There are precious few details about the new shake shop expected to open Downtown this October, but here's what I've got so far. It's being opened by Kade Mislinski, the owner of bar and lounge Playground and the nearby HUB Restaurant and Ice Creamery and is expected to open on Saturday, Oct. 13.

This is exciting because shakes are made with ice cream and the ice cream served at HUB is interesting, delicious and ever-changing. Mislinski also tends to come up with unique restaurant concepts - a skill he honed to a fine point during a long stint working for famed restaurateur Sam Fox - so it's always fun to see what he's going to come up with next.

We should be getting some more details later this week. We'll keep you posted.

On Monday, UNIDOS and Freedom Summer organizers sent out an open letter to Tucson Unified School District board member Mark Stegeman requesting his participation in a community forum in the next eight days and that, besides his recent resolution to unban the banned Mexican-American studies classroom books, he consider: "1. Recant your testimony to the ADE State Board concerning MAS, 2. Apologize for calling MAS teachers and students a “cult”, 3. Vote to reinstate MAS, Sean Arce and Rene Martinez."

A few other questions community activists are wondering, in particular, why now? TUSD is in the middle of four civil rights investigations. Is this part of an action that needs to take place as a correction, just like finally offering interpreters during meetings and posting that information on the TUSD website? Is this to make way for the multicultural curriculum the district is supposedly developing under the leadership of Auggie Romero?

Perhaps, Stegeman last night's TUSD special meeting will provide some answers. I suspect the letter will be read aloud during call to audience:

Open Letter to Dr. Mark Stegeman

On January 18th 2012, Dr. Mark Stegeman one of the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) board members who voted to end Mexican American Studies (MAS) wrote in a press release, “It’s time to end the special treatment of the Mexican American Studies books.“

This statement was made after UNIDOS and Freedom Summer representatives announced their intention to hold a press conference challenging the intention and timing of Stegeman’s actions. The question before Stegeman is simple.

Why alienate the Chicano community in Tucson? Many speculate that he can win re-election without us but the real question is can Cuevas, Sugiyama or Stegeman win in the face of a united opposition? Stegeman’s choice is clear. Will you emerge from this struggle as a defender of free thought and education or will you continue play the dupe for Huppenthal and Horne allowing yourself to be hoisted on their petards like some sort of political sacrifice? Huppenthal and Horne don’t vote for you — we do.

This moment is crucial. As the Chicano Community in Tucson and its allies congregate in ever increasing numbers to walk and talk door to door with their neighbors they gather momentum — the community survey we are taking is providing an ever clearer view of what the average Tucsonian is thinking and feeling about their political, educational and social situation and it doesn’t look good.

We invite and challenge you Dr. Stegeman to join us at a community forum to speak on your reasoning, at a forum to be held at a time and place of your choosing within the next 8 days. If it is truly “time to move forward,” as you stated, then that must be done as a community. Any attempt to move forward without input from the Chicano community is disingenuous and blatant posturing. Stegeman has the opportunity right now to set the record straight: 1. Recant your testimony to the ADE State Board concerning MAS, 2. Apologize for calling MAS teachers and students a “cult”, 3. Vote to reinstate MAS, Sean Arce and Rene Martinez.

As a community we embrace those that embrace us. Make no mistake — it is with the same determination and ferocity with which we have fought to this point that we walk the streets and knock the doors of Tucson. The one thing that Freedom Summer has shown us is that we are not alone, our allies are with us — planning, mobilizing and walking. Can you say the same? Who are your friends Dr. Stegeman?

Yes, I will go see Somebody Up There Likes Me. I don't need to know what it's about after seeing this 90 second promo. This is enough to convince me that the film is worth my time.

Just like every other person on the internet, I thought that Alana, the chubby pageant kid featured with her coupon clipping mom on Toddlers & Tiaras, was a hoot, but now she's getting her own show, titled Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (sigh) which includes her peculiar family, something with mud and the opportunity to watch Alana grow up ahead of her certain future run for the presidency.

Range readers? I'm sorry I ever mentioned Alana. Now she's doing whatever the hell it is that was taught to her by her unfortunate family seeming enthralled with their own ignorance and promoting some terrible stereotypes about the American South. I'm so sorry for whatever I did to help create a situation where the above still from the show's commercial (which you'll have to find yourself, because I'm not linking to it) exists.

