Red Star directs us to TucsonVelo, where we learn that state Rep. Daniel Patterson's bill to let bicyclists treat stop signs like yield signs has a stick in the spokes. Patterson says Tucson cyclists are getting hassled by the man:

Patterson said the law would help cyclists around Arizona, but would be particularly useful to Tucson cyclists.

“It is particularly an issue in Tucson because Tucson Police continues to issue hundreds and hundreds of citations for frivolous stop-sign violations,” Patterson said. “The situation with police stopping and ticketing cyclists for stop sign violations is worse in Tucson than anywhere in the state by far.”

Patterson said they will introduce the bill again next year, but need more help form the cycling community to get it pushed though.

“If cyclists want this there is going to have to be an organized campaign,” Patterson said. “People are going to have to back us up.”

Howie reports that the "Let's Stay Together" Act is on the verge of Senate passage:

The move to make divorces a longer procedure was backed mainly by Republicans. But at least one, Sen. Carolyn Allen of Scottsdale, chided her GOP colleagues for sticking their legislative noses where she believes the change is not only a bad idea but a betrayal of Republican principles of “less government.”

“For us to pass laws that you force people to stay in a bad marriage, maybe you’ve just never had one,” Allen said. “But I find it unbelievable as Republicans that we are going to say that the government will interfere in our personal lives.”

Others, however, said the intervention is merited.

“Smart people talk, discuss and seek help,” said Sen. David Braswell, R-Phoenix. He said the legislation is necessary so that couples are “absolutely certain” they want to split up.

Sizzle comes to the Loft Cinema at 7 p.m. this Wednesday, March 31. Details here.

Randy Olson, a marine biologist who became a filmmaker with Sizzle, will be at the Loft for the screening and a subsequent Q&A that will include UA professors Julia Cole of geosciences, Diana Liverman of the Institute of the Environment, Brian McGill of the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and Jacqueline Sharkey of the School of Journalism. (BTW: Sharkey is also my boss over at UA School of Journalism.)

Olson is also in town to help celebrate EarthWeek, "a showcase of research by undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences," according to Mari Jensen of the UA College of Science. Olson will deliver a lively plenary lecture that encourages future scientists to go a little more gonzo. You can catch "Don't be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style," at

• CARL PHILABAUM

How do we pull up all that data in our head? Alfred W. Kaszniak of the UA Psych Departmentl, explains it all as the UA College of Science continues its Tuesday night lecture series with Metamemory: How Does the Brain Predict Itself? Details here.

The gist:

Our brains recreate past experience, monitor recall efforts, and predict our chances of remembering things in the future. The knowledge we each possess about our own memory, and strategies to aid memory, form what is called metamemory. Studies of persons with impaired metamemory due to neurological illness, along with brain imaging studies of healthy adults making judgments about memory, indicate that the brain systems active in retrieving information are distinct from those that self-monitor memory. Metamemory research is helping build an understanding of a wide range of experiences from tip-of-the-tongue forgetfulness to the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

In the wake of the passage of federal health-care reform, Arizona Sen. John McCain started off last week with a promise to stop working with Democrats for the rest of the year, even if he thought the legislation was the right thing to do.

Way to put country first, John.

He ended the week by reuniting with former running mate Sarah Palin, the gal he plucked from the obscurity of Alaska and transformed into a GOP superstar. It was the first time they’d hung out since McCain’s staff told her she couldn’t do her own concession speech on Election Day 2008.

Dressed in a sassy leather motorcycle jacket, Palin attracted thousands of Republicans to the Pima County Fairgrounds.

McCain got to bask in her glow, but the coverage underscored by our senior senator’s central problem as he campaigns against former congressman and radio talk-show host J.D. Hayworth in the August GOP primary. The New York Times noted that five out of six attendees interviewed at the fairgrounds loved Sarah—but they weren’t so sure about McCain.

If facts mattered, McCain’s history would make him the kind of Republican that Palin would normally campaign against—and in order to build him up, she had to present an image of him that was in stark opposition to reality. (But then again, Palin’s a specialist at that sort of thing.)

Myth One: Palin told the crowd they needed to “send the maverick back to the United States Senate.” But the maverick John McCain—the guy who used to support cap-and-trade policies to fight global warming and opposed the Bush administration’s tax cuts on the basis that they would bust the budget—has given way to an ill-tempered old-timer who just wants to find a comfy stall inside today’s GOP stable.

Myth Two: Palin joked that McCain’s maverick ways “haven’t always won him friends in the Washington, D.C., elite machine.” But if anyone was friendly with the media elite and Democrats in Washington, it was McCain, who used to refer to the press as “my base.” How many

H/T: Sullivan

UPDATED on Tuesday March 30: Well, Bob Gilby tried to file, but he ran into a snag. Turns out you have to file your petitions with the Secretary of State's office in Phoenix, not Tucson, so he'll be driving up north tomorrow.

With two open House seats—Rep. Olivia Cajero Bedford is running for the state Senate, while Rep. Phil Lopes is retiring that ol' bow tie—the Democratic primary in Legislative District 27 promises to be a crowded affair.

So far, you've got:

• Sami Hamed, the aide to Congressman Raul Grijalva;

• Dustin Cox, director of a couple of nonprofits that train "the next generation of business, non-profit, government, and community leaders to combat racism, bias, bigotry, and violence in all its forms."

• Bob Gilby, husband of former Pima County Democratic Party chairwoman Donna Branch-Gilby and onetime primary opponent of Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson;

• John Martin Bernal, a high-school math teacher at charter school.

• Eric Carbajal Bustamante, who had a lot of rough edges in his first run for a House seat in a crowded House race in Legislative District 29 two years ago;

• Sally Ann Gonzales, who represented the area in the Legislature in the 1990s;

• Macario Saldate, whom we need to track down and learn more about.

Gilby is the first to file his nominating petitions and Clean Elections contributions.

From his press release:

Good news for astronomy fans! Here's part of a press release we got today:

FLANDRAU PLANETARIUM AND EXHIBITS REOPEN TO THE PUBLIC APRIL 3RD
Planetarium shows, special exhibits, and expanded hours to reconnect the community with science

Tucson, Arizona — UA Science: Flandrau, on the campus of The University of Arizona, will celebrate the reopening of its planetarium and the start of its new expanded schedule on Saturday, April 3, 2010. As of the 3rd, the center will be open to the public seven days a week offering scheduled planetarium shows, science demonstrations, hands-on exhibits, an extensive mineral collection on display, a special exhibit of Bisbee minerals (Treasures of the Queen), telescope viewing in the observatory, and storytelling and exhibits from the Miners’ Story Project.

A Tucson tradition since 1972, Flandrau reopens under the guidance of The University of Arizona College of Science. It is this new partnership that makes it possible for Flandrau to reopen to the public and showcase other UA Science: departments and programs such as Biosphere 2 in Oracle and the UA Science SkyCenter, at the summit of Mt. Lemmon just north of Tucson.

District 8 Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has hired Anne Hilby, who most recently spent three years working in the public-info office of Attorney General Terry Goddard, as her campaign spokeswoman.

Giffords, who will face the winner of a four-way GOP primary that includes Jonathan Paton, Jesse Kelly, Brian Miller and Andy Goss, has not yet named a campaign manager.