Throughout the week, we'll be posting slideshows of some of the sights at this year's Pima County Fair, which is running through April 25. See all our photos at Flickr.com/TucsonWeekly. Next up: The attractions.

It's a good thing the Arizona House of Representatives solved all the state's problems (debt, immigration, etc.) so quickly. How else could they find time to send Obama back to Kenya innocently require all presidential candidates present a birth certificate if they want to appear on the Arizona ballot?

From the Associated Press:

The Arizona House on Wednesday approved a bill that would require President Barack Obama to show his birth certificate if he hopes to be on the state's ballot when he runs for re-election.

The House approved the measure on a 31-29 vote, sending it to the Senate.

It would require U.S. presidential candidates who want to appear on the ballot in Arizona to submit documents proving they meet the constitutional requirements to be president.

• NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

The UA's HiRISE camera brings us photos of the Martian South Pole and a bunch of other cool shots in the latest release.

HiRISE team member Shane Byrne tells us about the above shot:

The south polar layered deposits are a stack of layered ice up to 3000 meters (9800 feet) thick which is similar to terrestrial ice sheets. In places, this stack extends up to 1100 kilometers (680 miles) from the pole and many of the impact craters surrounding this ice-sheet appear to be filled with mounds of similar icy material and also sand dunes.

This image shows the material within one of these

Jim Small at the Arizona Capitol Times brings us the news that lawmakers are reversing the spending cuts they made to KidsCare and AHCCCC:

The bill would authorize the state to accept additional federal stimulus money to pay for the programs, which would allow 310,000 people to continue coverage under AHCCCS and another 47,000 children to receive coverage under KidsCare.

The AHCCCS eligibility reduction and the elimination of KidsCare were both part of the budget for the upcoming year, which lawmakers approved last month.

Lawmakers are trying to reverse both decisions because the cuts ran afoul of the federal health care law that was signed into law earlier in March. Under that law, changes to state programs would disqualify states from receiving federal health care money. That meant Arizona would forfeit $7.8 billion.

Republicans said they had no choice but to restore the health care spending, even though the state can’t sustain the spending long term.

The Art Center Design College is proud to present "An Evening of Poetry with Rebecca Seiferle."

Rebecca is a renowned poet and a member of the core faculty at the Art Center. Rebecca is a winner of the Western States Book Award and a recipient of the Lannan Fellowship. This year, she was she an invited speaker at Scotland's International Poetry Festival, a featured presenter at Vanderbilt University and just returned from speaking at the Associated Writing Programs Conference in Denver. Publisher’s Weekly says, “With a bitter, withering irony and an eye for shocking beauty… Seiferle cuts straight to the emotionally honest kernel within family, spirit and myth.”

Rebecca will be joined by Art Center colleagues and students for this most enjoyable evening. There will also be visual works on display from several of The Art Center programs of study including Graphic Design, Fine Art, Photography, Animation, and Interior Design.

Public Invited - Free Admission.

Where:
The Art Center Design College
Florence Quater Gallery
2538 N Country Club Rd
520-325-1234

When:
7 p.m., Thursday, April 22, reception following

Throughout the week, we'll be posting slideshows of some of the sights at this year's Pima County Fair, which is running through April 25. See all our photos at Flickr.com/TucsonWeekly. Next up: The animals.

• Aleksa Brown

Local Natives rocked Solar Culture last night. Learn more about the band here. Can't wait until these guys come back!

• JOSHUA MORGAN
• John Shaw, a sideshow performer from New York, shows off a bit of his talents at the Pima County Fair.

The Pima County Fail goes on until April 25. John Shaw's freak show performs three times a day at 5, 7 and 10 p.m. at the fairgrounds.

We think we may have missed a great Reality Journalism competition by not encouraging more Tucsonans to apply for the Ward 2 City Council seat vacated by Democrat Rodney Glassman, who resigned earlier this month in an unlikely bid to win the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. John McCain. Surely, the process would be more fun if all the candidates were forced to live in a house together while cameras rolled 24-7.

The list of 14 final candidates:

* Jeff Bales
* Keith Barnes
* Joshua Jude Chesser
* Judith B. Clinco
* Paul Arthur Cunningham

Gov. Jan Brewer appears opposed to the reckless tax-cut plan developed by House Republicans. Howie has the details:

Gov. Jan Brewer wants no income tax cuts for corporations.

Brewer, crafting her own version of an economic stimulus plan, also rejected provisions in a House-passed proposal that would allow some multistate corporations to escape paying any income taxes at all in Arizona. She also is opposed to repealing the state property tax.

And the governor does not want to alter how businesses are assessed for tax purposes for voter-approved bonds and school overrides.

The bottom line is that Brewer's counterproposal to the House plan, when fully implemented, would reduce total business taxes in the state by less than $50 million a year. That compares with tax cuts of $950 million in the original House version of HB 2250 and close to $650 million in a modified plan proffered by House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, as a compromise.

Between this step and her push for a sales-tax increase, Brewer may rate as one of the most responsible Republicans in state government. She at least appears to be living somewhere besides the magical conservative bubble where all you have to do is cut taxes and everything works out just fine.