Email Author Lisa Davis

1995 Stories by Lisa Davis

• The High Cost of Education Reform

  published December 28, 1995

  The Republican revolution has a cure for the troubles of primary education in America, and it can be summarized in one word: competition. ... More >>

• Dont Keep Those Cards Coming

  published November 16, 1995

  The chain letter says that a young man is terminally ill. His biggest wish is to get into the Guinness Book of Records for collecting the greatest... More >>

• Gasket Case

  published November 2, 1995

  Their marriage was on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Their divorce was on Hard Copy. Joe Hrudka is a self-made man. He came out from... More >>

• A HOUSE DIVIDED

  published October 5, 1995

  Ellen and Joel Barish worked all their lives to buy their $400,000 house in Troon Country Club in 1990. It was a brand-new, 4,000-square-foot home... More >>

• DOES NOT WORK TO CAPACITY

  published September 28, 1995

  On a Monday morning, Rene Diaz is standing outside the corner office reserved for the superintendent in the Phoenix Union district... More >>

• QUIET RIOTIN CASE YOU HADN'T NOTICED, THE PHOENIX UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS IMPOSED A CONTRACT ON ITS TEACHERS

  published September 14, 1995

  It could have been a pep rally. But rather than "Go Team," the placards said things like "Big Classes, Little Learning" and "Your Kids Deserve... More >>

• LIBERAL TO A FAULTA LONG-RUNNING POLITICAL FEUD HAS BROUGHT DEMOCRATIC SOUTHWEST PHOENIX LITTLE BUT INTRIGUE, PARANOIA--AND A GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION

  published August 24, 1995

  The Fault Line Earlier this year, a young man named Rudy Buchanan Jr. was shot to death by Phoenix police. Buchanan was brandishing a weapon... More >>

• UNCHARTERED WATERSFEDERAL DESEGREGATION RULES BLOCK ENROLLMENTS IN CHARTER SCHOOLS

  published August 10, 1995

  Karen Higgins wants her daughter to start high school at New School for the Arts, which is one of Arizona's new charter schools. The school... More >>

• ANATOMY OF A MURDER VICTIM

  published July 20, 1995

  On a cool night in early November, Muffin Shew left work at the Robinson's department store in Paradise Valley Mall, like she always did, shortly... More >>

• HEY, FIFE, CAN YOU SPARE SOME PLASTER?WHILE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE UNDERGOES FACE-LIFT, OLD CAPITOL BUILDING NEXT DOOR CRUMBLES

  published July 6, 1995

  While workers begin the $1.7 million renovation of Governor Fife Symington's office, the state's historical landmark next door is going to hell in... More >>

• CURTAINS FOR WARNER'S?THERE'S NOTHING CHINTZY ABOUT WHAT'S AT STAKE AS INTERIOR DESIGNERS, BANKERS, LAWYERS SQUARE OFF IN AN UGLY FIGHT OVER A LONGTIME VALLEY DESIGN FIRM

  published June 22, 1995

  In 1952, Ron and Carolyn Warner pulled together $1,400 and bought a burned-out grocery store at 26th Street and Osborn Road. Together the young... More >>

• SHORT-SHEETEDSTATE SCRAMBLES TO KEEP ITS PAPER-PUSHERS IN BUSINESS

  published May 18, 1995

  Thanks to the recent surge in the economy, plain ol' white paper is turning to gold. And the unprecedented demand for it seems to have taken the... More >>

• FUN IN THE 122 DEGREE SIGN SUN

  published May 18, 1995

  High above downtown Phoenix, Ulysses Sanchez sits in a borrowed office in an executive tower with a window that looks out on another executive... More >>

• WHEN HARD WORK DOESN'T PAYTHIS SINGLE MOTHER'S CASE SHOWS WHY IT'S EASIER TO BE ON WELFARE

  published April 13, 1995

  Rosalind Hall is a welfare mother. Two months ago, she got a job. It's nearly caused her to lose everything. She doesn't make enough to stand on... More >>

• YOU, TOO, CAN OPEN A SCHOOL!IN ARIZONA, IT'S JUST LIKE ANY OTHER BUSINESS

  published March 30, 1995

  The Gaddie family has been in the education business for decades. In the 1970s, members operated the John Hancock Academy in Mesa, teaching... More >>

• THE CAT LADY VANISHES

  published March 16, 1995

  No one is likely to forget for a long time what happened that day. That it was a hot, miserable July seemed only appropriate. The... More >>

• VOUCHERS GO QUIETLYTHE GOP'S TOP PRIORITY SPUTTERS AT THE CAPITOL

  published March 9, 1995

  After the dust cleared from the November election, it was widely assumed that school vouchers were a done deal. After all, Fife... More >>

• "DESERT RATS" VS. "DESERT RAPERS"NEW SUBDIVISIONS TRIGGER WEEKEND WARFARE BETWEEN DEVELOPERS, RESIDENTS

  published February 23, 1995

  Ladies and gentlemen, live from one of the Valley's most upscale areas, it's the ultimate neighborhood-growth grudge match. In one... More >>

• FIFE'S EMPTY PROMISE

  published January 26, 1995

  The letters "WPA" are stamped on the exterior of the buildings that make up Picacho Elementary School. That's because the buildings date... More >>

• THE BAD NEWS BEARERS

  published January 26, 1995

  Constable Burt Alvord, who served Willcox in the 1890s, made news when it was discovered that he used the law enforcement office as a... More >>

• CITIZEN, TEACH THYSELF

  published January 5, 1995

  "Toddler X, you can't attend this preschool. We're learning numbers and colors and getting ready to go to school. But your mommy and daddy... More >>