A convicted felon is accused of murdering a 14-year-old Claudia Ann Lucero, whose body was found in a Mesa dumpster on Friday.Mesa police announced the arrest of 31-year-old Alex Madrid, an ex-boyfriend of Lucero’s mother. Mesa Police Chief Frank Milstead said detectives believe Madrid sexually assaulted the girl and strangled…
Instead of waiting for the understaffed Child Protective Services to get around to looking into the ignored cases of abuse in Scottsdale, the police department announced that it’s going to help out.Of the 6,554 ignored reports to the CPS hotline, 143 occurred in Scottsdale, and the police department’s making a…
If you’re the type of person who still has faith in humanity, you probably haven’t seen the list of 27,438 custom license plates that have been rejected in Arizona.This list includes people who wanted to drive around every day with their license plates reading “BBYDCK,” “HOTNUTZ,” “VAGKING,” or one of…
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has scheduled “community outreach meetings,” as ordered by a federal judge in the Melendres v. Arpaio civil rights case.According to the judge’s order, “The MCSO shall clarify for the public at these meetings that it does not enforce immigration laws except to the extent that…
Just because Arizona’s major sports teams haven’t made postseason runs this year doesn’t mean their weren’t some amazing moments.Between the Diamondbacks, Suns, Coyotes, Cardinals, and ASU, we have the top 10 moments in Arizona sports this year:…
While the National Security Agency has become the subject of public controversy this year, state Senator Kelli Ward, a Republican, plans on proposing legislation to keep the agency out of Arizona.The Tenth Amendment Center announced today that Ward plans on introducing model legislation “to stop her state from supporting the…
Despite their best efforts to get rid of Walt “Hondo” Hunter, Florence Police Chief Dan Hughes and Lieutenant Terry Tryon were forced to accept him back as a member of the Florence Police Department. The pair orchestrated Hunter’s termination in December over alleged town policy violations. But Hunter appealed and…
An 18-year-old shot two people at a Christmas party in Tempe yesterday, killing one, after getting kicked out of the party twice, police say.According to court documents obtained by New Times, Daniel Taylor was asked to leave the party because he wasn’t invited, but returned wearing a clown mask, and…
The massive roll-out of solar panels and structural supports at Arizona State University in the last couple of years is already nearly paying for itself, ASU Magazine reports this month. In the magazine’s December edition, an article on “carbon neutrality” by Texas freelance writer Eric Butterman, (they can’t find a…
Phoenix is planning to maintain the same water and sewer rates for single-family homes in 2014. It marks the second year that the Water Services Department is not proposing a rate hike for Phoenix homes. City officials report that the average single-family residential water bill will remain at $37.75 per…
Senator Leah Landrum Taylor is making her bid for Arizona Secretary of State official as she winds down on nearly 16 years as a state lawmaker. In pre-campaign announcement — her official announcement is expect at 10 a.m. today at the Capitol Rose Garden — she said that as she’s…
There are just four states where guns are so popular that they have an official state gun — and you bet Arizona’s one of them.From gun laws, crimes, statistics, accidents, and trends, there’s been a lot of gun-related news around Arizona this year. We bring you our top 10 gun…
Welcome to Courthouse Update, a weekly rundown of goings-on at the Maricopa County Superior Court.This week, a Valley attorney gets some jail time for a deadly DUI crash, a former Scottsdale CPA gets a lengthy prison sentence, Jodi Arias gets her news on Twitter, and more:…
Arizona State University fell well short of its bid to appear in the team’s first appearance in the Rose Bowl game since 1997.Stanford beat ASU 38-14, in a classic case of déjà vu…
In case you missed any news action this week, we’ve got you covered.Here’s our recap of the most-read news stories of the week:…
Arizona State University is playing for the Pac-12 championship trophy tomorrow, in a rematch with a Stanford team that just about blew up the Sun Devils earlier this year.In anticipation of tomorrow’s game, we have 10 (almost-serious) ways ASU can beat Stanford this time around:…
Congressman Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from southern Arizona, got 27 other congressional Democrats to sign on to a letter urging President Obama suspend deportations.Grijalva and the other Dems want the Obama Administration’s deferred-action program expanded, from just some young people brought to the country when they were younger, to all…
All season, New Times has been documenting the tailgate parties outside Sun Devil Stadium before the football games at Arizona State University.In advance of this weekend’s Pac-12 Championship Game in Tempe, we bring you the 30 best ASU tailgating photos of the year:…
Drunk driving is bad.With that out of the way, here’s where police will be setting up “saturation patrols” around the Valley, looking for impaired drivers this weekend:…
Imagine the horrific scenario. Members of a football team in a small community are involved in the alleged rape of a 16-year-old high school girl at an alcohol-drenched party. The intoxicated victim can’t remember anything, but her attack is captured on video by other students with cell phones…
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 find the happiest group of…
Following up with Wednesday’s news that a $559,000 penalty was assessed against the Arizona State Forestry Division for “serious” safety violations in the Yarnell Hill Fire, the agency in charge of assessing that fine says it’s one of the biggest ever.A couple of points about that fine: The forestry division…
