News

Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Joshua Silverman, a 35-year-old from Scottsdale, was one of six soldiers who died in a helicopter crash this week in Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department.Silverman is the 49th Arizonan to die in Afghanistan under “Operation Enduring Freedom.”…

The Arizona Forestry Division is contesting “serious” safety violations another state agency claims it made fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire.”On that day the fire burned over 8,000 acres of wildland, over 114 structures, and resulted in multiple instances of firefighters being unnecessarily and unreasonably exposed to the deadly hazards of…

Sheriff Joe Arpaio called a press conference yesterday at the new Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office headquarters in Downtown Phoenix for a prostitution bust, but we didn’t get past the lobby.Turns out, the $93 million building, at Fifth Avenue and Jackson Street, isn’t actually done yet, but we did get our…

There may be nothing more American than baseball and apple pie, but there’s nothing more Arizonan than guns and Governor Jan Brewer struggling to complete a sentence.Although the peak of Brewer-isms will likely always be her 2010 debate brain-fart, the nonsense and weirdness keep on comin’. Check out our picks…

Dear Readers: Behold your favorite Mexican’s annual Christmas gift guide, in which I give shout-outs to some of my favorite books that deserve your money this holiday season! And for once, I won’t recommend my books — ¡Ask a Mexican!, Orange County: A Personal History, and Taco USA: How Mexican…

As regional director of the Arizona office of the Anti-Defamation League, Bill Straus has been a rock, a stalwart opponent of hate in a river of acquiescers, squirmers, and equivocators. During the ongoing immigration debate in this state, many in public life caught a serious case of rubber spine or…

A  scorching, 120-degree breeze stirs dust in the streets before passing through the windowless ruins of former mansions on the flanks of Camelback Mountain. The largest ghost town in history extends to every horizon of the Valley of the Sun — now a superheated no man’s land of crumbling walls,…

A scorching, 120-degree breeze stirs dust in the streets before passing through the windowless ruins of former mansions on the flanks of Camelback Mountain. The largest ghost town in history extends to every horizon of the Valley of the Sun — now a superheated no man’s land of crumbling walls,…

Marijuana legalization in Arizona is either clearly supported by most people, or clearly not supported by most people, depending on which poll results you look at.Although two polls released earlier this year seemed to show most people were on-board with legalization, a poll released today says the opposite…

New campaign-contribution limits set this year by lawmakers will go into effect.Despite Arizona voters choosing to limit campaign contributions in 1998 by approving the Clean Elections Act, Republican lawmakers passed a bill raising the limits. That drew a lawsuit from the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission and others, who argued…

On behalf of the activists from Citizens for a Better Arizona, Santa Claus delivered sacks of coal to the offices of Governor Jan Brewer and Department of Economic Security Director Clarence Carter.It looks like Carter didn’t make Santa’s good list for his leadership of Child Protective Services, which ignored more…

In the past year, the Phoenix area has been compared to other cities around the country in many different studies and rankings.From best places to live to traffic and economic outlook, here are some of the best ways Phoenix beats out the rest of the country:…

A Tempe police officer was arrested this weekend after allegedly driving drunk at more than 120 mph in a bid to outrun on-duty officers.Then, authorities say, Tempe Police Officer Garrett Peterson posted $10,000 bond and led law enforcement on another high-speed chase, this time near Yuma…

The head of the team tasked with watching and helping Child Protective Services process more than 6,500 ignored cases says 119 cases that were previously sitting on the shelf actually necessitated an “immediate response.”Charles Flanagan, the director of Arizona’s juvenile corrections, who’s been assigned by the governor to run a…

In a precursor to a lawsuit, several residents of Yarnell have filed notices of claim with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, alleging their homes were destroyed due to inept and negligent firefighter management earlier this year.The notices come from the Scottsdale law firm Knapp & Roberts, the same firm that’s…

2013 hasn’t been the greatest year for Sheriff Joe Arpaio.From getting roughed up by a sidewalk to being on the losing end of a huge civil-rights lawsuit, check out our top-10 Arpaio stories of the year:…

A video that captures the Granite Mountain Hotshots’ last radio transmissions has been released, among other documentation from the Yarnell Hill Fire.The radio transmissions are captured by another firefighter’s helmet camera…

Newly released documents from the investigation released by the Arizona State Forestry Division describe widespread confusion among those at the scene of the deadly Yarnell Hill Fire.Although the report itself has been widely discounted for investigators’ refusal to assess any blame for the events that led up to the deaths…

This year was an important year for marijuana-related issues in Arizona.Some of the most important battles of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act were fought this year, and there appears to be a future for legalization. Check out the top 10 marijuana stories from New Times this year:…