As an eligibility clerk for the Arizona Department of Economic Security, Gloria-Jean Clarke spent her days with poor people, signing them up for welfare and inclusion in the state’s indigent health-care system. Although Clarke certainly didn’t qualify for food stamps, she always found it difficult to save on a $21,000…

Jose Rodriquez died just before noon, curled up on a mattress on a concrete floor, his head resting in his own vomit. For days before his death on March 26, Rodriquez, 39, could barely stand or sip from a cup of water. He was emaciated, feverish, dehydrated, twitching–classic signs of…

Like many people with the AIDS virus, Nancy Williams is trying to educate the public about the dangers of HIV/AIDS. During the past two years, Williams frequently has spoken to high school students, urging them to practice safe sex and answering their questions about the disease. But last year, Williams,…

It would be an understatement to say that Arizona U.S. Attorney Janet Napolitano doesn’t see eye to eye with ABC’s 20/20. Napolitano, her staff, her supporters–and even a few of her detractors–say she was smeared by the news show in a May 10 report about child pornography called “Caught in…

As part of its strategy to emerge from bankruptcy, America West Airlines combined its marketing and passenger-flow services with Houston-based Continental Airlines’ in 1994. Although industry analysts said at the time that a merger of the two airlines looked inevitable, America West chairman Bill Franke and Continental chairman David Bonderman…

Where to begin? Goldstein is a learned man–a Harvard-educated lawyer. Moreover, as an Orthodox Jew, he spends each Saturday–Shabbat–studying Jewish teachings. But even Goldstein has difficulty describing the notion of an eruv, an imaginary boundary–something like a safe zone in a kids’ game of tag, a force field protecting the…

The living room of Florence Vanosky’s central-Phoenix home is filled with pictures of family, but for years Vanosky’s only roommate had been her dog–a purebred golden retriever named Scooter. Now Vanosky lives alone. On April 9, an investigator for the Arizona Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals removed…

Robert Updike gets a lot of parking tickets. He even got one once while he was in court, fighting previous parking tickets. Since he’s a member of the Arizona Legislature, he decided to do something about it. House Bill 2424 would force cities to provide free parking for people who…

Jake Schneiker intends to defend his son’s right to self-defense, even if it means suing the Glendale Union High School District. Greg Schneiker, a 16-year-old junior at Greenway High, was suspended from school for five days in February for engaging in “mutual combat” with another student, who also was suspended…

Lombardi’s Restaurant at Arizona Center is deserted at 3:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, but David chooses a table off to the side, just to be safe. And while he doesn’t normally drink at lunch, he’s already fortified himself with a Royal and Seven. He glances around, picks up a blue…

The headquarters of the international Space Access Society is a four-by-nine-inch bin at a Mailboxes & More in Ahwatukee. Henry Vanderbilt, the society’s executive director and lone employee, has good reason to keep his physical address a secret. Over the years, Vanderbilt’s been a magnet for every kook from here…

Each legislative session, Arizona lawmakers pore over thousands of pages of impossibly complicated bills, eventually wading through the technical language and past the nagging lobbyists to pass hundreds of laws. But now a two-page bill designed to simply cross-reference all exemptions to Arizona Public Records Law–without changing public policy–is stuck…

Barry Aarons earned a tough-guy reputation when he served as Governor J. Fife Symington III’s director of legislative affairs. He even kept a bullwhip and handcuffs in his office. But now, Aarons’ aggressive nature has cost him his job as director of public policy at U S West Communications. Earlier…

Angela Maher died on the evening of July 29, 1994, in a crumpled sedan–her feet tangled in the pedals, her body thrown between the bucket seats. The last thing Angela saw was a half-ton Ford van that drifted into her lane and smashed almost head-on into her Oldsmobile on Scottsdale…

This is a time for action. It’s a time to move beyond rhetoric and cosmetics. It’s a time to take bold steps to ensure that children get whatever help they need to grow physically, emotionally and mentally into healthy and happy adults. My vision is of an Arizona that leads…

A special review by the Arizona auditor general raises questions about how the Attorney General’s Office spends millions of dollars each year in representing state agencies. In the review, ordered by the Legislature, auditors criticized the Attorney General’s Office for failing to standardize agreements with state agencies it represents, and…

When a black Labrador named Moose lost his life last month after eating a bowl of antifreeze-laced cat food, the Arizona Republic was there. The front-page coverage–including a huge color photograph capturing Moose’s last moments with his wheelchair-bound mistress–was so touching that Republic readers responded by the thousands. But Republic…

Last year, sculptor Randy Schmidt created trophies for Downtown Phoenix Partnership’s new community service award, known by the acronym DREAMR. But for Schmidt, the “dream” has turned into a nightmare. He says Downtown Phoenix Partnership has bootlegged his original work. And he’s thinking of sending the nonprofit group, composed largely…

Thinking of dropping off a stray dog at the Arizona Humane Society? Sorry, these days you’re barking up the wrong tree. For 37 years, Valley residents had the option of taking stray dogs and cats to either government-funded and -operated Maricopa County Rabies/Animal Control shelters or the Arizona Humane Society,…

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, The Open Door Shelter must be a rest stop along the way. It’s supposed to be a place where battered women and their children can find safe haven. Instead, the Phoenix shelter, which raked in $417,000 in donations in 1994,…

To retain its nonprofit status, The Open Door Shelter is required to report its income and expenditures to the Internal Revenue Service every year. Beyond that, the organization has no accountability to anyone except its board of directors. And that can be dangerous, charity watchdogs warn. Rick Moyers, a spokesman…

On September 18, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susan Bolton quietly dismissed criminal charges against Lorne Shantz, the state Department of Public Safety cop accused of knowingly distributing pornography through his computer bulletin board, the Wish Book. For months, Shantz had endured the cool stares of his neighbors, the pressure…