After Apple announced last week that it’s going to have some of its components made in Mesa, it’s like Arizona gets to play Silicon Valley for a bit.Governor Jan Brewer is in Taiwan of all places, while there are several rumors that other large companies are interested in manufacturing their…

The Arizona Department of Public Safety (Highway Patrol) plans to issue speeding tickets to people caught texting while driving, starting next year.This is due to an interpretation of state law that says you can’t drive at a speed “greater than is reasonable and prudent.”…

A 19-year-old woman was killed and three young men were injured in a shooting at a Laveen house party over the weekend.Phoenix Police Sergeant Trent Crump says the four people were shot outside the house around 11 p.m. Saturday as the party was breaking up…

People associated with Anonymous, the collective of Internet activists, threatened to protest at the Phoenix VA hospital over an employee who doesn’t actually work there.As part of Anonymous’ operation to seek justice for a 2-year-old Phoenix girl who allegedly was abused to death by babysitters last year, people associated with…

In case you missed any news action this week, we’ve got you covered.Here’s our recap of the most-read news stories of the week:…

The superintendent of the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind was inappropriately reimbursed for thousands of dollars in travel expenses, according to state auditors.The superintendent of ASDB, a state agency, is Robert Hill, who’s been on leave for several weeks amid several complaints filed against him…

A dam on the west side of Tempe Town Lake is expected to be completed by the end of 2015 — and it won’t be made out of balloons this time.In 2010, one of these balloons (“bladders” is the term the city uses) burst, emptying, oh, 750 million gallons of…

The Goldwater Institute is pressing agencies for details of the “incentives” deal used to lure Apple to open a manufacturing facility in Mesa.In a press release, the Goldwater Institute says media reports indicate people from the “Arizona Commerce Authority, the City of Mesa, and Maricopa County have signed confidentiality agreements…

A Mesa man who thought he hired a hitman to kill his grandfather made Facebook posts taking credit for the murder — which never happened, police say.In fact, according to Mesa police, 20-year-old Devin Almejo unknowingly hired an undercover police officer to kill his grandfather, in exchange for a year’s…

The creator of a new fire shelter says his product can withstand temperatures hotter than the flames that killed the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots in the Yarnell Hill Fire in June.Jim Moseley, who developed the SunSeeker Fire Blanket, says the shelters can withstand temperatures of about 2,500 degrees — about…

An Environmental Protection Agency document from the late ’90s states “caches of explosives” were found at the New River ranch where a man lost his leg in an explosion this week.The former owner of that ranch, Charles Byers, who manufactured explosive devices at the site, told a TV station in…

In Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s latest attempt for publicity, he announced that he wants a “patriotic theme” at the county jails.Arpaio’s putting American flags in all the jail cells and hosting sing-alongs of “God Bless America,” which supposedly show his patriotism. Interestingly, there’s no mention in Arpaio’s press release of putting…

Thanks to the large following of Apple, there’s a lot of speculation as to what’s going to be produced in the Mesa manufacturing facility that was announced earlier this week.Apple made a $578 million deal with a company called GT Advanced Technologies, to make “sapphire material” in this Mesa facility,…

People associated with Anonymous, the collective of Internet activists, are still seeking justice for 2-year-old Savannah Cross, who was killed in brutal fashion last year.The activists already have been bringing attention to the fact that charges have been dropped — for now, at least — against Savannah’s alleged killers, who…

Before the Arizona Supreme Court, people were actually arguing over whether stone-cold sober people can be convicted of DUI.This issue was explored in a New Times cover story earlier this year: the state’s “zero tolerance” law against a person driving with the slightest trace of marijuana in their system –…

A corrupt Border Patrol agent was sentenced to 15 years in prison for taking bribes in exchange for helping a drug-trafficking organization do its work.Former Agent Ivhan Daniel Herrera-Chiang actually got more prison time than his partner-in-crime Michael Lopez-Garcia, a former Arizona Department of Corrections employee who personally smuggled meth…

Next time you’re stuck in traffic in Phoenix, consider this: the traffic in literally every other big city in the country is worse.TomTom, the company that makes the GPS products, used its data to compare travel times while there’s no traffic, and when there’s the heaviest traffic, in cities across…

A Goodyear man admitted to murdering his grandmother by bashing her head with a shovel and cutting her throat, police say.Jason Howell, 40, said he killed his 78-year-old grandmother, Helen Jean Lee, because she imposed curfew rules on him, charged him too much for rent, and broke the garage door…

Voters in the town of Buckeye decided to take on the title of being a “city.”About 60 percent of the voters were in favor of the change, according to the town’s election results…

It turns out that a partial shutdown of the federal government has consequences.Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business released its monthly report on the Phoenix-area housing market, and things weren’t so hot last month…