I'm so sorry and there's nothing I can do to fix things. If you need me, I'll be under my desk listening to a Kidz Bop album on Spotify.

• Is it raining?

To skip a day of water to your flower pots, you must receive at least 1/2" of rain on the pots. If your pots are under a tree, a ramada, carport or patio, they are not getting rain. Keep that in mind before you decide how to proceed.

Also, remember that if your pots are accustomed to daily watering, that 1/2" of rain is only good for one day!!!

Be mindful and don't let your flowers dry out.

For more information on potted gardens in the desert, visit The Contained Gardener.

Have a question? Email Marylee.

Sign up for our Potted E-News today. Receive monthly potted garden information as well as SW Arizona freeze alerts, heat and wind advisories.

Of course, as a regular reader of the The Range, you're familiar with Heroes & Villains, the current holder of the Best of Tucson title as Best Comic Book Store, via store employees Eric and Arnie's semi-regular video feature Talking Comics. Tomorrow would be a great day for you to stop by the store, whether you're a regular customer or a first-timer, as a bunch of Tucson artists will be there creating original Batman art to raise money for victims of the Aurora shooting:

This Wednesday (July 25th), fourteen artists are going to set up shop at Heroes and Villains and do $10 sketches of Batman for folks—the entirety of which will go to The New Venture Fund, a charitable organization dedicated to supporting the victims & the families of the victims of the Aurora tragedy.

Those artists are:

Ryan Huna Smith 12pm-2pm
Greg Mannino 12pm-2pm
Adam Rex 12pm-3pm
Jenn Corella 12pm-3pm
Dadicus 2pm-8pm
Ernie Najera 2pm-8pm
Brian Augustyn 2pm-8pm
Eric Schock - 3:30pm-7pm
Clay Lewis 3:30pm-8pm
Hannah Nance Partlow 4pm-6pm
Jason Pedersen 4:30pm-6pm
Liz Danforth 5pm-7pm
Ross Demma 5pm-7pm
Arnie Bermudez 6pm-8pm

In addition to the $10 sketches, there will be several Batman-related pieces up for auction, and $2 memorial ribbons (again, the entirety of which goes towards The New Venture Fund) created by Jason Pedersen.

To donate via telephone, please call 520-321-HERO with your credit card information.

Also, if you happen to go between 4:30-6:30, you can get a signed copy of Eric Esquivel's latest comic Thor: Unkillable Thunder Christ. Make a day of it...get an one-of-a-kind piece of comic art for a good cause and ensure your eternal damnation by picking up Eric's latest blasphemous work. What else are you doing on a Wednesday?

More info at the store's Facebook page.

You can expect another Freedom Summer action at the Tucson Unified School District special meeting, but this time with games, costumes and activities in front of the district's administration building at 1010 E. 10th St. at 5:30 p.m.

Freedom Summer and UNIDOS organizers are asking folks to come dressed as a favorite rebel fighter, past or present Chicana/o banned book author or character, and or social justice movement figure. There will be crafts, face paint and henna for kids and oldies, as well as a low-rider/bike pass, and a Mariachi performance. A hotdog carreta will be on the premises with $2 dogs.

My colleagues at Arizona Public Media, Andrea Kelly and Christopher Conover, yesterday hosted a forum for Martha McSally and Mark Koskiniemi, the two Republicans running in Congressional District 2 Republican primary. Early voting in the primary starts next Thursday, Aug. 2, and Election Day is Tuesday, Aug. 28,

The winner of the GOP race will face the winner of the Democratic primary, which pits Congressman Ron Barber against state Rep. Matt Heinz.

The good folks from the American Friends Service Committee posted today on their blog, Cell-Out AZ, documents they obtained that show the "state of Arizona deliberately circumvented and ultimately repealed a state law requiring private for-profit prison corporations to demonstrate cost savings in their bids on new prison contracts. These records reveal that the state was aware that existing private prison contracts were not saving the state money—despite state laws requiring private prison contractors to deliver such savings."

You can read the documents and the entire post here.

