One the best Valentine's Day presents I got a couple of weeks ago came from Mike Carson and Jack Pruitt in the form of a new blog they recently started.

It's a fun and smart read that's sure to alleviate (albeit temporarily) our fears for the Legislature's sanity or the future of our state.

Check out the inaugural issue of The Sonoran Desert Progressive right here.

El Independiente's Web editor Josh T. Saunders presents the 85th La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Rodeo Parade in video, sound and in photos.

More than 200,000 people from all over Southern Arizona lined the streets along the much shorter parade route this morning. More than 100 participants took part in the parade this year, including one entry from all the way in Alaska.

Saunders produced the package that includes photographs by Sean O'Neil-Ryan.

Visit El Independiente, the South Tucson newspaper.

David Hasselhoff was on campus yesterday, but we missed it! Matt Lewis of the Wildcat got the scoop:

Cindy Cain, who teaches Sociology of Popular Culture, also met with Hasselhoff.

They discussed how Western popular culture has influenced other countries. Hasselhoff expressed interest in the ways in which popular culture could improve women’s rights and bring birth control and other types of progressive agendas to other countries.

“I thought it was very interesting, but there have also been some studies that have been done that show that Westernized media brings a lot of negative effects to some of these regions as well, like increased body-image issues for women and a lot of Western ideals that are not appreciated by the indigenous cultures,” Cain said.

“There is more rights for women and better birth control and the economy is better,” Hasselhoff said when talking to Cain about popular culture’s influence. “If you go to Abu Dhabi or Dubai, all those women are in burkas. Man, if you go to a party, they take that stuff off. They’re all wearing lingerie.”

Randy Miller, the owner of the Oro Valley and Marana paper the Explorer, is poised to add another newspaper to his collection: the East Valley Tribune.

An affiliate to Miller's Thirteenth Street Media has reached a deal with the East Valley Tribune's owner Freedom Communications to allow the Colorado-based company to take the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper out of bankruptcy. The final sale of the Phoenix-area newspaper hinges on a federal bankruptcy judge approving the $2.05 million sale.

From the Tribune:

Freedom, based in Irvine, Calif., has been reorganizing under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code since September.

Freedom asked in Tuesday's filing that any other bids be submitted by March 5. If additional qualifying bids are submitted, Freedom said it would conduct an auction on or before March 8 to determine the highest and best bid.

Freedom said in its filing that the businesses being sold are operating at a loss. A three-week delay for a formal court-supervised auction process would result in losses of at least $60,000 a week.

Pending court approval of the sale, Freedom said it will continue to publish and distribute its Valley publications - the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tribune, the Sun City Daily News-Sun, Ahwatukee Foothills News, Glendale/Peoria Today and Surprise Today. It will also operate its Arizona Interactive Media Group, which publishes the Clipper, a monthly direct mail product, and the EastValleyTribune.com, YourWestValley.com and Ahwatukee.com Web sites. All of those properties are included in the sale.

Current Tribune employees would be wise to remember what happened the last time Miller bought a newspaper.

Freedom has announced that the deal would result in a "substantial" number of existing associates who would keep their jobs. After the sale is finalized, associates will be given offer letters from 1013 Communications, and those associates who do not receive offers will be eligible for severance.

• NATHAN MITCHELL/EL INDEPENDIENTE
• Ashley Bruno plays a signing bowl as Bill Duran watches at Riverpark Inn

Another one of the University of Arizona's School of Journalism Student Media classes produces South Tucson's bilingual monthly newspaper El Independiente. The first issue just came out, and you may pick up a copy from news stands around the city. You can find a stand nearest you here.

Story by Nathan Mitchell/El Independiente

Shoppers and spectators are welcomed into hotels and tent cities to see the natural wonders of the world. Objects for sale can be extravagant: a crystal chunk of purple and clear Kunzite for $34,000; a nest of 25 red and gray fossilized eggs set in a lit case with a note that reads “DO NOT TOUCH DINOSAUR NEST, $37,500.” But for the more frugal shoppers, there are beads, singing bowls, moon rocks and even a $25 stone tissue box.

Walking the halls of the hotels-turned-strip-malls is something like spinning a globe. At Hotel Tucson signs posted on the doors read: Austria, Russia, Tucson, Morocco, Peru, Tunisia, France, China and Czech Republic. The doors are open, and the beds are removed. Vendors invite shoppers in using sparse English to take a look at the products set up in cases and on folding tables they cart around the world. Visitors in the ballroom can walk among the towering skeletons of an Albertosaurus and Giant Ground Sloth casted from the bones of the ancient creatures. Raw materials used to make beads and jewelry sit beside stone jewelry set in gold, silver and wire. Price tags mark the material, $25 for a kilo of quartz and $2 for stromatolite.

Read more on El Independiente's Web site.

Video Interview:

Sergio Mendoza of "Mendoza Y La Orkesta" talks about the future of his band, his sound and his love for music.

The University of Arizona School of Journalism produces four student-run publications ranging from community newspapers to online magazines to 15 and 30-minutes TV-news magazine shows for KUAT and the Web.

Among them: BorderBeat.net, an online student-run magazine that focuses on border-community news and issues, ranging from stories from the migrant trail to profiles of local artists and musicians, such as mambo sensation Sergio Mendoza.

Border Beat reporter Nicky Hamila tell us:

Although Mendoza was raised by his family in Nogales in both Sonora and Arizona, he has walked the line between the roots of his culture and the environment of rock music in the United States. With that, he managed to infuse both influences of rock and indie mambo to create his sound. For the last two months, Mendoza Y La Orkesta has been touring all around Europe, from Italy to France, and are now back in Tucson gearing up for a new year of performances in the spring at the Rialto Theatre.

This semester's staff includes former Tucson Weekly intern Amanda Portillo who serves as one of the leadership crew of the student publication. The publication is advised by Jay Rochlin, a UA assistant professor of practice a the School of Journalism.

Visit the site now to get a good range of feature stories about the people and the culture of a being a border-town.

Are you ready to do your taxes? Arizona Illustrated, seen every night at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 6, will be having its annual week of tax tips next week. Here are the details:

Arizona Public Media is teaming with The Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants and the National Bank of Arizona to answer viewers' tax questions free of charge for Arizona Illustrated's annual "Tax Tips Week" beginning Monday, Feb. 8 and running until Thursday, Feb. 11.

During this special week a team of volunteer Arizona CPAs are answering tax questions at the National Bank of Arizona from Arizona Illustrated viewers. The hotline number is 520-584-6220 and is available from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Viewers are also invited to post their questions for the CPAs on the Arizona Public Media Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/azpublicmedia

Arizona Illustrated Tax Tips Week also features

While on assignment in the Bay Area last week, I had a chance to meet Andrew Clark, a producer with the Current network, which carries infoMania, a sort of Daily Show that only runs once a week. Here's a great clip: