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:…
With half of Arizona homes worth far less than the mortgages owed on them, some homeowners may be secretly wishing the wildfires would pay their property a visit. We ran that idea past a couple of real estate agents today, and both agreed it makes sense. “A fire could be a blessing in disguise…
Senator Jon Kyl was overheard today expressing concern about a summer home he claims to own that might be in the path of the Wallow fire raging in eastern Arizona.Given the senator’s history with “factual statements,” we decided to check it out…
When El Mirage’s current elected officials campaigned for office, they promised residents change and transparency — a politically popular word these days.In some ways, El Mirage Mayor Lana Mook and her cohorts on the City Council have delivered — they increased the water and sewer rates by about 10 percent,…
Extending unemployment benefits to around 15,000 Arizonans still looking for work should be a no-brainer, assuming the wingnuts at the state Capitol had a pound of gray matter among ’em.It’s federal money that’s pumped into the state’s struggling economy, which according to the most recent numbers still suffers a 9.3…
On May 29, at 7:08 p.m., 18-year-old Sheldon Raquet posted the following on his Facebook wall: “Miss my baby 🙁 cant wait for her to get back :).” Adorable, right? Wrong — obnoxious social media PDAs aside, Raquet’s “baby” is a 13-year-old girl he was dumb enough to brag about…
If you’re in the market to lease a rental home, a good rule of thumb is to make sure the person from whom your renting actually owns the house.This bit of advice is compliments of the Phoenix Police Department, which is warning the public about a scam where people are…
New Times’ lawsuit over the 2007 arrest of its founders on bogus charges can proceed — but only against a local lawyer who served as a special prosecutor, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today. In a 2-1 opinion, the Ninth Circuit backed up a lower court’s decision that New Times can’t…
If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is — just ask Mark Teich, who got an, um, bargain when he paid a Scottsdale art dealer $43,000 for a sketch by Pierre-Auguste Renoir he claims he was told was worth $110,000.Turns out, the sketch isn’t worth $110,000. In…
Get your calculators out… In less than 24 hours, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office — under the leadership of America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff,” Joe Arpaio — has cost county taxpayers nearly $750,000 in settlements or judgments stemming from lawsuits filed against the sheriff.The latest: yesterday’s $94,000 judgment in favor of…
Greer lost six structures last night to the still-growing Wallow fire, but weather conditions are expected to improve today for firefighters.A U.S. Forest Service spokesman said the blaze, for now, is holding to its eastern borders.”It did push into some structures last night, but we were able to push it…
Phoenix mayoral candidates have shared their views during several forums across the city. And there’s another tonight hosted by Downtown Voices Coalition, but this one is deviating from the standard Q&A-style format where questions come from a moderator.At this downtown-centric mayoral forum, moderated by the Arizona Republic’s Richard Ruelas, candidates will ask…
If you’re looking to help the victims of the wildfires currently raging in eastern Arizona, please send a personal check made out to the “Phoenix New Times editorial staff” to the New Times building at 1201 East Jefferson Street in Phoenix, 85034. Every little bit helps, and we’ll definitely be…
Diamondbacks first baseman Mark Grace, after his arrest for drunk driving yesterday, joins the ranks of several prominent sports stars who got their crunk on and then get caught cruising the streets of Scottsdale.In honor of Grace’s lack of sobriety and common sense, below is a brief history of professional…
Rachel Brock, the 22-year-old daughter of Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock, pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that she sexually abused the same teenage boy her mother also pleaded guilty to molesting.The charges to which Brock pleaded guilty — two counts of child abuse with sexual motivation — are much less…
There are many who give lip service to border security. You may or may not be one of them. You may be an open-borders advocate. But for the moment, put on your secure-borders hat and tell us how you would secure the borders if your job depended on its success…
JOE SHOW It’s all right there: Ray Stern’s story on the many, many sins of Joe Arpaio and his minions would be unbelievable in any other jurisdiction in America (“Joe Knew,” May 26). But in the joke that is Maricopa County, it’s more than believable. The misappropriation of the nearly $100 million…
Some political theorists have referred to it as “manufacturing consent.” I like to call it the propaganda of the status quo. And then there’s another, even more damning label: downright laziness. Whatever you call it, it’s often on full display on KAET Channel 8’s Horizon, hosted by the genial and…
Lilly Romo runs an English school blocks from the Arizona Capitol. Classes are held in a white adobe building with nothing on its façade but a sign advertising Escuela de Inglés. Its walls are thin and bare except for a series of certificates praising student achievement and a list of…
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:…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio learned today that shredding evidence doesn’t always come cheap:A federal judge ordered the sheriff’s office to pay $94,000 in legal fees related to a 2009 record-destroying spree carried out by Arpaio’s anti-illegal-immigrant squads.Lawyers in a federal suit that accuses Arpaio’s shop of racial profiling argued…
NASA satellite photos released today show just how much of Arizona’s precious forests are being lost to fire. Remarkably, for fires this big, there have been no reported deaths or injuries. We saw something about burn injuries while Web-surfing for fire news, but that story was about a worker at a…
