News

The latest shake-up at the Arizona Republic that resulted in numerous layoffs this week also includes the elimination of one day of publication for the six-year-old Scottsdale Republic insert, sources tell New Times. The insert, originally designed to better compete with the East Valley Tribune’s Scottsdale edition, previously ran five days a week but…

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is preparing to release a video interview by sheriff’s deputies of Don Stapley, who was indicted this week on multiple counts of failing to disclose financial transactions on campaign forms. Michael Scerbo, spokesman for county attorney Andrew Thomas, writes in a news release that the county supervisor made…

An anonymous local political blog has been getting some right-wing attention this morning with its claim that the conservative Goldwater Institute has “gone way off the deep end” with their critical report on Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Liberty’s Apothecary has many problems with the Institute’s report, but a big one is that…

Are we expecting company? As many as 20,000 soldiers may be stationed in the western United States — with a “significant” number going to Arizona — to serve as a terrorist-fighting force. The idea is to stop any bad guys from trying to storm the Palo Verde nuclear power plan and other…

Why is it that those of us who oppose illegal immigration are called racist by many Mexicans? Personally, I think Hispanic people are beautiful and a diverse people who contribute tremendously to our culture (and spicy hot as well!). At the same time, I oppose illegals who wander across the…

NO TO JANET Attacking the juggernaut: Just read your great article (“Nope,” Michael Lacey, November 27). I found it telling, interesting, and very well written. So why can’t others see the obvious picture here? The juggernaut of this dynamic duo [Governor Janet Napolitano and Sheriff Joe Arpaio] seems to keep…

I went shopping last week. I’ve been trying to spend less money — if this country’s really about to enter its next Great Depression, I don’t want to be the idiot who wasted her last paycheck on champagne and a new cocktail dress. But my resolve evaporated when I read…

BENEDICT NAPOLITANO This nutty nightingale was tooling down the road the other day in his fabulous Thunderbird, scanning the FM dial, when the knob alighted on KJZZ 91.5-FM — you know, the NPR station. There, this warbler heard our soon-to-be-ex-Governor Janet Napolitano on the talk show Here and Now. It…

A few weeks ago, an elderly gentleman named Viva Leroy Nash wrote to New Times about the death penalty. “Now that our stubborn President Bush is about to leave office,” Nash wrote in a shaky hand, “it appears that our overly tenacious state prosecutors won’t be so brazen as to…

New Times has an immediate opening for a full-time staff writer. We’re looking for a journalist with sharp investigative skills who understands the difference between magazine-style reporting and the hurried fact-finding of daily newspaper reporting. If your copy is as much a pleasure to read as it is well researched,…

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: Editors Take Big Hits in Arizona Republic Layoffs Free Hot Air…

Look, up in the sky! It’s the mayor! Despite a crash landing in September while trimming a tree, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon will climb aboard a WWII-era bomber on Thursday for an exhibition flight. A new release by the mayor’s office doesn’t state any particular purpose for the flight, but the…

A Tempe used car salesman who the National Enquirer calls “Cindy McCain’s Secret Lover” accuses the gossip rag’s reporter of “extortion” and intimidating his family in an injunction against harassment petition. Dino Castelli filed the petition (see link to actual document below) with the Maricopa County Superior Court on November…

The right-leaning American for Prosperity group is bringing its Hot Air Tour to Phoenix on Saturday, offering tethered hot air balloon rides and speeches on the huge costs of trying to solve global warming. Tom Jenney, director of the AFP’s Arizona chapter, says the tour doesn’t directly address the science behind climate change theories. Rather, it focuses on the pricetag of the…

  A 28-year-old woman shot in the stomach while driving on Interstate 10 early Sunday may have jumped off the westbound 19th Avenue off-ramp to escape her would-be killer. The woman, a caregiver for the elderly, fell 21 feet, breaking bones in her face, wrists and a leg. Despite her injuries, she’s expected to survive…

The latest round of layoffs at the Arizona Republic includes numerous editors and photographers, sources in the know tell New Times. Here’s a partial list of those who got the axe, according to the latest scuttlebutt. (Please let us know if anything is incorrect!):…

This has been a terribly tough year for local sportswriters and, now, announcers. Veteran scribes Bob Moran and Bob Eger died earlier in 2008 — Moran after a long illness and Eger after a short one. Both had been part of the fabric of the local sports scene for as…