We just got off the phone with local architect and restaurant owner Jason Anderson and he says his remodel of the old Magpies Pizza location at 605 N. Fourth Ave. will be completed tomorrow.

Anderson says he's reworked the entire outdoor area - a piece of prime outdoor seating right along Fourth Avenue - and even added a place to play bocce ball. A new bar, more televisions, a new design theme, way more beer on tap and a bunch of wine and other drinks have also been added.

He also said he's putting in an ice cream shop next door to Magpies that will be called Parlour. He expects that to open in about a month. He's also working on another concept in the area, but had to keep it a secret for the time being.

That's a lot of action for the decades-old Magpies Pizza shop, but with all the updates happening in that area its sort of neat to see the place keeping pace with the times.

A friend recently helped me get over the beginning of a terrible week with this video of Sweet Brown, an Oklahoma City woman who shared her experience escaping an apartment fire. So if the madness continued into Tuesday, remember: "Ain't nobody got time for that.” Forward.

It looks like a new pizza joint called Pie Zanno's Pizzaria is setting up shop at 2921 E. Fort Lowell Road, where Vito's Pizza Kitchen used to be. There is a chain of pizza joints on the East Coast called Pie Zanno's, but we're not sure yet if they have anything to do with this.

There are a ton of pizza joints in that region of town, but, hey the more the merrier! We'll keep you posted as we learn more.

Esquire.com's food blog, Eat Like a Man, has this account of a restaurant that, for good or bad, weathered Dr. Frankenstorm's Monster and defied New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to cook for anyone who came through—in particular, rescue workers who happened to set up headquarters nearby.

Superstorm Sandy hit the restaurant with four-and-a-half feet of water on Monday night, but this particular restaurant was nestled in the eye of a hurricane. So owner (and former Marine) Montgomery Dahm decided to rebuke New Jersey Governor (and fellow storm hero) Chris Christie, staying open to service rescue workers (and anyone else left in town) who needed to eat (and drink). Even after Tun Tavern lost power and before the flood came in, they were in the kitchen through well into morning and beyond, alongside National Guard shifts and in-between CNN interviews. "We were cooking by candlelight," Dahm told Eat Like a Man on Tuesday afternoon, on his way home for the first time in more than a day. "I felt felt obligated to do this, along with everybody on my staff."

It's a short entry, but a fascinating story nonetheless. Give it a look here.

This "sexy" costume of Osama bin Laden (complete with false beard and nose!) really, really should not exist. The fact that it does strikes me with a profound sadness.

But hey, any time you think there may be a demand from women who wish to dress as one of the most despised human beings in American history (a person whose assassination caused spontaneous celebration in front of the White House!), you've got to jump on that, right?

• I can't tell if I'm crying, or if my eyes are bleeding.

For more costumes within that slideshow that are thankfully less terrible than that one, click on that picture of Osama bin Leggy to be taken to Business Insider's slideshow of "the 15 Most Bizarrely Unnecessary Sexy Halloween Costumes of 2012."

This might be the most depressing thing I've read so far in this young week, but an Associated Press poll reports that feelings of racial prejudice have increased since 2008, when Barack Obama was elected to his first term as president.

From the Washington Post:

In all, 51 percent of Americans now express explicit anti-black attitudes, compared with 48 percent in a similar 2008 survey. When measured by an implicit racial attitudes test, the number of Americans with anti-black sentiments jumped to 56 percent, up from 49 percent during the last presidential election. In both tests, the share of Americans expressing pro-black attitudes fell.

“As much as we’d hope the impact of race would decline over time ... it appears the impact of anti-black sentiment on voting is about the same as it was four years ago,” said Jon Krosnick, a Stanford University professor who worked with AP to develop the survey.

More than that, anti-Hispanic sentiment has increased as well, according to this poll. The AP reports that, in a 2011 survey, 51% of non-Hispanic whites held negative perceptions of Hispanics. That figure has jumped to 57% in this year's poll.

How's that figure to affect this year's election, you ask? Again, from the Post:

Overall, the survey found that by virtue of racial prejudice, Obama could lose 5 percentage points off his share of the popular vote in his Nov. 6 contest against Republican challenger Mitt Romney. But Obama also stands to benefit from a 3 percentage point gain due to pro-black sentiment, researchers said. Overall, that means an estimated net loss of 2 percentage points due to anti-black attitudes.

These feelings aren't limited to just one political group, either. The poll found that 64% of Republicans, 55% of Democrats and 49% of independents express negative sentiments toward blacks.

For more on the poll, its possible effects on next week's election, and the poll's methodology, see the full story here.

Here's an ad that was surely not approved by the Carmona campaign: A concern that Congressman Jeff Flake can't be trusted with your balls because he shared a ball with President Barack Obama.

• Miss Peggy gave me a big kiss last year and said "love you! love you! love you!" Geez, I love her, too.

Let us speak of the unelected officials that are the backbone of any community. They are the bartenders, the street merchants and the just downright colorful folks who define where we live, and one of Tucson's finest is finally getting ready to hang it up.

From the Buffet Bar and Crockpot Facebook page:

Well folks, it's time to announce that after 30+ years of being our favorite bartender, Miss Peggy is going to hang up her church key and retire. We will miss her terribly but know that we will still see her friendly face on the other side of the bar. Stay tuned to find out more about her big party on November 11th!

I lived across the street from the Buffet when I was a cub reporter at the Arizona Daily Star and got to know Peggy quite well. She is an amazing woman, a great friend and has been like family to many of us. We love you, Peggy! Here's wishing you health and happiness in whatever life brings you next.

There are three players remaining in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker, a $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament that began in July with nearly 6,600 entrants and resumed Monday night with just the final nine.

Among those still alive: 21-year-old Jake Balsiger, an Arizona State University political science 'major' who would be the younger WSOP Main Event winner ever if he were to emerge victorious this evening at the Penn & Teller Theater inside the Rio in Las Vegas.

Balsiger sits in third place in chips, trailing Greg Merson and Jesse Sylvia, both 24-year-old professional poker players. Each player is guaranteed more than $3 million in prize money, with the winner nabbing $8.53 million.

Psuedo-live coverage of the final table airs at 5:45 p.m. tonight on ESPN2, with the action showing up on TV about 15 minutes after it actually happens because the broadcast will show the players' hole cards.

• Jim Nintzel
• Gabby Giffords was a guest DJ at a Get-Out-The-Vote Barbecue at Hotel Congress yesterday

A bunch of Democratic candidates for state and federal office turned up at Hotel Congress on Sunday, Oct. 28, for an afternoon of politics, live music and barbecue.

The final speakers were Congressman Ron Barber and U.S. Senate candidate Richard Carmona, who made their closing arguments to the crowd and urged them to volunteer to get out the vote.

But the real star of the day was guest DJ Gabby Giffords. The crowd swarmed the DJ tent to greet Giffords and snap photos of her as she spun 20 minutes of tunes that included Springsteen’s “Born To Run,” The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” and (of course!) Calexico’s “Crystal Frontier.”