Attorney General candidate Felecia Rotellini has a new website www.TomHorneLies.com, to get to the truth behind her rival candidate's insistence that it's really not that big of a deal he was banned for life by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC); his criminal speeding charge; and how he forgot that he filed for bankruptcy.

You know, little things like that.

Tonight's candidate forum on education, sponsored by the Family Faculty Organization for the Catalina Foothills School District, starts at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 29, at the Catalina Foothills High School Auditorium, 4300 E. Sunrise Drive.

The following candidates are expected to be there: Superintendent of Public Schools candidates Penny Kotterman (D) and John Huppenthal (R); Legislative District 26 candidates Al Melvin (R) and Cheryl Cage (D) for the Senate, and Vic Williams (R), Terri Proud (R), and Nancy Young Wright (D) for the House; and Legislative District 30 candidates Todd Camenisch (D) and Frank Antenori (R) for the Senate, Andrea Dalessandro (D), David Gowan (R), and Ted Vogt (R) for the House.

If you happen to go, I recommend you read a recent story from David Safier on Blog for Arizona regarding John Huppenthal's comments that Arizona is in the middle in terms of academic achievement. Safier took an extra look at one of the studies Huppenthal has used in the past as an example. Read Safier's story here.

What he leaves out are findings saying student achievement can be improved by increasing education funding, raising teacher salaries, lowering class size and increasing early childhood education — and that's especially true in states like Arizona with high rates of poverty and large minority populations.

Local author Stephen Campbell's Stoned Messiah: The Revelation of Stephen has been published by Pennywyse Press ($10, 164 pages). Pennywyse Press is an imprint of Imago Press, a local publisher.

Summary (from publisher):

Spanning a 16-year period that begins in a drug-induced vacuum of nothingness and ends with the author floating in a pool of spiritual radiance, Stoned Messiah tells of the journey of Stephen Campbell - a.k.a. Mr. Nobody. This book favors no specific religion and, at the same time, honors them all. It contains much knowledge, a bit of wisdom, some humor, and a few surprises.

On Saturday, Oct. 2 the 10th annual "The Big Picture" art expo will take place downtown. Celebrating the beginning of the 2010-2011 season, "The Big Picture" is a free, family-friendly event that many galleries will be taking part in. There will be a wide range of media, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, photography, glass art and more.

For more information, call 629-9759, or go to the Central Tucson Gallery Association website.

And be sure to check out Margaret Regan's preview of "The Big Picture" in this week's issue.

The Southern Arizona Beagle Rescue is holding a raffle for NASCAR race tickets. The races will be held in Phoenix Nov. 12 through 14 at Phoenix International Raceway.

The prize includes two pre-race pit passes (good for all three races), a parking pass for all three days, and two Budweiser Roll-Bar club passes for Sunday Nov. 14.

Raffle tickets cost $5 each and can be purchased by calling Tim Noblin at 393-8479. Visit the SOAZBR website for additional information.

Tucson author Pamela Keyes' book The Jumbee has been published by Dial Books for Young Readers. (400 pages, $17.99)

Summary (from press release):

When Esti Legard starts theater school on Cariba, she's determined to step out of the shadow of her late father, a famous actor. But on an island rife with superstition, Esti can't escape the darkness. ln the black of the theater, an alluring phantom voice - known only as Alan - becomes her drama tutor, while in the light of day Esti struggles to resist her magnetic attraction to Rafe, the local bad boy. When shocking accidents begin on the set of Romeo and Juliet, the islanders are sure the theater is haunted by a jumbee. ls Esti's secret mentor a wicked ghost? And what will it cost her - and those she loves - to unmask the truth?

The Tucson Screamers' annual haunted house will take place this year at 1102 W. Grant Rd.

For more information, visit www.slaughterhousetucson.com. Proceeds benefit various local organizations.

From the Nogales International:

Nogales Mayor Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel was arrested Tuesday on charges of bribery, theft, fraud and money laundering.

The mayor’s father, Octavio Suarez Garcia, 59, of Nogales, also arrested during the Tuesday morning operation that involved agents from the FBI, DEA and Arizona Department of Public Safety. He faces several charges that include fraud, theft and money laundering, according to a statement from the Arizona Attorney General's Office.

While it doesn't necessarily explain Tucson's recent "visit," it's good to know that ET cares about us and is trying to send us a message.

According to a UFO expert, the fact that more than 120 former military personnel have told him about UFOs visiting nuclear sites means aliens are trying to send us a message. CNN reports:

“Regarding the missile shutdown incidents, my opinion … is that whoever are aboard these craft are sending a signal to both Washington and Moscow, among others, that we are playing with fire — that the possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons potentially threatens the human race and the integrity of the planetary environment,” he said.

Former Air Force Capt. Robert Salas — who has written a book about the Montana incidents — said he was underground when a UFO hovered over his missile silo in March 1967, and therefore couldn’t see it. He said one of his guards above ground told him a red, glowing object about 30 feet in diameter was hovering just above the front gate of the facility, in an isolated area far from Malmstrom.

“And just as I [called my commander], our missiles began going into what’s called a no-go condition, or unlaunchable. Essentially, they were disabled while this object was still hovering over out site,” Salas said.

Salas and others said the military urged them at the time not to talk about the incidents.

This came as no surprise to most of the people who live in reality in the Southwest, but perhaps it did to other people who read this New York Times article yesterday:

A once-unthinkable day is looming on the Colorado River.

For the first time, federal estimates issued in August indicate that Lake Mead, the heart of the lower Colorado basin’s water system — irrigating lettuce, onions and wheat in reclaimed corners of the Sonoran Desert, and lawns and golf courses from Las Vegas to Los Angeles — could drop below a crucial demarcation line of 1,075 feet.

If it does, that will set in motion a temporary distribution plan approved in 2007 by the seven states with claims to the river and by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, and water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada would be reduced.