Has Sheriff Joe’s well-oiled media machine finally blown up in his aged face? Will Lisa Allen have to revert to grooming dogs full instead of part time, and leave Arpaio’s upkeep to another PR handler? Below is the latest press release from the MCSO, backing off the Sheriff’s ludicrous “Con…
The catering service for the FBR Open had repeated health code violations during the most recent inspection of its kitchen back in November, as well as some earlier inspections, records show. Violations reported by Maricopa County health inspectors included mold in ice machines and raw chicken stored on a shelf…
The ASU men’s basketball team hasn’t played in eight long days. It was back on January 21 that they squeaked by the Arizona Wsildcats in Tucson in a game that, safe to say, won’t be placed into a time capsule for future generations to marvel at. Even the best of all…
So I had a load of photos left over from last week’s two state party reorganization meetings, and I figured you might want view these as added illustrations for this week’s Bird column. Think of it as porn for political junkies, though thankfully everyone has their clothes on. Reminds me…
news release just put out by Tempe police. The suspect, 21-year-old Christopher Fernandez of Gilbert, (right) was arrested on January 14 during a traffic stop. He reportedly had a gram of heroin on him at the time, and four more grams back his crib, which was also searched by police. The…
Paul Layland’s sold hot dogs on the streets of downtown Phoenix for a year now. Just recently he was appointed the southeast corner of Monroe and 5th Street to hawk red hots to the hungry lunch crowd. Little did he know that it would lead him to working adjacent from…
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard says the state’s proposed budget will force him to lay off half of his criminal division staff and “endangers the future of every Arizonan.” These strong words come from a news release just put out by Goddard in response to the proposed budget hammered out…
Contrary to a Tuesday report in the Sonoran Alliance blog, a spokesman with the state Department of Economic Security tells New Times that the agency has never prohibited Bible study in its cafeteria. The conservative blog site called on the Alliance Defense Fund and Governor Jan Brewer to look into the…
Roger Mason of the (grrrr) Spurs It’s Christmas Day in Phoenix. You wake up early, even before the kids, to take care of some last-minute errands. But it isn’t because you’re a good dad and want to be free of afternoon obligations in order to spend quality time with the…
With one hand ready to catch a predicted windfall of federal cash and the other wielding a budgetary chain saw, Governor Jan Brewer prepares to stamp her approval on a new budget that wipes out the state’s $1.6 billion deficit. The search is basically over for a Chandler Planning and Zoning…
I am a naturalized (legal) hispano in the U.S. and I just realized what the “illegal” craze is about. What immigrant-bashing citizens are trying to protect here are people like . . . me. Consider what this concerned woman said to John McCain during a public meeting in New Hampshire…
MASKED MORONS Were scare tactics really necessary?: Those poor little children. Deputies in ski masks! Come on, is it really necessary to scare innocent children half to death? The story of Ciria Lopez-Pacheco and her kids was heart-wrenching. And the whole thing’s about how the cop can’t be filmed. Loved…
ALIEN OBSESSION One of the weirdest moments of the recent Arizona Republican Party reorganization meeting came when a little old lady rose to address her fellow GOPers from a mic on the floor of the Camelback High School auditorium. On the agenda was a resolution on school vouchers, an issue…
One cold March morning, flight attendant Sonia Hartwick saw ice on the wing of the plane she was serving on, Air Ontario Flight 1363. Icy wings, as Hartwick knew, can be disastrous — a major cause of airplane crashes. They can also be easily remedied: One word from the captain,…
Even by Arizona Cardinals standards, 2004 was a gloomy year. That April, Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. The Cards were in the middle of a 10-year stretch without a winning season. Even though they’d broken ground on a new stadium in Glendale, some locals mumbled that the team should…
As a Cleveland Browns fan, I’ve spent lots of time trash-talking Steelers faithful. When your team’s 2-17 against their team, you feel justified in bad-mouthing them. Cardinals fans are, mostly, peaceful people, unaccustomed to the level of hostility they’ll encounter in any run-in with members of the yellow-and black brigade…
We understand that in the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. Worry not! We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries: Valley Fever: PETA to Put on Sexy “Human Barbeque” at Phoenix Convention…
Sadly, I wasn’t able to make Anna Gaines’ arraignment today down at the Arcadia Biltmore Justice Court before Judge Steve Sarkis. But a clerk for the judge told me that the little Hobbit lady known far and wide as the “anti-Hispanic Hispanic” for her activities with the Valley’s nativist population,…
When a corporation or government office truly cares about the people who call, it will put a nice, little feature on its automated telephone menus in which — if you really gotta talk to a live human being — you can press zero to get a front-desk receptionist.If said offices…
Add former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods to the list of old-school guys giving new media a try. We hear through the grapevine that Woods is launching a new Web site, www.grantwoods.com. It’s apparently still in the preview stage — the home page currently includes a note warning about its unfinished quality…
[jump] “It’s an outrage!” proclaimed die-hard Denverite Patricia Calhoun, Westword editor, upon hearing of the invasion of cutouts. This sort of tourism rivalry is just plain fun. Of course, we won’t be laughing by June…
As you may have read elsewhere, Arizona Department of Corrections Director Dora Schriro has announced her resignation, and by the end of the week will have vacated her offices to follow ex-Governor Janet Napolitano to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Yet, what exactly she’ll be doing there remains a…
