lo on peppery beans, and cinnamon apple fritter on pumpkin seed brittle. The contestants did make three dishes each, and they bantered back and forth like you would expect siblings to do. Weatherman Chuck George and Jennifer English from the Food and Wine Radio Network provided commentary and quips. And the aromas permeated the ballroom.

And the winner—Doug Levy—won by a bean or two. It was close. I guess you'll have to come next year to see Doug take on another contender.

Ya ever wander into the office on a Monday more exhausted than you were when you left on Friday?

This morning, I am feeling your pain.

Don't get me wrong; it's a good pain. This was one of the most fun and event-filled weekends I have ever experienced.

First, I was privileged enough to attend a good chunk of this weekend's Tucson Culinary Festival. The food (from Tucson Originals restaurants) and the wine (from, well, almost everybody imaginable) was consistently great. The highlight of the weekend, however, had to be Sunday's first-ever Copper Chef Challenge, which pitted Doug Levy (Feast) vs. Mitch Levy (Cuvee) with the secret ingredient being beefalo (a beef/buffalo hybrid). The event was a debacle—and I mean that in a good way—with Doug edging out his brother.

But the Culinary Festival offered only part of the weekend's activities. Friday night, we attended the First Friday Shorts monthly contest at the Loft, which is always a hoot (although host Max Cannon was absent due to his act of breeding having come to fruition last week—congrats, Max and Ginny!!!). On Sunday night, we attended the reception for the opening of Butterfly Magic at the Gardens, leaving the Tucson Botanical Gardens just before a fierce cloudburst. It was a splendid event, and I look forward to seeing the butterflies again when the exhibit opens in earnest tomorrow (Oct. 10).

And of course, there was Fall Club Crawl on Saturday night, which was—if we do say so ourselves—fantastic, as always.

It was a splendid weekend. If anyone complains to you that there's nothing to do in Tucson, please—lovingly—smack them.

Can be found right here.

-- So this new publisher will probably come in and force the Los Angeles Times to make cuts, and the paper will suffer in quality. And then readers will leave the paper; circulation will decline, and ad sales will go down, and newspaper execs will scratch their heads and wonder why all this is happening. Sigh.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Insane profit thirst will kill the newspaper industry, not the Internet.

-- And speaking of LA ... yikes!

Hey, folks: If you call the Weekly (or any publication, for that matter) with a story idea, and you leave us a message asking us to call you back ... you may want to leave your phone number. It would be very helpful.

REB 84 makes a good point when he comments that as Americans keep dying in Iraq, the media is overly obsessed with Mark Foley.

While I disagree with REB 84's implication that the Foley mess is not newsworthy—it's VERY newsworthy, especially the fact that the Republican leadership had at least an inkling of what was going on, yet did nothing about it—I do agree that we need to keep focus on Iraq, where things do not seem to be getting any better. And if you need a reminder, the front of the morning daily's offering it today, in gut-wrenching fashion.