In case you couldn't make it: We've got highlights on our Facebook page—with comments from our fans! Read it all here.

Mari Herreras attended the announcement of a lawsuit against state schools superintendent Tom Horne to retain ethnic studies. Sean Arce, director of TUSD's Mexican American Studies Department, explains why he joined the lawsuit.

As a warm-up to tonight's Sierra Vista debate between Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Republican Jesse Kelly, Giffords campaign manager Rodd McLeod and Kelly campaign manager Adam Kwasman exchange emails:

From: Rodd McLeod
Subject: Re: Jesse Kelly: "I would vote for the fair tax; I do support the fair tax."

Good afternoon, Adam.

I direct your attention to the link below, put up on youtube.com by Kelly4Congress. In it, Mr. Kelly describes the 23 percent consumption tax, and says, "I would vote for the fair tax; I do support the fair tax."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVeozni3klY

Mr. Kelly seemed unwilling to acknowledge his support for this policy in Monday's debate. We are committed to having a substantive discussion of the issues affecting Southern Arizona, and we hope Mr. Kelly will acknowledge his position, or explain that his position has changed. This video is posted online by your campaign on a page called Jesse Kelly for Congress, Kelly4Congress's Channel.

Tonight, unlike Monday, we hope that Mr. Kelly will not deny his stated position.

Safe travels and best of luck!

Sincerely,

Rodd McLeod

*

* *

On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 1:25 PM, @votejessekelly.com> wrote:
Dear Ron,

I cannot tell you how grateful I am to hear about the interest in honesty from your campaign.

I trust that this new interest in transparency will include an immediate release by the Giffords campaign admitting to purposefully lying to the constituents of District 8 about Jesse Kelly's positions on social security.

I can't tell you how inspiring it is to me

Jale Tweedy, the owner of Petite Pea Catering and Fine Foods, says she's opening a storefront at 1012 E. Sixth Street, right across from the UA Campus.

Petite Pea Fine Foods Market opens Tuesday, Oct. 26, and will feature favorites from Tweedy's catering menus and other items. The hours will be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

Tweedy has a degree in dietetics from the UA and worked for the Pima County Health Department as a dietician before opening her catering business. She eventually realized that her true calling was in cooking, and the rest is delicious history.

"I got frustrated as a dietician. I thought instead of talking about eating and making better choices that I would be serving the community in a better way if I was making the food I was talking about," said Tweedy.

"I cook whatever sounds good and is delicious. We cook Mexican food, Italian food, all kinds of food, and I’m Turkish, so when I have a request for Middle Eastern food, I'll cook that, too."

The only stipulation Tweedy does have is that all the food she serves is made from scratch with quality ingredients. "No pre-made food comes in my kitchen," she said.

Tweedy was cooking brisket and scalloped potatoes when we spoke. She said her balsamic dressing (the demand for which inspired her to open the store in the first place) and parmesan-crusted chicken will definitely show up on the menu, alongside any number of daily specials.

Call 884-0817 for more information.

A spokesman for The Abbey Eat + Drink says the restaurant will open to the public Tuesday, Nov. 2.

The restaurant is being opened by Brian and Sandy Metzger, the owners of the popular jaxKitchen at 7286 N. Oracle Road. If you haven't seen The Abbey's menu yet, you can check it out here. There's more information about the restaurant here and here.

Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords debuts two new TV ads this week—one positive spot highlighting her work with local businesses and another hit on Republican Jesse Kelly's proposal to privatize Social Security. Meanwhile, Kelly launched a new ad today hitting Giffords for supporting health-care reform, the stimulus plan and cap-and-trade legislation.

The race between Congressman Raul Grijalva and Republican challenger Ruth McClung gets some national attention:

It's unusual enough that a 28-year-old rocket scientist is running for Congress. It's unusual enough that she's a self-proclaimed "conservative Republican" backed by the Tea Party running in a substantially liberal Arizona district. It's unusual enough that, running in a Latino-majority district that shares hundreds of miles of border with Mexico, the candidate does not speak Spanish.

But the most unusual thing about Ruth McClung: she might actually win.

"We're moving this race to toss-up," said David Wasserman, House editor for the non-partisan Cook Political Report. "This is a big surprise for Democrats."

Read the whole thing here.

Just in time for your end of October festivities, Borealis Arts is exhibiting works that explore a connection to the observance of Dia de los Muertos. Gallery owner Nathan Saxton gives some insight in how the exhibit came together and how gathering work of this nature affected him personally.

The fall edition of Club Crawl was so great that we couldn't contain the recorded evidence in one post. More videos from the event are below the cut, including songs by Young Mothers, Seashell Radio and Whole Lotta Zep.

Vote Webb!