Polling guru Nate Silver of The New York Times has released his initial rankings of the U.S. Senate races. He's putting Arizona in the likely GOP column, giving (likely) GOP nominee Jeff Flake a 75 percent chance of beating Democrat Richard Carmona.

• NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
• Curiosity snapped this shot of its separated heat shield during its descent onto Mars

The Mars Curiosity team took to Reddit to discuss the latest on the mission yesterday. Talking Points Memo has the takeaways:

NASA scientists have been understandably proud of performing the most accurate landing of an unmanned robotic spacecraft yet, with the Mars Curiosity Rover touching down just one-and-a-half miles away from its precise landing target, an amazing feat given the sheer complexity and unaccountable factors involved in descent, such as Martian weather.

The pride makes even more sense now, given the Curiosity team’s admission on Reddit that the rover is unlikely to ever leave the area immediately surrounding its landing site, a 96-mile-wide depression known as Gale Crater, which scientists believe could have retained liquid water — and thus, offered increased chances of supporting life — on ancient Mars.

As Steve Collins, the rover’s cruise altitude and control systems engineer, wrote in response to a user question: “Probably won’t leave Gale crater. It’s huge! and there is plenty of interesting science to do there.”

Specifically, NASA is aiming to drive the rover from its current position on the edge of the crater over to one of the major features of its interior, a 3.4-mile high mountain known as Mount Sharp, where the Curiosity team wants to sample rocks and soil for clues as to the history of Mars’ climate and geology.

Meanwhile, Slate has assembled a gallery of some of the coolest pics from the Curiosity mission. After the jump, you'll find a Martian landscape photo, as well as a spectacular pic of Curiosity's landing spot taken by the UA's HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Tonight on Arizona Public Media's Political Roundtable: City Councilman Steve Kozachik, Republican National Committeeman Bruce Ash and Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Rogers talk about Paul Ryan joining Mitt Romney on the GOP presidential ticket, the thickening mud in the primary races for the Pima County Board of Supervisors, the pros and cons of the sales-tax and jungle primary propositions, Gov. Brewer's immigration executive order, the controversy over a tudent-housing high-rise near the UA and more. Tune in at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 6.

Phoenix PBS affiliate KAET-TV hosts a debate with the four Republicans running in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate.

The Carmona campaign pounces on an immigration moment with this press release:

Anyone who watched tonight's GOP debate would have seen Congressman Jeff Flake make a laughably false statement about his position on immigration reform. Flake denied that he has flip-flopped on immigration reform — but his statement almost two years ago today on the exact same show to the exact same host tells a much different story.

FLAKE TONIGHT: “We Have To Get Better Border Security First.”

HOST: “I want to get your ideas on immigration reform, immigration enforcement. You have been criticized for changing your position on this issue. Is that valid?”

FLAKE: “It's not. it's a recognition that until we get better border security that we can't move on to the other items of reform that we are going to need at some point, but we have to get better border security first.” [Arizona Horizon, 8/16/2012]

FLAKE TWO YEARS AGO: “…What I Have A Problem With Is Those Who Say Let’s Fix The Border, And Then Do Everything Else.”

Jeff Flake on Arizona Horizon: “But what I have a problem with is those who say let’s fix the border, and then do everything else, knowing that doing those things on the border at best is going to take years to secure the border, and in the meantime, we have to realize that between 42 and 45 percent of those who are here now didn’t come across the border, they came legally and have overstayed. And so I think it behooves us to also deal with those issues as well, while we focus on the border, not just say ‘we’re going to focus on the border and then everything else.” [Arizona Horizon, 8/18/2010]

• Michael McKisson/Tucson Velo

Ever wondered how to ride a bike your kids? Check out our guide to get started.

It's time to start voting for the Tucson Velo Summer Photo Contest winner. Check out all the images here and vote for your three favorites.

A formerly popular bike ride put on by one of Tucson's bicycle organizations is being canceled because of low ridership. See just how many people signed up.

With the influx of students and their parents, road closures and streetcar construction, it's chaos for cyclists and pedestrians around the UA and Fourth Avenue area. Get some tips here.

What parents linger over the cradle dreaming of the day their child will create performance art with toilet paper?

Tucson homeless shelters and others in need have the parents of the TP Wranglers to thank that their kids evolved out of diapers and into adults concerned for an essential but seldom cogitate- over requirement of social-service agencies: tons of toilet paper.

The TP Wranglers figure you might pitch in with a 9-pack or so if they make it fun. You can watch them do their thing from noon to 2 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 18, at Bookmans, 6230 E. Speedway Blvd., 748-9555.

They'll also be collecting other things shelters need: blankets, toothbrushes, underwear, feminine hygiene products, soap ... and diapers.

Visit pipelineamerica.org for more info about the Wranglers.

From the article at CNN Eatocracy:

This place isn’t brand new (it opened in the summer of 2010), but for Meehan it’s a terrific recent discovery. “Basically, it’s an elite NYC bar in the middle of Arizona,” he says. It’s small, and tucked in next to a restaurant. The seasonal menu features drinks like the Preakness Punch (peppercorn-infused gin, yellow Chartreuse and lemon) and the Vagabond (tequila, sage-infused agave nectar, lime and orange bitters).

I can't vouch for either of those two drinks, but I'm more than willing to step up to the plate for their whiskey sour. Check out their drink list here, though I suspect they've moved onto new seasonal offerings.

Nick Martin at Talking Points Memo suggests that Gov. Jan Brewer's executive order regarding DREAM Act kids might not have much impact:

Brewer, who signed Arizona’s harsh immigration law known as SB 1070 and who has butted heads with Obama on immigration multiple times, said her executive order was a direct response to the president’s program. But whether that response actually changes the way Arizona will deal with the program is another matter.

Schapira pointed out that Arizona already had a number of strict immigration laws in place, including one that barred illegal immigrants from getting drivers licenses or state issued identification cards. The law may have already been interpreted to bar any newly immune immigrants from getting those state IDs, Schapira said. That means Brewer’s order effectively carried no weight at all.

Even the governor admitted at a news conference late in the day that nothing really changed because of her order. “It actually is no different than what was already in place,” Brewer said.

Meanwhile, Congressman Raul Grijalva issues a response:

As Gov. Brewer knows very well, this order violates federal standards. It will be ruled unconstitutional after a lengthy legal process that costs our taxpayers even more money. I don’t know what it’s going to take for her to realize that states don’t get to ignore federal law. When seventy-three percent of Arizonans support the DREAM Act, you can’t even accuse her of playing politics. She’s just being herself, hurting our economy and pulling families apart to please a small minority of the population.

I’m holding an informational community workshop at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday at the VFW center in Nogales. Gov. Brewer is fighting yesterday’s battles on behalf of an outdated agenda few people agree with. I’m glad to provide assistance and serve the people of Southern Arizona; I don’t know what Gov. Brewer is glad about.

Due to incorrect information that we received, we included a list of films to be shown at the Screening Room in today's paper.

The following films will not be shown on the dates indicated:

Meek's Cutoff 8/16
The Red House 8/17
Rolling Stones: Some Girls 8/17

A representative from the Screening Room has confirmed the following:

Double Kung Fu (3D) on Saturday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m. $5.

We apologize for the errors.

Election integrity activists headed back to court on Monday to ask Pima County Superior Court Judge Kyle Bryson for another trial to look at alleged election fraud, asking for "prospective relief," meaning changes to the current election methods used in Pima County. Check out their video, if you care.