The Arizona American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in a U.S. District Court this morning alleging that Arizona’s Civil Asset Forfeiture laws are unconstitutional. These statutes give law enforcement agencies the power to seize personal property if they suspect it was used in criminal activity, and then either to keep it…
Jon Ritzheimer, organizer of the anti-Islam “Rally for Free Speech” that took place outside of the Phoenix Islamic Cultural Center in late May, has a new message for all Muslims in the United States: “Game on, mother fuckers. Game on.” Ritzheimer, a former marine, catapulted himself into the public eye…
Governor Doug Ducey announced in a public statement this week that he is directing “the [Arizona] Department of Health Services to conduct a thorough review of [state] law and immediately promulgate emergency rules designed to prohibit the illegal sale of any tissue from an unborn child.” A spokesman for the Governor’s…
Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders came to Phoenix this weekend and spoke to a crowd of 11,000 people. The gathering was not only the largest turnout to date for his campaign, but it was the largest turnout so far for the 2016 presidential campaign season. Sanders is known for his…
During what was intended to be a town hall style discussion featuring two Democratic presidential candidates, quickly shifted gears when two women from the #BlackLivesMatter campaign got up on stage and tried to get former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to address “structural racism” in this…
Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders stood in front of 11,000-plus people in downtown Phoenix Saturday night and talked about the political transformation he believes the country so desperately needs. “I’m the only presidential candidate who will tell you this,” he said to a roaring crowd, “no president, no matter how…
Between 500 and 600 people marched from the downtown Convention Center to the 4th Avenue Jail, and then to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s headquarters, as part of protest with two demands: that Sheriff Joe Arpaio resign, and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation agents stay out of the county jail…
An anti-Islam, pro-freedom of speech rally scheduled for Saturday July 18 outside of the Islamic Center of Tucson has been canceled. Dean Remington, a U.S. military veteran and organizer of the event, announced the news on Facebook last night. “The reasoning behind an immediate cancellation has many fronts, as well…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is putting the infamous 4th Avenue Jail on lockdown for an indeterminate amount of time on Friday because of a scheduled protest against him and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Phoenix-based grassroots organization for migrant rights, Puente Arizona, is organizing a rally for an “Arpaio-Free…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix. To be considered for Mugshots of the Week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. This week: Disney movie casting call 10. Booked on…
Arizona just got one step closer to enacting a new, controversial plan for dealing with air pollution and visibility problems emanating from the Cholla Power Plant in Joseph City. The public comment period for the new plan closed yesterday, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency now has a few weeks…
Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders just announced that his campaign event scheduled for this Saturday in Phoenix will now be held at the downtown Convention Center. This marks the second time the campaign has decided to switch locations in order to accommodate the flood of RSVPs. It’s unclear exactly how…
While we want to know what ice cream Ben and Jerry’s will inevitably name after Bernie Sanders, Sanders wants to know if you, the American voter, are “ready to start a political revolution?” As part of his campaign tour for the Democratic presidential primary, Sanders will stop in Phoenix and…
U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton ordered Arizona state prosecutors on Friday to stop enforcing the so-called “revenge porn” law. Her decree came as she approved the final settlement in the controversial case Antigone Books v. Brnovich, which challenged the law on constitutional grounds. The “revenge porn” law, formally titled…
Not everyone can give a 70-minute political speech about domestic and foreign policy and say very little of substance or value. But Donald Trump, billionaire real estate mogul, managed to do just that in front of a few thousand people this weekend at the downtown Phoenix Convention Center. To a…
Disgraced former Phoenix Police Officer Justin LaClere changed his plea this week and admitted he was guilty of both luring a minor for sexual exploitation and then having sexual intercourse with her. Scottsdale Police arrested 32-year-old LaClere, a seven-year veteran of the force, in January 2014 after receiving information that…
Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego, along with Missouri Congressman Lacy Clay, introduced a bill today in the House of Representatives banning the Confederate Battle flag at cemeteries operated by the Department of Veteran Affairs. “The confederate flag is a symbol of hate and intolerance, and it will forever be associated with…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix. To be considered for Mugshots of the Week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. This week: Sheriff Joe’s Next Top Model—the facial hair…
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has until the end of today to answer a letter he received from the ACLU of Arizona asking why same-sex married couples are not entitled to certain adoption benefits regularly provided to heterosexual couples. The ACLU sent Montgomery a letter earlier this spring on behalf…
As the monsoon season makes its annual return, so too will the mosquitoes—particularly the ones carrying West Nile Virus. In fact, the Arizona Department of Health Services announced today that a Maricopa County man in his late 50s has already contracted the disease this year. And though he has recovered,…
The DUI figures for the 4th of July weekend are in, and the results are, well, sobering: 443 people were arrested for a DUI between Friday and Sunday —151 of which had a blood alcohol content of .15 or greater. (To put that in perspective, with a BAC that high,…
What began as a pro-Confederate flag and anti-Walmart protest Sunday afternoon quickly devolved into a tit-for-tat screaming match between protesters and counter-protesters about race relations, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Citizen’s United, the military-industrial complex, food stamps, Nazi Germany, and, interestingly, sheep—one self-declared “patriot” with a bullhorn screamed “baaa,…
