It's the job of the challenger to stomp out of the saloon, guns blazing for the incumbent. That's the way this mayoral race has gone. State Rep. R.J. Berry and Richard Romero attack, and Mayor Martin Chavez deflects (though he's certainly squeezed the trigger a few times himself).

Rep. Martin Heinrich voiced support for a "robust public option" to a wash of boos and cheers at the health care town hall on Saturday, Aug. 22. But he was unable to say later whether he would vote in favor of a bill that lacked a government-run medical plan to compete with private insurance. "We'll have to see what the final product looks like," he said of HB 3200, the reform measure making its way through the House.

What damning piece of evidence do police say they found on a stabbing suspect? What kind of technology could help troops overseas? Who was arrested for burglary? What's changed since the Party Patrol started busting partygoers?

The Monday, Aug. 17 meeting opened with a stunner— Councilor Sally Mayer announced she had removed her name from the October election ballot. Mayer said she would be moving to Chicago in January for six months to a year. Mayer said her daughter’s family needed her. “My son-in-law has been a wonderful stay-at-home dad but now he has a job,” and the working couple needs Grandma to babysit. Mayer’s decision leaves one District 7 candidate still on the ballot and one write-in candidate, neither of whom she endorses.

When Barack Obama took office, I remember saying to a friend, “In a way, I feel sorry for the guy; there are so many messes, so many emergencies he has to deal with all at once, it’s gotta be overwhelming. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; an economy headed south in a hurry; immigration, health care and education reform; Guantanamo; the hopeless black hole of the ‘war on drugs.’ I mean, how’s he even going to know where to begin?”

R.J. Berry is a Republican contender for the mayor's seat and a legislator in the state’s House of Representatives. Here are extras from the interview he did with the Alibi that didn't make it into the paper. (See the original article here.)

Dateline: Florida—Does this count as a hate crime? Earlier this month, a man with Britney Spears’ name tattooed on his arm or neck allegedly stole a tiny Chihuahua with pink earrings from a South Florida gay bar. Brian Dortort, 48, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel he has spent the last month searching for 4-month-old Hudson Hayward Hemingway. The dog, described as no bigger than a softball, was last seen lodged safely inside a “specialty pet bag.” Dortort said he let a man hold the Chihuahua for a moment during a friend’s birthday party at Georgie’s Alibi bar in Wilton Manors. When Dortort turned back, both of them had disappeared. Police say a suspect has not been identified, but it’s up to the Broward State Attorney’s Office to decide whether to issue an arrest warrant.

When I walked into the exam room, a thin, pale, middle-aged man was sitting patiently in a chair waiting for me. “Mr. Richards” (not his real name) politely explained that he needed medicine for his heart and gave me a list of the medications he was supposed to be taking. I asked about his living situation, and he told me he had been living in shelters for the past two years.