Within a 24-hour period, both a state and federal judge handed down two separate decisions about medication abortions in Arizona —- decisions plaintiffs are calling “major victories for the pro-choice movement, women, and the reproductive health of women in Arizona.” In the first, a 2012 state law that placed restrictions on…
A U.S. Border Patrol agent stopped a motorist on Highway 95, 75 miles from Mexico. When the man refused to consent to a search, the officer kicked a dent in the man’s car while four of his colleagues surrounded the driver with weapons drawn, forced him to the ground, and…
The county’s top prosecutor, an avid marijuana prohibitionist, has issued a “polite” waning to business owners, community members, and pot aficionados planning to attend the Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo at the Phoenix Convention Center later this month: We might be watching you. During a presentation on drug abuse this…
It takes a saguaro cactus about 75 years to achieve its iconic, armed stature. It takes a couple burly poachers about 30 minutes to steal it. “They just wrap it in carpet to protect themselves from the spines, then they dig up its roots and heft it into a truck,”…
A new public-service announcement from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office about the evils of heroin curiously shows an image of people apparently smoking marijuana. The short, publicly funded PSA begins at three minutes, 57 seconds into the 44:21 video of Montgomery’s semi-weekly news conference. With a striking graphic of the…
U.S. Senator John McCain announced his new Hispanic voter-outreach effort today at the back of El Mercado De Los Cielos, a small mall-within-a-mall of Latino-owned businesses, restaurants, and kiosks in west Phoenix. “Unidos con McCain,” or “United with McCain,” is the senator’s latest efforts to garner favor with the growing…
About 100 members of the Phoenix Latino community, most of them high school students, descended on the Arizona capital as part of a national day of climate action. They came armed with a simple message for Arizona’s elected officials: climate change is real, it’s killing our community, and you need to…
A private investigator hired by the MCSO to report on the agency’s defiance of a federal judge’s order, concluded that Sheriff Joe Arpaio “failed in his responsibility” to have proper control over his agency. Don Vogel, a former Mesa Police Department detective, testified Wednesday in Arpaio’s ongoing contempt trial. The…
Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords this week launched a new campaign attacking gun violence. The initiative, called the Women’s Coalition for Common Sense, will focus on the nexus of guns and domestic violence. Women in the United States are 11 times more likely to die as a result of gun…
Ever wonder why the Republican Party has trouble attracting minority voters? Could it be because of inflammatory and stupid comments about blacks and Hispanics by respected GOP leaders like former Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen. While watching Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential candidate debate, Pullen tweeted that black people are…
Tim Jeffries, the crusading, new director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security, is on a mission to rid the agency of employees he calls “bullies… liars and multi-year bad actors.” In the past 90 days, 72 DES employees have been fired in Jeffries’ crackdown on negativity and “unworthy” employees…
Mere hours after U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders told the American public that the greatest danger to national security is climate change, a large crowd is expected to descend on the Arizona capital building in Phoenix to demand that state leaders take aggressive action to combat the threat. The planned action…
The number of sexual assaults reported at Arizona State University nearly doubled from 2013 to 2014, according to the university’s annual security report. That may sound ominous, but, according to advocates for victims, it’s actually good news. ASU police investigated 35 cases of rape or forcible fondling in 2014, compared…
Rumain Brisbon, the 34-year-old father of three who was fatally shot in the back last December by a Phoenix police officer is buried in an unmarked grave. With less than two months until the one-year anniversary of his death, his family and friends are trying to get him the headstone…
Following allegations of illegal and predatory student recruitment on military bases, the University of Phoenix has been temporarily barred from enrolling new active-duty military personnel under the Department of Defense’s Tuition Assistance Program. The move is a significant blow to the Arizona-based, for-profit college—the largest recipient of military-education benefits. And…
Despite months of hype and planning, Jon Ritzheimer’s Global Rally for Humanity did not draw the thousands and thousands of people he expected would join him in rallying against Islam. Ritzheimer, the de facto leader of Arizona’s Islamophobia movement, garnered attention earlier this year after he organized a large anti-Islam…
It’s time to take off your “Make American Great Again” hats and put away your Ben Carson and Jeb! paraphernalia because finally, after two lively debates between the Republican presidential candidates, it’s time for the Democrats to take the stage. Tonight’s event in Las Vegas is the first of six…
Shortly after a student at Northern Arizona University shot four other students during what authorities are saying was a fight outside of a popular fraternity hot spot late last week, another round of the national gun-control debate exploded on social media. Predictably, those calling for tighter background checks and laws…
U.S., Representative Raúl Grijalva will announce a bill this afternoon designed to permanently ban uranium mining in the Grand Canyon watershed. The Tucson congressman’s measure, officially called the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument Act, calls for protecting the area by declaring the region a national monument. According to a…
Phoenix police released surveillance video this week they say could help catch the killer of a transgender woman murdered in August. On August 11, the last images of 35-year-old Kandis Capri were captured on a Phoenix convenience store camera as she walked outside in the parking lot. Wearing a striped…
Halloween’s a great time to relax your inhibitions and dress up as anything or anyone you want. Or not. Thanks to cell-phone cameras and social media, wearing the wrong costume now is a potentially Google-able faux pas that may haunt you for many Octobers to come. On the other hand,…
Between taunting worshipers with insults and waving signs inscribed with slogans like “Stop Islamic immigration to the U.S.A.”, the crowd that mobbed the Islamic Community of Phoenix Saturday chowed down on bacon. “We’ve been eating a lot of bacon over here so you’d better think twice before you blow anybody…
