An execution date finally has been set for an Arizona killer convicted of murdering a 13-year-old girl as she collected money for her paper route at a Tempe apartment complex in 1984.After nearly 26 years on Death Row — on the taxpayer dime — 56-year-old Donald Edward Beaty will be put to death…
No, Paul Verrell of Tucson doesn’t want to put away his @$#%@$#% iPod. Verrell, 20, was arrested today at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Connecticut, after swearing at a Southwest Airlines flight crew and airport workers. The curse words began flowing after he was told to put away his electronic…
President Barack Obama is hosting a meeting to outline his views on immigration reform this afternoon with top cabinet officials and national politicians, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the Reverend Al Sharpton — but no members of congress are expected to attend…
We’ve given it the old college try, but State Representative Jim Weiers (R-Phoenix) apparently doesn’t want to talk about his reported role in the SCA criminal investigation. As our article on the campaign-finance scandal this week and previous blog posts mention, Weiers’ name came up in the 802-page report…
Former Congressman Matt Salmon announced today that he plans to run to replace Congressman Jeff Flake as the U.S. representative from Arizona’s sixth Congressional district.Flake already has announced that he’s running for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Jon Kyl.Salmon and Flake have a lot in common: They’re both…
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal apparently is trying to steal some of Arizona’s far-right-wing “birther” thunder. As you’ve probably heard, the sudden rash of “birther” legislation is a ludicrous response to the repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and is therefore not a U.S. citizen. After…
There’s a video applauded in the Conservative blogosphere of a man showing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio a copy of the Constitution as the sheriff rants, raves, and pats himself on the back for his crusade to rid stock rooms at retail stores of illegal immigrants.Despite doing nothing to warrant such behavior…
An amateur Avondale tattoo artist who traded a tattoo for sex with a teenage girl was sentenced to prison today after pleading guilty to two counts of attempted child prostitution and two counts of unlawful tattooing for the April 2010 incident.Juan Lara, 38, was in a Maricopa County Superior Court…
A Chandler woman who’s been missing since Friday has been located and is apparently OK.According to the Chandler Police Department, 18-year-old Trinity Olsen-Galeai called police this morning to report that she was not in any danger…
When I read the recent Salon.com article “How a boycott meant to save Arizona is hurting it,” I wondered to myself how its author, a woman by the name of Drew Grant, ended up writing such an insipid, one-sided piece about the Sound Strike, a piece that’s essentially a Q…
Phoenix officials have not kept track of who’s been kicking back in the city-owned suite at the U.S. Airways Center watching Phoenix Suns games or rocking out to legends like Elton John. But they’re supposed to, according to their own policy.The shoddy record-keeping, which goes back to at least 2005,…
An eight-person jury is to start deliberations today in a difficult case involving a suicidal Phoenix woman and a national right-to-die organization. Superior Court Judge Paul McMurdie is presiding at the manslaughter trial of co-defendants Larry Egbert and Frank Langsner, who are charged in the 2007 assisted suicide of 58-year-old Jana…
To quote a New Times colleague, the Coyotes run at Lord Stanley’s Cup is pretty much “ovah.”The Howlers dropped game three of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs 4-2 to the Detroit Red Wings last night, and they looked like hell doing it.Both of the Coyotes’ goals came…
Yesterday, Governor Jan Brewer shocked everyone when she didn’t cave to the state Legislature’s right-wing crazies and vetoed three bills that were humiliating for Arizona/products of right-wing kookery.Brewer refused to sign the infamous “Birther Bill,” which would force presidential candidates to prove they are natural-born United States citizens before their name…
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:…
It pains us, but big props must go out to Governor Jan Brewer, who today vetoed one of the most ridiculous, conspiracy-based, purely symbolic pieces of legislative garbage to pass through the Arizona Legislature: the humiliating “Birther Bill.”Check out some of the other nutty legislation the governor vetoed today here…
Chalk up another embarrassing defeat for state Senate President Russell Pearce and his fellow Republinuts on three bills they desperately wanted: the birther bill, the guns on campus wackiness, and a bill allowing for an anti-health care reform compact among the states.Governor Jan Brewer has just vetoed all three measures…
A well-publicized medical marijuana expo at University of Phoenix Stadium over the weekend attracted fewer people than some disappointed vendors expected. Others, however, called the Green Relief Convention and Expo, which took place Thursday, Friday and Saturday, a success. A few thousand people showed up to check out the dozens of vendor booths…
Young Cincinnati Reds starter Mike Leake was arrested this afternoon for stealing $59.88 worth of American Rag T-shirts, according to the Cincinnati Police arrest report. Leake is one of the better young pitchers in baseball, a hot prospect drafted out of ASU who the Cincinnati Reds threw straight onto their…
An 18-year-old Chandler woman is missing and police need your help tracking her down.Trinity Olsen-Galeai was last seen about 9:30 Friday night. According to the Chandler Police Department, she has missed several appointments since, which is unlike her.Olsen-Galeai is described as a Pacific islander. She is about 5-foot-8 and 135…
It’s official: the state of Arizona would “prefer” you not be a gay if you want to adopt a kid.Governor Jan Brewer today signed a bill into law that makes it as difficult as humanly possible for gay people to adopt children in Arizona.The new law doesn’t necessarily say homosexuals…
Casslyn Welch, the alleged accomplice of three Arizona prison inmates who escaped custody last year and went on a murderous rampage through several states, pleaded not guilty to federal murder charges in New Mexico this morning.Last week, Welch, the fiancee/cousin of one of the escaped inmates, pleaded guilty to state-level…
