Heartfelt thanks to the many friends who have reached out following my tribute to Cricket, the TW newshound who passed away a few weeks back. We scattered some of her ashes up in Flagstaff over the weekend and we still miss her a lot.

We skipped the teabagging fest downtown today in favor of touring the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, which is a way-cool operation. (Details coming soon in a TW near you.)

But we had to laugh at Anderson Cooper's line in this clip: "It's hard to talk when you're teabagging."

Slate has a nice package of stories about Mexico.

One piece examines why the drug war is spiraling out of control:

The Mexican drug cartels have been prospering for decades. This is not a problem that appeared overnight, as some of the more sensationalist media accounts in the United States might suggest, nor is it an issue that threatens to topple or destabilize the Mexican state. But by confronting all the cartels directly, simultaneously, and stridently, Calderón has managed to ratchet up the mayhem, particularly the violence against public officials and innocent bystanders who were drawn into what had previously been spasms of mostly intramural violence among cartels fighting for market share.

Every year, the Tax Foundation announces Tax Freedom Day—the day that Americans have supposedly worked enough days to pay their taxes. And every year, some poor saps in the media fall for it.

It's a bogus statistic because of the progressive nature of income taxes. The rich pay a whole lot more than the poor, so there is no real average that means anything at all.

As the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities points out:

The Tax Foundation’s “Tax Freedom Day” report is plagued by two major problems. First, its estimates of state and local tax burdens suffer from a number of serious methodological flaws (see the box below). Second, over the years, many journalists and policymakers have misinterpreted the Tax Foundation’s report as reflecting the tax burdens faced by typical middle-income workers.

The Tucson Association of Realtors want to strip budgeting power away from the Tucson City Council by mandating a certain percentage of general fund dollars be spent on police and firefighters.

The group filed has filed paperwork for the Public Safety First Initiative to give voters a chance to approve the proposition in November.

Here's the release from TAR:

A citizen’s initiative intended to provide more police and fire protection inside the Tucson city limits has been

Yep, you heard that right: The alt-country-and-then-some wonder boys in Wilco are coming to Tucson—and it's their only show in Arizona. They'll be playing at Centennial Hall on Thursday, June 18. It's the first time they've played Tucson in 12 years. Let's make sure they wanna feel like stars, OK?

UPDATE: A few details we couldn't tell you when we posted last night: The Wilco show is being presented by our friends at the Rialto Theatre. Rialto GM (and occasional TW contributor) Curtis McCrary tells us that tickets are $32 and will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, April 17, at the Centennial Hall box office, at the UA Student Union Bookstore ticket outlet and online at uapresents.org.

The opening act is TBA.

Did I tell you about the time I saved Jeff Tweedy's life?

The Children's Action Alliance has launched a YouTube channel with stories of Arizonans who have turned their lives around thanks to state social programs that are now facing budget cuts.

Well, that didn't last long. Bennett Bernal tells The Range that he has abandoned plans to challenge City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich in the Ward 3 Democratic primary. Bennett says the prospect of campaigning quickly became "overwhelming."

The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama will lift travel restrictions on Cuba. An announcement is due later today, according to the paper.

We should be hearing howls of protest from supporters of President Bush's policy of isolation shortly. I just can't wait.

Republican Steve Kozachik, who is making his political debut with his effort to unseat Democratic City Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, has a Web site up.