A brilliant snippet from the AFSC post:

Several of the key players in the Arizona budget process have accepted contributions from lobbyists, political action committees (PACs) and other individuals/entities associated with for-profit prison corporations. For example:

Governor Brewer’s campaign manager and top advisor, Chuck Coughlin. Coughlin runs Highground Consulting, which lobbies for CCA in Arizona.
Paul Senseman, a CCA lobbyist, is also the “spokesman” for Brewer’s PAC
John Kavanagh, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has accepted numerous campaign contributions from lobbyists associated with the for-profit prison industry. Kavanagh was instrumental in the passage of the 2012 CJBRA.
House Speaker Andy Tobin has raked in thousands of dollars from lobbyists and others associated with three of the for-profit prison corporations currently bidding on contracts in Arizona. This includes donations from the CEO’s of both GEO Group and GEO Care, as well as the MTC PAC.

Suspecting that the “invisible hand of the market” was behind the effort to remove the cost and quality assessment requirements, muckraking journalist extraordinaire, Beau Hodai, sent a public records request to Kavanagh’s office seeking documents related to the drafting and passage of the budget bill. [Mr. Hodai, you may recall, was responsible for first revealing the links between CCA and the Governor’s office in relationship to SB1070 for In These Times.]

In response, Hodai received a two-paragraph letter, denying access to records relating to the bill and invoking “legislative privilege.” Because, after all, what good will it do to remove all accountability from the for-profit prison industry if snooping reporters can uncover records relating to influence working behind the scenes through public records law?

The timing of the repeal coincides with plans to award a new contract for 1,000 more for-profit prison beds. The contract for these beds is expected to be signed by September 1, 2012. Funding for the beds was approved in the same budget that removed the accountability provisions. Many have questioned the wisdom of building prisons we don’t need (the state’s prison population is decreasing) and can’t afford. After all, the state is barely beginning to come back from a crippling budget deficit. And where was Arizona supposed to find the funds for a massive prison expansion, anyway?

Soon after the budget passed, the answer was revealed: The legislature planned to pay for new prison beds by sweeping $50 million from a housing trust containing money from a settlement the federal government negotiated with big banks in the wake of the mortgage crisis. The monetary aid was intended for states to assist people impacted by foreclosures. So, essentially the legislature planned to pay for overpriced prisons we don’t need by stealing the money from victims of the housing crisis. Classy.

On May 24, 2012, The Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest and the William E Morris Institute for Justice filed a lawsuit on behalf of distressed homeowners to prevent the transfer.

So, to recap, private prisons are a waste of money and everybody knows it. But because the corporations pour millions into lobbying and campaign donations, Arizona politicians have adjusted state law to “look the other way”— thus paving the way for future contracts unencumbered by pesky accountability measures and ensuring that the state budget will continue to bleed millions into corrections at the expense of education, health care and social services.

I think we've largely given up on the Tea Party as an actual thing that people are into, but Wes Harris from the Original North Phoenix Tea Party (accept no substitutes, apparently) is still bringing the crazy, suggesting (well, more than just suggesting) that Sen. McCain should go ahead and die already, in response to his defense of Huma Abedin:

Wes Harris, the founder and chairman of the Original North Phoenix Tea Party, said he plans to take out a recall petition against McCain. While Harris has many problems with McCain, a mass email he sent out focused solely on the senator’s recent defense of Huma Abedin, a top aide to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Harris accused Abedin of having ties to an Islamic extremist group, and he objected to the fact that a Muslim was working for the State Department in the first place....

“Have you ever read the Quran? I suggest you do so, because anyone that is a Muslim is a threat to this country, and that’s a fact,” Harris told the Arizona Capitol Times. “There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim. If they are Muslim they have to follow the Quran. That’s their religion and that’s their doctrine.”

Harris said he plans to circulate recall petitions against McCain. In his email, he said, “We must find a way to get rid of this embarrassment.”

The email Harris sent includes a forwarded item from the blog Bare Naked Islam that castigates McCain for defending “Islamic enemies of America” and attacking U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican and tea party favorite. The blog piece ends by saying, “Go to hell, Senator, it’s time for you to take your final dirt nap.”