Dozens of cannabis supporters rallied at the Arizona State Capitol today in an effort to bring their message to lawmakers. Pro-marijuana activists with Safer Arizona and other groups held signs and chatted with reporters and legislators about their goal to end pot prohibition in the state…
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this morning in the case of a small church blocked from putting up signs around Gilbert that advertise its Sunday Services. The case of Reed vs. Town of Gilbert is getting a lot of press today, being billed as a major free-speech or religious…
Not everyone agreed with New Times’ list last week of the 10 douchiest Arizonans in 2014. Now, we’ll give the readers their say, with a list of the 10 douchiest Arizonans in 2014, based on New Times reader feedback:…
Arizona State University released a harsh statement on Friday night about the end of negotiations with USA Place, essentially accusing developers of lying. As we reported on Thursday, plans collapsed for the $350-million-plus downtown project that would have brought a hotel, conference center and the Colorado-based USA Basketball organization to…
During her five-plus years as Maricopa County’s communications director, Cari Gerchick demonstrated a backbone of titanium, going where most public information officers fear to tread. Whether it was calling out Sheriff Joe Arpaio on his agency’s misspending more than $100 million in voter-protected jail funds, or, literally, standing in the…
At least three Republican lawmakers are looking to prevent welfare benefits from being spent at fast-food restaurants in Arizona. The bill submitted by Republican Representative Kelly Townsend is one of a handful of bills submitted before this year’s legislative session has begun. The legislation would ban the use of electronic…
A new state report shows that slightly more than 10 tons of marijuana were smoked, eaten or otherwise consumed in 2014 by Arizona’s 60,000 medical-marijuana patients. New Times obtained the information from the Arizona Department of Health Services, which produced a similar report in 2013 of the transactions at authorized…
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. This week, it doesn’t feel that great…
USA Basketball, the governing body for basketball in the United States, may not be moving to Tempe after all following the collapse of the USA Place redevelopment project. As we reported earlier this afternoon, Arizona State University announced today that the USA Place project was dead but that it was…
Efforts to put together a financing deal for the basketball-themed “USA Place” development on Arizona State University land in Tempe have gone into overtime. The $350-450 million hotel-and-conference-center project was announced to the public in July 2013, with an expected groundbreaking that year. But it’s so far been unable to…
President Obama made another trip to Phoenix today, and as is usually the case when he’s in town, the president announced a plan to help homeowners. This time, Obama announced a reduction in fees for homebuyers with loans backed by the Federal Housing Authorities. FHA loans are common for homebuyers…
A coalition of local advocacy groups are planning to rally outside the state capitol on Monday, to kick off this year’s legislative session. The event is billed as a rally against “crAZy,” and ProgressNow Arizona executive director Robbie Sherwood tells New Times it’s an opportunity for something of a “pre-buttal…
I’m in college and I’m taking a class called Latina Pop Culture. I thought it would be educational and informative about the rich Latino/a culture, and I was eager to learn. But the moment I entered the class, it was evident that I, as a white girl, would have to…
Am I wrong to feel weirdly optimistic, here at the start of 2015? First, there’s the prospect that federal Judge G. Murray Snow finally will find Sheriff Joe Arpaio in contempt of court in the ACLU’s big racial-profiling case Melendres v. Arpaio. Granted, waiting for Arpaio to get his just…
One morning last spring, Becca Smouse, a first-year student at Arizona State University’s Barrett, The Honors College, jumped in her car and headed to Tempe for her intensive freshman seminar course, the Human Event. The Human Event in many ways is the linchpin of Barrett’s programming. It covers an ambitious…
Some Arizona lawmakers are proposing that Arizona adopt daylight saving time. Arizona’s one of only two states where DST isn’t observed (Hawaii is the other), and one of the bill’s sponsors told us why he thinks it’s time for Arizona to join the rest. “My rationale is simply that it’s…
The trusty online Urban Dictionary defines “douchiest” as “to be the ultimate example of a douche” — but in 2014 we had a surplus of such ultimate examples in Arizona. From the ineffective governor who left the state with its finances in shambles, to average citizens whose stupidity lifted them…
In yet another blow to Arizona’s state-imposed system of terror targeting the undocumented, U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell on Monday enjoined both Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Sheriff Joe Arpaio from enforcing two identity theft statutes that underpinned Arpaio’s infamous worksite raids. Campbell, a conservative judge nominated to…
Doug Ducey took office today as Arizona’s 23rd governor, pledging in his inauguration speech to fix the state’s fiscal problems without raising taxes. Standing before a crowd of several thousand at the State Capitol in Phoenix, the former CEO of Cold Stone Creamery made financial and education issues a focus,…
Doug Ducey, former Arizona treasurer and ex-CEO of the Cold Stone Creamery franchise, will take office today as the state’s next governor. Arizona voters have set the state on a new track, with a leader who wouldn’t sell out the state to Obamacare, hinder the goals of corporations, or squander…
I’ve known ex-radio host and recently-elected state Representative Jay Lawrence for a while now, and I’ve always liked him. He’s a genial guy, who can wow you with tales of how he used to show the Beatles a thing or two back in the day, when they first came to…
A photograph taken by a Camelback Mountain hiker of Phoenix firefighter Gary Johnstone and two teenagers a moment before a fatal August 8 accident shows a now-missing key piece of evidence. The picture (above), taken by hiker Edgar Hernandez, who turned it over to police, depicts a still-unidentified teen as…
