In the border town of Nogales, Sonora, where buses drop off the newly deported every few hours on the American side, almost everyone seems to have been through Operation Streamline, a U.S. Border Patrol program that aims to hit all migrants entering the United States illegally with a criminal conviction…
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:…
The folks at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are in a huff because officials at Arizona State University refused to allow a student organization associated with the group to run a grotesque 20-second ad on televisions in the school’s Memorial Union — where many students eat.We can’t blame…
Following the second highly publicized, unsolved murder of an Arizona State University student in six months, the Tempe Police Department has come under fire for its handling of violent crimes. The department responded to media inquiries about crime statistics by issuing a press release yesterday touting how violent crime has…
A fictional sheriff whose policies bear an uncanny resemblance to those of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was featured as a child rapist/murderer last week on CBS’ Medium show. At least one Arpaio-lovin’ blogger blew a gasket over the depiction, which comes a few weeks after news that a racist character in the movie Machete…
Senator John McCain recently released a campaign ad for Congressional candidate Jesse Kelly, which wouldn’t be a big deal if Kelly weren’t endorsed by the same anti-immigration group that gave The Maverick’s opponent in the GOP primary a nod — an endorsement McCain quickly asked his opponent to disavow.Earlier this…
So was anyone surprised by neo-Nazi-hugging state Senator Russell Pearce’s press conference yesterday announcing that he’ll be targeting U.S. citizen children in a racist attempt to undermine the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee of birthright citizenship?Well, you might have been had you read an October 10, Associated Press piece discussing…
A day after a Phoenix police sergeant was found shot to death near the Arizona Capitol, a Department of Public Safety officer was found dead in a hotel room at a Scottsdale resort, and DPS officials suspect it may have been suicide.Officer/paramedic Mark Serna, 43, of New River, was found dead…
A homeless Mesa man got knifed by a woman — who also happened to be a Mesa transient — yesterday morning and then denied that the woman had anything to do with the stabbing.Police got a call about 10 a.m. yesterday about a stabbing at 418 South Macdonald Road. When they…
As you probably know, there was some shocking news out of the District Three Congressional race earlier this week — according to a new poll, Republican candidate Ben Quayle trails his Democratic opponent, Jon Hulburd, by two points, 46 to 44 percent.If the poll, funded by a liberal Web site, is to…
Following Governor Jan Brewer’s jaw-dropping performance in the last gubernatorial debate, she reaffirmed her vow to not participate in more debates — despite challenges from her Democratic opponent, Terry Goddard. Last month, we called Governor Jan Brewer’s campaign to throw her handlers a hypothetical: if the other candidates scheduled a debate…
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:…
Bill Montgomery hasn’t been elected Maricopa County Attorney yet, but he’s already formed a transition team and has been meeting with elected officials. Can’t say we blame him, since there isn’t a snowball’s chance in Phoenix that he’ll lose November 2’s general election to Libertarian Michael Kielsky. Montgomery won the Republican primary election…
Baseball great Kirk Gibson, who recently shed the “interim” from his title of Arizona Diamondbacks interim-manager, is auctioning off a piece of baseball history.Gibson announced today that he will auction off the bat he used to hit a home run in game one of the 1988 World Series.If you’re not a…
Like a lot of states, Florida has recently drafted its own version of SB 10-70, Arizona’s controversial immigration bill. The bills are very similar, but there is one difference: Canadians and people from certain European countries get a free pass because people from those countries are usually white thanks to…
The Arizona Democratic Party launched a website poking fun at Secretary of State Ken Bennett for getting chummy with the lobbyists that he is “duty bound to ensure … are regulated and kept in line.”The website, Lobbyists Love Ken, is dressed in pink, covered in hearts and even comes with…
Perhaps it was seeing Justin Draper’s 1-year-old boy scream for his daddy in the courtroom. Or that four years have gone by. Or maybe even that “angels were in the room.” Whatever it was, something changed in Jane Draycott’s heart on Friday during Draper’s sentencing hearing. And it happened right in the middle…
They say pimpin’ aint easy. Sometimes it’s so hard that a pimp is forced to take drastic measures to keep his pimp hand strong — like throwing a McDonald’s cheeseburger at a prostitute because his milkshake wasn’t included with his order.Seems (ahem) rational.That’s what ultimately led to the arrest of…
The Phoenix Police Department has identified the sergeant found shot to death near the state capitol last night.The deceased officer is 35-year-old Sergeant Sean Drenth.Drenth is a 12-year veteran of the department and leaves behind his wife of 13 years and his mother.In 2003, Drenth received the department’s medal of…
As always, we take all polls with a grain of salt. And two polls — one released by the Arizona Republican Party, and one released by the Republican candidate for Attorney General, Tom Horne — are part of the reason why.The Arizona Democratic Party feels it owes the GOP a…
KPHO ran story last night about the criminal history of the wife of the cop who witnessed Phoenix Police Officer Richard Chrisman allegedly go berserk in a Phoenix trailer earlier this month, ultimately killing a dog and an unarmed man.That officer, Sergio Vergillo, was heralded by many as a hero…
A failed crime spree came to an abrupt end yesterday, when a Tucson man crashed a police cruiser he’d stolen into a bus. He died.The unidentified 34-year-old man began his trail of mayhem around 3:50 p.m. yesterday, when police say he tried to steal a car with several people in…
