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Sister Helen Prejean/Silver Thread Trio at the Rialto, Feb. 19, 2012

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Sister Helen Prejean spoke and the Silver Thread Trio performed at the Rialto on Feb. 19, 2012 as part of an event organized by Coalition of Arizonans to Abolish the Death Penalty.

While I'm not entirely psyched that Community's return to the NBC Thursday night lineup that no one is watching will lead to a temporary hiatus for Parks & Recreation, but I'm just happy that the network isn't just giving up and running The Voice for three hours a night, seven days a week.

Great news for Community fans! The comedy is returning to NBC’s Thursday night lineup.

The not-so-great news: It’s going right back into 8 p.m. against CBS’ Big Bang Theory.

Community will return on Thursday, March 15. Then 30 Rock shifts to 8:30 p.m., followed by The Office and Up All Night. Parks & Recreation will come back on April 19 to finish its run after Up All Night concludes its 24 episodes.

Apparently, I'm turning the anniversary of David Foster Wallace's birthday into a Range annual event, but mostly this post is an excuse to link to The Awl's collection of "46 Things to Read and See for David Foster Wallace's 50th Birthday", which should give you plenty to do for a few days. Just pick something...maybe 2005's "The Host" from the Atlantic which might make you appreciate Jon Justice for a moment, believe or not.

CNN has released a new poll showing what the other recent AZ polls have shown: Rick Santorum remains within striking distance of Mitt Romney in the Arizona presidential primary:

On the eve of the last Republican presidential debate before next month's Super Tuesday contests, a poll indicates that Rick Santorum might be closing the gap with Mitt Romney in Arizona, which votes next Tuesday.

Roughly a third of all likely voters surveyed in the CNN/Time/ORC International Poll released Tuesday say they could change their mind between now and February 28.

The poll shows 36% of people likely to vote in Arizona's Republican primary say they back Romney, and 32% say they’ll vote for Romney. Romney’s 4-point margin is within the poll's sampling error, meaning he and Santorum are basically tied.

The poll indicates that 18% back former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, with 6% supporting Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and 6% unsure. Surveys conducted earlier this year by other organizations indicated Romney had a larger lead.

New York Times polling mastermind Nate Silver was setting Romney's chances of winning Arizona at 84 percent before this poll hit. We'll see what kind of adjustment comes later today, but unless Mitt is severely awful in tomorrow's debate or Rick delivers a knock-out punch, we're guessing that Mitt wins AZ.

Public Policy Polling delivers the latest numbers on the race to replace U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl:

Republicans look to be in pretty good shape for holding onto Jon Kyl's Senate seat. GOP front runner Jeff Flake leads both of his Democratic opponents, Richard Carmona and Don Bivens, by identical 11 points margins at 46-35. Wil Cardon, a long shot for the Republican nomination, leads both Democrats as well. He's up 38-32 on Bivens and 37-33 on Carmona.

These numbers are pretty similar to what PPP found polling Arizona in November with one exception- Flake has built his lead over Carmona up from 4 points to 11. Carmona's support has pretty much stayed in place- he was at 36% then and he's at 35% now. But Flake's support has increased from 40% to 46%.

In advance of the CNN debate coming up in Mesa tomorrow, Republican presidential candidates on the Feb. 28 Arizona primary ballot gathered over the weekend for two televised debates among the lesser-known contenders, including Al "Dick" Perry, Sarah Gonzales, Peter "Simon" Bollander, Kip Dean, Donald Benjamin, Charles Skelley and Jim Terr.

Award-winning journalist Dave Maass of San Diego CityBeat flew into Tucson to moderate the Tucson Weekly/Access Tucson/Project White House Dark Horse Republican Presidential Candidate Twitter Debate 2012. He was joined by University of Arizona journalism student Amanda Hurley.

A huge thanks to everyone who helped with the debates, from the candidates to Lisa Horner and the great staff at Access Tucson, who spent a great deal of time making sure that Sunday's forum went off without a hitch. You really ought to buy a ticket to their upcoming shindig celebrating free speech at the Tucson Museum of Art!

BTW: The Arizona Legislature moved quickly this week to ensure that this sort of citizen democracy never happens again. Coincidence?

We're also excited to announce that tomorrow, we're going to announce the Tucson Weekly presidential primary endorsements and the winners of Project White House 2012!

Below the cut: The first Project White House debate.

• From the KGUN webpage

KGUN has announced that Kimberly Romo is leaving its morning news program. According to an internal memo, Romo, who has been behind the anchor desk at the ABC affiliate for the last five years, will pursue other opportunities. Her final day is March 9.

• Jim Nintzel

Gabrielle Giffords, who recently stepped down from her congressional seat to focus on her recovery from being shot in the head in an assassination attempt, has joined the board of the National Institute for Civil Discourse, which was created in the wake of the Jan. 8, 2011, Tucson shooting.

The press release:

The National Institute for Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona has announced that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has been named to its National Board of Advisors. Fred DuVal, chair of the institute's Working Board, and Eugene G. Sander, president of the UA, made the announcement Tuesday.

"There is truly no greater example of a public servant committed to the idea of increasing civility in politics than Congresswoman Giffords," DuVal said.

“We are honored that Congresswoman Giffords, who is beloved and respected around the world, will partner with the institute on advancing the quality of our nation’s public discourse,” Sander said.

We may not be getting one of the Van Halen reunion shows here, but Casino Del Sol will be hosting one former member (bassist Michael Anthony) and one guy who was in a group that had the same name and was sort of like Van Halen, but not exactly (Sammy Hagar) when Chickenfoot comes to AVA on May 31st. Also in the group, guitar whiz Joe Satriani and drummer Kenny Aronoff (who takes over for Red Hot Chili Pepper Chad Smith). No onsale information yet.

While I suppose it could be a lot worse, it looks like the days of true citizen democracy in the Arizona Presidential Preference Primary might be over in 2016:

On a 48-3 margin Monday, the state House voted to scrap laws which let individuals put their names on the presidential preference primary simply by filing some paperwork. The result is that the Republicans seeking to make their pick for president this year have to search through a list of 23 contenders, ranging from Wayne Arnett of Tempe to Tucsonan Ronald Zack, to cast a vote for anyone who actually has a reasonable chance of becoming the nation's next chief executive.

If the Senate goes along with HB2379, would-be presidential contenders beginning in 2016 will have to find at least 1,000 Arizonans willing to sign petitions to nominate them.

Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, the sponsor of the measure, said there needs to be some standard to limit the ballot to those who are "serious" about running.

What I personally resent, however, is that Rep. Farnsworth seems to think that just because a candidate is only on the Arizona ballot that they aren't "serious" about running. So, Rick Santorum drops in once before a debate, Romney seems to ignore the state altogether, and I don't recall Newt Gingrich stopping by in recent memory. How "serious" are these candidates about Arizonans and their concerns? At least the Project White House candidates have actually made an effort to meet people in town instead of dropping in on their private jets at the last minute. Maybe we could just save some money and ditch the primaries altogether. Someone else is essentially making these choices for us anyhow, so why pretend any of these candidates care all that much about our state?

But, instead, the national parties and their corporate patrons are upset that the ballot includes some names they don't recognize, so Rep. Farnsworth stepped up to the plate for them. Good for him.