How come there are a bunch of fair-skinned European-looking guys running Mexico? When I am in Mexico, I see them having power lunches in fine restaurants, driving Beemers and escorting absolutely breathtaking women with long legs and high cheekbones around town. Who are these guys? How can I become one…
Paula Varela wanted to show me something. During a recent visit to her modest, well-kept South Phoenix home, the small, 79-year-old woman led me to a dining room next to the kitchen and turned on the light. Spread out on a table were at least 10 plaques featuring photos of…
SOLAR FLARE Small-towners nearly got swindled: Too bad such a worthy [endeavor] — bringing solar energy to fruition in a sunshine state like Arizona — is sullied by charlatans (“The Sunshine Salesmen,” Ray Stern, April 12). But you can see how this could happen. First, experienced con men go to…
Larry Dever, sheriff of Cochise County since 1997, dialed Paul Babeu’s cell phone on the morning of February 18. Overnight, he’d read a story going viral on the New Times website. It was about the Pinal County sheriff, a political ally of Dever’s and a Republican candidate for a U.S…
There’s one general conclusion I have after reading and re-reading the transcript of Wednesday’s oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court over Senate Bill 1070: Latinos and their allies cannot rely on the federal government or the courts for a long term solution to the overt bigotry that spawned SB…
Twenty-seven years ago, a 40-year-old named Luis Gonzales, was struck and killed by a train near Central Avenue.The man had no identification except for a workplace time card that contained his name and the wrong date of birth, which pegged him as a 53-year-old.Another Luis Gonzales with that birthdate was…
Lawyers for Maricopa County and Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox have agreed on a schedule to present their court arguments for why the county should pay Wilcox a $975,000 settlement. As one of the targets of failed investigations by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Wilcox is suing the sheriff…
It’s like 2010 all over again, with the Phoenix-based civil rights group Puente leading an anti-SB 1070 protest with a “march route [that] exposes collaborators in Arpaio’s human rights crisis.”As you can see on the map, the demonstration begins at 3 p.m. at Phoenix’s Civic Space Park, 424 North Central…
Just as oral arguments wrapped up at the U.S. Supreme Court over SB 1070, Arizona’s controversial immigration-enforcement law that essentially criminalizes an undocumented immigrant’s presence in Arizona, Congressman Paul Gosar made an appearance on MSNBC. Gosar is running for a seat in Arizona’s conservative Fourth Congressional District against embattled Pinal…
Unless something unusual happens, longtime death row inmate Thomas Kemp will die in less than two hours after the State of Arizona injects him with lethal poison. Thomas Kemp: Dead man walking Kemp, who is 63, will be the third Arizona inmate to be executed already in this still-youngish year.Without commenting…
A semi-truck and a passenger struck a downed motorcyclist lying in the middle of a lane on the Loop 101 at about 10:30 p.m. last night, and neither vehicle stopped. It’s unclear whether the motorcyclist was killed by those impacts, or from the wipe-out that preceded the collisions. The Department…
Three Philadelphia homers and a controversial call against the Diamondbacks led to a 8-5 Arizona loss last night at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix. One of the homers, by the Phillies’ Shane Victorino, went 421 feet, which officially is a bomb. It came off lefty reliever Mike Zagurski, who was…
Recent tragedies involving Valley bicyclists hit by vehicles have spurred activists to bring awareness to the problem with a “Ride of Honor” on May 19.On April 11, an SUV driven by Amy Alexander of Scottsdale plowed into a another Scottsdale resident, 53-year-old Shawn McCarty, who’d been riding in a bike…
Pearce confronts DREAM Act students in 2010I’ll have more to say soon about recalled former state Senate President Russell Pearce’s Tuesday appearance at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Senate Bill 1070. There was some good stuff in the nearly two hour donnybrook, especially from U.S. Senator from Illinois…
Here’s a quick rundown on Maricopa County news today:* Andrew Peyton Thomas, former Maricopa County Attorney, failed politician and author of right-wing books, won’t appeal a state Supreme Court Disciplinary Panel’s decision to cancel his law license. We’ve cut-and-pasted his wussyish comments about being railroaded below. As Thomas explained in…
A police report on the April 11 collision that killed bicyclist Shawn McCarty sheds no light on why Scottsdale resident Amy Alexander’s SUV drifted into a bike lane.Alexander’s Chevy Tahoe slammed into the back of McCarty’s bicycle on a Sunday afternoon, causing the 53-year-old to fly into the air and…
Jonathan Knight — who taught Tae Kwon Do to children in Gilbert — pleaded guilty today to charges related to sending pictures of his penis to a 12-year-old former student of his.Knight pleaded guilty to two counts of furnishing obscene or harmful items to a minor, as well as luring…
Thinking President Obama’s reelection bid could include a victory in Arizona is apparently not a romantic left-wing fantasy, a new poll suggests.Sure there’s some time left between April and November, and its only 488 registered Arizona voters, but a contest between President Obama and GOP nominee-in-waiting Mitt Romney would be…
A woman is lurking under the crusty exterior of Governor Jan Brewer, but you wouldn’t know it looking at the laws she inks. On April 12, Brewer signed HB2036, also known as the “Mother’s Health and Safety Act.” The law prohibits abortion after 20 weeks “except in cases when the…
A Peoria man is accused of driving off in a police car this morning, after being handcuffed behind his back and placed in the back of the car.Peoria police spokesman Jay Davies tells New Times that today’s events started around 6:30 a.m., as 24-year-old Nicholas Wade Fields allegedly broke into…
Queerty, a popular online magazine, offered commentary about a $1,000-a-ticket fundraiser that Log Cabin Republicans are hosting for “scandal-plagued” Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, summing up the situation thusly: Vom. From Queerty: In the fantasy world Republicans live in, a closeted sheriff accused of threatening to deport his Mexican ex-amigo…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has ordered a lockdown on parts of the 4th Avenue Jail, as the sheriff’s office says the Mexican Mafia is “attempting to control” the jail.”Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio ordered parts of the maximum security 4th Avenue Jail be placed on indefinite lockdown as racial…
