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, we take our best guesses…
Please see the updates at the end of this post, which include comments from John Guandolo, the Phoenix Police Department, and the MCSO. The backlash is building against Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s upcoming anti-Muslim training session, featuring Islamaphobic ex-FBI agent John Guandolo, who believes that CIA Director John Brennan…
The owners of 23 dogs found dead on June 19 at a home-boarding business in Gilbert are suing the four suspects in the related criminal case, including the son of Senator Jeff Flake. Twenty-one people, represented by four local lawyers, filed a 23-page complaint today in Maricopa County Superior Court…
Sherman Unkefer, the Scottsdale gold-and-juice scamster targeted in a $54 million RICO suit, supposedly sold $5.4 million in gold and silver in 2013 to stop it from going to his victims. Marc Olivieri, who worked with one of Unkefer’s associates, detailed the alleged sale in an affidavit filed in Maricopa…
The First Amendment Coalition of Arizona filed an amended complaint on Thursday to join a lawsuit by Federal Public Defenders seeking information about execution drugs. The public defenders filed their lawsuit on June 26 on behalf of Arizona’s condemned prisoners, hoping to find out more about the drug Midazolam and…
Arizona State University police obtained 70 semi-automatic M-16s from a military program in 2013 that the force doesn’t actually need. The ASU police department has 71 sworn officers, according to its website, meaning the junior-league offshoot of the state Department of Public Safety has upped its firepower potential considerably. But…
Arizona Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer was arrested yesterday on felony and misdemeanor assault charges for a pair of domestic-violence incidents. Court documents released this morning detail the altercations between Dwyer and his wife at their Phoenix apartment in July. According to the documents, Dwyer, 25, head-butted his wife during…
Representative Trent Franks, Arizona’s abortion obsessed Congressman, got a failing grade from an atheist coalition for, basically, draping himself and his political office with a robe of Christianity and proposing legislation based on his religious views. As one would figure, that wouldn’t go over well with the Secular Coalition for…
Republican Representative Steve Montenegro plans to introduce legislation that would require Arizona high school students to pass a civics test before graduating. The test would be based on the 100-question exam that immigrants seeking to become U.S. citizens must pass, which includes general knowledge questions about the country, like who…
A very close friend of mine is supposed to become a U.S. citizen. He was brought here by his parents when he was 9 and has been illegal since then. When the laws changed, he went through a lot of hoops and it really didn’t look good for a long…
Another victory of sorts for the Tohono O’odham Nation and its plans to open a casino in the West Valley. Glendale officials rejected boxes of petitions gathered by an anti-casino group upset that the City Council formally reversed its opposition to the Nation’s gaming project called the West Valley Resort…
The recent forced resignation of recalled ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce from his position as first vice chair of the Arizona GOP shows the power that public humiliation can have, if the circumstances are right. When I first reported Pearce’s outrageous statements calling for the sterilization of female Medicaid recipients,…
A report by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency says this year’s influx of Central American migrants has begun to decline, but it calls on Congress for support in keeping the crisis in check…
Maricopa County Treasurer Charles “Hos” Hoskins has issued a response over the controversy surrounding his continued employment of recalled former state Senate President President Russell Pearce, who recently resigned his post as First Vice Chair of the Arizona Republican Party, following his controversial remarks on the forced sterilization of female…
We just talked to an Arizona Republic reporter who tells us, predictably, that the process of having to reapply for a job is “insulting.” Reportedly, editors at the state’s largest newspaper figured the process would be less painful — for them — than pointing fingers at specific people to get…
Matt Bourne spent his spring break knocking over furniture. One day, he broke a dresser in his sister’s room and pulled down a flat-screen television. He punched himself in the face, hit his older sister, and hit his mom. The family dealt with it as they normally did, taking turns…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is downplaying the federal government’s decision to drop the Sheriff’s Office from a program that allows local law enforcement agencies to obtain military surplus gear. Arpaio’s office issued a press release stating MCSO would be fine without the weapons and equipment obtained through what’s known…
Recalled ex-Senate President Russell Pearce doesn’t seem to be putting in long days at the office in his new job with the Maricopa County Treasurer. For the second day in a row, protesters showed up to the office demanding that county Treasurer Charles “Hos” Hoskins fire Pearce for comments Pearce…
Latino leaders from across the state kicked off National Hispanic Heritage Month by announcing their support for marriage equality. The central Phoenix gathering was organized by Why Marriage Matters Arizona, a coalition founded a year ago by the ACLU of Arizona, Equality Arizona, Freedom to Marry, and the Human Rights…
A federal judge blasted the ATF in a recently released ruling that described how the agency mistreated an Arizona ex-agent who had infiltrated the Hells Angels. Jay Dobyns, sued the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2007 for failing to handle death threats against him following his…
More rain is expected to hit Arizona this week, bringing with it the possibility of more flooding in the Phoenix area. National Weather Service meteorologist Gary Woodall tells New Times a flash-flood watch will be in effect from tomorrow morning through Thursday afternoon, although there are indications that Phoenix won’t…
As he already has demonstrated through his vile comments on the forced sterilization of female Medicaid recipients, recalled ex-state Senator Russell Pearce has complete contempt for the poor. The outrage over these remarks, made by Pearce on his weekly radio show, recently forced Pearce’s resignation as first vice chair of…
