In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries:…
Two likely very unhappy campers are getting questioned today in connection with a campfire left burning on May 29 that apparently started the largest wildfire in Arizona history. Media reports state that the feds aren’t releasing names, nor have they arrested anyone. Meanwhile, the nearly half-million-acre Wallow fire is…
The Mormon church announced last week that it advocates a type of amnesty for illegal immigrants who “square themselves with the law and continue to work” in the United States. The statement, published on the church’s website, also takes aim at harsh anti-illegal-immigrant laws like those passed in Arizona and…
Alleged Phoenix scammer Donald Lapre, owner of the company The Best Vitamin in the World, has been indicted for allegedly swindling thousands of people out of more than $50 million by having them buy his essentially “worthless” franchises. In a 41-count indictment returned last week, the U.S. Department of Justice…
he Catholic Diocese of Phoenix has researched and cataloged an index of its clergymen accused of sexually abusing kids and now has released some of their identities to the public. Spearheaded by Bishop Thomas Olmsted, the Diocese is putting out a list of sexually abusive clergymen on its newly revamped website. The…
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has left the Houston hospital where she’s been recovering for the last several months after getting shot in the face during the January 8, Tucson shooting rampage.She will be living in her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly’s, League City, Texas, home, about 26 miles from Houston.Giffords will continue…
For the record, real-life criminal trials are not at all like what appears on Law and Order. …
A Phoenix man who claims he learned to kill while a member of the Cuban military was sentenced in Maricopa County Superior Court today to 22 years in prison for fatally snapping his girlfriend’s neck during an argument. Hermenegildo Cardenes Morffah pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder for the September 2010 killing…
A Nogales-based Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent was arrested yesterday for allegedly handing over sensitive government documents to family members with “strong” ties to drug cartels.According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Jovana Samaniego Deas, 33, a special agent with the agency’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, illegally accessed, stole, and…
Alleged pimp Chad Walker had an issue with one of his gals not getting the money from a client upfront. As is often the case when a pimp needs to show the strength of his pimp-hand, he beat up the prostitute — who happens to be a 15-year-old runaway from…
Harrison Prather, whose company recently sold a $230,000 “protection dog” to a Scottsdale man, says, in his 36 years in the business, not one of his animals has bit a family member. We spent some time chatting with the CEO and Founder and Harrison K-9 in South Carolina yesterday, following our somewhat snarky blog…
Undocumented Arizona State University graduate Erika Andiola won the Freedom from Fear Award this morning, a national prize given to immigration activists by Public Interest Projects. Andiola won for advocacy on behalf of the DREAM Act, as well as for her confrontations with legislators such as Senate President Russell Pearce and U.S…
Sorry, ladies — if you were hoping to star in one of Valley-based Backroom Casting Couch’s “reality” porn flicks, we’ve got some bad news: the website’s star — who’s seen on video having unprotected sex with dozens of local women — has herpes. And he may be in a little…
Pro-immigrant activist Sal Reza, leader of the Phoenix human-rights group Puente, announced Tuesday that he’s suing state Senate President Russell Pearce in federal court for falsely arresting him on suspicion of trespassing and denying him access to the Senate building.In addition to Pearce, the complaint names as defendants two Arizona…
Gary Whalen, a conservative candidate vying for a District 1 Phoenix City Council seat, withdrew his name from the ballot this morning.He also pulled down his campaign website (electgarywhalen.com) and scrubbed his Facebook page.Whalen is retreating from the race after New Times wrote about his January arrest at his north…
A four-hour standoff with cops ended last night when a Phoenix police sniper shot a woman in the face.Details of shooting are sketchy, but the woman survived — for now — and another woman was taken into custody.Phoenix police were contacted about 7:30 p.m. yesterday by a bail bondsman who told…
hat a difference a year makes. Last season, the San Francisco Giants were the top team in the National League West, racking up victories en route to winning their first World Series in more than 50 years. Meanwhile, the Arizona Diamondbacks were dwelling in the cellar as one of the…
Yesterday marked Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 79th birthday. L’chaim. Yet the aging law dog swears he plans to run for another four-year term as sheriff — laughably, he’s also not ruled out a run for the presidency.As a reader pointed out in the comment section of New Times’ official…
In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries:…
Firing more than 70 shots at anyone might seem like overkill, but the Pima County Attorney’s Office determined that the 71 shots the county’s SWAT Team fired at 26-year-old Jose Guerena were justified.Guerena, an Iraq War veteran, was hit 22 times and killed in the hail of bullets, according to the…
Would-be marijuana dispensary owners and their lawyers filed lawsuits today in an attempt to reverse Governor Jan Brewer’s attack on a voter-approved law. Last month, Brewer directed state Attorney General Tom Horne to file a federal lawsuit against the new law, which voters narrowly passed in the November election. Horne admitted to…
Registered sex offender Joe Robbins just couldn’t fight “the urge” — to feel up his 12-year-old neighbor at a Peoria trailer park.After admitting to fondling the girl in front of her 14-year-old sister, Robbins told police he had gulped a few drinks before the incident. He said he felt the urge…
