Claudia Washburn will serve between six months and two-and-a-half years in prison for providing money to her infamous escapee son, John McCluskey. The sentencing range is part of the plea deal the Payson resident accepted today in court, says the state Attorney General’s office. In August, authorities say, Washburn, 68, sent cash…
Rapper Earl Simmons, better known as DMX, will remain in jail without bond until his next court appearance on December 9.Simmons was arrested Thursday night at his home in Cave Creek. He’s charged with violating his probation by failing to submit to drug tests, driving with a suspended license, and…
The mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, AC Wharton, declared yesterday that he wants to spend $200,000 to improve his city’s image — the same way Phoenix did. As part of an effort to boost the southern town’s “brand,” Wharton’s been raising private funds to hire Arthesia, a California-based advertising company. “He…
Saturday’s bee attack on Camelback Mountain occurred on Hart Route, the notorious spot where a climber died six years ago in a similar mishap, a fire department official confirmed today.Several news outlets covered the story over the weekend, but none shared the name of the climbing route. We found Saturday’s…
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:…
Judicial Watch is planning to appeal a November 4 decision by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Rea that allows Gordon to keep secret two years’ worth of his security-detail logs.Jim Peterson, an attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank, tells New Times that they are waiting for the…
As readers may know, we have been looking hard into the curious desert shooting case involving Pinal County sheriff’s deputy Louie Puroll, the fella in the photo. We published our original story, “Pinalcchio” a few months ago about the internationally publicized incident–here it is again. But that’s not the point of this blog…
When Chandler police served a warrant at the home of 47-year-old Teresa Ramirez, an alleged meth dealer now charged with — among other things — child abuse, the stench coming from the refrigerator in the home was so revolting it “nearly caused involuntary vomiting to all serving the warrant.” That…
The Arizona Game and Fish Department is asking the public’s help in finding the person responsible for putting a shark in a Yuma canal.As you probably know, no shark species are native to Arizona, so when one’s found in a freshwater irrigation canal it tends to raise a few eyebrows.The…
Court orders for DNA samples of more than two dozen Phoenix police officers were served on Monday in regards to the death of Phoenix Sergeant Sean Drenth. The officers ordered to turn over their DNA are the same cops believed to be involved in a fraud scheme that resulted in…
As Bill Montgomery was sworn in yesterday as Maricopa County Attorney, Sheriff Joe Arpaio sat glowering, Nixon-like, from the front row of the Board of Supervisors auditorium.After the ceremony, I asked Arpaio of he was checking on his investment. You know, his half-million dollars in TV ads and mailers bashing…
A Phoenix man, with a long history of domestic violence, was arrested Sunday after he allegedly beat his wife with a weed-whacker and tried to set his house on fire with Molotov cocktails — all over some spilled champagne.According to court documents obtained by New Times, 49-year-old Roy Rodriguez and…
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will “definitely” still pursue a 22-year-old, $7.5 million restitution case against former gold mogul Sherman Unkefer, an official told us last week. Since our last update about Unkefer in August, the Arizona Court of Appeals remanded the case back to the trial courts. In other…
The man to your right is 56-year-old Homer Gambler and he has a pissing problem. The problem isn’t that he can’t piss, it’s that he pisses “wherever” he wants, no matter who’s watching, and it’s landed him in a bit of trouble.Gambler’s most-recent arrest was Saturday, when, while taking a…
A Phoenix woman won the lottery yesterday, which would have been great news if she hadn’t also been fatally hit by a car as she walked home from cashing the ticket.Don’t worry, we’ve embedded Alanis Morissette’s Ironic at the end of this post.The 60-year-old woman didn’t win a whole lot…
If the story of a 14-year-old mentally disabled girl is accurate, there are some real dirtbags roaming the streets right now, who need to be brought to justice.The girl told police she was raped and beaten by a gang of at least three thugs at gunpoint.The girl claims the rape…
As if you need more proof that Arizona is the “state of hate,” look no further than the FBI’s recently released hate crime report. From 2008 to 2009, Arizona’s number of reported hate crimes increased by more than 18.3 percent. This is up over the year prior, 2007 to 2008,…
Good news, you can all off the search — an officer from the Department of Public Safety has found an 84-year-old man reported missing yesterday.The officer found Edward Reed, who served in the Merchant Marines during World War II, on Hunt Highway last night. Reed left his house in Phoenix…
The Phoenix Police Department report on the October 5 shooting of Daniel Rodriguez by Officer Richard Chrisman was released today. And there’s plenty in it for both sides in this tragedy to make hay out of. Several officers relate that Chrisman, who has since been indicted on a second degree murder charge…
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:…
Not that we have any experience in the matter, but it seems a robbery suspect in Mesa broke one of the cardinal rules of robbing someone at gunpoint — after stealing some of the victim’s stuff, he left his gun behind as he made his getaway.This morning, 29-year-old Ruben Tellez…
This year’s edition of the ASU Sun Devils men’s basketball team snuck past a decent University of Alabama-Birmingham squad 69-66 on Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. Nice win that just may help the Devils when March Madness comes around, sooner than later. But the highlight of the…
