Check out Arizona Senator John McCain’s stated reasons for his pending no-vote against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. One word that comes to mind is hypocrisy. Here’s part of what the defeated 2008 presidential candidate (that’s him in the infamous debate photo) on the floor of the Senate yesterday: “Again and…
We like Herb Sendek (pictured) and how he’s taken a beaten-down ASU men’s basketball program up a notch in the past few years, thanks in large part to his now-departed superstar James Harden. guys always play hard and, at times last year, well enough to compete with all but the very…
We wrote a few weeks ago about the ongoing criminal case against Lessie Serrano, a food-service supervisor for Golfland Entertainment Inc., the company that owns two Valley water parks and used to own WaterWorld (now called Phoenix Wet `n’ Wild) in Glendale. Last December 18, a Maricopa County grand jury indicted Serrano on highly…
Studies often reveal little more than a “lack of funds” available for whatever, but we bumped into one this morning that knocked off our socks. A collaboration between the National Immigration Law Center, the ACLU of Southern California, and a large law firm resulted in this finding: “There is no question that the…
John Pelander, chosen yesterday by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer as the newest member of the Arizona Supreme Court, has earned a rep as a prudent and conservative gent who probably won’t set the world on fire with scintillating legal opinions. The 58-year-old Tucsonian was chief judge of Division Two of the Arizona Court…
Russell Pearce, the powerful East Valley lawmaker, had this to say to the New York Times in June 2008: “It’s about time and it’s great. It’s kind of like the shot fired at Concord in the Revolutionary War, the shot heard around the world.” State Senator Pearce was referring to…
Buddy of ours who played in one of the bands at last night’s star-studded BET Awards show called this morning with a few tidbits about the glitzy, somewhat tacky, affair. Our pal had been considered at one point as a player in the band that was slated to back up the…
Things looked mighty bleak midway through Arizona State’s baseball game against North Carolina yesterday afternoon. Then, down 4-0 in an elimination game at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium, the Sun Devils loaded the bases for previously unsung outfielder Kole Calhoun. Calhoun deposited a pitch into the right-field bleachers to tie the game,…
If things weren’t bad enough for Doug Grant, now serving a five-year prison term after a jury convicted him of manslaughter in the death of his wife Faylene, get this: Jenna Stradling, his 19-year-old stepdaughter (and a key witness against him in the controversial, high-profile case) has filed a lawsuit against…
Twenty years ago this December, a child’s apparent disappearance from the busy Metrocenter mall followed by the grisly discovery of his body in the desert north of Phoenix gripped the community. The 4-year-old was Christopher Milke. He had been shot three times in the back of his head from close…
Bar none, our favorite sporting event in the world is the the College Baseball World Series, played every year at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska. Been there just once, though, to watch and report on Arizona State’s third-place finish in the 1994 tournament. That was the one during which the Sun…
We got to know an awful lot about Jack Ballentine during 2005, the year we spent with him and his fellow Phoenix Police detectives of the C-32 squad — after which we published several stories in our “Murder City” series. Ballentine was and is a classic character: He worked as a…
The Web site www.bishop-accountability.org is a doozy. It contains the names, court documents, timelines, and more about the untold numbers of Catholic priests and/or their superiors who have been caught after engaging in ungodly sexual acts with children. Here in the Diocese of Phoenix alone, the site lists 25 predatory priests who eventually found…
Our cover story on the stands this week concerned one Tony Tercero, a Vietnam War veteran and onetime big-league marijuana smuggler whose family is seeking greater recognition for his long-ago wartime heroics. As was noted in the story, Tony learned weeks after we first met with him that he was…
A few hours ago, we were driving in the vicinity of the Clarendon Hotel on 4th Avenue south of Indian School Road when it struck us: It’s June 2, the anniversary of a day that will live in infamy (to steal a line) in Arizona and in journalism circles around the…
When Juan Tercero made the decision that quietly would define his life, he was wearing a T-shirt, green U.S. Army boxer shorts, and rubber shower thongs. Specialist Four Tercero, known as Tony, was chilling at Camp Eagle, a military base near the ancient city of Hue, Vietnam. It was November…
Donnie Delahanty, a dumb-ass kid from a dysfunctional family who killed a cop in 2005 for the hell of it, was ordered to death row earlier today. Delahanty (shown here in a 2005 photo) stared straight ahead as a court clerk for Superior Court Judge Warren Granville read the jury’s…
Announcement of the accidental death of the 4-year-old daughter of forever-troubled ex-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson at her Phoenix home brought back some haunting memories. One of the stories in our 2006 “Murder City” series was called “The Case of the Two Abigails,” which concerned the tragic deaths in separate cases of two little…
A Maricopa County jury is expected to resume deliberations later this afternoon, this time to determine if cop-killer Donnie Delahanty should get the death penalty for murdering Phoenix officer David Uribe (in the photo). Earlier this month, the panel convicted the 22-year-old of shooting the veteran officer to death during a routine traffic…
Almost eight years after Faylene Grant drowned at her Gilbert home, her husband, Doug, faced a county judge last Friday, May 15, to hear his fate. The 43-year-old onetime nutritionist for the Phoenix Suns was handcuffed, shackled, and wearing a black-and-white-striped jail suit that’s been his attire since a jury…
Some years ago, we were enjoying a glass of wine with a buddy outside at the Biltmore Fashion Park when Wayman Tisdale came walking our way…
Doug Grant, the onetime nutritionist for the Phoenix Suns convicted of manslaughter in the death of wife Faylene, was sentenced to five years in prison a few minutes ago, He will have serve a little more than four years before being eligible for parole. The 43-year-old Grant (pictured with Faylene) could have…
