I took a lot of raspberries from the left over the profile I did earlier this year of Arizona’s new Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Though, I must admit that I enjoy ticking off liberals who think New Times should mimic their own third-grade comic-book attitude toward politics. You know: Dems…
Four Arizona congressional representatives sent U.S. Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake a letter urging them to introduce an amendment in the 2016 Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill that would demand the FAA address the airplane noise problem disrupting the lives of thousands of Phoenix residents. Congressman…
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: Bed-head and other blow-outs gone wild 10. …
The Arizona Office of the Auditor General recently published what may become a landmark study of Arizona’s child welfare system. The 73-page document paints a picture of an agency struggling even after it was removed from the larger umbrella of the Department of Economic Security last year, and made into…
The Gila River Indian Community is the latest group to sue the Arizona Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration over a planned extension of Loop 202, called the South Mountain Freeway pass. The lawsuit filed this week alleges that the two agencies violated the National Environmental Policy Act and…
The long-awaited independent audit of the Department of Child Safety will be made public sometime this morning. It’s unclear what the verdict will be, but if recent statistics and news reports about the downward trends of the agency are any indication, there’s likely to be a lot of constructive criticism…
What do you do if a political satirist paints an image of you, which you consider “beyond offensive”? If you’re Sheriff Joe Arpaio, you send it to every reporter in town, and tweet it out to your 63,400 followers. That’s what happened to an image created by longtime anti-Arpaio activist…
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that Arizona’s independent election redistricting commission does not violate the “election clause,” and is therefore constitutional. After a voter initiative to create an independent redistricting commission in Arizona passed in 2000, there has been an ongoing debate about whether the commission…
If Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker gets himself elected president next year, he might remember that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey hired one of his friends. It’s possible that the connection between Scott Walker and Sue Black — the new State Parks Department executive director — is a key reason Ducey appointed…
Chances are good you’re still celebrating today’s landmark same-sex marriage ruling and yesterday’s Obamacare victory, but the U.S. Supreme Court still has a few major cases to resolve, including a really important one about redistricting powers that will directly affect Arizona residents by impactin g all of our future elections…
Maricopa County settled yet another wrongful death suit this week, paying almost $1 million to the family of Felix Torres, who died an excruciatingly painful death from ulcer-related complications in a county jail while detention officers refused to help him. Michael Lacey wrote about the case last month for New…
The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently published its annual list of the most endangered historical places in the country, and it included two sites in Arizona: the Grand Canyon and Oak Flat. The Grand Canyon, and the adjacent 1.7 million acres of its watershed, face threats from mining, development,…
The Arizona Department of Gaming and Phoenix police raided a Phoenix Internet cafe on Wednesday, arresting the manager in connection with an illegal gambling operation. Bradley John Babinski, Jr., 28, was arrested after 1 p.m. yesterday following an investigation of the Netclix Internet Cafe at 3575 North Dunlap Avenue in…
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: It’s officially summer! 10) Booked on suspicion…
A group of news agencies have banded together to try to force disclosure of now-sealed records related to the Phoenix man being held in the Garland, Texas attack. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., (publisher of the Arizona Republic), Channel 5 (KPHO-TV), Channel 12 (KPNX-TV) and Channel 15 (KNXV-TV) filed suit today in…
Tempe’s historic Double Butte Cemetery is one of the area’s oldest, dating back to the 1890s, before Arizona was a state. One section of the 17-acre property near 48th Street and Broadway Road is lush and green, lined with trees beneath which visitors might spy local fauna, rabbits, or an…
The Acting Director for the City of Phoenix’s Aviation Department has been suspended for 40 hours without pay and demoted in the wake of an investigation into the long process leading up to the September 18 flight path changes at Sky Harbor International Airport. Ever since the changes, which were part…
Well-known Phoenix Reverend Jarrett Maupin believes that criticism of the plan he made with Sheriff Joe Arpaio to put armed guards outside of 60 predominantly black churches in Phoenix stems from “preacher pettiness” and “personality animosity.” He specifically calls out Reverend Reginald D. Walton and Pastor Warren Stewart jr. for…
Friday’s guilty plea by Cave Creek resident Karen Finley, ex-CEO of the photo-enforcement company Redflex, has many people wondering: Who, if anyone, did Finley bribe in Arizona? Redflex Traffic Systems, which is based in Phoenix as a subsidiary of Australia’s Redflex Holdings company, has had numerous contracts with Arizona municipalities…
Congressman Ruben Gallego stood in front of a packed audience Monday night and told the crowd of Phoenix residents that the extent to which he can help force the FAA to reconsider the changes it made to Sky Harbor’s flight paths last fall “is now limited.” “What we need now…
Jamie Votaw, the co-owner of a cleaning company that hired undocumented immigrants in the 2000s, was sentenced last week in federal court to five years’ probation and ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution. Court records show that her husband, Joel Votaw, the company’s CEO, was equally culpable for the crime. But…
A five-hour standoff between the Scottsdale Police Department SWAT team and an armed resident who had barricaded himself in his ex-wife’s home on East Dixileta Street ended last night when the man committed suicide. According to the Scottsdale police, as a woman and her 12-year-old son were leaving their home,…
