I was stunned when Club Congress announced that Swedish electronic-pop act Radio Dept. were scheduled to come to town November 7th, but now my Scandinavian musical dreams won't be coming true after all:

After much deliberation, The Radio Dept. has decided to cancel their fall North American tour. In a statement to the press, the band said:

“The Radio Dept. regretfully inform that they are forced to cancel the upcoming North American tour due to family related matters. Hope to see you in 2012.”

The band will remain in Sweden this fall and winter where they’ll be working on new music and we hope to have more to announce in 2012.

At least there's still the Mates of State show at Plush that night, I suppose.

The race to replace Pima County Supervisor Ann Day, a Republican who is retiring after three terms on the board, is becoming a crowded affair.

Last week, Republican Stuart McDaniel announced he’d seek the District 1 seat, which represents the Catalina Foothills and Oro Valley on the five-member Board of Supervisors.

McDaniel, who has worked as a mortgage banker, served as deputy campaign manager for Republican Jesse Kelly’s unsuccessful congressional campaign against Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords last year.

State Rep. Vic Williams is also considering a run for the seat, although the Republican lawmaker can’t announce any plans until Jan. 1 without giving up his legislative seat under Arizona’s resign-to-run law.

Charlie Bowles, a vice president of marketing and sales for legendary land speculator Don Diamond’s Diamond Ventures, is also considering a run in the GOP primary, as is Tea Party activist Ally Miller.

Former state lawmaker Nancy Young Wright is weighing a run on the Democratic side.

1982-era Jerry Lewis wants you to know that X is a band name to remember.

X are set to play the Fox Theatre on December 10th as part of their annual Christmas tour. Tickets are not yet on sale.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I think if I lost my job right now (please visit a few more pages on the site, people!), I'd rather just have a giant bag of rice instead of a card. Unless the card is edible and made of super-nutrients. That might be more helpful.

Seeing it from the side of the person giving the card, buying a piece of thin cardstock with words on it is easier than actually being a friend to someone, so there's that. Plus it's a reminder that the giver still has money to spend on stupid crap, which always feel good.

The following is the latest opinion piece from Salomón Baldenegro Sr., Chicano rights activist and retired UA assistant dean and instructor, on ethnic studies, Arizona history makers, and, of course, Tucson Unified School District:

Estimadas/os Colegas: Our fight to save ethnic studies (a misnomer: only the Mexican American Studies curriculum is under attack) continues. The last day of testimony in Tucson Unified School District’s appeal of the Tea Party State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal’s ruling that teaching Mexican American history is illegal, i.e., violates HB 2281, will take place in mid-October. And rulings on the motions filed in federal court by the 11 teachers and two (2) students who are suing the state over HB 2281 are still pending.

This weekend I attended a fundraiser for the Save Ethnic Studies (SES) organization, the support group for the teachers and students who are suing the state. The large turnout and the enthusiasm of those present was a microcosm of the widespread and diverse overall support that the 11 MAS teachers, the students, and the SES movement enjoy.

That support includes teachers-professors, MAS students and alumni, parents, civil-rights-community-political activists, a Who’s Who of elected officials, including Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (who published a great Op-Ed piece on the issue), and many, many others of all races and ethnicities.

The support goes beyond Arizona. Among others, the writings of the following have brought the issue to a national audience: Mexican American Studies icon Rudy Acuña, who is also targeted by HB 2281. Journalists Roberto Rodriguez and Jeff Biggers. David Abie Morales, aka "The Three Sonorans,” the foremost authority on the dynamics of the MAS issue.

The fundraiser and the discussions there highlighted the fact that SES is a defining issue for our community, which got me to ruminating.

In terms of the attitude of the Tea Party-Republicans who are in control of Arizona government toward people of Mexican descent, Arizona today is for our community what Mississippi was for African Americans in the 1960s.
These people hate us. They hate who we are. They hate our history. They hate that we even exist. They hate us so much they have codified their hate into law by passing abominations such as SB 1070 and HB 2281.

But, as happens always when our community is under attack, history makers have emerged:

She is indeed a beautiful light, that Linda Ray, music writer for the Tucson Weekly and self-titled calendar girl. We like her so much around Weekly World Central that we decided to stop everything we were working on this morning to send the next issue to press, just so we could wish Linda a happy birthday and eat cake.

Happy Birthday, Linda. We love ya.

Just to be clear, the video's description on YouTube points out that the video is intended to be a joke, but Stefanie Herminger's passion for Rick Perry is real:

Oh, Texas. So special.

Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Rogers sent out a press release yesterday demanding an investigation into a weird transaction on the campaign-finance reports of Republican Jennifer Rawson, who hopes to unseat Democratic Ward 2 Councilman Paul Cunningham.

Rawson reported receiving a total of $2,650 from six contributors on Aug. 3—money that was also reported as an expenditure to those same people on the same day.

“This would appear to be an attempt to increase her campaign coffers with fake contributions and shady accounting,” Rogers said in the release. “Whether she is knowingly misappropriating taxpayer money or simply negligent, Rawson has demonstrated that she can’t be trusted with taxpayer dollars.”

Rawson tells The Ranger there’s a simpler explanation. Those six contributors banded together to directly purchase her campaign signs out of their own pocket—so she reported the money as a contribution, but also reported it as going back to them rather than to the company that made the signs.

“It is a reporting error,” Rawson says. “There has been no collusion or evil of any kind. … I guess I've got Mr. Rogers running scared.”

Suzanne Mesich of the Tucson City Clerk’s Office confirms that Rawson sorted out the mishandled accounting earlier this week. Rawson will have to file an amended report listing the transaction under an in-kind contribution rather than a cash contribution.

The downside for Rawson: The contributions won’t be doubled under the city’s matching-fund program, says Mesich—although they would have been eligible if she had just accepted them as regular campaign contributions.

Before we leave September, be sure to do your fall rose pruning. Roses cut back in September will give you a wonderful fall blooming period. Bushes should be cut back by about 1/3. Clean up any debris under the shrubs and start fertilizing again, applying a time release and/or organic fertilizer now, watering it in well, then begin a bi-weekly application of a water-soluble fertilizer through November.

A little work now will bring you great rewards until we hit our first frost!! If you have any questions, be sure to email me!

Now that the animals no longer fear us, I now believe our certain doom is near. Plan accordingly. Either that or the makers of Piranha 3DD have paid off someone at Google News.

Authorities in a state in Brazil's northeast are scrambling to take the fright and the bite off the beach after piranhas sunk their teeth into about 100 beachgoers, UOL Noticias reported.

The problem — rather fearsome given piranhas' horror-movie teeth and ability to sink them into human flesh — has been the biggest at the main beach area in Piaui state; authorities said they need to act fast to reduce a piranha overpopulation situation.

Last weekend, at least 100 bathers were treated at the hospital in Jose de Freitas not far from Terezina, Piaui's capital, after being bitten on the heels or toes at the local beach.