Now just four weeks away from the primary election, the latest poll of Republican voters shows half are undecided on a candidate for governor.Of the Republicans who have made up their minds, former GoDaddy executive Christine Jones is the leader with 18 percent, followed by Treasurer Doug Ducey at 16…
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has announced plans to “greet” legal migrant workers from Central America who have gotten seasonal work in rural parts of the county.Yes, the same Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office that was ordered to stop racially profiling Latinos, as a result of the Melendres v. Arpaio civil-rights…
Dr. Peter Nathan Steinmetz, a brain scientist with Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, was arrested on Friday for mishandling his AR-15 in Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Steinmetz was possibly making a point about his Second Amendment rights, police theorize, when he bought a cup of coffee at Starbucks in…
Do I really want to write one more word about recalled ex-state Senator Russell Pearce? Not really. But despite being rejected twice in his own district by a margin of 12 points, first in a historic 2011 recall election and then in the Republican primary for state Senate in 2012,…
This Election Day, young voters may have the most impact in two of Arizona’s congressional districts.The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), a think tank that studies youth voting habits, believe the districts currently occupied by Democratic Congresswomen Kyrsten Sinema (CD-9) and Ann Kirkpatrick (CD-1)…
Alex Spartz, a 17-year-old Glendale high school student, is still in Maui after a July 13 beach accident left him paralyzed. The honor student, swim team captain at Mountain Ridge High School, and soccer player had been doing somersaults on Kaanpali Beach that day while on a family vacation. He…
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has removed its immigrant detainees from the Pinal County Jail, after the county and the federal government failed to come to an agreement over how much the county gets paid to house the detainees.The end of this contract is a victory for human-rights groups that…
Historians, psychologists, sociologists will all have a field day with the mass hysteria prompted by the child refugees from Central America, who came to this country fleeing poverty and violence. Stoked by irresponsible politicians and a too-compliant press corps, the widespread panic, fear, and animosity has been shameful to witness…
Teach for America, the non-profit organization that trains volunteers to teach in public schools, will launch 125 newly-trained teachers into Valley schools beginning as soon as this month. This new batch of teachers will bring the total number of local volunteers in the two-year program up to 250. For some,…
Beginning yesterday, Arizonans must be 18 or older in order to purchase cough medicine containing the ingredient dextromethorphan (DXM) without a prescription. Arizona becomes the fifth state to pass such legislation, joining California, New York, Virginia, and Washington. The legislation came about in response to a growing pattern of cough…
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’ve found that it can always…
Police and the victim of a Tempe hit-and-run crash this week made a public appeal on Thursday for information and witnesses in the case. Justin DeValk, 21, a Mesa Community College student, appeared before reporters and TV cameras near the crash site on Broadway Road near College Avenue, his head…
Danny Hendon, owner of the embattled Danny’s Family Car Wash chain and a longtime supporter of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, pleaded guilty today in federal court to identity fraud, the Associated Press is reporting. Several business entities under the DFC umbrella are scheduled for change of plea hearings today…
Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers was among several individuals who testified before a U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Wednesday regarding plans by the Tohono O’odham Nation to build the West Valley Resort, a resort-style casino near 91st and Northern avenues. Although Weiers had pledged to convey the city’s newfound…
It took two hours to execute convicted murderer Joseph Wood yesterday, but state officials claim he never suffered.The first use in Arizona of a new two-drug protocol for lethal injection went on so long that Wood’s attorneys, federal public defenders, filed a motion in federal court seeking to stop the…
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu has been whining about criticism he’s received for orchestrating a media circus and stirring protest in Oracle over a busload of a few dozen children from Central America that were supposedly going to be detained at a facility in that town. The children never materialized…
Sam Katz, the longtime mayor of Winnipeg, Canada, has a mansion in Scottsdale that keeps getting him in trouble. Katz has been raked by Canadian media in the past couple of days over reports that he collected two $600 tax credits for the home because it was listed incorrectly in…
No surprise here: Disbarred former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has the most intense border-security plan of any of the Republican candidates for governor.Thomas is proposing 3,000 National Guardsmen on the border, along with double-layer fencing either along the border or along a “fall-back line” within the state…
I am from an Arabic-speaking country. After my education is completed here, I’ll return to my country or Kuala Lampur (the Garden City of Lights). Since I’ve been in this country, I’ve noticed there’s a rising tide of hatred toward Mexicans. I’ve talked to Mexicans, and they all say they’re…
On a sunny Saturday morning in April, more than two dozen men, women, and children march up Central Avenue, on the final stretch of the Pride parade. The pro-gay march has taken place in Phoenix every year since 1981, but it’s the first time this particular group has joined the…
Senator John McCain has broken a nearly week-long streak of keeping Arizona off of Comedy Central’s satirical news programs.McCain earned a spot on last night’s episode of the Daily Show for discounting the show’s host, Jon Stewart…
Tall with a buzz cut and a toothy grin, Dr. Ralph Heap is a banjo-pickin’ orthopedic surgeon with a handsome family and enough charisma to worry incumbent Bob Worsley in the GOP primary for state senator from deeply red Legislative District 25. Heap also is a colossal hypocrite — and…
