Opponents of Governor Jan Brewer’s executive order that prevents certain immigrants from getting driver’s licenses are claiming another court victory over Brewer this week. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied Brewer’s requests for rehearings, after the court had previously but a temporary ban on the…
Lingering on a road median in Phoenix can now mean a possible fine or jail time, but police are required to give first-time warnings to offenders. In an apparent effort to limit a dangerous form of panhandling, the Phoenix City Council last week passed an ordinance that bans pedestrians from…
Democratic Congressman Ron Barber’s campaign has filed a federal lawsuit over 133 votes that were cast, not counted, in the race for his congressional seat. Republican challenger Martha McSally leads Barber by 161 votes, but with a recount imminent, Barber’s not giving up yet. “We are talking about 133 Southern…
Listen, we love Phoenix, but that doesn’t eliminate our urge to complain. There are some legitimate complaints to have about living in Phoenix — find our top 10 picks below:…
A Phoenix police detective was shot in the leg Thursday night by a convicted felon who committed suicide before he could be arrested. The detective, 10-year veteran Bryan Cuthbertson, was with another detective in the gang-enforcement unit Thursday night near 34th Avenue and Roosevelt Street when they tried to make…
Thomas “Pregnant Man” Beatie has been arrested in Phoenix on suspicion of stalking his estranged wife with a GPS tracker. Beatie, a woman who underwent a sex change in 1997, became famous a few years ago because of eyebrow-raising pictures of a pregnant body beneath a bearded, male-looking face. “He”…
If you do the math, you will understand why the mood at the Arizona Capitol in downtown Phoenix last night, where activists gathered to watch President Barack Obama’s historic immigration speech, was one of resignation, and for some, sadness. The White House estimates that Obama’s much-anticipated executive action will cover…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the desert’s own Fourth Avenue Jail. To be considered for our Maricopa County mugshots of the week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. This week, we found some inmates you’ll…
If the White House was betting that Republicans would overreact to President Obama’s impending announcement tonight on immigration, where he’s expected to outline a plan that will extend deferred removal to some 5 million undocumented immigrants, boy, were they right. For instance, Arizona Congressman Matt Salmon, proud representative of Sand…
The $2 billion Solana concentrated solar plant in the desert near Gila Bend is off to a slow start, producing less electricity than it might in the future. Now in operation for slightly more than one year, Solana has delivered about two-thirds of the annual amount of electricity expected to…
A pair of southern Arizona residents have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Border Patrol, claiming the agency is stifling its attempts to monitor and protest a Border Patrol checkpoint in their town. Peter Ragan and Leesa Jacobson are members of a community organization called People Helping People, which, among…
Truck driver Brian Knoll was under the influence of pain medication and showed no remorse after causing a deadly five-car freeway crash Wednesday morning, officials say. Knoll’s Freightliner — fully loaded with a trailer full of pavers — was traveling north on Interstate 17 about 6:45 a.m. when it plowed…
A week after David Garcia conceded to Diane Douglas, a campaign to recall the state’s new schools chief already is well under way. The effort is led by Anthony Espinoza, a public school teacher, and Max Goshert, an aquatic safety instructor with the Red Cross. The two had discussed their…
UPDATE November 21: Now that the president has outlined his plan, the Migration Policy Institute estimates 136,000 people in Arizona will be shielded from deportation. That includes 97,000 parents, and an additional 39,000 people who will be eligible for the expanded provisions of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)…
Why do Mexicans and gabachos resemble each other so much? Both are very conservative about sex, marriage, and family. Both are very Christian, either Catholic or Protestant. Both keep similar attitudes toward immigrants. Both are very patriotic or nationalistic. Both deal with the same social issues like high rates of…
President Obama is going to outline the details of his executive action dealing with immigration tomorrow evening. “Tomorrow night I’m going to be announcing here from the White House, some steps that I can take to start fixing our broken immigration,” Obama said in a video released on Facebook…
Billy Benjamin Hayes Jr., 39, is one of the state’s most vocal marijuana activists. Few people welcomed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act when voters passed it in 2010 more than Hayes. The lanky father of three is a marijuana enthusiast, a grower for nearly his whole life who imbibes regularly,…
I rarely look to politicians for common sense, but I thought Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery had stumbled onto some at a press conference in September, when he addressed the situation at the Green Acre Dog Boarding facility in Gilbert. Montgomery explained that he’d just received the voluminous results of…
The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT civil-rights organization, today released its grades of LGBT equality at nearly 1,000 of the nation’s largest corporations, including several in Arizona. While more than 300 companies across the country earned a perfect score for the LGBT-related policies they have in place, none of those…
A passenger on a flight out of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport tried to check luggage containing 92 pounds of marijuana, according to the TSA. A TSA spokesman says the Phoenix Police Department was contacted once agents made the discovery. According to court documents obtained by New Times, 39-year-old Lauretta Blanton…
Arizona is one of 14 states where the population of unauthorized immigrants decreased from 2009 to 2012, according to data released today by the Pew Research Center. According to the organization’s analysis, Arizona’s unauthorized immigrant population dropped from around 350,000 people to 300,000 people. Only New York and California had…
The suicide of Phoenix police officer Craig Tiger has city management taking a look at its policies and training regarding post-traumatic stress disorder issues. City Manager Ed Zuercher has announced the assembly of a panel to review the city’s policies, at the request of the police unions, which have blasted…
