Michael Jordan is on the edge. His problem, like that of someone caught in the advanced stages of alcoholism, is that he no longer can recognize how much trouble he is in. Not only Jordan, but the entire leadership of the National Basketball Association is in a state of denial…
The only difference is the good guys won this time. –Suns coach Paul Westphal The monkey has been removed from Kevin Johnson’s back for the moment. His performance in last Sunday’s triple-overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls restored the reputation tarnished by his inept performances in the first two games…
The skies were heavy with rain, and it was just starting to sprinkle as hundreds of students spilled into the Arcadia High School parking lot. It’s a place normally reserved for students’ vehicles; Acuras, Cherokees and the occasional Jaguar are not uncommon. That last Friday of March, however, the students…
It was a gorgeous, autumn afternoon on Mount Vernon Street in Prescott, with only a hint of the mile-high winter to come. Located up a hill from the northern Arizona city’s bustling downtown, the street presented an attractive slice of Americana. Youngsters frolicked in yards of the street’s spacious old…
Strange. They are such public figures. Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. They are quoted constantly. But we don’t really know them. For us they are defined by their latest television commercials. They are in black and white. The messages are grim. Barkley says he doesn’t want to be a role…
Arlin Troutt, the Apache Junction-based front man for the Willie Nelson Hemp Collection–a line of apparel made of marijuana-derived fabric and backed by the popular country singer–is on the run from the law. A warrant was issued for Troutt’s arrest about a month ago in U.S. District Court in Minnesota,…
Wendy Sheedy wanted a baby, not in that achingly desperate way of some childless women, but it was never far from her mind. Her friends all had children. She had a solid marriage, a successful business, a nice house in Paradise Valley. She was 31 years old and the time…
Music and commerce go together. Restaurants, clubs, bars and even retail shops become more inviting with the ambiance created by music. Root canals would be less romantic without Perry Como and other easy-listening warblers on the headset. And being put on hold just wouldn’t be the same infuriating experience without…
We all remember the television images of the Gulf War. The pilots flashing the “thumbs up” sign as their jets soared skyward. The video-game smart bombs, streaking across the screen like errant Pac-men, striking and consuming their targets. And the display of roaring rockets that splashed a brilliant line of…
Maybe it was the glint of sunlight off the gun barrels, or the sudden movement of men silhouetted against the desert sky. Whatever it was that caught Linda Mitchell’s eye and caused her to pause by the picture window of her secluded home near Buckeye that day in 1990, the…
The bomb that ripped through New York’s World Trade Center on February 26 sent a bone-rattling message to everyone whose job consists of keeping airports, military bases and other high-profile targets safe from harm: tighten security. But even as the smoke was clearing from the shattered skyscraper, the nation’s big…
As an associate planner for the City of Los Angeles, Robert Yabes spends his days in front of the computer, masterminding a long-range plan that will allow L.A.’s millions of residents to maneuver the city’s overcrowded transit routes. This Los Angeles municipal employee has devised a rather unusual commute for…
Good news for liberal chow hounds! The Valley’s five official Rush Rooms appear to be flops. Though some restaurant managers claim success for this promotional gambit–sections of five Valley restaurants have been designated for people to watch and to listen to Rush Limbaugh’s midday broadcasts–firsthand observation of the Rush Room…
We remember so little. The playoffs move too fast. Yet they never seem to end. It is as though we’re all prisoners on a runaway train. There is no one who knows how to pull the emergency brake to stop this wild ride. Television only contributes to the confusion. Clearly,…
On a starlit Wednesday night in November of last year, about three dozen members of the Dirty Dozen Motorcycle Club are gathered at a dusty truck yard on North 27th Avenue. It is the weekly meeting of the club’s Cave Creek chapter, although members from the Phoenix and Mesa chapters…
At midday on a recent Thursday, with temperatures in the high 90s, there was nobody on the Squaw Peak summit trail but chuckwallas and the hard-core regular hikers, two species that are barely distinguishable in color and skin texture. Linda Van Tilborg and a friend were burning their way uphill…
Defenders of 12-year-old Kathryn Tomassoni say she is a horribly mistreated waif, driven by years of violent abuse to kill her adoptive mother, Lydia Tomassoni. Prosecutors claim that Kathryn wasn’t abused, but is, in fact, a calculating killer who coldly planned the murder of her mother, shot her while she…
David Beattie Jr. was delivering flowers one Saturday last month when he had a run-in with the police. Specifically, Phoenix Police Lieutenant Charles Crawford ran a patrol car into the side of Beattie’s flower-shop van. No one was hurt in the minor mishap. But what happened next has become the…
I wonder where she is today. At this very minute, as you begin to read this column, Joan is probably walking along a Phoenix street, pushing a grocery cart that contains all she owns. “People don’t understand the hell of living on the street,” Joan says. She has been on…
I see it now. The Suns are not going to win an NBA title this year. The task simply isn’t possible. The Suns are good. On some nights, very good. But they are not quite good enough. When you reach the playoffs, only nine men can play effectively. And the…
The Gentrys have photo albums full of pictures of their daughter Tammy. In many of the photos, smiling, cute-as-can-be Tammy wears across her upper body a ribbon with the words “March of Dimes.” Her tiny legs barely dangle over the seat of her wheelchair. Tammy was 8 years old when…
This is an article about education reform in Arizona. It contains opinions on complex issues, profound sociological theories, colorful political bickering and, most impressive, statistics. For example, literacy researchers claim that less than 30 percent of Americans are capable of reading a long newspaper feature story to its completion. So…
