So there I was, sitting in Spanish class, like the good half-frog/half wop (i.e., “frop”) that I am, when I observe the Spanish teacher write the word “esposas” up on the board. Imagine my shock/horror when the teacher told us “esposas” has two meanings: “wives” and “handcuffs”! PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS…
The black SUV had been parked outside Dr. Jack Wolfson’s Scottsdale office for more than an hour. Inside, two people — one a formidable-looking man — sat staring into the window, watching the receptionist prep files and check in patients. A few weeks earlier, Victoria Broussard might have brushed it…
President Obama is making a trip this Friday to the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital that was the center of a national scandal over lengthy wait-times at VA facilities. Obama was bashed by critics in January when he came to visit Phoenix but did not stop at the hospital, despite his…
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is clamping down on visitation for convicted killer Jodi Arias. Even though MCSO now exclusively offers visitation only by video, Arias has still managed to cause a ruckus…
An employee for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is accused of embezzling $34,000 from the state. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office announced the arrests of the employee, 48-year-old Susan Marie Rall, as well as her husband, 60-year-old David Jerome Rall. According to the AG’s office, Susan Rall made payments…
A bill that would have used $10 million in state funding to build a virtual border fence in Arizona was passed by the state Senate yesterday, but not before the $10 million was stripped from the bill. Republican Senators Bob Worsley and Steve Smith have been trying for a couple…
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has filed a request in superior court seeking to bar alleged child molester and former Minuteman Chris Simcox from personally cross-examining child victims during his upcoming trial in Phoenix, scheduled to begin March 16. In the 14-page pleading, dated March 6, deputy county attorney Yigael…
In a desperate move to secure more money for sorely underfunded K-12 schools, 47 Phoenix-based Teach for America corps members and alumni have appealed to the nonprofit to return $500,000 set aside by the Arizona Legislature to fund its programs. Governor Doug Ducey is asking schools across the state to…
This is actually two videos of the same stop taken by Anderson Jean-Louis, with a pause between the two. To judge from a recent video of an encounter with a black motorist, it looks like some Tempe cops could use a refresher course in the First Amendment. The video was…
Maricopa County Deputy Sean Pearce pleaded guilty to speeding and took a driving class last week for his role in an on-duty fatal crash. In June, County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced that Pearce would face no serious criminal charges for the December 2013 crash that took the life of John…
Arizona lawmakers passed a budget over the weekend, which includes spending cuts that the president of the state’s largest university calls a “setback for Arizonans.” The state is making a $99 million cut to higher education as part of the $9.1 billion budget, which Governor Doug Ducey’s office says “solves…
In case all the ocelots, jaguars, and Mexican spotted owls are starting to feel too safe, the Arizona Committee on Military Affairs and Public Safety is stepping in, having passed a memorial to modify the rules and provisions of the Endangered Species Act. SCM 1009 encourages Congress to exempt U.S…
Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego and others are calling on Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to end a lawsuit that seeks to end in-state tuition for young people who have been granted relief from deportation. Although many Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients in Arizona have been educated their entire…
For the second time in two weeks, hundreds of students, parents, and teachers descended on the Arizona Capitol to protest cuts to the state’s education budget. “Doug Ducey step off it!” they shouted, marching around the Capitol courtyard waving brightly colored signs. “Put students over profit!” Legislators are mulling over…
It took three hours of debate and discussion, but the Arizona House subcommittee on Military Affairs and Public Safety passed SB 1445, the controversial bill allowing the name of an officer involved in a deadly or violent incident to be withheld for 90 days. “This is a very, very important–and…
Three men are accused of harassing and herding antelopes with a helicopter near Prescott last August, possibly to help a guided hunting outfit. A group of hunters in the area reported seeing a black-and-red helicopter buzz herds and solitary antelopes repeatedly on August 22 and 23, according to a federal…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the desert’s own Fourth Avenue Jail. To be considered for our Maricopa County mugshots of the week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. Kids, don’t grow up to be these…
Sadly, I missed all the fun Tuesday at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus, where demonstrators assembled to support two ASU instructors singled out by neo-Nazi groups: ASU English Professor Lee Bebout and Ph.D. candidate Robert Poe. The ASU State Press reports that on March 3, demonstrators “protested outside ASU’s Fulton…
Arizona lawmakers may form a committee to study hemp as a new major crop in the state. Hemp growing long has been illegal under federal law due to its relation to marijuana plants, even though you can’t get high from hemp. As Congress eases up on hemp restrictions, and could…
Jodi Arias will serve a life sentence after a second jury failed to reach agreement on whether or not she should be executed for the 2008 slaying of Travis Alexander. Alexander’s sister sobbed as Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens read the jury decision, which actually was a non-decision…
Jodi Arias, the California waitress whose brutal murder of ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander resulted in a sensationalized Phoenix trial, is about to learn her fate. Or not. Trial watchers are waiting this morning to learn the jury verdict in the infamous murder trial — it’s supposed to be read any minute…
Arizona lawmakers are again attempting to clamp down on panhandling. The state’s anti-panhandling law passed in 2013 was struck down in the courts, while former Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a toned-down version of the law last year. Republican Senator John Kavanagh, the sponsor of both of the previous anti-panhandling bill,…
