In reporting this series, New Times staff writer Paul Rubin spent months at the Maricopa County Juvenile Court in downtown Phoenix. He focused on the work of two Superior Court judges, Michael Kemp and Ronald Reinstein, and on their delinquency and dependency calendars, respectively. Delinquency court judges hear cases about…
SHERIFF SPENDTHRIFT Even if you’re one of those gap-toothed hillbillies who hate illegal immigrants and want nothing more than Arizona’s population to be as pale as Anderson Cooper’s ass, you have to admit that Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s latest operation in the West Valley was a colossal waste of cash. Headquartered…
Last year, Kym Pasqualini’s nonprofit agency ran out of money. For 15 years, the National Center for Missing Adults helped track the thousands of adults who go missing in this country every year — and did its best to reconnect them with their families. The agency operated on roughly $1…
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: Photo Enforcement Ban Proposed by State Lawmakers Arizona Republic and…
“Frankie the Snitch” groveling before the Board of Supervisors in September. I had a funny feeling the MCSO might block yours truly if I headed down to the love-in between Guadalupe Mayor Frankie Montiel and Joe Arpaio today at the Wells Fargo Building, where Joe has his high-rent offices. But, hey,…
Gannett employees, including those at the Arizona Republic and Channel 12 News (KPNX), are being forced to take a mandatory week of unpaid leave between now and March in an effort to cut costs and avoid layoffs. It’s the latest piece of bad news in an industry that’s had more…
Is photo enforcement on Arizona’s highways and freeways coming to an end? On the heels of the launch of a citizens initiative to ban the cameras that have been multiplying like coyotes on local streets, a group of state lawmakers has now introduced a bill that would do the same…
If you try to do a “drive by” shooting of something as majestic as the Grand Canyon and expect to get a picture anyone else will want to look at, “I think you’ll fail,” says photographer-extraordinaire Jack Dykinga. Shutterbugs take note: When it comes to the state’s most famous hole, Dykinga (that’s his self-portrait at…
I really hate being right in this town. But here in a brief e-mail announcement from the MCSO is the outcome of what I wrote about on January 7 in the blog post “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” and in last week’s Bird item “Frankie the Snitch.” Specifically, both articles…
These pics were sent to me by a photo enforcement foe. Does this mean we have a mole on the inside? Heh, could be… Everything looks normal from the rear. But from the front, hey, what’s that on the dash? Looks like someone has good taste in reading material…
Andrew Thomas and Joe Arpaio have won another round in their fight to bust illegal immigrants for smuggling themselves into the country. As New Times reported previously, Thomas’ interpretation of the state’s human smuggling law — that average Joses and Marias can be prosecuted on smuggling conspiracy charges — have…
It’s true: We’ve had an ongoing chuckle at the expense of Lisa Aubuchon, the hapless prosecutor assigned to the Don Stapley case. But Aubuchon’s most recent filing in this case isn’t so much funny as pathetic. For one thing, she disses us. (Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ office, dissing us?…
It was Shaquille O’Neal’s night again — and thank God for it! Without him, the Suns would’ve lost to the Atlanta Hawks, who led the game at US Airways Center late in the fourth quarter before a Suns spurt. O’Neal had 26 points and 10 rebounds in 40 minutes against the 22-15 Hawks, who…
The proposed new chief of America’s Homeland Security never completed an anti-terrorist plan in her own state — maybe she just needs a bigger challenge. Asbestos fibers may have been released into ASU’s Memorial Union, say officials who are fining the university big-time. It’s safe to say that when you…
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: CPS Took Sick Child From Home Unfairly, Says Mom; Takes…
See the new lyrics for this song by “dude” below — after the jump, if you’re in the abridged version. Once in a long while, a commenter emerges from this blog who befuddles other blogilla gorillas, an anonymous wing-nutty tard who shakes things up with his (or her)masturbatory use of the blog…
A Valley woman is using YouTube and a Web site to accuse local doctors and hospitals of fraud and of CPS of wrongly removing her child from her home.Leanna Roberson-Smith writes on her site that CPS officials accused her of Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy and placed her daughter in a foster…
Go figure.The U.S. Customs and Border Protection grants some foreign companies the right to less frequent random inspections at the border, and some of those companies seem to be abusing the privilege in a big way.Yesterday, a vehicle tied to one of the companies enrolled in a CBP program known…
About 10 percent of black women were reported to have chlamydia in 2007, but officials believe that only represents about half of the actual cases among that demographic group.The data comes from a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that also showed about six percent…
Ah, happy days…Mesa neo-Nazi J.T. Ready (left) and state legislator Russell Pearce, get frisky with each other in June of 2007. Hey, you know you have a rock-hard coalition when you have a two-fisted, pinko liberal like me, and a right-wing ogre like state Senator Russell Pearce — forwarder of…
Occasionally, as a service to readers of this blog, we intend to brief you on the important political books that we have time to read, but you (almost certainly) do not. Hey, we get paid to peruse this stuff — we might as well share the wealth in a…
Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson schooling fools like he once did in Phoenix. Dear, Phoenix Suns, Do us a favor. Tell us again why you traded guard Joe Johnson four seasons ago? You were on the verge of striking it big, but then dealt the 82-game starter, who averaged 17.1…
