News

Youtube videos of people screaming “don’t Tase me bro” while getting zapped by police officers could become as common as reports of police who use their Tasers more liberally than civil rights leaders condone. Scottsdale-based Taser International announced recently that it’s creating a head-mounted video-recording system for police officers that they expect will cut the companies legal fees in…

Arizona’s three state universities will receive a boost next week, as the federal government begins dishing out $154 million in stimulus funds. The universities permanently reduced their budgets by 20 percent this year, but university officials say the funds will still help save hundreds of jobs…A bankruptcy judge has moved…

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: Harold Fish Supporters and Gun Nuts Fire Back, and Help Prove My Point Up on…

God bless those busy bees over at the East Valley Tribune. These days no one’s got time for massive enterprise projects — and we mean no one! Some times we’re jumping on news so fast, we feel like we’re literally going to keel over from the sheer insanity of journalism…

  As both Republicans and Democrats in the Arizona Legislature are failing miserably at agreeing on a state budget, three new political parties are emerging on our state’s political landscape. The American Independent Party, the Constitution Party, and the Modern Whig Party are  fighting to get on the Arizona ballot in time to…

Al Garza’s resigned as the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps’ second in command. No, the “war” is not over, says Garza, who’d been the organization’s vice president, but he can no longer support the Minuteman organization for a host of reasons — including political infighting and how the group is perceived by the general public. “Unfortunately, the public perception of…

Janet, Janet, Janet …We found ourselves sadly shaking our head while reading the New York Times yesterday, wondering (yet again) how our former governor could have gotten things so wrong.Governor Janet Napolitano, need we remind you, repeatedly insisted the state was not in a budget crisis — suggesting as late…

  Lorena Sanchez-Ramirez, caught with more than 500 pounds of marijuana last year in Missouri, received a suspended sentence Friday after originally getting a 10-year prison term from the judge who wound up setting her free. Sanchez-Ramirez, a 43-year-old housekeeper and grandmother of nine from Douglas (a border town about 250 miles from Phoenix), was…

Arizona, kicking ass? We really couldn’t believe it either.Yet that’s the word from Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, who’s long been an outspoken critic of Child Protective Services here. We’ve gotten to know Wexler in the course of reporting some pieces about CPS…

The hundreds of millions of dollars the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa fronted for the federal portion of the Light Rail Transit Project will soon be almost completely repaid, thanks to a $90 million reimbursement from the federal government. The $587.2 million bill paid by Valley taxpayers went toward…

  Nobody at the the homeless shelter where Richard Walters lived before he died in 2007 could believe the news. But it was said that the homeless man was the same guy who had given away $4 million to about a dozen non-profit organizations — including National Public Radio. Turned out Walters was…

  There are few things more frantic than a mother with a sick kid, and finding a doctor who meets her standards is never easy. Fortunately, Mamapedia.com, an information Web site for all things mommy, has compiled a list of the most popular pediatricians in the Valley.    …

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will celebrate the 16th anniversary of Tent City today. The planned fete includes a hot dog barbecue and an ice cream social for inmates. Arpaio says the 1,000 hot dogs and the ice cream were donated…Police arrested 48 people at a house party near 32nd…

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: Mark Spencer, PLEA President, and the Dark Spots on His Career Record Up on the…

Saying that bankruptcy court might be the only place to stop a deal that forces taxpayers into subsidizing the Phoenix Coyotes, the Goldwater Institute filed a motion this afternoon asking to the judge to allow them to intervene in the case.The motion is filed on behalf of eight Glendale taxpayers…

When are they going to get it?In what is becoming a sickening trend, Arizona teachers are now the latest group to use and abuse taxpayer money to pay for lavish vacations under the veil of “training seminars.”In July, hundreds of teachers from across Arizona, some of whom even brought their…