Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio today challenged the Department of Justice “be fair” and publicly say his office doesn’t practice racial profiling.”As a matter of fairness, the DOJ should go public and say we don’t racially profile,” the sheriff grumbled at a press conference this afternoon, “but I won’t hold…
“My name is Raul and I’m going to kill your racist fucking Sheriff because he is a racist.”That’s what 36-year-old Raul Rentiera Rivera told the Phoenix police dispatcher when he twice called 9-1-1 last Friday…
A demolition crew tearing down the old Jockey Club building at 2200 East Highland Avenue found human skeletal remains this morning.This is the third skeleton found in Phoenix since March, when two sets of human bones were found in Phoenix in less than 24 hours.According to Phoenix police, a crane…
Transient meth-head Kirk Wise probably made more money than you did last year — and he didn’t even have a job.Wise, 45, is a professional copper thief who steals copper wire to support his $100-a-day meth habit. He’s pretty good at it, too — according to Wise, he’s netted nearly…
Two Phoenix police officers were shot by an armed suspect just after 10 a.m. today.Details are limited, but the shooting occurred 61st and Virginia Avenues.One of the officers was shot in the arm, the other suffered a superficial wound to the head.The suspect was reportedly also shot, but details of…
Who is Olivia Cortes, and why has she filed to run in the November 8 recall race against state Senate President Russell Pearce in Legislative District 18?Over the weekend, I paid Cortes’ modest condominium in Mesa a visit. A woman identifying herself as Cortes’ sister came to the door. She…
Two Pinal County men were arrested last week for stealing two tons of hay from a dairy just south of highway 287.The hay, the victim of the theft told police later, has a street value of roughly 500 bucks.Pinal County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a suspicious vehicle with a…
Fagala-fearing Congressman Trent Franks was asked by Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. on Monday night to answer questions about a constitutional balanced budget amendment.”I’ll take a shot at that,” Franks responded.Franks’ “shot” was a little off — he responded with a rant about abortion and Nazis. Political Correction snagged the…
We watched yesterday as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio had pink panties thrown at him by female Tent City inmates as he — and an Elvis impersonator — belted out Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” in celebration of the makeshift jail’s 18th year.It was astonishing — for anyone unfamiliar with the…
When I was in high school, my social studies teacher and the leader of our high school MEChA club had deep resentment toward the Spaniards/conquistadors that killed hundred — probably thousands — of Aztecs. He went so far as to deny that his own heritage comes partly from Spain and…
GIMME SHELTON When I went to pick up last week’s issue of New Times, the first thing to catch my eye were the words “mental illness.” My heart sank because I find those words rarely appear in conjunction with anything positive. I was so thrilled with what I read inside!…
At first glance, the dark green leaves of the Mitragyna speciosa tree look no more remarkable than mint leaves. They’re large, somewhat oval in shape, and smooth to the touch. The trees are indigenous to Southeast Asia, and their leaves, known as kratom, have been used as a traditional medicine…
You’d better not dare speak a word of English in Ana Contreras’ kindergarten classroom. On a warm day in late October, students line up outside the door. MacBook in hand, Contreras greets her charges as they enter: “Hola, señor! Hola, señora!” Everybody giggles as the dozen-plus kids take their places…
They came out in droves in the triple-digit heat to help the man who would topple the most powerful politician in Arizona. Republican Jerry Lewis, the main challenger to state Senate President Russell Pearce in the upcoming November 8 recall election in Legislative District 18, stood beneath a tarp in…
In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs.Today’s entries:…
Congressional hopeful Matt Salmon didn’t just accept the endorsement of a sheriff he doesn’t like, he doesn’t respect, he doesn’t think is “playing with a full deck,” and he compares to Barney Fife, he actually sought it.That’s what Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio tells New Times, anyway. America’s self-proclaimed “toughest…
Shucks, seems I’m doing my bit to help state Senate President Russell Pearce beat back the recall, too. Albeit, inadvertently.See, the anti-recall committee “Patriots for Pearce,” chaired by Jesse Hernandez, a staffer for Republican Arizona Congressman David Schweikert, has been circulating a new e-mail that pimps an August 17 fundraiser for…
The San Francisco Giants have just beaten the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 8-1 to move back into first place in the NL West. We love running this graphic–good memories! But the resurgent D-Backs proved in winning two of three games in the critical Bay Area series that…
Bombing around Scottsdale boozed up on “two glasses” of scotch, former Arizona Diamondbacks ballplayer Mark Grace was busted by Scottsdale Police with a BAC of .128, according to court documents obtained by New Times. The famed former ballplayer, who played four seasons with the D-Backs starting in 2000, was arrested…
It appears that Arizona State University students are just drunk enough to somewhat impress the folks at the Princeton Review.ASU ranked number 17 this year in the publication’s list of top party schools in the nation, which is an improvement from last year’s ranking of… oh wait, the Sun Devils…
If you’d told us last week that one day we’d be sweatin’ it out in a makeshift, outdoor jail in the Arizona desert as the 79-year-old sheriff of one of the largest counties in the country sang a duet with an Elvis impersonator — as female inmates threw pink panties…
Poor Newt Gingrich won’t be sitting in the Oval Office anytime soon.The former Speaker of the House boasted about his 1.3 million followers on twitter, but was quickly exposed by a former staffer for hiring a firm to create fake accounts to make it look like he was far more…
