New Times first reported two weeks ago that the speed cameras being placed abundantly throughout town by the Arizona Department of Public Safety were being “vandalized” with — gasp — Post-It notes. Scofflaw activists hope placing the sticky notes on camera lenses will bring attention to their cause and allow at least a few speeding motorists to…

Barack Obama has named Arizona’s governor Janet Napolitano as the nation’s Homeland Security secretary. This is Janet’s biggest spotlight ever, and the country is being hit with a flurry of news stories about her. Obama made it official this morning during a news conference in Chicago. According to an Associated Press article just…

Hard to believe we’re breathing this soup, isn’t it?  Apart from that disturbing detail, the brown haze lingering below the summit of 2,704-foot Camelback Mountain looked almost pretty near sunset on Sunday evening. The skyscrapers of downtown can barely be seen through the opaque cloud, but winter thermal inversion keeps…

Times are tough for Republicans, (nationally, anyway). While the Democratic Party’s Web site offers only a lousy T-shirt to contributors, Republicans have a whole online store of overpriced, tax-deductible gifts for supporters. We recently received an e-mail from one Sue Gadzo, director of the RNC’s membership services, looking for buyers…

Gay rights supporters to hold vigil at Mormon temple tonightWest Valley school districts sue to stop unification…

Conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel e-mailed New Times yesterday to shed light on the context of her recent Janet Napolitano-bashing article that included a humorous — though crass — illustration calling Arizona’s governor “The Lesbionic Woman.” New Times published an article in this blog on Monday that reprinted the poster, and we questioned why Schlussel used it conjunction with an article…

Taser’s stock had the biggest rise in seven years after the United Kingdom announced on Monday it would fund the purchase of 10,000 of the Scottsdale company’s stun guns. The good news for Taser soured somewhat today, though, after New Scotland Yard, headquarters of London’s famous Metropolitan Police, said it wanted no part of the…

When your city government is preparing to shed 1,000 jobs and facing seven-digit budget shortfalls, “you gotta give the other fellow hell,” as the song says. Of course, the news release put out by the city of Phoenix today about “Buy Local Week” (reprinted below) doesn’t openly insult the Valley’s…

Travelers must force their way through a gauntlet of photo enforcement vans today on Interstates 10 and 40 in what appears to be the single largest deployment of speed cameras ever. The Arizona Department of Public Safety wants to “cover all of I-10 and I-40 in Arizona,” says the Republic…

His dad — the one he’s accused of killing — was named Vincent Romero. His mother’s name has been reported nationwide as Eryn Thomas or Eryn Bloomfield. The Arizona Republic won’t name either of the boy’s parents to avoid identifying the 8-year-old murder suspect from St. Johns. Though it’s nice…

The office manager of a Sierra Vista drywall firm was sentenced to jail today for hiring illegal immigrants in the case of the first worksite enforcement bust in Arizona by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to this news release by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona, 44-year-old Carol…

Volunteers trained by police to write tickets for able-bodied folks who park in disabled-only spaces have helped reduce the number of Phoenix citations for the offense in recent years, says a Phoenix detective. The civilian volunteers have teamed up with police to ticket offenders since 2000, and city officials want the public to…

As a public information officer for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Paul Chagolla has a widespread reputation for getting nasty when local journalists fail to buy into whatever propaganda he wants to sell. And that means, from Arpaio’s point of view, he must be doing a fantastic job. Judging by a phone message on Chagolla’s telephone…

  Janet Napolitano is catching it from both sides as the national media continues to weigh in on the next likely Homeland Security chief. While conservative pundits like Debbie Schlussel and Michelle Malkin slam Arizona’s governor for her actions on renaming Christmas trees and dealing with illegal immigration, former Arizona Republic reporter Tom Zoellner takes…

One in a blue moon, photo enforcement cameras do something other than make a profit off of momentarily careless drivers like Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. One Phoenix red-light camera helped nab a suspected motorcycle thief recently, says the Arizona Department of Public Safety.  …

They can’t be serious. Democrats want Barack Obama to appoint Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer to some cushy federal post — doesn’t matter which one — so she won’t be governor when Janet Napolitano abandons the state to run Homeland Security. When that doesn’t work maybe state Dems will…

A “green” public art project incorporated into Arizona State University’s new journalism building in downtown Phoenix puts on a slow-moving light show during the day as it funnels warm air up and out of a stairwell. After the project received extra attention during last week’s official dedication of the Walter Cronkite…

Joel Sinclaire, a 46-year-old Democrat who ran un- successfully this year for Maricopa County Supervisor against Don Stapley, was found dead in his residence Sunday afternoon. Sinclaire’s family called police about 1:15 p.m. Sunday to report the death. When police arrived at the house near Happy Valley and Hayden roads, they found…

State Treasurer Dean Martin (at left) is named in a lawsuit against the state by a group of Arizona municipalities who don’t want to pay millions of dollars in new fees. And Martin hopes he and the state will lose. The treasurer sent a letter today (reprinted below) to state…

Conservatives have mixed feelings about what kind of job Janet Napolitano will do as Homeland Security chief, assuming she gets the job, especially on the subject of immigration. But today’s post by conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel makes it obvious the Democratic Napolitano faces scrutiny and open insults on a wider scale as…

Times are tough for Republicans, (nationally, anyway). While the Web site for the Democratic National Committee Democrats offers contributors nothing but a T-shirt in return for a donation, the Republicans have a whole online store dedicated to overpriced, tax-deductible gifts for supporters…