Despite being millions of dollars in debt, Valley governments are giving some employees hefty bonuses. At least three Valley cities — Mesa, Phoenix, and Glendale — will pay out more than $18 million in combined bonuses, despite expectations that there will be more layoffs in the coming year…Today is considered the busiest day of…
The opulent Mondrian resort in Scottsdale is facing foreclosure, after the owners failed to restructure $40 million in delinquent loans. The hotel, one of a dozen owned by New York-based Morgan Hotel Group, remains open for now, but a notice of trustee’s sale was filed this week, with an initial…
Popular party house Rasputin’s Equestrian Manor, the subject of our November story “Party Favors,” closed on Monday, after the property owner evicted the tenants who had been throwing lavish bashes there since September.But though the party may be over, the drama may be just beginning. Tanya Rathjen, the owner of…
A group of 25 to 30 hunters are believed to be stranded in northern Arizona after the recent winter storm. A Coconino County Sheriff’s Office spokesman says there are eight hunting groups, some including children, with whom they’re trying to communicate. Some hunters have been reached via cell phone, but…
Police in Glendale are warning the community about burglars posing as neighbors. They say they’ve connected a string of burglaries in Phoenix and Glendale to two men, whom police say go to houses and pose as new neighbors or previous residents to get inside. After asking to use the bathroom…
Crews are busy restoring power to parts of the Valley after yesterday’s rain storms. At least 30 signals at traffic intersections and 61,000 residents are without power. A spokesman for APS says he hopes everyone will have restored electricity by noon…Police are looking to build a new station across from Fiesta…
In the beginning, there was Red Bull, and it was said that Red Bull “gives you wings.” At its stateside genesis in 1997, the little silver can that could stood alone on the frontier of a new market, soon-to-be-borne of the “energy drink” craze. Now energy drinks have gone forth…
Six weeks after announcing he wouldn’t prosecute criminal-speeding cases based on photo-radar evidence, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has decided that photo-radar evidence can be used in criminal speeding cases. Barnet Lotstein, special assistant to Thomas, says what Thomas should have said initially was photo-radar evidence should be used primarily…
Police are investigating an early-morning shooting in Sun City West. Police say three men knocked on the door of a house, exchanged words with a man believed to be the homeowner, and then fired several shots at the man. He was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition…Two female junior…
The Arizona Supreme Court decided late Wednesday not to block enactment of a new state law that would require public employees to report illegal immigrants. The justices didn’t discuss the merits of the law, but said that the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, which had asked that the law…
I was tired from moving and hauling furniture all day Sunday, and I desperately needed a caffeine kick, so I checked out the menu at a place close to my new home downtown — Carly’s on Roosevelt Street. This artsy cafe has always been one of my favorite places to…
Photos by E. Groves Nothing was sacred in splatter metal band GWAR’s theater of costumed insanity at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe on Saturday. Michael Jackson’s face got ripped off. Babies were disemboweled. President Obama’s noggin got partially severed and was rolling around on his shoulders, but he kept smiling.The…
Local workers unions and Safeway and Fry’s grocery stores have reached a tentative settlement on a collective-bargaining agreement, averting a worker’s strike. Union spokeswoman Ellen Anreder says terms of the settlement, reached late Thursday, will not be disclosed until union members have voted…A free bus route serving downtown Mesa has seen…
John Jay O’Connor III, husband of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, has died. O’Connor, 79, died of complications stemming from Alzheimer’s Disease on Wednesday. Memorial services will be private…After a pickup truck went into Tempe Town Lake on Wednesday, divers searched the water for three hours, but found…
It’s Halloween night, and the biggest party in metro Phoenix resembles Dirty Dancing as if imagined by the Marquis de Sade. A couple hundred people fill the dance floor, bathed in bright red lights and psychedelic, paisley blue and yellow projections. The thumping electro-metal of Rob Zombie blasts partygoers in…
Oderus Urungus’ language is as colorful as the fake bodily fluids he spews on his audiences. The singer of theatrical splatter-metal band GWAR — the intergalactic crew of sinewy beasts (read: costumed former art students from Virginia) that’s been wreaking havoc on heavy metal for a quarter-century — describes GWAR’s…
A female student at Maricopa County High School was arrested yesterday for allegedly making a bomb threat. The girl, whose name has not been released, reportedly told a teacher she “would be sorry, because a bomb would be placed on school grounds.” The suspect is being held at Pinal County…
The boy from St. Johns, Arizona who pleaded guilty in the shooting deaths of his father and another man could be facing prison time. The prospect caused an uproar when Judge Michael Roca announced he would reject probation in favor of incarceration. The boy, 8 at the time of the…
‘Tis the season for coffee shops to start peddling their holiday flavors. Christmas shoppers looking to stay wired while standing in long lines will be running for peppermint, pumpkin, and apple spice-flavored caffeine concoctions. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is one of many java outlets offering seasonal drinks. I…
The Capitol Christmas tree is on its way to the nation’s capitol, after being cut down in a ceremony in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona. The tree is the first from Arizona to be honored in Washington, D.C. during the holiday season…Queen Creek is taking applications for a seat…
Nearly 20,000 workers at Valley Fry’s and Safeway grocery stores could go on strike if a contract deal between the companies and workers’ union is not reached by 6 p.m. next Friday. Spokesmen for the grocery chains say the companies have tried to negotiate a fair deal, and plan to…
Two people were injured in a medical helicopter crash on the San Carlos Indian reservation last night. The pilot of the Eurocopter AS 350 lost control while trying to land at San Carlos’ Cutter airport. It was a training flight, and no patients were on board. Both occupants of the…
