Democrat Nancy Young Wright, who is facing Republican Ally "Hot Mess" Miller in the race to replace Ann Day on the Pima County Board of Supervisors, has landed a high-profile endorsement: Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona governor and Clinton administration's secretary of the Interior Department.

The press release from the Wright campaign:

Former Arizona Governor and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt has endorsed Nancy Young Wright for Pima County Supervisor in District One. Mr. Babbitt served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1993 to 2001 and as Governor of Arizona from 1978 to 1987. Mr. Babbitt is the author of Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America.

“The Pima County Board of Supervisors deals with complex matters. They must strive to balance economic development, water and land use issues, and infrastructure development with other factors such as the community’s historical, cultural and recreational needs,” said Governor Babbitt. “I’m endorsing Nancy because of her solid history of advocacy for sensible, sustainable land use planning and her proven dedication to the residents of northwest Pima County.” Mr. Babbitt noted that Young Wright has worked for public education, community parks, natural open space, bike lanes, and trails.

Do beer and chocolate go together? If it's a delicious pint of Borderlands Brewing Company's Noche Dulce Porter, with its sweet perfume of vanilla, and the chocolate of local company Monkey Flower Chocolates, you bet your sweet ass they do. From the Borderlands Brewery Facebook page:

Two words: Chocolate & Beer. That's right, we're getting hedonistic with our bad selves tomorrow night. The wonderful and amazing Marji from Monkey Flower Chocolates will be at the brewery debuting the perfect chocolate pairings for our Noche Dulce Vanilla Porter and Santa Rita Amber. So, we cordially invite you to come down and get a taste of some Tucson collaboration.

I have no idea what a Monkey Flower is, but I do not care. This event sounds awesome, and it takes place from 4 to 7 p.m., today, Wednesday, Sept. 19. The brewery is located at 119 E. Toole Ave. Get some.

The Inspector General's long-awaited report on the ATF's Fast and Furious operation is out.

The New York Times reports:

In a scathing report, the inspector general, Michael Horowitz, laid primary blame on what he portrayed as a dysfunctional and poorly supervised group of Arizona-based federal prosecutors and agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. As part of the operation, those officials did not act to seize illegal weapons in hopes of bringing a bigger case against a gun-smuggling network linked to a Mexican drug gang.

While it found no evidence that officials at the Justice Department in Washington had authorized or approved the tactics, it faulted several officials for related failures, including not recognizing red flags and failing to follow up on information about both Operation Fast and Furious and a similar, earlier investigation called Operation Wide Receiver, in which guns also reached drug gangs.

“In the course of our review, we identified individuals ranging from line agents and prosecutors in Phoenix and Tucson to senior A.T.F. officials in Washington, D.C., who bore a share of responsibility for A.T.F.'s knowing failure in both these operations to interdict firearms illegally destined for Mexico, and for doing so without adequately taking into account the danger to public safety that flowed from this risky strategy,” the report said.

Talking Points Memo summarizes:

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever died in a car crash near Williams, Ariz. last night. He was 60 years old.

From the Sierra Vista Herald:

Coconino County law enforcement was initially contacted about the accident at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday when a caller reported a single-vehicle rollover accident on Forest Service Road 109, about two miles north of White Horse Lake, which is about 20 miles southwest of Flagstaff.

The caller had been traveling behind the 2008 white, three-quarter ton Chevrolet pickup truck headed south on a dirt road that leads to White Horse Lake. The caller lost sight of the vehicle for a brief time, then reported seeing a cloud of dust, and as the vehicle came into view, it was clear the vehicle had rolled over and come to a rest upright on its wheels, a press release from the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office states.

The caller advised there were no signs of life coming from the single occupant, later identified as Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever.

...

"Larry has been a leader for this county, this state and, indeed, this country on the issue of illegal immigration for many years. His calm, intelligent and common sense approach to this issue as well as his leadership of the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office is his professional legacy," said Cochise County Supervisor Pat Call in an email statement. "His devotion to his family and friends is a legacy that is immeasurable. Our prayers and thoughts are with his wife, Nancy, and his family tonight. Larry was a friend and a trusted colleague to me. He will be missed by many - and he will be remembered."

...

Dever was running unopposed in this fall’s election for what would have been his fifth term as sheriff. It is unclear at this time what his sudden passing will mean in the electoral process.

