It’s apropos that state Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Andy Biggs, the man primarily responsible for a bill that will drive a Ryder Truck full of nitro through the state’s Medicaid program, is himself a very wealthy man.He’s not rich through any sweat of his brow. He’s not self-made. Hell, he didn’t…

In the end, they all passed out of the state Senate Appropriations Committee, all of state Senate President Russell Pearce’s anti-immigrant bills, other hate-filled measures offered by his stooges, and cataclysmic proposed laws that can only be described as outright attacks on whatever civilization is left in Sand Land.I wish…

I have praised Channel 5/KPHO’s reporters and producers in the past. I consider them colleagues. Not necessarily drinking-buddies. (Yet.) But I have fun chatting with them when I see them in the midst of the media scrum.Still, I wonder about the station’s pro-PLEA spin, PLEA being the powerful Phoenix Law Enforcement Association,…

To twist a line from the Bible’s Book of Amos, “Let the hatred roll down like water, and stupidity like a mighty stream.” This, because “justice” and “righteousness” are sorely absent in Sand Land.So shall it be in the state Senate Appropriations Committee tomorrow, Tuesday, February 22, when a slew…

The Cronkite News Service’s Rebekah Zemansky recently reported on efforts by several legislators to add more specialized license plates to Arizona’s already vast selection.Currently, you can pick a plate to show your support for the Arizona Cardinals or declare your membership in a Masonic Fraternity. You can purchase a plate memorializing fallen…

So where are the Russell Pearce pinatas? Arizona’s state Senate President is the most powerful politico in Sand Land, and arguably an even greater foe of Latinos than Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who’s been “honored” in pinata form by his opponents on many occasions. But Pearce has yet to receive the pinata…

What is it about certain former and current Maricopa County law enforcement officials that makes them think they’re a privileged class, entitled to make bank from county coffers whenever their feelings get hurt?We all know about the bloodsucking ways of ex-Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, his erstwhile henchwoman Lisa Aubuchon,…

State Senate President Russell Pearce’s son Joshua Trent Pearce was arrested February 9 by the Mesa Police Department on outstanding warrants issued by the Maricopa County Superior Court. Currently he’s cooling his heels in Durango Jail.The thirty year-old unemployed roofer had a revocation hearing scheduled for today, but it’s been…

Governor Jan Brewer seems to have scored a “win,” if you can call it that, in her effort to cut hundreds of thousands of childless adults from the state’s Medicaid program, otherwise known as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS.Brewer recently signed legislation authorizing her to seek a…

The bigoted bills state Senate president Russell Pearce has been pushing to undermine the birthright citizenship provision of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — SB 1308 and 1309 — have been pulled from the agenda for the Senate Appropriations Committee, for now.As you’ll recall, these bills were before…

Videographer Dennis Gilman covered Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s recent worksite raid at the Phoenix company Great Western Erectors, and challenged Joe on separating mothers and fathers from their children during these immigration-enforcement stunts of his.Arpaio tries to slough it off, claiming he’s just enforcing the law and that you could say…

Sinema describes the love that dare not speak its nameNow that Congressman Jeff Flake has announced his intention to run for the seat of retiring Arizona U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, it’s safe to assume that state Senate president Russell Pearce will go after Flake’s sixth district seat in 2012.Actually, you…

As a follow-up to my colleague James King’s recent blog item on Daniel Rodriguez’s autopsy report and the fact that meth was found in his system, I’m posting the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s findings, here.One thing to keep in mind, a fact some seem to be conveniently forgetting: the cause…

Add one part delusion to three parts grandstanding, mixed with a healthy glob of nativism, and what do you get?Governor Jan Brewer’s SB 1070 “counterclaim” against the federal government for not protecting Arizona from “invasion.”You’d think that at least state Attorney General Tom Horne would have sense enough to know…

So we don’t yet have Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu’s report on his department’s investigation into allegations contained in the now infamous Munnell memo, but we do have a bill for services rendered.It totals just over $46K, but the services rendered were not rendered by the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office,…

Watch Pearce get aggro about 40 seconds inWant more proof that state Senator Russell Pearce can’t control his temper? Other than the alleged incidents with his spouses, present and past, that is? Not to mention the fruit-doesn’t-fall-far-from-the-tree allegations against his son Joshua.Then check this video from radio show host Carlos…

Sheriff Joe took his shuck-and-jive to the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California Tuesday, where he wowed a crowd of blue-hairs with his Sopranos-esque “dees, dats and does.”The YouTube video above, which borrows (read: “rips off”) footage from an Orange County Register video and a Fox News report of the event, has all…

Maricopa County Superior Court judge Susan Brnovich today declared a mistrial in the case of a white-on-brown killing that occurred May 6, 2010 in South Phoenix. This, after an all-white jury was unable to reach a verdict.Gary Kelley, 50, was charged with second degree murder and aggravated assault in the…

Freshman Republinut state Senator Steve Smith, the guy who knocked off Democrat Rebecca Rios in District 23 last year, longs to make a name for himself on the backs of impoverished and ill undocumented immigrants.Indeed, in a Q & A with AZCentral.com during his candidacy, he pretty much assured readers…