Dennis Burke

Will Humble, AZ DHS Director, Not Worried About Running Medical-Pot Program Despite New Federal Warning

If the feds decide to pull up their jackboots and bust state employees for administering Arizona's medical-marijuana program, the director of the state Department of Health Services could be a target.After all, Will Humble is the boss at DHS, the state agency that will be approving applications for ... More >>

Dennis Burke, Former Arizona U.S. Attorney, Accused of Retaliating Against ATF Agent Who Blew Whistle on Fast and Furious Scandal

Dennis Burke, former Arizona U.S. Attorney, leaked a memo to a reporter in an apparent attempt to discredit a Fast and Furious whistleblower.​ In July, news broke that someone in the U.S. Justice Department had leaked a memo in an attempt to retaliate against a whistleblower in the Fast ... More >>

Recently Departed U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke Was Driver in Near-Fatal Car-Pedestrian Accident

Dennis Burke, who abruptly resigned in late August as the United States Attorney for Arizona after becoming mired in controversy, had to deal with another traumatic event earlier that month: Burke nearly killed a pedestrian with his vehicle in an accident on North Central Avenue. ​Phoenix p ... More >>

Dennis Burke's Ouster Tied to Botched Grenades Case; Former U.S. Attorney Also Entwined in "Fast and Furious" Scandal

Former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke's firearms scandal has expanded to a firearms-and-grenades scandal.​ Former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke's apparently forced resignation last week stemmed not only from the "Fast and Furious" scandal, but also from a botched case involving grenades.The Wall Stre ... More >>

No Charges for Arpaio's Office in Questionable Travel and Inmate Fund Expenses, U.S. Attorney's Office Decides

Dennis Burke has reviewed questionable practices at the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in regards to an inmate trust fund and travel expenses -- and concluded that nothing illegal occurred.​ Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke can't find any chargeable offenses after a review of the Maricopa ... More >>

Tom Horne Denied Extra-Long Court Filing in Federal Medical Marijuana Lawsuit

Tom Horne, Arizona Attorney General, says if Arizona US Attorney Dennis Burke wants to give comfort to state workers adminstering the medical marijuana program, he should put it in writing.​ Give me the short version, a federal judge told Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne today in a ruling on ... More >>

Richard Taylor, Owner of Arizona Trailer Manufacturing, Convicted and Fined for Hiring 10 Undocumented Workers

​ A Buckeye trailer manufacturing firm and its owner were ordered by a federal judge to pay $30,000 in fines and received two years' probation for hiring undocumented workers. Richard Taylor and his company, Arizona Trailer Manufacturing, was convicted in U.S ... More >>

Dennis Burke Won't Prosecute Sheriff Arpaio or His Employees Over "Exorbitant" Extradition Costs

​ Extraditions performed by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office were "inexplicably exorbitant" but not a criminal misuse of public funds, U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke has decided. At the request of County Manager David Smith (see below), Burke's office conducted a review of how Sheri ... More >>

ICE Agent Accused of Leaking Sensitive Information to Family Members With Ties to Drug Cartels

​A Nogales-based Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent was arrested yesterday for allegedly handing over sensitive government documents to family members with "strong" ties to drug cartels.According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Jovana Samaniego Deas, 33, a special agent with the agen ... More >>

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, June 9, 2011

ACLU to Defend Medical Marijuana Law Against Legal Attack by Governor Jan Brewer

Governor Jan Brewer followed through today on her threat to attack the voter-approved medical marijuana law.​ Governor Jan Brewer followed through today on her threat to attack Arizona's voter-approved medical marijuana law, but advocates of democracy are fighting back. Numerous defendan ... More >>

Morning Poll: Is Medical Marijuana Doomed in Arizona?

​Governor Jan Brewer and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne are preparing to file a declaratory judgment in federal court that would put a halt to Arizona's medical marijuana program.The move comes after U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke warned Arizonans in a letter to the Department of Health Services t ... More >>

Feds Drop Charges Against Captor of "Macho B," Last Known Wild Jaguar in Country Killed in Captivity

Macho B​Charges against an Arivaca woman who admitted to violations of the Endangered Species Act for her role in the death of "Macho B," the nation's last known wild jaguar, will be dropped -- as long as she stays out of jaguar or large-cat studies for a year and does not violate any laws.& ... More >>

Terry Goddard Leads Dems in Hypothetical, Gabrielle Giffords-Less Senate Race, Poll Finds

Bad news, Democrats: without Gabrielle Giffords, this guy is your best shot at winning a U.S. Senate seat.​Assuming Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords doesn't miraculously run for the Senate seat getting vacated by Senator Jon Kyl, former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is the most popular am ... More >>

Carving Your Name Into 1000-Plus-Year-Old Petroglyphs Could Earn You 60 Months Probation...At Least

www.savingantiquities.orgTrent was here​A North Carolina man was sentenced to 60 months probation for scratching his name into petroglyphs along the Colorado River that are more than 1,000 years old.In addition to the probation, Trenton Austin Ganey must pay $10,000 restitution and complete 100 co ... More >>

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, February 24, 2011

Medical Marijuana Cultivation Plan Antagonizes Feds in Oakland -- and Arizona's Plan is Similar

Melinda Haag, US Attorney for California's Northern District, says Oakland's medical pot cultivation permitting system won't fly.​ A plan to oversee medical marijuana cultivation centers in Oakland drew fire from the feds last week -- yet the plan is similar to that being developed in Arizona. ... More >>

Federal Grand Jury Indicts 34 in Gun and Drug Trafficking Ring

www.world.guns.ru​A federal grand jury has indicted 34 people in a massive drug and firearm trafficking ring. The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges that defendants were helping supply Mexican drug cartels with weapons bought in Arizona. The indictment alleges that between September 2009 a ... More >>

Serial Bank Robber Sentenced to Life in Prison. Judge Says He's the "Poster Child" For Three Strikes Law

www.tone-lizard.com​At a sentencing hearing this morning, a federal judge in Phoenix told a convicted serial bank robber that he "is a poster child of why Congress enacted" the Three Strikes law. Then he sentenced him to life in prison plus seven years.