[Sierra Vista Herald]

Local officials are sharing condolences. Congressman Ron Barber:

Larry Dever was the consummate law enforcement professional, dedicating more than half of his life to the sheriff’s department in his native Cochise County. He was — literally and figuratively— the lawman in the white hat.

When I go to the gym, I usually just flail body parts around and assume that something is being exercised. Hoping for a more engaging workout, I tried an aerial silks class at Tucson Circus Arts.

If you’ve ever been to the All Souls Procession, you’ve seen the Tucson Circus Arts performance troupe, Flam Chen, perform hundreds of feet above the audience, twirling and flipping amid the pyrotechnics and smoke.

“I like it because I think people see performances and they think that it’s impossible, then they do it,” said teacher, Katherine Tesch, of teaching silks. Before joining Tucson Circus Arts she was a ballet dancer and rock climber.

• Mariana Dale
• The warm up for class starts firmly on the ground with some light jogging.

And when I say "drag" I'm not talking about race cars people.

The Food, Art and Drag Show at Dinnerware Artspace from 5 to 9 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 20, combines food by some of Tucson's favorite food trucks; art by Nikki Welch, Smith Barney and Neil Collins; and a live drag show hosted by Rosada Delano and Vivika D'Angelo. Canned goods for the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation will also be collected at the event.

Dinnerware Artspace is located at 425 W. Sixth St. Don't forget to bring some singles (or fivers) to tip the performers.

There's more on the event over here.

• xkcd.com

XKCD creator Randall Munroe is no stranger to huge, detailed, humorous comics — but today's takes the cake.

Entitled "Click and Drag," the image of the comic's bottom panel will move as you drag it, not unlike browsing on, say, Google Maps.

And, like Google Maps, the image seemingly goes on forever — underground passageways, flying whales and skyscrapers are among the features that Munroe included.

You're liable to lose a lot of time with this one. Bring a snack.

As the fallout from Mitt Romney’s comments at a closed-door fundraiser continues today, the candidates for the Congressional District 2 seat weighed in with their reaction to the Republican presidential nominee’s comments about the 47 percent of Americans who do not pay income taxes.

Republican Martha McSally, who hopes to unseat newly elected Congressman Ron Barber, was critical of Romney’s comments.

“I’m focused on my race right now, so I’m not going to get into the ins and outs of the presidential debate, but obviously, what he said was inappropriate,” McSally said.

Barber said that anyone who suggests that 47 percent of Americans pay no taxes is “really detached from the reality of who that 47 percent is.”

“This is another example of people running for office who are really hostile to middle-class Americans and people who are out of work,” Barber said. “He seems to have no real sense of what’s really going on.”

Barber said that the 47 percent of people who don’t pay federal income taxes still pay a lot of other taxes: 28 percent of them are employed, so they pay payroll taxes (i.e., Social Security and Medicare taxes), as well as local sales taxes and other taxes.

Another 10 percent are elderly people who have retired and don't earn enough to pay taxes.

Best idea I've heard of a while when it comes to enhancing the beer-drinking experience. Rock on 1702, you never cease to impress.

• Dr Pepper

It's (not exactly) official, people will lose their minds over anything on the internet. Case-in-point: The nearly 7,000(!) comments on a recent Dr Pepper ad, seen above.

Apparently, a number of folks whose beliefs run counter to the theory of evolution are deeply, deeply offended — and willing to say so in front of the entire internet. One Facebook user wrote "Im never drinking this junk again," while another wrote "Just lost my business! As an avid drinker of Dr. Pepper, I can assuredly say that I would never drink Dr. Pepper ever again. If they think their soda's are good enough to make people forget their faith, they are simply fooling themselves."

The soft drink company seems to have a great deal more fans of this ad than detractors, though; a number of Facebook users came out in force to challenge what people were writing, while others decided to just laugh at it. "I'm a full time pastor. I love Dr. Pepper. I have both a sense of humor and the ability to not blow every little thing out of proportion. If this offends you, I invite you to turn off you computer, grow up, and stop giving Christians a bad name. Thanks in advance."

And, of course, some people just want to watch the world burn: "There is no mention of this 'Dr. Pepper' in the Bible. Obviously another lie spread by these so called 'scientists' and the liberal media elite. My God drinks Pepsi and so do I!"

AdWeek's AdFreak blog summed the issue up pretty succinctly: "Once again, though, it goes to show how protests can spread like wildfire in social media, where outrage—and counteroutrage—are just a click away."