We just heard that Pita Jungle, which has a collection of Mediterranean-smoothie fusion cafés in the Phoenix area, is planning on opening a Tucson branch in the old 58 Degrees & Holding location at Williams Center, Broadway Boulevard and Craycroft Avenue.

Andy Seleznov of Larsen Baker tells us the restaurant is optimistic about an April opening, but there's remodeling to be done.

We dig the tasty, healthy and affordable menu. Our pals at Phoenix New Times named it Best Vegetarian and Best Restaurant for Kids this year. If you're not familiar, get a taste here.

• markus Steinhauser

• Markus Steinhauser

John deDios from the UA School of Journalism sends over some student work for you to check out. He tells us that Markus Steinhauser "is an exchange student from Switzerland and he is studying Media and Communications at his school. He did his project on Life In America through the eyes of the UA Rodeo Team of cowboys and cowgirls. Steinhauser traveled to New Mexico with the team to photograph them on practice and in competition."

Check out more of Steinhauser's work here.

Rep. Frank Antenori and Sen. Linda Lopez hash out their differences and fill viewers in on the state budget crisis on tonight's episode of Arizona Illustrated. I stop by to help Bill Buckmaster question our lawmakers. Antenori says a special session is not likely this month.

Watch it after the jump.

I always knew kimchi must have some special powers, because when eaten with brown rice and a little soy sauce, it makes the world a better place.

A new study you can read about here says pickled cabbage—kraut or kimchi—is the new Viagra.

But wait a sec. According to this article in Wired, rotten eggs is the new Viagra.

The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity is one of the environmental groups that have staved off timber sales in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. A key point int the legal fight:

The Orion North plan would have cost taxpayers $1,579,880 to build roads into a pristine area for a timber sale in a national forest that would generate only $140,635 for the trees. This expense would cost taxpayers nearly 11 times the revenues generated by the sale.

ANCHORAGE— U.S. District Judge John Sedwick issued an injunction late Monday halting the Orion North timber sale in the Tongass National Forest. The court ordered the Forest Service to reevaluate the project because the costs for the timber sale have skyrocketed since the project was proposed a decade ago while revenues have dropped dramatically.

The Orion North project was planned in an ecologically rich, roadless area at the heart of the Sea Level Creek watershed, the last remaining roadless watershed in Thorne Arm, on Revilla Island near Ketchikan in the Tongass National Forest. The sale would have required six miles of new roads to clearcut 4.3 million board-feet of old-growth forest.

The central issue in the case was a Final Environmental Impact Statement developed

As the No. 4 site for news on the upcoming Arizona-filmed movie Piranha 3-D, we've got aerial photos of the gigantic "tank" that was used earlier this summer in Lake Havasu City for the controlled water shots.

Every winter, a group of volunteers does a one-day count of homeless in Tucson--but this winter, the count changes from early morning to evening. Organizers with the Tucson Planning Council for the Homeless recently announced that the 2010 Homeless Street Count will take place next year on Tuesday, Jan. 26, from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

According to TPCH, changing from morning to evening will help:

•  better count homeless people who will likely be stationary for the night
•  avoid duplicate counting of homeless people who leave shelters early
•  recruit volunteers who cannot take time from work
•  see better and be safer under a near-full moon (and warmer, too, since dawn is the coldest time of day)
•  better distinguish homeless people due to less street and foot traffic
•  observe more evening-active homeless youth
•  and obtain a more truly “point-in-time” count

I participated in the street count last year. It was a good experience, and I plan to volunteer again. Laurie Mazerbo, co-chair of the 2010 count, e-mailed me this week to say that the count still needs volunteers. There are two trainings--one tonight, and another on Dec. 17.

•  Tuesday, December 8, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Martha Cooper Library, 1377 N. Catalina Avenue.
•  Thursday, December 17, 3-5 p.m. at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 7650 N. Paseo del Norte (northeast corner at Chapala), Oro Valley, Omega room

Want to volunteer? Send an email to [email protected], or call Settle Madden at 797-9431.

Congressman Raul Grijalva isn't happy with what he sees happening with health-care reform over in the U.S. Senate. Today's press release:

Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva today declared the widely reported compromises in the emerging Senate health care bill “troubling” and “not even reminiscent of a public option.”

Senate and White House leaders, he said, “have already compromised far too much. At some point in this process, the question became not what was the best policy for the American people, but what could be done to appease a recalcitrant handful who have negotiated in bad faith. We need strong leadership so close to the finish line, not efforts to water down a bill to the breaking point in a misguided attempt to win votes that were never there.”

Grijalva said reports that the Senate is now moving toward the creation of a non-profit board to provide insurance, instead of an authentic public option, should “worry the millions of Americans who are counting on this bill to create affordable insurance and help them enjoy a fair marketplace.” He emphasized that the House has already rejected

State Treasurer Dean Martin, who may or may not be challenging the troubled Gov. Jan Brewer in next year’s Republican primary in August, shouted out a warning last week: The state has blown through its $700 million dollar credit line and had to dig into some internal accounts for another $73 million.

By the way, Martin has already tapped $1.6 billion in other state funds, so we’re running out of options as the state continues spending more than it takes in.

Martin was blunt in his assessment: “Government spending in Arizona is out of control.”

Indeed, these numbers are plainly nuts: It only took a week for the state to exhaust that $700 million credit line.

More bad news: We still have not hit bottom in our economic slump. The latest sorry numbers showed that a drop of nearly 24 percent in the state’s overall tax collection compared to October 2008. That’s 15 straight months of double-digit declines in revenues compared to the previous year.

The total take from sales, income and corporate income taxes in October was $142 million below forecast. For the entire fiscal year that began in July, we’re $376 million shy of expectations, so even though lawmakers trimmed $400 million in state spending in last month’s special session, the current year’s shortfall could still be rising back toward $2 billion.

Not only are we not meeting the forecast; in the first four months of the fiscal year, we’re down nearly 18 percent from the previous year.

The biggest drop continues to be in sales taxes by homebuilders, with contracting taxes slipping by 40 percent compared to last year. Retail sales are down by roughly 12 percent, but people are still going out to eat: Restaurant and bar taxes have dropped by about 5 percent.

Income taxes are down by roughly 19 percent compared to last year, which suggests that our job picture is still dismal. Still, there was a bit of good news in the report, as the private sector added jobs for the first time since February 2008.

People are driving less and registering fewer cars, so gas and car taxes are down about 9 percent compared to last year, which is pinching the budget of the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The state is even managing to lose in the gambling business. Although the more people are buying lottery tickets, the state’s beneficiaries are still seeing diminished returns—because the state is giving away so much in prize money.

The bottom line: Our state is nearing a financial breaking point.

You can read more in this week's Skinny or find the JLBC report here.