The ATF Agent Who Put the Mahon Brothers in the Hoosegow; Plus, Why the MCSO Has Something Else to Worry About

Should Sheriff Joe Arpaio Get a Pass When the Indictments Come Down? Hell, No

"Hothead Bandit" Indicted on 25 Counts Following Alleged Bank-Robbery Spree

​A federal grand jury in Phoenix returned a 25-count indictment yesterday against a man dubbed "The Hothead Bandit" by the FBI's over-worked bandit-naming department.Timothy John Kestle, 55, of Litchfield Park, has been charged with 13 counts of armed bank robbery and 12 counts of possessing or us ... More >>

Apache Junction Man Indicted in Theft of Saguaros

www.freewallpaper.com​If you live in the Sonoran Desert you may think Saguaro Cacti are everywhere -- that's because in these parts, they are. But that doesn't mean they're yours for the taking. The rest of the world isn't as blessed with the same prickly foliage, so the federal government -- thro ... More >>

Captor of "Macho B" -- Last Living Jaguar in Arizona Before Being Killed in Captivity -- Pleads Guilty to Endangered Species Violation

Arizona Game and Fish Department Macho B​The man who captured an endangered jaguar, whose controversial death sparked outrage from animal-rights groups, pleaded guilty in federal court today to prohibited "take" of an animal.Emil McCain, a biologist working for the Borderlands Jaguar Detect ... More >>

Ex-Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputy Arrested for Smuggling Cocaine and Gun Charges

www.sodahead.com​A former sheriff's deputy in Santa Cruz County, and another man were arrested on federal drug smuggling and gun charges yesterday.Federal authorities say 29-year-old Jesus R. Contreras -- a former Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputy -- and 38-year-old Ernesto Castro were arrested y ... More >>

Michael Turney Pleads Guilty to Possessing 26 Pipe Bombs; Father of Missing Girl Planned to Blow Up Union Hall, Cops Say

  Image: www.abcnews.com​The stepfather of a girl who went missing in 2001 pleaded guilty on Tuesday to possessing 26 pipe bombs, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported today. Michael Turney, 62, (right) had reportedly planned to use the bombs to launch a suicide attack on a local un ... More >>

Joe Arpaio on False McDonald's Arrest: Take All Brown People into Custody, Release Citizens Later

Arpaio shrugs off his arrest of an innocent American girlIf you're Hispanic in Maricopa County, Sheriff Joe's goons have probable cause to arrest you on suspicion of being undocumented. Hey, they can always release you later.That's the word from the elephant's mouth after an MCSO raid on four area M ... More >>

Joe Arpaio Subject of Federal Grand Jury, Channel 5 Reports

Reckon they have pink undies in the federal pen? According to KPHO's 5 p.m. newscast, the station has confirmed that a federal grand jury is looking into Sheriff Joe Arpaio's abuses of power, and his retaliatory investigations of his political enemies. Reporter Morgan Loew just broke ... More >>

Dennis Burke Admits There's "a Problem" with Joe Arpaio's Rampage; Source Says the U.S. Attorney's Office Will Act in a Matter of Weeks

New U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke: Will he be our Eliot Ness? Though I didn't make Dennis Burke's swearing in as the new U.S. Attorney for Arizona yesterday, I did make the after-party -- a reception at the University of Arizona's College of Medicine in downtown Phoenix. The reception ... More >>

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, November 19, 2009

Dennis Burke Confirmed as U.S. Attorney in Arizona

​ Dennis Burke, one of former Governor Janet Napolitano's chiefs-of-staff, has been confirmed as the next U.S. Attorney in Arizona. Burke's ultra-qualified for the job. He's a graduate of Georgetown University and University of Arizona, worked as counsel under former Arizona Senator Dennis D ... More >>

Obama Squeezes Out First Female Native American U.S. Attorney; Diane Humetewa Submits Resignation

​ Arizona's U.S. Attorney, Diane Humetewa, the nation's first-ever Native American woman to become a U.S. Attorney in any state, will resign on August 2. Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the office, says Humetewa plans on spending some time with her family before figuring out her next career mo ... More >>

Phoenix Country Club Tells Rusty Brown to Get Lost. Who's Next?

Governor yanks Arpaio's immigration funding

Donkey Kong

After looking like political asses in the '90s, Arizona Democrats have the money, moderation and 800-pound gorilla to kick some pachyderm tail

Send in the Clowns

Don't bother, they're here. After a decade of voter-mandated reform, the Arizona Legislature is as out of touch as ever

Shades of Green

The new governor appears to have double-crossed environmental supporters in choosing some new agency heads.

Polygamy Puzzle

Furor over mysterious memo masks difficulties in prosecuting illegal acts

Sex and Colorado City

Letters from the week of October 10, 2002

Janet Clams Up

AG Napolitano turns down her 60 Minutes of fame

Letters

From the week of December 21, 2000

Flashes

From the week of December 21, 2000

Letters

From the week of December 14, 2000

Lost Cause

National advocacy group dumps affiliate over debt

Building Down

Warehouse-district defenders retrench as two structures come down

Losing Patients

Legislators want closer scrutiny of BOMEX, but the medical board will seek more secrecy

Waiting for McCain

Is the nation's leading proponent of campaign-finance reform turning his back on a homegrown effort?

Flashes

Median Income

Homeless people hawk three different publications on curbs all over the Valley. What's brought about the proliferation of street sheets, and who, if anyone, benefits?