In the most recent blow to Maricopa County’s reputation throughout the country, the latest jobs report is out, and it ain’t pretty for the Valley.Among the county’s other embarrassing, um, problems — law enforcement and prosecutorial, mainly — Maricopa County is now the No. 2 county in the country for net job…
Pick a job, any job…Paradise Valley Mayor and political rookie Vernon Parker’s PR honcho, Jason Rose, reluctantly confirmed to New Times today that the mayor is dropping out of the race for governor and is planning on filing paperwork this week to officially make him a candidate for the congressional…
I watched an interesting video yesterday, one that generally belies the claims of Phoenix anarchists that they were attacked by Phoenix cops and that the cops were being overly aggressive with them. The video was reportedly taken by a supporter of the anarchist faction, who initially believed that it backed…
It looks like the East Valley Tribune isn’t the only Valley Freedom Communications-owned newspaper that will get a new lease on life this year — the Trib’s buyer reportedly wants to buy all of Freedom’s Valley papers.The Trib had announced it would shut its doors on January 1, but a…
We knew Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was desperate to read e-mails penned by judges and court staffers. But even we had no idea he was this desperate. According to documents obtained by New Times, Arpaio has actually agreed to pay Washington, D.C., attorney Carter G. Phillips $990 — per hour…
State Senator Pam Gorman announced that she will be joining the growing field of potential replacements for Congressman John Shadegg. Gorman says that Washington D.C. politicians are “out of control” and she seems to think she can change that. This is the same Pam Gorman who caused a bit of a…
The Phoenix Suns former big man (and ex-Sherriff’s, um, deputy), Shaquille O’Neal, is suing a Phoenix man for use of the nickname Shaq received when he first came to the desert. The word in question — like the Valley’s great saguaro cactus — exists almost nowhere else in the world. That…
We wouldn’t want to be Suns Coach Alvin Gentry. Amar’e Stoudemire trade talk has bubbled up again. The wheels have come off Gentry’s team. And he’s gotta do something to fix it. The Suns just went 0-4 on a road trip that took them to Indiana, Atlanta, Charlotte, and finally Memphis.They were humiliated by the…
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: Feathered Bastard: More Video of Anarchists’ Altercation with Phoenix PD, So Far, the Video Does Not Back…
Representative Judy Burges is at it again. The Skull Valley Republican, who’s introduced such laughable legislation as the “I didn’t pay enough fund,” which asks taxpayers to donate money to the state to help Arizona out of it’s current financial nightmare, has introduced a new bill that feeds the controversial fire…
The trial for the man accused of murdering a speed-camera operator as he sat parked on a Valley freeway has been delayed so psychologists can determine whether he is competent to be tried.Thomas Patrick Destories, 68, was scheduled to stand trial on January 11 for a first-degree murder charge stemming…
Arizona Republic political reporter Matt Benson was pegged last week as the newest addition to Secretary of State Ken Bennett’s office.Benson, who has been a reporter for at the Republic since 2005, has joined Team Bennett as the secretary’s communications director. The move, however, seems fairly sudden, and the Republic…
Winchester, the small Oro Valley cancer-surviving dog that was found semi-conscious and lying in a pool of his own feces on New Year’s Day, died Thursday after fighting off death for about two weeks.Winchester went missing on New Year’s Eve and was found by a dog-sitter in his owner’s yard…
Political rookie and Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker is putting his gubernatorial ambitions on hold for a few days to mull over a possible run for the District 3 Congressional seat.The seat is currently held by Congressman John Shadegg, who announced last week that he won’t be seeking re-election. Parker,…
The Democratic candidate to fill Ted Kennedy’s vacant Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat made one of the biggest errors a Boston-area politico could make last week: She called Curt Schilling a Yankees fan.On the radio show Nightside with Dan Rea, Massachusetts Senate hopeful Martha Coakley inexplicably claimed that the Diamondbacks former…
Another video of Saturday’s showdown between cops and anarchists, watch for the conflict to begin about 4 minutes inAs the debate roils online about the pepper-spraying incident at Saturday’s anti-Arpaio march, more video is being posted to the Internet, and so far, the video does not back the anarchists’ account…
“[The Cardinals] defense is effing worthless” and “if Neil Rackers has a job tomorrow I’m becoming a Saints fan” were two of several utterances that could be overheard at the Cadillac Ranch in Tempe by disgruntled fans after the Cards 45-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Saturday. And they…
The Phoenix Suns are not a very good basketball team right now. And it was a particularly dismal weekend on the road for Alvin Gentry’s squad, whose impressive start to the season (they went 14-3) has been all but squandered in recent weeks. At the halfway point of the season,…
An ASU student has been awarded a 2010 Martin Luther King Servant-Leadership Award. Dominck Hernandez is a senior business major from ASU’s Polytechnic campus, and he was recognized for founding student groups for sustainability and leadership and success, as well as his activism in protesting the university’s budget cuts…Chad Biggs,…
A YouTube video by “dorkatron” showing a cop on horseback deploying her pepper sprayI was just sent a link to this YouTube video above showing the female officer on horseback from Saturday’s march, pepper-spraying the anarchists who’ve surrounded her. At least, they appear to be mostly anarchists, with clichéd black…
California videographer Naui’s footage from the pepper spray incident…the title and content is Naui’s alone…I am so disgusted by today’s events at the big anti-Arpaio march to Joe’s jails that I hardly know where to begin. The saddest part of it is that a mostly-peaceful demonstration of over 10,000 persons,…
I’m on my way down to Phoenix’s Falcon Park, where one of the largest anti-Arpaio marches in history is now gathering, but I would be remiss if I didn’t post a short note about the fundraiser at Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox’s El Portal restaurant last night, where around…
