Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill that changes the language used to rate schools’ achievement profiles from actual words to letters. Currently, schools are given designations like “excelling,” or “under-performing,” as a way to describe to parents and the public how well the school performs academically. The change makes it so that…
As you may have heard yesterday, the days of photo-radar enforcement in Arizona will be a thing of the past come July 1. The Arizona Department of Public Safety says it will not renew the contract of Redflex Inc., the company that operates Arizona’s hated speed cams.Accidental Governor Jan Brewer,…
Eric Byrnes, the Arizona Diamondbacks one-time golden boy, was recently given the boot by the Seattle Mariners after — as described by New Times sister paper the Seattle Weekly — “batting .094, blowing a suicide squeeze, and demonstrating an inability to catch fly balls or run the bases properly, to boot.”Not…
Phoenix police announced today that they’ve arrested a man they believe is responsible for a string of graffiti-vandalism incidents in the Maryvale neighborhood of west Phoenix.Yesterday, police arrested 19-year-old Robert Hernandez, who they say goes by the graffiti moniker “Near” for his involvement in the vandalism of several businesses.If you live…
Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., the company that operates Arizona’s photo-radar program, sent shock waves around Arizona today with an early-morning announcement that the great, Arizona, photo-radar experiment is coming to an end.In a press release this morning, Redflex announced that officials at the Arizona Department of Public Safety made it…
A former sheriff’s deputy in Santa Cruz County and another man were arrested on federal drug-smuggling and gun charges.Federal authorities say 29-year-old former Deputy Jesus R. Contreras and 38-year-old Ernesto Castro were arrested yesterday afternoon after a federal grand jury returned an indictment against the two men last month…
Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, in his bid to beat out Senator John McCain as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, is pulling out all the stops when it comes to fundraising. And now one of his supporters is using the name of a fundraising campaign that raises money for…
Phoenix has gotten sort of a bad rap lately — ya know, the miserable economy, the housing bust, the Legislature being hell-bent to return Arizona to its wild west days — but according to a recent study, Phoenix is a great place to be for recent college grads. The Web sites Apartments.com…
Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, so if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re hung-over. If that’s the case, grab yourself some aspirin and take our poll. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under…
Former Alaska governor, vice presidential candidate, and darling of the conservative movement, Sarah Palin, will be in Phoenix later this month, but this time it’s not to stump for her former running-mate, John McCain, it’s to speak out for the environment.Drill, baby, drill! Ay?Palin will be here on May 15…
There was some minor panic at the state Capitol yesterday after someone mailed an envelope filled with white powder to the office of Governor Jan Brewer. Today, though, officials Arizona Capitol Police say the substance was non-toxic.About 10:30 yesterday morning, haz-mat teams were called to the Capitol after a suspicious envelope addressed to Brewer’s…
A lot of people end up spending their 21st birthday in the hospital because they consume too much booze. A Tempe man spent his 21st in the hospital for a different reason — he consumed something else: That jagged piece of metal designed to keep booze in a bottle.More simply…
For the second time in a week, Don Imus, the radio host who in 2006 gave J.D. Hayworth what the Hayworth campaign then referred to as an “endorsement,” had somenot-so-nice things to say about the Senate hopeful on his Fox Businessshow this morning.Last week, the I-man called Hayworth a “phony…
In honor of Cinco de Mayo, The Cancer Project has compiled a list of foods at Mexican restaurants, which after eating, could potentially cause more than just the standard day of ass-fire. The Cancer Project did a study of several meals consumers can find at different Mexican restaurants — many…
A Scottsdale concert promoter who wrote a bad check to the Steve Miller Band was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to felony check fraud back in February.Robert Alfred Green, 48, was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay the band restitution.Insert “Take the Money and Run” pun here…
As the saying goes, “if you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it.”However, if you’re a single woman, and nobody is yet to “like it” enough to take the plunge and buy that ring, Phoenix, apparently, isn’t a bad spot to live.A Web site targeting single women…
The hated San Antonio Spurs are in town again tonight for game two of the playoffs with the Phoenix Suns (tip-off’s 6 p.m. on TNT; Steve Nash & Co. will be wearing Los Suns jerseys). Given the tense history between the two teams — especially playoff history — there several members…
Bret Michaels, the front man for the hair band Poison and reality TV whore star of shows like Rock of Love, Rock of Love 2, Rock of Love Bus, and Celebrity Apprentice, was recently discharged from a Phoenix hospital, his doctor announced today.Michaels, as we reported last week, was rushed…
The Arizona Department of Health Services today issued a warning for Arizona residents over an influx in rabies cases seen around the state, and the usual suspects are once again bats and bobcats.According to the ADHS, there were three bobcat attacks in Arizona in April alone, and in each case, the…
The Phoenix Police Department is asking the public’s help in tracking down victims of a pair of thieves, who police say targeted elderly victims across the Valley.Last month, police arrested 30-year-old George Gregg and 60-year-old David Gregg on several charges of theft and burglary, after the pair allegedly targeted old…
Arizona has had its share of letdowns over the past few weeks and now — on top of all the embarrassing shit the state Legislature’s been up to — it appears that one of Arizona’s architectural wonders, the Hover Dam, has been outdone by a bunch of beavers.This week, experts…
The Avondale Police Department — after a two week investigation — arrested the director of the Aqua Fria High School’s special-education program after a 15-year-old student with special needs told her mother that he raped and threatened her.Brian Willner, 35, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of sexual abuse and assault, after…
