News

 A national health-care system won’t work and will break the country’s bank. The government is whittling away at free-market economics and over-regulating industries. Bailouts and stimulus packages will only prolong Americans’ pain. Overspending must stop. Obama is taking us down the wrong path. An afternoon on right-wing radio? Nope –…

Captain Joel Fox appealed his case to the Maricopa County Superior Court yesterday and asked for his $315,000 fine to be delayed until the appeal’s outcome. Fox wants the court to overturn the decision by Judge Thomas Shedden of the state Office of Administrative Hearings, cancel out his fine, and…

The state parks department sent out the following news release this morning, announcing that “closed” signs were being taken down at state parks. The Arizona Republic’s Casey Newton reports that some campers had already been evicted as a state government shutdown loomed. But after state workers were told to stay…

You and your buddies are speeding on the Loop 202, drunk, on July 4. You see explosions of red, white and blue in the sky. You pull to the shoulder, take a leak, set up a blanket to watch… …and find yourself in the most trouble of your life. The Department of Public Safety…

The Arizona house has rejected a bill that would have made the presence of illegal immigrants criminal by expanding trespassing laws. Opponents argued passage of the bill would have lead to racial profiling…Phoenix asphalt contractor John D. Stacey was convicted on federal tax-evasion charges yesterday. He was also convicted of fraudulent…

  The Arizona Legislature was abuzz with lawmakers, lobbyists, curious onlookers, and students as a government shutdown at midnight loomed. The place was busier than a typical weekday afternoon. Most of the students and onlookers are gone now, but the show is still going on. Folks like lobbyist Mike Gardner 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: Club Candids at Sadisco You Asked For It: Serious Side Effects Chow Bella:…

Governor Jan Brewer may have little-to-no-clout with her fellow Republicans at the Statehouse — she’s had to sue them just to get their budget proposal (and even that didn’t work). But Brewer still, apparently, has clout at Phoenix City Hall. Today the City Council voted on a political neophyte to…

  Freedom Communications, which publishes the East Valley Tribune, will slash pay by 5 percent for all employees, the company announced. The move is a bitter pill for Tribune employees to swallow, coming after a recent, mandatory five-day furlough, reduced coverage and January’s layoff of 40 percent of the staff. But at least the paper is still…

The father of a 17-year-old boy whose body was found four days after a car crash wants $10 million from the city of Phoenix. Edward Montoya Sr. argues in his claim that authorities “might have prevented” his son’s death, if only they had searched the crash area better and found…

A guest column that ran in the June 19 edition of the East Valley Tribune was apparently not written by local financial planner Rebecca Warren (pictured), as the article’s byline shows. Editor and Publisher magazine uncovered a possible case of plagiarism when someone noticed the column running in other publications under different bylines…

Harold Fish, who’s serving time for shooting a man in what he calls self-defense, will get another trial. The Arizona Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded the high-profile case, sending it back for a new trial in which Fish can introduce testimony that was barred from his first go-around. The case began…

When the Phoenix City Council gathers this afternoon to choose a replacement for outgoing Councilwoman Maria Baier, they’ll have a wealth of candidates to choose from: 19 applicants are seeking the job.The frontrunner, we suspect, is Jon C. Altmann. Altmann, a Navy veteran and public safety consultant with ties to…

Euthanizing 55 dogs with guns on a rural Arizona property was the right decision for the circumstances, says the director of public health services for Navajo County. Dr. Wade Kartchner tells New Times this morning that the dogs, which were living in filth with their human masters on a rural…

Phoenix City Council will vote this week on three projects: a 12-acre entertainment district on Jackson Street, a $300 million expansion of the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa, and a Latino cultural center on Adams Street. Wednesday is the council’s last meeting before the summer recess…As Mesa Police Chief George…

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: Tom Metzger’s Buds Dennis and Daniel Mahon Collared for Scottsdale Bombing, Arizona ADL Helped Bring…

Sheriff Joe Arpaio followed up on his earlier tweet about a jail lockdown, now stating on his Twitter account that “inmates are planning to assault each other on a large scale.” He refers to a news release prepared by his staff [maybe you’ll have better luck opening it than we’re having right…

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has locked down the county’s jails to unspecified “racial tension.” Usually, Arpaio’s tweets are more personal in nature, but this actual news. Since the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t bother to update its news releases in a timely fashion, Twitter’s even better than his public relations staff…

We just heard from a reader whose friend — a Maricopa County employee — was visited in the last few days by deputies from the Sheriff’s Office. The employee told them she didn’t want to talk, and they went away, our source says. The anonymous reader says the county’s finance…