James Drorbaugh describes every computer user’s worst nightmare: While he was away or inattentive, an unscrupulous, perverted acquaintance downloaded hundreds of disgusting images and videos of child pornography, resulting in a raid of Drorbaugh’s home and, ultimately, a pending prison sentence of at least four years. We wrote about the…
As Mr. Zimmerman once crooned long ago, the times they are a changin’, and though progress has generally leap-frogged our benighted state, there are odd signs that Arizona is slouching toward the 21th Century, like some rough beast come round at last. See also: -Arizona Organix Steps Out as the…
“Birther” attorney and Sheriff Joe Arpaio fan Larry Klayman has filed a federal lawsuit against New Times and our Minneapolis sister paper, City Pages, claiming “defamation.”Klayman’s lawsuit points to New Times and City Pages blog posts that cite an appellate court ruling from Ohio, a public record, affirming a magistrate…
Rather than face the consequences for charges related to the brutal rape of a woman in Tempe, it looks like 23-year-old Lane Halona killed himself this weekend.Halona was arrested on March 17, the morning after he punched a woman in the back of the head, pulled her behind some bushes,…
A Phoenix woman is accused of shoving a vibrator into her 2-year-old son’s anus, and doctors told police that surgery will be required to remove it.According to court documents obtained by New Times, 21-year-old Rickesha Burns called police Sunday, reporting that her son was bleeding from his anus…
The state-regulated medical-marijuana dispensary industry that Arizona voters approved in late 2010 is becoming a reality, with three new retail shops opening this week. Two dispensaries were slated to open today: One in Glendale (the city that already supports the only medical-pot facility in the Phoenix metro area), and another…
A Valley attorney and former Maricopa County medical examiner is accused of running over and killing a woman lying in a roadway while driving drunk, then driving away.Aimee Lorine Butel, listed in court documents obtained by New Times as an attorney for the Phoenix law firm Knapp & Roberts, is…
Saying that Genaro Silva was upset after finding out that his girlfriend had another guy in her Mesa apartment is an understatement.According to police, Silva’s girlfriend was still trying to clean up the man’s blood from her apartment two days after Silva beat the man to death with a hammer,…
A three-day bench trial has been scheduled for Bryan Teague, the Peoria man who authorities say admitted to starting last summer’s “Mistake Peak” fire with a propane tank. Despite his admission, Teague has pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanor charges: carelessly placing or throwing a substance that could cause a…
Due to the fact that “birther” attorney Larry Klayman isn’t the best at using electronic mail, and asked if the chairman of the organization trying to recall Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a “homo” who “want[s] my nuts.”See, Klayman wanted to forward an e-mail from Respect Arizona chairman William James Fisher,…
Few public acts by Governor Jan Brewer have been so odious, so hateful and so obviously unfair as her executive order denying driver’s licenses to those young men and women, brought here as children, who benefit from President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. See also: -Jan Brewer Not on…
Police arrested Christopher Jurgens yesterday with thousands of images of child porn on his computer and a garage full of coloring books, toys, and Hello Kitty gear. Jurgens, 46, admitted he prefers boys in the 12- to 15-year-old age range, but has “seen children younger,” according to a police report. …
If you happened to leave about 4,000 pounds of weed in southern Maricopa County, you’re about to be very disappointed.The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office says deputies in a helicopter spotted two trucks covered in camouflage tarps in a desert area near Gila Bend, which were “stuffed so tightly with marijuana…
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, who pledged during this 2011 mayoral campaign to repeal the city’s 2 percent emergency food tax by April 1, is not likely to deliver on that promise. Stanton says he not betraying public trust. “I believed the economy was going to be in a better place,…
James Oliver Drorbaugh, 35, will get four to six years in prison when he’s sentenced on May 6 for possessing child pornography, his plea agreement shows. Drorbaugh, who’s lived in Payson and Chandler, was busted in 2011 after an undercover FBI agent downloaded child porn from his computer using a…
Reporters for the New York Times rode a subway this week to ask riders about Scottsdale.In the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau’s latest attempt to get New Yorkers to visit Scottsdale, it’s decorated subway cars, themed with potential tourist draws, like golf. The best part of this being, of course,…
Forest Service employees at the Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona spent the last two days picking up more than 4,000 pounds of cow poop — and they didn’t get all of it.According to information released by the Forest Service, cows on a property adjacent to the forest broke down…
Believe it or not, there’s a purpose to taking someone’s picture when they’re booked into jail.The preceding sentence appears to have been left out of the training manual for the jail guards at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office…
Police have arrested a man they suspect was the driver during a fatal hit and run accident weeks ago. Phoenix PD have charged Christopher W Chevalier with manslaughter, tampering with physical evidence and leaving the scene of a fatal collision…
Phoenix Sky Harbor tweeted yesterday that its new PHX Sky Train will open April 8th. The Sky Train will ferry visitors from parking lots, the car rental area, the light rail stop on 44th Street and to the various terminals. So far, workers have completed 1.7 miles of track. But…
“Birther” attorney Larry Klayman, who is fighting the recall of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, wants to know if the chairman of the Arpaio recall organization is a “homo” who “want[s] my nuts.”Klayman probably didn’t mean to let everyone know he asked that, but it appears that Klayman isn’t very good at…
What was the most fun for me as a columnist during the recall of ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce — other than watching Pearce crash and burn? That nearly all the pundits in Arizona ended up being as wrong as white shoes after Labor Day. See also: -Joe Arpaio Recall…
