News

Remember when banks were lending money to people that had no means of paying it back and the entire economy came crashing down?The Bank of America apparently has no memory of this because it just approved a $700 million loan to the Arizona state government, which happens to already be…

As we reported this morning, the special session of the Legislature was expected to be over today, and legislators were expected to agree on a number of cuts to help bridge the state’s $2 billion budget gap.That didn’t happen.In what is becoming almost tradition, the Republicans in the Senate came…

A former journalist at the now-Web-only Tucson Citizen is claiming that Gannett, the paper’s parent company, didn’t live up to its end of the bargain after the 138-year-old paper went bust back in May.Alice Flick, the longtime TC scribe, who wrote under the byline A.J. Flick, claims Gannett screwed her…

There seems to be a day designated for just about everything, and toilets are no exception.Today, November 19, is “World Toilet Day” and a group called “The World Toilet Organization” is encouraging Phoenicians to participate in a global event called “The Big Squat.”…

On Tuesday, the Department of Public Safety Announced it had arrested three people after finding 23 grenade casings and one live grenade in their possession. The weapons are suspected to have been headed to Mexico to fuel the drug wars going on between rival cartels. Coincidentally, a similar bust was…

The legislature’s third special session is set to come to a close today, after legislators have seemingly managed to cut about a quarter of the state’s $2 billion budget gap. The majority of the cuts fell in the lap of the K-12 education and social programs under the Department of Economic…

Two years after the employer sanctions law went on the books, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has filed its first case against a Valley business. County prosecutors say the Scottsdale Art Factory knowingly hired illegal immigrants. The county attorney has asked that the business fire all of its illegal employees and…

Why, oh, why do most Mexican women cut their long, black hair after reaching the pivotal age of 40? Not only do they cut it, but they then proceed to cut it short and dye it all shades of the most unnatural hair color for Mexicans: red. My own madre…

CALLS TO ACTION What good are these prosecutors?: It’s appalling that U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke can’t get it up to go after Sheriff Shithead. What the hell good are these goddamn prosecutors if they won’t go after the MCSO Mafia in their own backyard? What’s the point of electing a…

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and the Reverend Oscar Tillman, who heads the local NAACP, have long enjoyed a good relationship — if not literally close, at least as positive as any relationship based in politics can be. But Tillman told me last week that Gordon has lost his support. And…

SS IGNORANT Supposedly intelligent, respectable people do some really dumb stuff sometimes. Case in point: Former GOP gubernatorial hopeful Mike Harris, who ran third behind Don Goldwater and Len Munsil in the 2006 Republican primary for governor. Munsil won that battle and went on to get his lunch handed to…

Mike Nixon walks through the front door of his Tempe home and drops a maroon-and-gold Arizona State University gym bag to the tile floor. A piece of ill-torn plastic wrap holds an ice pack flush to his left forearm. Nixon closes the door, and part of the plastic flutters. His…

Editor’s note: This is one of a group of individual accounts of racial profiling by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s forces. What’s important to remember about 18-year-old Jerry Cosio’s arrest by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is that he was confronted without apparent probable cause. Cosio’s not perfect — he was driving…

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: Up on the Sun: 23 West Schedules January 1 Grand Opening College Times Wades In To “Ovah”…

  Yesterday, we pointed out errors, ommissions, and outright deceit in one of the proposals for cab service at Sky Harbor International Airport. We asked if City Council members were listening. After today’s council meeting, we have our answer. They weren’t. Now, technically, the council did pay lipservice to some of the…

The Arizona Department of Transportation announced today that it has laid off 90 employees and that 25 more workers should expect to get the ax by the end of the year.”This is a perfect storm — our revenues are down, we are suffering from the use of state transportation funds for…

It certainly didn’t take long for Arizona Congressman John Shadegg to eat his words after the fallout from his latest rant on the floor of the House of Representatives.As we reported yesterday, Shadegg stood in front of Congress Monday night and warned New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg of a…