Is the fix in for former state House Minority Leader David Lujan’s becoming the replacement for ex-state Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who recently announced her bid for U.S. Congress?Or will his infamous no-show for the Senate Bill 1070 vote in 2010 deny him a return to the state Legislature, and can…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio sent a letter to the Department of Justice yesterday saying he planned to cooperate with the federal government in fixing the alleged racial-profiling practices within the MCSO that the DOJ says are the worst in U.S. history.A defiant sheriff, however, also says he “will not…
There’s good and bad news about the deadline the Department of Justice gave Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to decide whether he’d cooperate with the feds in fixing the problems outlined in the DOJ’s report on the MCSO’s racial-profiling practices (last month, the DOJ concluded that the MCSO is guilty of…
Family, friends and those touched by the tragedy of Ernest “Marty” Atencio, the Army vet Tased and brutalized till brain dead in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails, gathered at Peoria’s Heritage Funeral Chapel for his funeral service today.Atencio, who was 44 at the time he was removed from life support on…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office arrested five men last night on suspicion of human smuggling and conspiracy, days after a federal judge’s ruling on such investigations. Looks like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, under more pressure than ever to reform his ways, is sticking to his statement that he won’t stop his enforcement…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s been in Iowa for the past few days to help his horse in the GOP presidential primary, Texas Governor Rick Perry, in his final push before state’s January 3 caucuses.Apparently, Perry still thinks the sheriff’s support is a good thing — despite Arpaio’s recent (ahem)…
The Atencio family has released the following obituary and schedule of funeral services for their late family member Marty. The public can send flowers and cards in care of the address below for Heritage Funeral Chapel.Heritage Funeral Chapel 6830 W Thunderbird Road Peoria, AZ 85381-5025 (623) 974-3671 Obituary…
Video of Atencio being stripped and left naked in a cell, taken from MCSO footage by Phoenix videographer Dennis Gilman. Note: Gilman obscured parts of Atencio’s body to maintain the dignity of the victim. As with the first video, there is no sound.Above is more disturbing raw footage culled from…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s humiliating “Birther” investigation apparently has hit a snag in the funding department.According to Arpaio, the “investigation” is being funded by donations to his “Birther” posse, and not with taxpayer money (which is a huge relief). However, the money, it seems, has dried up — with,…
By now, most of you have seen the video of Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officers using a Taser on Marty Atencio, an assault suspect who died after getting zapped while already in jail (see our story on Atencio’s death here).However, some of you might have missed it — you…
U.S. District Judge Neil Wake is allowing Chandler police officer Thomas Lovejoy’s lawsuit alleging rights violations to move forward in the latest blow to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.Lovejoy’s the over-worked officer who left his K-9 partner, Bandit, to die in a hot patrol car on August 11, 2007 and…
Video of the Atencio tragedy, taken by videographer Dennis Gilman from hours of MCSO footage. Please note: There is no sound. Last week, Marty Atencio’s brother Mike told me that he and his family believe Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s detention officers “murdered” his brother, leaving the 44 year-old Army vet dead…
It’s official: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officers no longer have the authority to act as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in MCSO jails — as was announced during an overly dramatic badge-piling ceremony at the sheriff’s training facility this afternoon.That’s right, rather than simply collecting the detention officers’ ICE…
Living in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County is like living in a medieval version of the movie Groundhog Day, where each morning one awakens with further reminders that we do not live in the civilized world.Two years ago, I first told you about Miriam Mendiola-Martinez, whose son Angel was born…
Yesterday, the family of Ernest “Marty” Atencio, who was brutally Tased in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Fourth Avenue Jail last week, removed their loved one from life support. According to the family’s attorney, Mike Manning, Atencio died Tuesday afternoon. Plans for services have not yet been made. Atencio, 44, was found unresponsive…
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — at 79 years old — claims to be mulling over a run for the Senate seat getting vacated by retiring Senator Jon Kyl.Anyone who knows anything about America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” knows he’ll do whatever…
Maybe Iowa Congressman Steve King didn’t get a chance to read the Department of Justice’s scathing 22-page report on Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his agency’s historic racial profiling paractices — because that’s the only logical explanation for why he produced a Youtube video defending the sheriff, and is…
