By the time my mother was my age, she’d already had three children. Me, I’ve yet to figure out how to keep a plant alive. This has been freaking me out a bit lately, and not in a my-biological-clock-is-ticking kind of way. (It isn’t.) It’s more like it suddenly occurred…
Guess who’s still facing 21 years in prison? Yep, it’s Bryant Wilkerson, the black driver who had the misfortune of colliding with a drunk driver last Cinco de Mayo — and was charged with nine felonies for it. The case drew a firestorm after I wrote about it in January…
By Sarah Fenske So Peter Singer came to ASU on Monday. The philosopher has argued that parents ought to be able to kill disabled babies within a year of their birth — and he’s not talking about just the extreme cases, like when an infant has no brain. He thinks…
The baby was born with Down syndrome. The parents were in their 20s, so they hadn’t bothered with the usual prenatal tests. It wasn’t until after their little girl was born that the doctors realized something was seriously wrong, that an extra chromosome in her DNA would doom her to…
Last year, trees died so I could learn how to live “green.” Doesn’t seem quite right, does it? But anybody with a magazine jones like mine undoubtedly triggered a similar herbicide. That’s because Vanity Fair and Dwell and Elle and Shape and Wired have each produced a “green issue” (or…
Cliff Young was a good employee. During the first 21 years of Young’s career at the Arizona Department of Transportation, his performance evaluations were great. He never faced so much as a written reprimand from his supervisors. So it was kind of strange to sit in a courtroom last month,…
Russell Pearce By Sarah Fenske We posted previously about State Representative Russell Pearce’s plan to exempt “public officers” from the oversight of the State Bar of Arizona – a pretty appalling idea on its face (See our previous post .) Now here’s a startling new fact. If Pearce’s plan goes…
So, if this thing passes, prosecutors can do whatever the hell they want, without fear of reprisal? Pretty much.
Twenty years ago, Superior Court Judge Philip Marquardt got busted while attempting to sneak a smidgen of dope past customs officials after a Mexican vacation. That netted him a misdemeanor conviction, a $500 fine, a year’s suspension from his job — and quite the scandal. But Marquardt managed to hang…
The businessman was meeting with clients for lunch at Mimi’s Café when he noticed the woman. Sitting a few tables over with her 4-year-old boy, she seemed groggy — yet she was drinking a mimosa. It got worse. The woman ordered a glass of white wine, then another. She was…
This is just what you homeowners need. After all, home sales in parts of the Valley have slowed to a trickle. (Thought you could buy a new house and flip it in a few months? Ha! You’re locked in for years.) And, because of the sub-prime scourge, thousands of Arizona…
When Congressman Rick Renzi was indicted recently on 35 felonies, the surprise wasn’t that the Arizona Republican was going down. Everybody who pays any attention to politics saw that coming. The surprise came in the details. I’ve been following Renzi’s ethical troubles longer than, well, anybody. New Times broke the…
Somewhere out there in cyberspace is a guy who thinks Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is great — and he’s sharing his love with Wikipedia readers. You know Wikipedia, that online encyclopedia where just about anyone can weigh in as an “expert” on anything? Well, our mystery writer is an…
Last year, when Proposition 300 went into effect and undocumented students were barred from getting in-state tuition rates at Arizona universities, Arizona State University did a brave thing: It enlisted private donors to do what taxpayers would not. If students graduated from an Arizona high school but couldn’t prove they…
Every morning, students at Globe High School are forced to watch TV. Sounds weird, I know, but it’s not unusual. An estimated 6 million kids — one-third of all American teens — start their day with a 12-minute news program broadcast by a company called Channel One. The deal is…
Two cars collided last year on Cinco de Mayo. Considering the date, you might assume that at least one of the drivers was drunk — and you’d be right. Laura Varker was 17 years old, and she’d been tubing down the Salt River all day with her eight best girlfriends…
The man in the YouTube video is so passionate, he sounds almost angry. His face is just inches from the camera as he expounds for nearly six minutes, barely pausing for breath the entire time. He doesn’t consult notes, even when he’s quoting Scripture. He knows the verses by heart…
There was a moment on the campaign trail last fall when I was reminded, suddenly, why John McCain was once the political crush of my life. The Senator Who Could Actually Be President was campaigning at a New Hampshire high school when a kid in the audience asked an impertinent…
In the weeks after Michael Nowakowski scored a major upset to win a seat on the Phoenix City Council, something curious happened. His mailbox filled with checks. Nowakowski wasn’t supposed to win the District Seven seat. For one thing, he was running against the daughter of Congressman Ed Pastor, D-Phoenix,…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has long maintained that he’s accountable to the people — but the people’s accountants are a different story. After 15 years in the job, Arpaio has yet to endure a comprehensive audit of his office’s finances. Limited audits examining Arpaio’s payroll, his travel policies and the county’s…
In Republican social circles, it’s an unavoidable, if slightly weird, fact: Invite Joe Arpaio just about anywhere, and Joe Arpaio shows up. Whether it’s a roast in Sun City, the opening of a raunchy Scottsdale taquería, even the Arizona Republic Christmas party — the elderly sheriff has nothing better to…
Poetry in the Park was that rare program that kept people coming for 17 years. Every fourth Tuesday, they’d show at the Encanto Park clubhouse for open mic nights, poetry readings, and even the occasional musician or dance troupe. There was never a fee, never a need to RSVP, never…
