Friday’s guilty plea by Cave Creek resident Karen Finley, ex-CEO of the photo-enforcement company Redflex, has many people wondering: Who, if anyone, did Finley bribe in Arizona? Redflex Traffic Systems, which is based in Phoenix as a subsidiary of Australia’s Redflex Holdings company, has had numerous contracts with Arizona municipalities…
Congressman Ruben Gallego stood in front of a packed audience Monday night and told the crowd of Phoenix residents that the extent to which he can help force the FAA to reconsider the changes it made to Sky Harbor’s flight paths last fall “is now limited.” “What we need now…
Jamie Votaw, the co-owner of a cleaning company that hired undocumented immigrants in the 2000s, was sentenced last week in federal court to five years’ probation and ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution. Court records show that her husband, Joel Votaw, the company’s CEO, was equally culpable for the crime. But…
An anti-Islam, freedom-of-speech rally will take place outside of the Tucson Islamic Center on Saturday, July 18. The event is modeled after a protest at Phoenix Islamic Culture Center on May 29, which was purportedly a reaction to the two men who opened fire on a Muhammed cartoon drawing contest in…
Leaders from several Arizona immigrant-rights groups bought a strawberry-topped chocolate cake this week to celebrate the three-year anniversary of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. But they didn’t cut it and nobody had a bite. The gesture, Raquel Teran, state director of Mi Familia Vota, announced at a…
Kristen Keogh, former Fox 10 News reporter and Arizona Coyotes cheerleader, was one of new state Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s more, um, interesting, hires. Brnovich, a Republican with a quirky history and personality, (as covered by fellow New Times writer Stephen Lemons in a February feature article), chose Keogh as…
Immigrants caught crossing the Mexican border into Arizona are thrown in cold, concrete cells for days at a time, denied medical care and subjected to inhumane conditions, a new lawsuit states. The American Immigration Council, the National Immigration Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and other groups…
The U.S. Supreme Court decided today that it won’t review a decision striking down Arizona’s voter-approved, 2006 law denying bail for certain undocumented-immigrant crime suspects. Passed by a bipartisan wave of voters riding an anti-immigrant sentiment in the mid-2000s, the law was also a favorite of Maricopa County conservatives including former…
As helicopters circled overhead and police officers stood guard, the seven-plus-hour “Rally for Free Speech” protest outside of the north Phoenix Islamic Community Center on Friday remained relatively uneventful. No arrests were made, no guns were fired, and though a few fights almost broke out along the edges of the event —…
Four Phoenix family members with former ties to Iraq’s Badr Corps were stripped of their naturalized citizenship status this month and have agreed to leave the United States in August. New Times reported on the family’s arrest in February. Hadi Assi Mubarak, wife Wahida Juma Odah and their two adult sons,…
Ann Kirkpatrick, a moderate Democrat and Arizona Congresswoman, announced on Tuesday that she would run against John McCain for the U.S. Senate in 2016. In a video published this morning, Kirkpatrick says she’ll take on challenges from education to the economy, and mentions her famous rival by name. “I respect…
Oral Arguments will begin this afternoon over a motion to dismiss Rodriguez v Swartz, a widely publicized lawsuit concerning the shooting of 16-year-old Mexican national Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez by U.S. Border Patrol agents on October 10, 2012. In question is whether, and under what circumstances, U.S. Constitutional protections and laws…
The Arizona woman who gained fame by earning $114,000 in donations after her arrest for leaving her two kids in a hot car will appear on the “Dr. Phil Show” this Thursday. Shanesha Taylor’s appearance on the popular, nationally syndicated TV show comes a week after a Maricopa County Superior…
Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego is getting significant pushback from some Republicans over Gallego’s proposal to let “dreamers” serve in the military. Gallego offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, encouraging the Department of Defense to allow people to serve if they’ve been granted deportation relief under the Deferred…
The first poll in Arizona for 2016 presidential candidates shows Hillary Clinton as the choice of Democrats, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker as the leading choice of Republicans. Clinton’s lead at this point is fairly clear, as the choice of 58 percent of Arizonans, according to Public Policy Polling. Vermont…
Civil rights leader Jarrett Maupin and 13 “female abuse victims” will hold a press conference today alleging racism and misogyny at the Maricopa County Community College District. In a breathless news release issued this morning, Maupin writes of college teachers prohibited from taking bathroom breaks, rampant sexual harassment and victims…
Senator John McCain is in “big trouble” for the Republican primary next year, according to one pollster. Despite this primary election not taking place for well over a year, only 37 percent of Republican voters told Public Policy Polling that they generally support McCain for reelection, while 51 percent say…
“Arizona [Governor Doug Ducey] may hate the environment, but that doesn’t mean YOU have to!” That’s the message behind the reusable Doug DoucheBAG campaign. Conceived by Stacey Champion of Rogue Green — a Valley-based environmental group — and designed by one her friends, these canvas bags were a big “F…
“Chemtrails” are apparently a hot political issue in Arizona. Less than a year after state Senator Kelli Ward held a community meeting in her Lake Havasu district to address concerns from her constituents that the government is poisoning people with chemicals dumped from airplanes, another politician took heat over his…
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey yesterday held a ceremonial bill signing for legislation that provides a new tax break for certain religious groups. Ducey had previously been quiet on the controversial legislation that he signed in late March. The bill, backed by the Center for Arizona Policy, was vetoed by Governor…
Twelve Tucson activists who used their bodies to block two busloads of undocumented immigrants headed to expedited deportation proceedings in 2013 have been convicted of obstructing a highway and causing a public nuisance. Pima County Justice of the Peace Susan Bacal is expected to dole out sentences in July. The…
Arizona cities and towns will not be able to ban or tax plastic bags. Governor Doug Ducey has signed Senate Bill 1241, which declares that regulation of plastic bags is a matter of statewide concern and thus not subject to regulation by local authorities. Some states and cities around the…
