D-Backs ace Dan Haren will try to throw a minor monkeywrench into the Dodgers’ postseason plans tonight. Way back on April 10, we reluctantly — because it was a distasteful task — called the National League West for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Of course, it’s not a done deal yet. The Boys…
In a football preseason opener, the Arizona Cardinals lost 10-20 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, on Steeler turf last night. The Cardinals’ only touchdown in the game was fourth-string quarterback Tyler Palko’s 20-yard pass to Onrea Jones…A hiker has died in the Grand Canyon after running out of water. The hiker,…
In the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries: Feathered Bastard: SPLC’s Heidi Beirich Whacks Joe Arpaio for Playing Pattycake with Nativists and Neo-Nazis Up on…
At what point do you come to the realization that your car is a “clunker,” and it might be a good idea to take advantage of the federal government’s generous “Cash for Clunkers” program? How about after you run over a bicyclist, and need to get rid of the evidence?…
Get this straight: Israel is in a constant state of turmoil, political infighting and worn-on-the-skeeve angst–and we’re not even talking about the tensions (or worse) between the Jews and the Arabs. Israel is beautiful in many ways, but it does gets downright goofy over there, as I witnessed during my recent adventure…
Despite a shift by Immigration and Customs Enforcement away from indiscriminate worksite raids nationwide, and despite the fact that Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues to thumb his nose at the feds in various ways — taping conversations between ICE and MCSO employees, refusing to cooperate with a Justice Department investigation, etc…
Two-and-a-half hours of this hearing and we’re wondering how much money taxpayers are paying for this. Remember, we’re all paying for the lawyers on both sides. On the sheriff’s side, it seems like even if this password-changing action was legitimate, it didn’t need to be done as some kind of…
2:40 p.m. Back to hearing. Sheriff’s office is turning over info to the Department of Justice that it believes shows court personnel engaged in criminal activity, says the sheriff’s lawyer, Kerry Martin. Martin does not go into detail but apparently it might have had something to do with the ICJIS…
The head of the Maricopa County ICJIS department, the one the sheriff’s office raided yesterday, just told us that databases cannot be accessed through those computers. In other words, our earlier post was mislabeled — we’ll go back and fix it in a minute. The main thing to know…
Issue: The county is seeking a restraining order against the sheriff’s office following yesterday’s raid by deputies on a building containing county computers The courtroom is packed with private lawyers, county officials, reporters and other observers. Barnett Lotstein, a top aide under Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, came to…
Governor Jan Brewer released a statement Wednesday berating members of her own party who have vehemently refused to support sending a 1-cent sales tax increase to the ballot in November. “I trust the people of Arizona. But, I am deeply disappointed that some Members of the Arizona State Senate do…
The state legislature inflicts “direct injury” to the governor’s constitutional authority if it withholds passed bills from the governor, the Arizona Supreme Court says in an explanatory opinion released today. If you’ll recall, Governor Jan Brewer had to sue the legislature in June to force it to give her the budget it had passed. Brewer wanted to veto…
The county feud took what is perhaps its ugliest turn yesterday as deputies with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office seized county computers with data a court already ruled the sheriff couldn’t access. UPDATE: We just found out (2:35 p.m.) that the computers seized by the sheriff’s office don’t provide access…
Newspaper articles that contain the word “may” in the nutgraph, the “what’s this article about” paragraph, should often be considered suspect from the start. It’s a J-school basic, and it makes sense. After all, the casual reader can easily turn that into an equally accurate “may not” phrase, which renders…
The town of Gilbert is a nice place to live, but it’s no place to go when you die — it’s the only southeast Valley community without a cemetery. Residents have recently begun e-mailing Gilbert Mayor John Lewis, requesting that a cemetery be built. Lewis said constructing a graveyard may…
Five little words just might prove to be the downfall of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s command staff — and the Arizona Republican Party. “Vote for Sheriff Joe Arpaio.” That inscription appears on the memo line of a $25,000 check, written by an Alaskan investment company in December 2007. That check, made…
TEARDOWN TOWN Like 1984 all over again: To ASU President Michael Crow: Which is more sustainable, which is greener, which uses less energy? Renovating, reusing, and recycling existing buildings or tearing them down and building anew (“Greek Ruins,” Robrt L. Pela, July 30)? The ideas and ideals you’re pushing have…
We begin, as we do each week, with cojones, although the huevos in question deal with my column a couple of semanas ago on why gabachos prefer the former term for testicles as opposed to the latter. I gave a rough etymology of the two (cojones comes from the Spanish…
Taryn Thomas isn’t shy about anything, which makes for an unnerving lunch. On a breezy Friday afternoon on the patio at Zipps Sports Grill in Scottsdale, she’s chain-smoking between coughs and eating fried chicken strips with her fingers. She’s talking loudly and enthusiastically about her sexual experiences, using lots of…
As president of the United Phoenix Firefighters Association for more than 20 years, Pat Cantelme turned the union into a political force — and, in the process, made it one of the most powerful labor groups in this right-to-work state. But Cantelme is now on the other side of the…
In the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries: Feathered Bastard: William Gheen, Nativist Hatemonger, Kicks Me Off His Facebook Friends List: Boo-Hoo-Hoo Up on the…
After getting battered about by Arizona over the past two weeks both at home and on the road, the New York Mets dished out a little comeuppance by defeating the D-Backs, 6-4, this afternoon at Chase Field. Led by the surprisingly sturdy pitching of lefty Oliver Perez (who’s had a…
