The first state-authorized medical marijuana dispensaries will likely open in Arizona this summer, said Will Humble, director of the state Department of Health Services.Humble, addressing TV viewers minutes ago on Channel 8’s (KAET-TV) Horizon news show, said his agency would be awarding the first licenses by mid-June.”If someone was really…
Fred Knadler, the Phoenix businessman accused of planning to kill his wife, praises Sheriff Joe Arpaio and rails about crime caused by “illegals” in a letter he sent to the county last month.Sounding very much like the bigots whose letters were referenced in a recent federal report on racial profiling…
Say what you will about 47-year-old Moses Antonio Shepard, but at least he’s persistent — he was recently convicted of stalking a New York woman…for the last 18 years.Shepard was convicted last week of two counts of interstate stalking for stalking the same woman for nearly two decades, the U.S…
A detention officer with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was arrested early this morning on suspicion of aggravated assault and criminal damage after police say he drunkenly pointed a loaded gun at his 19-year-old son.According to court records, this isn’t the first time Higgins has pulled a gun on his…
Pulmonary Associates, with 15 doctors and six Valley locations, focuses on modern treatment techniques and claims on its Web site to be “in the forefront of our field.”But when asked about the effects of smoking marijuana on lungs, not one of those doctors returned New Times’ repeated calls.Nor was the…
Paul Penzone, a retired sergeant from the Phoenix Police Department/Nancy Grace suck-up, officially announced his candidacy in this year’s race for Maricopa County sheriff.Penzone, best known for being the public “face” of Silent Witness, announced his candidacy on his website this morning (see his first campaign video after the jump)…
A Tempe man who left his 11-month-old son in a running bathtub last year was in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning where he was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years probation.Jason Achondo, 28, pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse in November.Achondo and his baby-mama,…
I’ve been staying up late nights worrying about disgraced former state Senate President Russell Pearce.I mean, what’s a washed-up nativist hatemonger to do for cash? Sure, he’s been busy running for First Vice Chair of the Arizona Republican Party, but that won’t put fatback on the griddle, being that it’s…
So MVP Dirk Nowitzki is at some weight-loss farm near Dallas as his NBA world champion Mavericks try to pull it together in this strike-abbreviated season. Go figure, the desperately trying-to-pull-it-together Phoenix Suns visited Texas last night, and still lost a tough one to the Dirk-less Mavs, 93-87.It was a…
Congratulations to the New Times reader who goes by the handle MGH, you are the proud winner of this week’s New Times You Write the Caption contest.On Friday, we asked readers to provide what they think would be an appropriate caption for the above photo of Congressional candidate “Marlboro Macho…
Arizona Congressman Trent Franks yesterday introduced a bill into Congress that would dictate when women in Washington D.C. are allowed to end a pregnancy.The rest of the country’s allowed to make its own rules, but thanks to the U.S. Constitution, Franks and his Congressional cronies have a say when it…
LD 29’s Dan Patterson at the state Dems’ winter meeting…Videographer Dennis Gilman and I drove down to Tucson on Saturday to check out the Arizona Democratic Party’s winter meeting, held at a local high school there. Among those we chatted with was state Representative Daniel Patterson of Legislative District 29.Patterson…
Down at the state Capitol today, it was like a little bit of 2010, all over again.Grizzled nativists toting “I love SB 1070 signs,” with pistols on their hips. Pro-immigration activists in droves denouncing the two-year old breathing-while-brown statute. And Arizona Department of Public Safety officers standing between them, keeping…
Fagala-phobic abortion bully Trent Franks today introduced a bill into Congress that, if it becomes law, would dictate when people in Washington D.C. are allowed to end a pregnancy.Franks, just to be clear, is a congressman from Arizona — but that’s not stopping him from playing morality cop in Washington…
Tyson Langley, the 15-year-old accused of gunning down two people at a Peoria smoke shop last week, is being held on $2 million bond after he was arrested in Los Angeles over the weekend and extradited back to the Valley.Langley, court records obtained by New Times show, was arrested on…
Republican state Representative Judy Burges has a new title: state Senator Judy Burges.Burges was chosen this morning by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to fill the state Senate seat made vacant when former Senator Scott Bundgaard.Bundgaard, as you know, called it quits just minutes before he was scheduled to…
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced this morning that it will seek the death penalty for two people accused of murdering 10-year-old Ame Deal last summer by locking her in a tiny footlocker and leaving her there overnight. Sammantha Allen — Ame’s cousin — and her husband, John Allen, have…
Last week, we asked readers to come up with their own captions for the above photo of Congressional candidate “Marlboro Macho Man” Matt Salmon’s transformation from lobbyist to cowboy for this week’s New Times You Write the Caption contest.The photo was taken a couple of weeks ago when Salmon headed…
The problem with the opposition to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, as I see it, is that the loudest voices calling for Arpaio’s resignation are perceived to be those of leftists.In reality, there are many GOPers that I hear from who are weary of fellow Republican Arpaio, his wasteful spending,…
More than a year after getting shot in the head during last year’s Tucson shooting rampage, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords this morning announced via-the Youtube video embedded above that she will step down from Congress.See New Times’ coverage of the Tucson shooting — and Giffords’ miraculous recovery — here…
Tom Ryan, the crusading Chandler attorney who in 2011 exposed the shenanigans behind the diversionary candidacy of Russell Pearce’s fave Latina Olivia Cortes, is calling foul on news that Cortes-attorney Anthony Tsontakis has just scored a plum gig working as a legal beagle for the Republican-led state Legislature.Tsontakis defended the…
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton appointed two new members this week to the Board of Adjustment, a body that weighs development-related cases with significant impact on neighborhoods and developers. Stanton replaced Bob Ford and Alex Tauber, both serving on terms that had expired more than a year ago. In their stead,…
