You know your career as a historian has hit a new low when you’re hawking books out the back of a Phoenix diner better known for its hash browns than its literary events. This is the best the infamous British Holocaust denier David Irving can do these days, reserving the back…
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: Joe Arpaio Reined In? Homeland Security Revises 287(g) Agreements Nationally Up on the Sun: BET…
It’s 9:30 a.m. and Adan Hinojosa stands in the shade outside the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix speaking with Channel 3 news anchor Beverly Kidd. If it weren’t for the camera crew, you’d think he was just a regular joe, but it turns out this Phoenecian is an entirely…
For 115 days, journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee have faced hard labor and all but silence from the outside world as detainees in a North Korean Prison Camp. On March 17, while on assignment for Current TV, the two journalists broke North Korean law by entering the country from…
Another garbage story: Republic Services and Allied Waste Industries, two large waste-removal companies based in Phoenix that merged last year, are being sued in a class-action that alleges they over-charged for services. Specifically, the suit — as published in Courthouse News today — alleges the company charged its nationwide clients “recovery…
Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security has just issued a press release announcing new, standardized 287(g) agreements that all law enforcement agencies participating in the program will have to sign, including Sheriff Joe’s MCSO, which boasts a massive 160-man 287(g)-trained force, the largest in the nation. “DHS and ICE will…
California has come up with a wonderful plan for recycling computer waste: Dump it in Arizona. A CBS-affiliated TV news station in San Francisco caught one recycler who was adhering to California’s strict recycling laws by creating a mountain of lead-tainted glass in the desert near Yuma. Mark Shaffer of Arizona’s…
Everyone can rest easier now, right? The U.S. Marshals Service, in collaboration with various law-enforcement agencies, including the Maricopa County Sherriff’s Department, took more than 600 criminals off the streets in Arizona during June. Or did they? In reality, Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally (FALCON), a month-long effort by…
Nobody lusts after LUSTs: Leaking underground storage tanks. The pockmarked, subterranean behemoths leech toxic chemicals into our drinking water — and there are a lot of them. A whole lot. In fact, every time you see a gas station, you can be pretty sure it either used to have a LUST or still…
On Monday, the Social Security Administration began a three-day retreat for more than 700 employees, from as far away as Guam, at Phoenix’s posh Biltmore Hotel. The glorified vacation, which SSA officials describe as a “training workshop,” cost taxpayers roughly $750,000…
Image: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Ignacio Lopez-Leon has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. Records show he was booked into the Maricopa County jail yesterday. The county attorney’s office does not yet have information to provide about the case. We’ll update this post later…
Sometimes in a fight you have to know when to stay down. After losing a bid to prevent a tattoo studio from opening in Tempe, the city took its fight back to court — and lost again. As we mentioned on May 14, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Oberbillig ruled…
Following Mark Reynolds’ verbal peppering of his teammates in Denver, the Arizona Diamondbacks were a different animal for fifty consecutive innings (that’s five and a half games, in case you’re counting). The team finally started playing all easy breezy, winning five straight while simultaneously climbing out of the National League…
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has filed a consumer fraud suit against several Tucson real estate businesses. The suit alleges that the company engaged in a fraudulent system that led to the foreclosure of more than 130 homes. The scheme allegedly involved attracting novice home buyers to purchase properties and…
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: Up on the Sun: Mesa Singer/American Idol Contestant Brooke White to Stream Performance on Facebook The Format’s…
Tempe police arrested a man who allegedly shot one man, assaulted another, and attempted to rob them both. About 9 p.m. Wednesday night, 23-year-old Ruben Vierra went to the door of the victims’ Mission Springs Apartment at 1311 W. Baseline Road in Tempe and knocked on the door, cops say…
State Senate President Bob Burns ousted two of his Republican colleagues from their leadership postions Wednesday, after the pair attempted to sabotage a bipartisan budget agreement the Legislature reached Monday. Senators Thayer Verschoor and Pamela Gorman got the boot from Burns after they voted against him in the rules committee,…
Josh Bernstein of Channel 15 [KNXV-TV] reported a story over the weekend that seems to be pushed heavily by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and doesn’t deliver the goods on Mary Rose Wilcox. But it comes close. Wilcox, [pictured], one of five County Supervisors and a longtime political opponent of…
The fans have spoken, and they have declared that the Arizona Diamondbacks’ budding slugger Mark Reynolds will not represent the National League in next week’s All-Star Game in St. Louis. Instead, it will be Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino filling the NL rosters’ final spot. Between the time the All-Star…
Here’s our leaked list of news-side people let go in the current round of Arizona Republic layoffs, which are part of a nationwide Gannett reduction: Laura McBride, Jennifer Johnson, Dave Lumia, Ralph Zubiate, Heather Wells [copy editor], Jeremie Lederman, Bobby Boos, Theresa Cano, David Proffitt [City…
A Henry, Tennessee man drove his mule-pulled wagon 1,774 across the United States, reaching his destination in Phoenix last week.John McComsey says on his Web site it was his dream for retirement to take the leisurely cross-country trip to the Arizona home of one of his relatives. But he also…
More than half a billion years ago, life on Earth wasn’t very interesting. No cats, dog, people, dinosaurs — not even plants.What did the landscape look like back then? Endless miles of green “pioneer vegetation,” say according to researchers at Arizona State University and the University of California, Riverside.The scientists…
