It seemed like only a matter of time, but Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu announced this morning that he’ll run for Congress in Arizona’s Fourth Congressional District.”The American people are sounding a giant 911 call on Washington,” Babeu says. “And I’m responding.”In a press release issued this morning, Babeu regurgitated…
Happy January 4! Today’s the day we’ll find out whether Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will cooperate with the federal government in correcting some of the problems outlined in the Department of Justice’s report on the MCSO’s alleged racial profiling practices — or lead taxpayers head-first into another pricey lawsuit.As…
*UPDATE (7:13 p.m.): Good news — the weapon is semi-automatic. After publishing this post, Tempe police spokesman Steve Carbajal says he got word that the rifle is not automatic — despite his telling us about an hour ago that the TPD would not be releasing any additional information about the…
In a move that doesn’t come as much of a shock to anyone familiar with state politics in Arizona, Democratic state Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced today that she’s resigning from her Senate seat and running for Congress — potentially against Congressman Ben Quayle (although, that’s unlikely. More on that below)…
Jose Alfredo Rivera of Glendale and Bruce Allan Branscom of Mesa likely don’t know each other, but they’ve got something in common:Both were arrested on New Year’s Day for allegedly molesting 12-year-old girls.The situations are separate, but also shockingly similar. The suspects knew the victims in both cases.Branscom’s a 28-year-old…
It’s been more than a year since Senator John McCain mopped the floor with former congressman/phoney conservative/free government-money huckster J.D. Hayworth in Arizona’s GOP Senate primary, and the former congressman’s finally gotten around to getting himself a full-time job.A right-wing San Francisco radio station announced yesterday that it’s hired Hayworth…
Greg Stanton took the stage as Phoenix’s 52nd mayor and delivered an inauguration speech earlier today that, in part, announced his plans to develop a second bio-medical campus in north Phoenix with the Mayo Clinic and creation of a “Mayors’ Futures Forum on Education,” a way for Arizona mayors to champion…
Tempe residents who live near the Union Pacific rail line just north of Tempe will sleep easier this year after a “quiet zone” program takes effect later this month.Chandler and Phoenix are among the Valley cities that already have such programs, under which the railroad agrees that train operators will…
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge has denied state Senator Scott Bundgaard’s request to put a stop to the State Senate ethics hearing over the fight the senator got into with his former gal-pal on the side of a Valley highway last year.See our coverage of the scuffle the senator…
Omitting the Libertarian and Green parties as options to check on Arizona’s new voter registration forms is unfair and has already led to confusion, the parties say in a federal complaint.Representatives of the parties are suing state Secretary of State Ken Bennett in hopes of halting the new forms and…
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge today will consider whether to put a stop to the State Senate ethics hearing over the fight Senator Scott Bundgaard got into with his former gal-pal on the side of a Valley highway last year.Bundgaard’s attorneys have requested that Judge John Buttrick issue a…
Two hunters found 126 pounds of bundled pot lying in the desert near Sasabe, about a month after Border Patrol agents discovered 220 pounds of pot south of Dateland.Arizona’s desert has apparently become a treasure-hunters paradise — if your idea of treasure is tens of thousands of dollars worth of…
Just back from a fast-pitch softball tournament in, of all places, the wildly endless sprawl known as Sao Paulo, Brazil. They say that about 20 million people live in Sao Paulo, which makes it one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas. During “down time” from the games, which was about 90…
There probably aren’t too many people as happy to see 2011 come to an end as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — the 79-year-old sheriff had a particularly rough year in the PR department.Sadly, the sheriff’s actions (and in some cases his inaction) often reflect poorly on Arizona and the…
Horne’s office threw a pricey bone to law firm Burch & Cracchiolo in the MAS affairAs reported in a previous blog, Administrative Law Judge Lewis Kowal recently upheld Arizona Schools’ Superintendent John Huppenthal’s finding that Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American Studies program violates the state’s anti-ethnic studies statute, one…
The above video was brought to our attention by our friend Pete at Scottsdale Arizona News. Apparently, it’s of “two gays” beating up “one straight” at the Metrocenter Mall in west Phoenix. The identities of those involved are unknown, and we’ll (ahem) leave it up to you to pick out…
Arizona State University scientist Paul Davies and research technician Robert Wagner propose a sort of “why not” project in search of proof for extraterrestrial civilizations: In Acta Astronautica, an online scientific journal, they suggest inspecting new, close-up photos of Earth’s moon for signs of a visit by aliens, because artifacts on the…
At the ripe, old age of 15, Edward Angelo Jr. already is a convicted felon, which is why he’s now charged with another crime, this one stemming from the September Russian Roulette shooting death of one of his friends, 16-year-old Kevin Jervey Hudgens. The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office told New…
Saturday is New Year’s Eve, and for a lot of Valley residents, that’s apparently an invitation to randomly fire bullets into the sky. If you didn’t already know, the Phoenix Police Department wants to remind city residents that not only is blasting away at the sky an incredibly stupid thing…
Los Tigres del Norte, apparently not to Judge Kowal’s liking…Is there any doubt save in the most muddled of noggins that Arizona’s Latino population continues to dwell beneath the bootheel of a hostile political class made up almost entirely of Anglos?Yes, the successful recall of the state’s top bigot, former…
A former Arizona Department of Corrections officer accused of killing his wife earlier this month pleaded not guilty to murder in a Maricopa County Superior Court this morning. “She is definitely dead — I put two to the chest and one to the head.”That’s what the officer, Anthony Rinaldi –…
Brian Bizzell, a band teacher with the Buckeye Unified School District, was in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning where he pleaded not guilty to charges that he had a sexual relationship with one of his underage students — prior to his arrest, Bizzell tried to arrange a “quickie” with…
