The 6-year-old Phoenix boy found shot to death in an alley yesterday has been identified and it turns out he’s the son of a man found murdered the day before.The boy has been identified as Xavier Daniel Jaquez. The father, police say, is Angel Jaquez, 27, who he was found…
Someone contacted me recently, wondering whether or not I support the death penalty. I told them I do not, but not because I think it’s such a bad idea to give the needle to those who are dead-to-rights guilty of a capital crime.Rather, I have two problems with it. First,…
A convicted rapist, who has already served a prison sentence for sexual assault, is headed back to the big house after being found guilty of sexual assault (again) and kidnapping yesterday.At the very least, 34-year-old Jacob Israel Randles is looking at a minimum sentence of 94 years in prison when…
A U.S. Border Patrol agent was fatally shot while on patrol near Nogales Tuesday night.Authorities investigating the shooting aren’t saying much about it at this point, only that the agent, 40-year-old Brian Terry, was killed about 11 p.m. yesterday near Peck Canyon while on patrol about 10 miles north of…
We were as frustrated at times as almost everyone else with Amar’e Stoudemire, whose mercurial career with the Phoenix Suns ended after seven seasons last June when he signed a mammoth deal with the New York Knicks. His lack of defensive prowess, inability to crash the boards consistently, and other…
Two days after airing a phone conversation between Elizabeth Johnson, the mother of missing baby Gabriel Johnson, and the boy’s father — in which Johnson says she suffocated Gabriel and threw him into a dumpster (a claim she later denied) — KPHO aired another tape last night that makes the…
Glendale City Council approved in a 5-2 vote a deal to pay $197 million to Matthew Hulsizer, a Chicago businessman poised to buy the Phoenix Coyotes from the National Hockey League. Of that money, $100 million is expected to offset for Hulsizer the $170 million price tag that the National…
A retired judge has resigned his volunteer post from an Appellate Court panel charged with reviewing applications for the state’s latest Indepedent Redistricting Commission. Louis Araneta, a former Maricopa County Superior Court judge, sent his resignation letter to the state Supreme Court’s chief justice, saying he regretted his comments were “misinterpreted.” We’re…
A 60-year drought, the likes of which hasn’t been seen since medieval times, may be in store for the Southwest this century, University of Arizona researchers report. A summary of scientific findings published yesterday by the U of A doesn’t spell out the precise cause-and-effect process for the potential calamity, making the prediction…
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:…
It’s a simple yes or no. Will the Glendale City Council vote to shell out nearly $200 million in a deal aimed at keeping the Coyotes in town for at least 30 years?But there is nothing simple about the decision facing elected officials in the West Valley city that has…
A Chandler woman had a pretty tough choice to make last month: either ignore the fact that her 8-year-old son was being molested, or turn in the person she caught doing it — her 67-year-old father.She chose the latter — this time.When the mother found naked pictures of the boy’s…
A Glendale woman was arrested early yesterday morning for allegedly murdering a woman with whom her boyfriend believes she was having an affair.About 2 a.m. yesterday, Anastasia Baker, her boyfriend, and the victim, Cynthia LoStracco, were hanging out in the Phoenix home of Baker’s grandmother, Shirly Drummy, at 1609 West…
In the latest twist in the saga that is the investigation into the disappearance of Gabriel Johnson, the Tempe toddler who was reported missing by his father almost a year ago, the baby’s mother, Elizabeth Johnson, admits to killing the child in a phone call to the baby’s father.Johnson’s a…
“I hit her really, really hard.”That’s what a Chandler dad told police about his 7-month-old daughter, who died at an area hospital this morning after suffering a skull fracture likely caused by her father, 21-year-old Sergio Thomas.According to court documents obtained by New Times, about 8 a.m. yesterday, Chandler police…
Our sadly departed (from this newspaper, not from the planet) colleague Sarah Fenske wrote a humdinger of a story earlier this year about all manner of fiscal wrongdoing and blatant nepotism inside the Housing Authority of Maricopa County. Here is that story, after which Fenske followed up with columns and blog items…
Turns out, he never tried to abduct the girl, he just gave her a hug, which she initiated, before he was assaulted by the girl’s grandfather.The way much of the media described the (ahem) heroic tale yesterday is as follows: …
See our UPDATED story here.Where are the First Amendment’s establishment warriors as government-spooked businesses try to shut down Wikileaks?Hackers with computers, not hacks with press passes, have been the first line of resistance. More to come.Michael LaceyExecutive Editor, VillageVoice Media…
Veolia Transportation and Teamsters Local 104 finally have agreed on contract terms for the more than 60 workers who fuel, clean, and maintain tires on Phoenix city buses.The transit company and union leaders had been at odds since Veolia snagged its latest five-year contract on to operate buses in Phoenix. The strained negotiations…
What did you do this weekend? Go to the park? Go hiking? A little golf? Whatever you did, it was probably vastly different from what people on the East Coast had going on.As a lot of the country was snowed in for much of the weekend, to the point that…
An illegal immigrant currently living in Mesa was indicted for first-degree murder in the beating death of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son earlier this month.Because of his immigration status, Jorge Busso, 23, is being held without bail. However, Busso seems to think his less-than-legal status should be cleared up soon…
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:…
