Representative Judy Burges’, um, briliant scheme to raise a few extra bucks to help bridge the state’s budget gap is apparently building up some steam in the Legislature.The “I didn’t pay enough fund,” a bill introduced by Burges last week, politely asks citizens to fork over more money than they…
A group of 25 to 30 hunters are believed to be stranded in northern Arizona after the recent winter storm. A Coconino County Sheriff’s Office spokesman says there are eight hunting groups, some including children, with whom they’re trying to communicate. Some hunters have been reached via cell phone, but…
As a Chicano/Mexican, I have lost my faith in God. While they take pride in their country like everyone else, and like to make frequent jokes, Mexicans are generally very humble (poor) people. Isn’t God supposed to be on the side of the poor and humble? Why is it that…
CAUGHT IN HIS TRAP Trap’s got it all: There’s no reason why Trap can’t be that dude to take Phoenix to the next level in hip-hop. I mean, you name it: talent, personality, drive, business sense . . . He has them, and more. Y’all watch out for this dude…
THE LIE THIS TIME One of the most insidious myths of the anti-immigrant movement is that the undocumented receive truckloads of public assistance, that they are a drain on the system, costing the American public untold billions. I heard this vicious lie repeated over and over again during a nativist…
Editor’s note: This is one of a group of individual accounts of racial profiling by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s forces. The next personal story will appear on our Web site Wednesday night, December 16. Manuel Nieto Jr. and his sister Velia Meraz, key plaintiffs in the ACLU’s racial-profiling lawsuit filed last…
President Barack Obama gracefully accepted the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. Here, in Phoenix, Arizona, we enjoy little peace; indeed, we live in the chaos generated by a reign of terror that Obama has done little to address. Yes, his federal investigators are here examining the assaults against…
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: Feathered Bastard: Help Sal Reza’s Macehualli Center Tomorrow by Eating at Applebee’s Up on the Sun: The…
After a year of debate and study amongst its 20 panel members, the University of Denver’s Strategic Issues Program released a final report today titled “Architecture for Immigration Reform,” which provides an honest assessment of America’s immigration dilemma along with detailed suggestions for guiding U.S. immigration policy.There’s much to like about the…
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon established a federal political action committee in late 2007, hoping, he later said, to “educate members of Congress on the needs in Phoenix.”But in its two years of activity to date, the committee’s biggest beneficiary has been Gordon’s girlfriend, Elissa Mullany. Federal election records show that,…
The presiding judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court has assigned the criminal cases against Judge Gary Donahoe and County Supervisors Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox to judges in other counties. Presiding Judge Barbara Mundell, (left) who is herself a target of the broad — and vague — racketeering…
Lisa Jackson, the head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, has been so focused on saving the world from America’s greenhouse gases that she seems to have forgetten about serious pollution in the Phoenix area. Jackson is in Copenhagen this week for the international talks on carbon reductions, and on Monday…
Scottsdale’s premiere PGA golf tournament has a new name, and it won’t do much to help the tournament’s unsavory image among golf’s elite.The Phoenix Open — or the FBR Open, as it’s been known since 2004 — is often criticized by the PGA’s most pompous linisters. Many, including the philandering Tiger…
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas this afternoon struggled to explain his decision to charge the county’s presiding criminal court judge, Gary Donahoe, with three felony counts –bribery, obstructing a criminal investigation, and hindering prosecution.But Thomas couldn’t offer any evidence to the assembled media scrum that Donahoe actually had accepted a…
As the saying often goes, politics certainly makes for some interesting bedfellows, and from the looks of things, PR whiz Jason Rose has got the biggest bed in town.Rose has ties to Sheriff Arpaio, County Attorney Andy Thomas, and based on a seven degrees of Jason Rose chart compiled by…
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced this morning that a criminal complaint has been filed against the Superior Court’s criminal division chief, Judge Gary Donahoe (at left). Michael Scerbo, spokesman for County Attorney Andrew Thomas, stated in a news release that Donahoe is being accused of hindering prosecution and…
There is an unwanted phenomenon happening in California, and Arizona is being pegged to clean up the mess: Chihuahuas — lots of them.California is seeing an influx of chihuahuas popping up at animal shelters, and it’s becoming too much for the state to handle.Rather than take these unwanted pooches out…
Phoenix human rights activist Sal Reza’s Macehualli Day Labor Center at 25th Street and Bell Road is in dire financial straits, and you can help by eating at one of two Applebee’s locations Thursday, December 10. As part of Applebee’s Dining to Donate program, the Phoenix restaurants at 2 East Camelback…
We’ve just gotten word that the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has filed a “special action” with the Arizona Court of Appeals in legal protest of Judge Gary Donahoe’s recent jailing of county Detention Officer Adam Stoddard. We haven’t yet seen the pleading, filed on behalf of Stoddard and the Maricopa County…
Gannett, the behemoth parent company of the Arizona Republic, is issuing another round of furloughs, despite financial improvements, according to an internal memo sent out last week. This will be the third round of furloughs for the company since the first quarter of 2009. The memo, which is written in…
[jump] According to booking records, Foster was charged with loitering to beg and violation of a promise to appear. In other words, he was panhandling, and somebody felt threatened by a man who looks like a hairy version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream and called the cops. It’s tough to look good…
It seems as if the Phoenix Suns are playing only road games this year. Of course, they’ve suited up at US Airways Center a few times, but, indeed, they’ve been away from home a lot thus far: a league-high 15 games out of the first 22 they’ve played, to be…
