When I read our lawyer’s interviews with the deputies in Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s most notorious division, I had one question: Who staged this piece of theater? You too can read, for the first time, excerpts of deposition statements from Arpaio’s leaders and foot soldiers. The chiefs and deputies…
HEAVENS TO BETSY It ain’t porn: Betsy Schneider is a distinguished faculty member of the Herberger College of the Arts at Arizona State University. She has been acclaimed around the world for the beauty and power of her images. As is true of all art, Betsy’s work evokes powerful responses…
READY DEBACLE Right about now, Mesa neo-Nazi J.T. Ready must be feeling like John Edwards’ mistress, or Shaq’s estranged wife after reading about the Suns’ center stepping out with Atlanta-area hip-hop artist Maryjane. Indeed, before the news broke that state Representative Russell Pearce had finally thrown his political protégé under…
The tragic and mysterious case of 99-305 was ice cold for nine years. Until last week. What unfolded over a matter of mere hours last Wednesday and Thursday amazed police detectives and others to whom investigative twists and turns are the norm. But it really happened. On August 20, someone…
The e-mail was sent to a female member of the Phoenix Country Club — and it was pointed. “Can you stop you[r] bullshit at PCC,” the e-mail demanded. “Nobody likes you and your type needs to go . . . The last thing we need is more lezzies like you…
The Downtown Tempe Community’s not just about scraping bird poop off the sidewalk. The Mill Avenue promotion company plans to deploy an army of eager, red-shirted volunteers to help visitors “form memories of fun and an easy-to-navigate destination.” The ambassadors will mainly answer visitors’ questions, (like, for example, “What happened…
Holocaust-denier John Watson with state Rep. Russell Pearce. I was somewhat gratified to see the East Valley Tribune follow my blog item on Russell Pearce removing the name of alleged public urinator Buffalo Rick Galeener from his list of endorsers. Check out the story by Trib scribbler Sonu Munshi, here…
By Ray Stern Who wears the pants at Sky Harbor airport? Not 30 Somali women who fought for the right to wear skirts on the job, and won. The Muslim women balked at a planned policy change by their employer, GCA Services, (that’s GCA’s logo pictured above), that would have…
By Stephen Lemons Trib picks up on Russell Pearce’s backstab of alleged public urinator. Nappy bores Dems to tears. Dowling gets probation. Padres spank the D-Backs. Laurie Roberts disses KFYI lip-flapper Bruce Jacobs. A narcobeer for narcoterrorists. Residents want to kill suicide lanes. Veg heads blame kiddie colon cancer on…
Tomorrow another issue of your favorite alternative weekly will hit the stands and the Web. Take this opportunity to pick Phoenix’s collective brain on last week’s stories. On: A severely diabetic Valley woman faces criminal charges over her “service animal”: a chimpanzee named Joey “The only Monkey’s here is the…
Julie Erfle By Ray Stern Bruce Jacobs is a mean-spirited, loud-mouthed right-wing talk-show host. He proved how mean last week with an intensely personal criticism of Julie Erfle, the widow of a Phoenix police officer who was slain last year by an illegal immigrant. Jacobs, who has a morning show…
So what does Daddy Yankee’s reggaeton hit Gasolina really mean, and does John McCain approve? Who can blame withered geriatric John McCain for trying to broaden his appeal to Obama-aged voters and below by touting the endorsement of reggaeton superstar Daddy Yankee? And at Phoenix’s Central High no less. Daddy…
By Ray Stern When scandals chase veteran cops like Steve Boltz out of an upstanding institution like the Scottsdale Police Department, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is apparently always there to break the fall. Boltz, 43, then a school resource officer for Chaparral High School, was found last April to…
By Stephen Lemons Loudmouth KFYI a-hole Bruce Jacobs slams widow of Nick Erfle. Coach W. says Leinart still starting QB, for now. Daddy Yankee digs Grandaddy McCain. Judge says Warren Jeffs case won’t go back to grand jury. Suns trade D.J. Strawberry. Too bad. Love the way he spins. Padres…
By Ray Stern An Italian priest who wants to host a beauty pageant for nuns called “Miss Sister 2008” should consider coming to Phoenix to take a Holy See at Christa Parra. Phoenix publications including the Catholic Sun, Arizona Republic and Arizona State University’s State Press have already held a…
Bruce Jacobs By Ray Stern Right-wing ranter Bruce Jacobs from 550 am (KFYI) is in hot water with the Phoenix Police. The PD just put out a press release saying Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris will be hosting a press conference at 4 p.m. today to respond to statements Jacobs…
Arpaio-foe Dan Saban, on the stump, pummeling Joe every chance he gets, and out-raising him in the recent pre-primary report. Flying under the media radar last week was the fact that Sheriff Joe-foe Dan Saban quietly out-raised Arpaio in the latest report turned into the Maricopa County Elections Department, the…
By Stephen Lemons Tucson pissed over Hamlet 2 diss. Shaq better stay away from that Maryjane. Matt Leinart out as starting QB. Kurt Warner in. Cards kill Raiders. Marlins eat up D-Backs. Olympics finito. China grabs most gold. U.S., most medals. Redeem team trounces Spain in b-ball. Why you shouldn’t…
By Stephen Lemons Some Hot Links can’t wait till the work-week, like the story laid out by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution on Friday (and now burning up the ‘Net), which states that the Suns’ Big Cactus Shaquille O’Neal is being hit with a restraining order by a smokin’ hot hip-hop artist…
Ready and Pearce in June 2007, when all was merry and bright. The incessant pounding is beginning to take its toll on the Russell Pearce for state Senate campaign. Not only has Pearce thrown his erstwhile protégé, white pride advocate J.T. Ready under the proverbial Greyhound (as is apparent from…
By Ray Stern Republican Congressman Trent Franks didn’t mince words when Joe Dana from Channel 12 (KPNX) asked him about the immigration sweeps Sheriff Joe Arpaio conducted last week in Surprise, which is part of Trent’s Congressional turf. “I think that our focus should not be upon going after people…
An Arizona judge has issued an order banning David Nahmod, a San Francisco-based gay freelance writer and blogger, from posting the names of a “conservative” Arizona couple he claims “brainwashed” his ex-boyfriend into disliking him. Last month, the couple served Nahmod with a restraining order, and the judgment bars Nahmod from doing “anything that encourages others to harass” the couple, including posting information about them on the Internet.
