Last night, in 3,500 locations across the country, about 100,000 people tuned in all at once to watch Bernie Sanders speak, and to learn how they could help volunteer for his 2016 presidential campaign. Hundreds in the greater-Phoenix area spent the night talking politics and strategizing ways to spread, as…
A new report on child welfare in Arizona reveals some startling statistics that help explain why the state’s child welfare system is overwhelmed, and why an unprecedented number of children are in foster care or group homes. This report, technically a supplement to the independent audit conducted by the University…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix. To be considered for Mugshots of the Week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. Jail gives you a lot of time to ponder…
It ain’t just Sheriff Joe’s poll numbers that have dropped like a hot rock on thin ice. Arpaio’s much ballyhooed posse has taken a hit numbers-wise as well, according to the court-appointed monitor’s latest quarterly report. Arpaio uses his posse to garner media attention, sending his volunteer force of non-cops…
Hundreds of people in the greater-Phoenix area will join tens of thousands of Bernie Sanders supporters across the country tonight to participate in the first official nationwide grassroots organizing meeting for the Sanders presidential campaign. In an event the campaign is calling “unprecedented,” people will gather in homes, coffee shops,…
A Phoenix anti-puppy-mill pet-store ordinance upheld in U.S. District Court this week punishes the wrong people, critics declare. While the court ruled that the city of Phoenix can keep its ordinance — which the Humane Society of the United States celebrated as a “landmark” victory for the animal-rights world and a blow…
The Republican Party of Maricopa County is calling on four Democratic Arizona politicians to “return every penny” of the cumulative $45,000 in campaign contributions they received from Planned Parenthood in the last few years, and to “publicly rebuke their fellow Democrats” for asking the Department of Justice to investigate The…
The Arizona Supreme Court upheld a 2003 death-penalty decision for Homer Ray Roseberry, an Arizona resident convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Fred Fottler. (In October, 2000, Roseberry agreed to transport about 1000 pounds of marijuana in his motor home for a drug cartel, secretly planning to steal…
From the files of “terrible, illegal, or otherwise futile ideas,” we present a list of bizarre things you could theoretically try to hunt in Phoenix — but probably shouldn’t. ***Note: New Times does not necessarily encourage or endorse any of the following activities. 10. Africanized Bees If you’re looking for…
Though not quite the “raid” that some local media depicted it as, Friday’s events were nonetheless dramatic, with United States District Court Judge G. Murray Snow calling an “emergency meeting” for 3 p.m. at the request of his monitor Robert Warshaw, whose team has been in town for the week…
The prominent Muslim civil liberties organization, the Council on American and Islamic Relations, has been keeping tabs on Islamophobia throughout the country for decades. But in the last few months, leaders tell New Times, it’s maintained an extra-close eye on Jon Ritzheimer, the local ex-Marine and face of the anti-Islam…
An Arizona prison inmate who sliced off the penis of a seriously mentally ill inmate before killing him has been sentenced to death. Jasper Rushing, 45, was already serving a 28-year prison sentence for the 2001 murder of his stepfather when he mutilated and beat to death his cellmate, 40-year-old…
An Arizona doctor who stirred up national controversy in January for publicly denouncing vaccines will not lose his license to practice medicine, the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners ruled Saturday. The board dismissed the case against Dr. Jack Wolfson, whom New Times profiled in March, citing his First Amendment right…
Muhammed, the prophet and founder of the Islamic religion, taught peace, love and women’s rights. At least, that’s what billboards going up around the Valley say. Two Islam-promoting billboards have been seen by Phoenix motorists for the last couple of weeks, and new ones are coming in August in an…
A recent poll found that more Republican voters have a favorable view of presidential candidate Donald Trump than they do of Arizona Senator John McCain. The telephone survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports polled 1,000 people between July 20-21, and revealed that at least 52 percent of likely Republican voters reported…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix. To be considered for Mugshots of the Week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. This week: Tyra’s always telling us to be fierce…
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that the scent of marijuana alone can no longer be used as probable cause for a search warrant in Arizona because of the 2010 Medical Marijuana Act. Tuesday’s ruling provides more legal protection for medical-marijuana users and industry workers, as well as for…
Former Minuteman and accused child molester Chris Simcox wants you to feel sorry for him, even as he strives to interrogate his alleged child victims in court. In a recent jailhouse interview with the Arizona Republic, Simcox, 54, rationalized his decision to represent himself in his upcoming trial, where he…
At 5 a.m. Monday morning, Chandler police finally nabbed a guy they’d been looking for since May. Jose Salvador Rodriguez, the 19-year-old serial online dating app burglar, was caught shortly after robbing a Circle K in Chandler. Police had been looking for a young guy who was known to contact…
On the bright Sunday afternoon of March 18, 1984, Randy Johnson took the mound for the University of Southern California at Arizona State University’s Packard Stadium. He was among the most interesting collection of sports figures ever assembled on a college baseball field. The game featured two players who would…
At 21, Grant Ronnebeck, a bright, friendly young man with an “infectious smile,” was just beginning to map out his life dreams. But, his uncle testified during an emotional U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, because of the country’s lax immigration policies, he won’t ever get to “follow his heart.”…
The Arizona American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in a U.S. District Court this morning alleging that Arizona’s Civil Asset Forfeiture laws are unconstitutional. These statutes give law enforcement agencies the power to seize personal property if they suspect it was used in criminal activity, and then either to keep it…
