Happy BOT!

Welcome to our largest issue of the year: the Best of TucsonTM.

The 88-page section can be found in the middle of the paper. (That is, unless you're reading this online, in which case, it can be read by clicking on "Best of Tucson." Of course.) We're pretty happy with how it turned out; we hope you enjoy it.

Meanwhile, here are a few housekeeping items worth noting:

· If you're a fan of the "The Boondocks" comic strip ... I have some bad news. It appears that Aaron McGruder--who put the strip on a supposed six-month hiatus, oh, six months ago--is not going to resume its production. Universal Press Syndicate called to let me know last Monday.

While this is really not a surprise--McGruder's busy with his Boondocks TV show on the Cartoon Network, and it's quite a grind to do a daily newspaper strip--it's sad. It was a great strip, and if it returns, we'll do everything we can here at the Weekly to pick it back up.

In the meantime, we're debating what to do with the space formerly occupied by "The Boondocks," assuming the hiatus indeed becomes permanent. "The Last Days of Roland and Cid" and "Tom the Dancing Bug" currently occupy the space. They'll remain there, at least for now. Let me know if you have any thoughts.

· Finally, if you're interested in the Congressional District 8 race--and you really, really should be--be sure to log on to blog.tucsonweekly.com this coming Sunday morning (Oct. 1) to find out the results of the latest Tucson Weekly/Wick Communications Poll. We'll also have more on the poll results in next week's issue.